Something to Prove
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:48 am
Throughout spring practice, GatorCountry.com senior columnist Mark McLeod will try to follow the progress of several players who are expecting to play a key role for the Gators in 2008. These are not returning starters, but reserves from a year ago who are trying to step up or players at positions where help is definitely needed.
The Gators worked on red zone and goal line situations. The defensive coaches really worked to fire up the defense. They were seemingly insistent that they celebrate with each other after a big play or key stop. They want a little fire and enthusiasm on the squad. They were very impressive in the first several plays of the scrimmage as the offense jumped out to a 4-1 lead and the single point they picked up was courtesy of a dropped pass by Percy Harvin.
(All heights and weights are taken from the spring roster provided by UF SID)
Redshirt freshman Steve Wilks signed with the University of Florida after spending a career at Lakeland High School as a hard hitting strong safety with a nose for the football. After getting a brief look at outside linebacker, Wilks returned to the backfield of sorts --- the offensive backfield.
He is one of only two fullbacks listed on the Gators roster with the other being junior transfer Rick Burgess (Southern Illinois) and after finding success with Billy Latsko for two years and Eric Rutledge last season, it appears as though Florida offensive e coordinator Dan Mullen has found his fullback for the 2008 season.
Wilks was very aggressive in man-on-man drills, easily beating his man. He was also out with the first team offense in the scrimmage portion. He didn’t have any carries, which is typical of the fullback play at Florida. Wilks blew up a couple of linebackers that allowed the back to gain additional yardage. The Gators worked in the red zone today. It will be interesting to see how apt Wilks is at picking up the blitz. He is seemingly in the perfect position for a guy his size (6-1, 206) and aggressive style of playing the game.
Defensive tackle Torrey Davis received plenty of repetitions today. The sophomore started on the inside alongside Lawrence Marsh. He looked much better than he did a year ago in terms of technique, but that’s the case with most true freshman. I did notice a couple of plays where he was locked on by offensive linemen and he wasn’t able to get off the block. It appears that the coaching staff wants to motivate him to go harder on every play. Davis (6-3, 298) was pretty fired up during one series when the staff challenged the defense to keep the offense out of the end zone.
Lawrence Marsh was pretty inconsistent today. Marsh (6-4, 285) is a guy who has tremendous size and athleticism. He just needs to assertively play on every down and again, that seems to be the case with so many of the young defensive players. They need to sell out and win on each and every down. There were a few plays where he jumped offsides during the scrimmage and was told to get out of there by defensive line coach Dan McCarney.
Sophomore Corey Hobbs looks so much better this season. Hobbs (6-3, 298) is working as the second team center. He drove a defender backwards and right to the ground during three man drills. He drew the praise of teammates and coaches. He looked pretty good in the early part of the scrimmage. I wasn’t able to focus much on him in the later portion of the scrimmage. There were several quarterback/center exchange problems, as usual in the first scrimmage. It appeared as though both parties bore the responsibility at times.
Two other defensive linemen received plenty of reps today- tackle sophomore Terron Sanders and redshirt freshman end Jaye Howard. It has been a long road for Sanders, but perhaps he can finally put it together this season. He looked awfully good and got in on some plays around the middle of the scrimmage session. He is a strong guy who can jam up the middle of the line of scrimmage and did so on occasion. Sanders (6-2, 285) worked with the second team and then split time with the first group as the staff was shuffling guys in and out of the scrimmage.
Howard (6-3, 262) was pretty impressive overall. He was in on several plays and tried to fight off blocks and get back inside when the ball went to the other side of the line of scrimmage. Howard played on the left side for most of the scrimmage and was hard to see as it was opposite of our vantage point. We saw him make an effort to get involved though when the play was on our sides.
Cornerback Jacques Rickerson (5-10, 172) worked with the first team in nickel situations. He participated with the second unit and looked really good in several plays today. Rickerson made a terrific play getting between the receiver and quarterback. He made sure the ball wasn’t completed. His coverage was solid in the endzone situation. It will be interesting to see if it is just as impressive when the offense works downfield.
It’s just day one in pads and there is a long way to go to see who among these players and the others we’ll be taking a look at throughout the spring have improved and are ready to step up and assume a role in ’08.
The Gators worked on red zone and goal line situations. The defensive coaches really worked to fire up the defense. They were seemingly insistent that they celebrate with each other after a big play or key stop. They want a little fire and enthusiasm on the squad. They were very impressive in the first several plays of the scrimmage as the offense jumped out to a 4-1 lead and the single point they picked up was courtesy of a dropped pass by Percy Harvin.
(All heights and weights are taken from the spring roster provided by UF SID)
Redshirt freshman Steve Wilks signed with the University of Florida after spending a career at Lakeland High School as a hard hitting strong safety with a nose for the football. After getting a brief look at outside linebacker, Wilks returned to the backfield of sorts --- the offensive backfield.
He is one of only two fullbacks listed on the Gators roster with the other being junior transfer Rick Burgess (Southern Illinois) and after finding success with Billy Latsko for two years and Eric Rutledge last season, it appears as though Florida offensive e coordinator Dan Mullen has found his fullback for the 2008 season.
Wilks was very aggressive in man-on-man drills, easily beating his man. He was also out with the first team offense in the scrimmage portion. He didn’t have any carries, which is typical of the fullback play at Florida. Wilks blew up a couple of linebackers that allowed the back to gain additional yardage. The Gators worked in the red zone today. It will be interesting to see how apt Wilks is at picking up the blitz. He is seemingly in the perfect position for a guy his size (6-1, 206) and aggressive style of playing the game.
Defensive tackle Torrey Davis received plenty of repetitions today. The sophomore started on the inside alongside Lawrence Marsh. He looked much better than he did a year ago in terms of technique, but that’s the case with most true freshman. I did notice a couple of plays where he was locked on by offensive linemen and he wasn’t able to get off the block. It appears that the coaching staff wants to motivate him to go harder on every play. Davis (6-3, 298) was pretty fired up during one series when the staff challenged the defense to keep the offense out of the end zone.
Lawrence Marsh was pretty inconsistent today. Marsh (6-4, 285) is a guy who has tremendous size and athleticism. He just needs to assertively play on every down and again, that seems to be the case with so many of the young defensive players. They need to sell out and win on each and every down. There were a few plays where he jumped offsides during the scrimmage and was told to get out of there by defensive line coach Dan McCarney.
Sophomore Corey Hobbs looks so much better this season. Hobbs (6-3, 298) is working as the second team center. He drove a defender backwards and right to the ground during three man drills. He drew the praise of teammates and coaches. He looked pretty good in the early part of the scrimmage. I wasn’t able to focus much on him in the later portion of the scrimmage. There were several quarterback/center exchange problems, as usual in the first scrimmage. It appeared as though both parties bore the responsibility at times.
Two other defensive linemen received plenty of reps today- tackle sophomore Terron Sanders and redshirt freshman end Jaye Howard. It has been a long road for Sanders, but perhaps he can finally put it together this season. He looked awfully good and got in on some plays around the middle of the scrimmage session. He is a strong guy who can jam up the middle of the line of scrimmage and did so on occasion. Sanders (6-2, 285) worked with the second team and then split time with the first group as the staff was shuffling guys in and out of the scrimmage.
Howard (6-3, 262) was pretty impressive overall. He was in on several plays and tried to fight off blocks and get back inside when the ball went to the other side of the line of scrimmage. Howard played on the left side for most of the scrimmage and was hard to see as it was opposite of our vantage point. We saw him make an effort to get involved though when the play was on our sides.
Cornerback Jacques Rickerson (5-10, 172) worked with the first team in nickel situations. He participated with the second unit and looked really good in several plays today. Rickerson made a terrific play getting between the receiver and quarterback. He made sure the ball wasn’t completed. His coverage was solid in the endzone situation. It will be interesting to see if it is just as impressive when the offense works downfield.
It’s just day one in pads and there is a long way to go to see who among these players and the others we’ll be taking a look at throughout the spring have improved and are ready to step up and assume a role in ’08.