Deonte Shows he's fast and smooth
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:55 pm
Deonte Thompson made a cross-over move to the inside on a backside skinny post that was so quick and so smooth that he nearly broke the ankles of Wondy Pierre-Louis. He accelerated so easily that safety Major Wright was unable to react quickly enough. Thompson was wide open, just like the days when he was making defensive backs look silly at Glades Central, and here came the ball, a perfectly thrown spiral by Tim Tebow.
“I was styling,” said Thompson, the redshirt freshman from Belle Glade who was once timed at 4.28 in the 40. “I already knew I had a touchdown. I was styling and smiling already.”
That celebration of the mind may have lasted just a millisecond but it was just enough lapse of focus that cost him. The ball hit him squarely in the hands but instead of a clean catch, Thompson’s knee came up and jarred the ball loose. He shook his had and looked at his hands as if they had deceived him as he made his way to the sideline.
A couple of moments later, he was joined on the sideline by Tebow, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner. Thompson didn’t make excuses but he did tell Tebow to give him another chance.
“I said come back at me and he said ‘I gotcha,’” said Thompson.
On their first play back on the field together, Tebow called the identical route with Thompson working down the left sideline against Pierre-Louis with Wright once again in one-high safety coverage.
Once again the ball was thrown perfectly. Once again Thompson accelerated so easily and quickly that he blew past Pierre-Louis, too quick for Wright to get there in time.
There was no lapse in concentration when the ball arrived. Thompson waited until the ball was safely tucked away in the end zone to celebrate his second long touchdown of the day, this one a 50-yarder.
On the first offensive series of Saturday’s two-hour scrimmage, the last one for the Florida Gators before next Saturday’s Orange and Blue Debut at The Swamp, Thompson blew by Joe Haden over on the right side and it was like Haden wasn’t even there.
Again, the shift from fast to warp speed was so smooth and so instantaneous that Wright couldn’t get there in time to help. It was a 40-yard touchdown pass from Tebow that looked like a couple of kids playing pitch and catch in the backyard it was so easy.
This was Deonte Thompson’s day to shine. It felt just like the old days when he was making a big name for himself torching any defensive back that dared to try to stop him and that quick-score Glades Central passing game.
“I had a nice day today,” he said with a grin. “I just felt nice and Tebow and I had it going. He was throwing it right there where it needed to be all day.”
Thompson and Tebow connected four times for 122 yards and those two touchdowns. It was the kind of performance that caught the eye of Coach Urban Meyer, who was looking for energy and positive production from his team.
“He [Thompson] laid one on the ground,” said Meyer. “He had a bomb for a touchdown but he came right back and that’s the typical young player.”
Thompson might be the typical young player in respect to age and experience, but in terms of speed, he’s not your typical wide receiver. When he’s on the field, defenses have to lay off because he can get deep so quickly and almost so effortlessly.
He’s already looking forward to the fall when Jeff Demps (ran a 10.17 100 meters at the Florida Relays Friday, second fastest time in history by a high school sprinter) arrives to join Florida’s already impressive arsenal of fast, explosive backs and receivers.
“We’re almost a track team out here,” said Thompson. “Me, Demps, Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy and Chris Rainey … that’s some speed. That’s some real speed.”
* * *
Thompson wasn’t the only young guy that showed up big Saturday. Matt Patchan seemed to spend the day in the backfield. He had two sacks and harassed Tebow, Cameron Newon and Johnny Brantley into at least six bad throws.
Lined up on the left side three straight plays against right tackle Jason Watkins, Patchan was already on Watkins’ hip before Watkins could plant his right foot on the drop step. Watkins started 13 games as a fourth year junior in 2007 and he rarely gave up a sack and that was against some of the best defensive linemen in the Southeastern Conference.
In 2007, Patchan was playing high school football for Seffner Armwood in the Tampa metro area where he was considered one of the best offensive linemen in the country. Since he’s been at Florida, he’s moved over to defense and he’s done what Mike Pouncey did last fall when he switched from offense to defense, which is to energize the entire defensive line with his enthusiastic play.
“We had to move a backup offensive center to get energy for our offensive line [last year],” said Meyer. “You shouldn’t have to do that. A true freshman offensive center we had to move to the defensive line and that tells you how bad we were at that position. I don’t see that right now. Patchan’s bringing a lot of that to the table.”
Patchan wasn’t the only young defensive lineman to show up big. Sophomore Carlos Dunlap got lined up in a variety of positions. He played as an end on both the strong and weak sides, did some time at tackle and moved up and down the line as a standup lineman, creating havoc wherever he was the moment the ball was snapped. Another freshman defensive end, Earl Okine, got a piece of a Tebow pass, batted one Cameron Newton pass in the air, and got pressure twice on Brantley. Third year sophomore tackle Lawrence Marsh forced Newton into a bad pitch that sophomore end Duke Lemmens recovered. Third year sophomore Terron Sanders got a couple of sacks.
* * *
This was also a coming out party of sorts for Mon Williams. Williams tore his ACL the first day of spring practice in 2007. Proclaimed the go-to guy at tailback by Meyer prior to the start of last year’s spring fling, Williams had surgery and spent the 2007 season rehabbing. He had been running rather tentatively all spring until Friday’s practice when he started showing signs that he was back to the Mon Williams that was one of the most highly recruited tailbacks in the country as a high school star in Texas.
Then came Saturday’s scrimmage when he became a between the tackles workhorse. He finished the day with 16 carries and 83 yards and at least 60 percent of his yardage came after the first contact. His longest carry of the day was good for 11 yards so the storyline of his Saturday scrimmage was consistency.
“Mon Williams was officially welcomed back to Florida football,” said Meyer. “He ran really hard today. One stretch I think we gave him the ball about 10 straight plays.”
Williams wasn’t the only tailback that came up big. Kestahn Moore finished with 71 yards on seven carries including a 39-yard run when he hit the hole off left tackle, cut to the sidelines and then turned it into a sprint before he was knocked out of bounds by two players that had the angle.
Chris Rainey had 11 carries for 60 yards including runs of 13 and 23 yards that had some highlight reel material in them, but it was a two-yard run on a fourth and two at the 42 that sent his teammates swarming to pick him up off the turf.
Not exactly your prototypical inside runner at 5-9 and 176 pounds, Rainey broke a tackle in the backfield, stepped through another tackle at the line of scrimmage and then fought his way to the 40 for a first down that had Tim Tebow and the entire offense rushing to the pile to congratulate the little guy on such a tough, determined run.
Even though the stats (10 carries, 17 yards) don’t show it, Emmanuel Moody had a good day. He took 13 yards in losses on three carries due to bad pitches or no blocking on option plays. He also got four carries in short yardage situations when the line was stacked. Moody had impressive runs of eight, six and six yards. On the eight-yard run, he cut back and only an ankle grab kept him from breaking into the secondary.
It was improved work on the parts of the running backs, but still not everything Meyer is looking for.
“The expectation level I have for those guys because their talent is so high so we still don’t have that guy that you turn around and hand him the ball consistently,” said Meyer. “What I think we are is a lot of talented guys but they have to improve a little bit more. The expectation level I have is so high. I expect them to be no different than our receivers. If we get to where we want to get I think our tight ends will be some of the best in the SEC. I think our receivers will be some of the best in the SEC … our quarterback [Heisman Trophy winner]. How about backs? I don’t know but they should be.”
* * *
The offensive line took a couple of hits when Mike Pouncey went down with an ankle sprain and Carl Johnson dislocated a thumb, but there were bright spots with young guys like Corey Hobbs, Jim Barrie and James Wilson. Wilson, who was considered the top high school offensive lineman in the country as a high school senior, is starting to look the part. He’s still got sore knees from two surgeries, but now that he’s getting his reps, he’s feeling like football is fun again.
“I’m feeling good … feeling great,” he said. “I’m having a lot of fun again.”
He had talked of transferring to Wake Forest before spring practice. The Demon Deacons will have to do without James Wilson, however. He’s a Gator and happy to say he’ll be in orange and blue in the fall thanks to supportive teammates that wouldn’t give up on him when he was so depressed because of knee injuries that forced him to sit a year of football for the first time in his life.
“It got really frustrating toward the middle [of last season],” he said. “Everything looked good on the surface but deep down I was getting depressed. Now I’m able to get out here and hit people and throw people down like I used to and that feels good. This is so much fun. I really love it.”
And he loves being a Gator. Asked if he’s happy he will be a Gator in the fall, Wilson responded, “Definitely. I know over the summer I’ll get my knee 100 percent and I’ll be good to go in the fall. It’s awesome and this is where I want to be.”
* * *
For Carl Moore, Saturday was a breakthrough day. He caught six passes for 68 yards and a touchdown, but for the first time all spring he felt he knew what he was doing and where he is supposed to be at all times. He’s spent most of the spring trying to learn an offense that is many times more complicated than the one he ran in junior college last year, where he was a first team All-American wide receiver.
“In junior college I didn’t have to think at all,” he said. “We had maybe 10 plays and that’s all and you just ran the play that was called no matter what you see. You run a play now and it looks cover two but it’s not cover two. It’s really cover one man. You have to think everything in about three or four seconds and know everything you need to do. Once I adjust it’s going to be good.”
Because he’s spent so much time thinking about where he’s got to go and where he’s supposed to be, he’s been playing at perhaps 80 percent speed all spring. He’s looked like a possession receiver when he knows he has the speed to be a big time playmaker.
“I’m still tentative out there because it’s not [the offense] in my head,” he said. “I’m still thinking out there and trying to read and think everything that I see so it’s still a little difficult but today was better than it’s been all spring.”
* * *
Louis Murphy sat out Saturday’s scrimmage. The senior wide receiver has had to miss practices this spring because of a staph infection that’s now under control and because of a problem with chronic headaches. Meyer said the headaches are now under control, too.
“He’s had headaches since the fall and they found what it was,” said Meyer. “Chronic headaches but they found the problem. Next week I think he’ll be cleared to go.”
“I was styling,” said Thompson, the redshirt freshman from Belle Glade who was once timed at 4.28 in the 40. “I already knew I had a touchdown. I was styling and smiling already.”
That celebration of the mind may have lasted just a millisecond but it was just enough lapse of focus that cost him. The ball hit him squarely in the hands but instead of a clean catch, Thompson’s knee came up and jarred the ball loose. He shook his had and looked at his hands as if they had deceived him as he made his way to the sideline.
A couple of moments later, he was joined on the sideline by Tebow, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner. Thompson didn’t make excuses but he did tell Tebow to give him another chance.
“I said come back at me and he said ‘I gotcha,’” said Thompson.
On their first play back on the field together, Tebow called the identical route with Thompson working down the left sideline against Pierre-Louis with Wright once again in one-high safety coverage.
Once again the ball was thrown perfectly. Once again Thompson accelerated so easily and quickly that he blew past Pierre-Louis, too quick for Wright to get there in time.
There was no lapse in concentration when the ball arrived. Thompson waited until the ball was safely tucked away in the end zone to celebrate his second long touchdown of the day, this one a 50-yarder.
On the first offensive series of Saturday’s two-hour scrimmage, the last one for the Florida Gators before next Saturday’s Orange and Blue Debut at The Swamp, Thompson blew by Joe Haden over on the right side and it was like Haden wasn’t even there.
Again, the shift from fast to warp speed was so smooth and so instantaneous that Wright couldn’t get there in time to help. It was a 40-yard touchdown pass from Tebow that looked like a couple of kids playing pitch and catch in the backyard it was so easy.
This was Deonte Thompson’s day to shine. It felt just like the old days when he was making a big name for himself torching any defensive back that dared to try to stop him and that quick-score Glades Central passing game.
“I had a nice day today,” he said with a grin. “I just felt nice and Tebow and I had it going. He was throwing it right there where it needed to be all day.”
Thompson and Tebow connected four times for 122 yards and those two touchdowns. It was the kind of performance that caught the eye of Coach Urban Meyer, who was looking for energy and positive production from his team.
“He [Thompson] laid one on the ground,” said Meyer. “He had a bomb for a touchdown but he came right back and that’s the typical young player.”
Thompson might be the typical young player in respect to age and experience, but in terms of speed, he’s not your typical wide receiver. When he’s on the field, defenses have to lay off because he can get deep so quickly and almost so effortlessly.
He’s already looking forward to the fall when Jeff Demps (ran a 10.17 100 meters at the Florida Relays Friday, second fastest time in history by a high school sprinter) arrives to join Florida’s already impressive arsenal of fast, explosive backs and receivers.
“We’re almost a track team out here,” said Thompson. “Me, Demps, Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy and Chris Rainey … that’s some speed. That’s some real speed.”
* * *
Thompson wasn’t the only young guy that showed up big Saturday. Matt Patchan seemed to spend the day in the backfield. He had two sacks and harassed Tebow, Cameron Newon and Johnny Brantley into at least six bad throws.
Lined up on the left side three straight plays against right tackle Jason Watkins, Patchan was already on Watkins’ hip before Watkins could plant his right foot on the drop step. Watkins started 13 games as a fourth year junior in 2007 and he rarely gave up a sack and that was against some of the best defensive linemen in the Southeastern Conference.
In 2007, Patchan was playing high school football for Seffner Armwood in the Tampa metro area where he was considered one of the best offensive linemen in the country. Since he’s been at Florida, he’s moved over to defense and he’s done what Mike Pouncey did last fall when he switched from offense to defense, which is to energize the entire defensive line with his enthusiastic play.
“We had to move a backup offensive center to get energy for our offensive line [last year],” said Meyer. “You shouldn’t have to do that. A true freshman offensive center we had to move to the defensive line and that tells you how bad we were at that position. I don’t see that right now. Patchan’s bringing a lot of that to the table.”
Patchan wasn’t the only young defensive lineman to show up big. Sophomore Carlos Dunlap got lined up in a variety of positions. He played as an end on both the strong and weak sides, did some time at tackle and moved up and down the line as a standup lineman, creating havoc wherever he was the moment the ball was snapped. Another freshman defensive end, Earl Okine, got a piece of a Tebow pass, batted one Cameron Newton pass in the air, and got pressure twice on Brantley. Third year sophomore tackle Lawrence Marsh forced Newton into a bad pitch that sophomore end Duke Lemmens recovered. Third year sophomore Terron Sanders got a couple of sacks.
* * *
This was also a coming out party of sorts for Mon Williams. Williams tore his ACL the first day of spring practice in 2007. Proclaimed the go-to guy at tailback by Meyer prior to the start of last year’s spring fling, Williams had surgery and spent the 2007 season rehabbing. He had been running rather tentatively all spring until Friday’s practice when he started showing signs that he was back to the Mon Williams that was one of the most highly recruited tailbacks in the country as a high school star in Texas.
Then came Saturday’s scrimmage when he became a between the tackles workhorse. He finished the day with 16 carries and 83 yards and at least 60 percent of his yardage came after the first contact. His longest carry of the day was good for 11 yards so the storyline of his Saturday scrimmage was consistency.
“Mon Williams was officially welcomed back to Florida football,” said Meyer. “He ran really hard today. One stretch I think we gave him the ball about 10 straight plays.”
Williams wasn’t the only tailback that came up big. Kestahn Moore finished with 71 yards on seven carries including a 39-yard run when he hit the hole off left tackle, cut to the sidelines and then turned it into a sprint before he was knocked out of bounds by two players that had the angle.
Chris Rainey had 11 carries for 60 yards including runs of 13 and 23 yards that had some highlight reel material in them, but it was a two-yard run on a fourth and two at the 42 that sent his teammates swarming to pick him up off the turf.
Not exactly your prototypical inside runner at 5-9 and 176 pounds, Rainey broke a tackle in the backfield, stepped through another tackle at the line of scrimmage and then fought his way to the 40 for a first down that had Tim Tebow and the entire offense rushing to the pile to congratulate the little guy on such a tough, determined run.
Even though the stats (10 carries, 17 yards) don’t show it, Emmanuel Moody had a good day. He took 13 yards in losses on three carries due to bad pitches or no blocking on option plays. He also got four carries in short yardage situations when the line was stacked. Moody had impressive runs of eight, six and six yards. On the eight-yard run, he cut back and only an ankle grab kept him from breaking into the secondary.
It was improved work on the parts of the running backs, but still not everything Meyer is looking for.
“The expectation level I have for those guys because their talent is so high so we still don’t have that guy that you turn around and hand him the ball consistently,” said Meyer. “What I think we are is a lot of talented guys but they have to improve a little bit more. The expectation level I have is so high. I expect them to be no different than our receivers. If we get to where we want to get I think our tight ends will be some of the best in the SEC. I think our receivers will be some of the best in the SEC … our quarterback [Heisman Trophy winner]. How about backs? I don’t know but they should be.”
* * *
The offensive line took a couple of hits when Mike Pouncey went down with an ankle sprain and Carl Johnson dislocated a thumb, but there were bright spots with young guys like Corey Hobbs, Jim Barrie and James Wilson. Wilson, who was considered the top high school offensive lineman in the country as a high school senior, is starting to look the part. He’s still got sore knees from two surgeries, but now that he’s getting his reps, he’s feeling like football is fun again.
“I’m feeling good … feeling great,” he said. “I’m having a lot of fun again.”
He had talked of transferring to Wake Forest before spring practice. The Demon Deacons will have to do without James Wilson, however. He’s a Gator and happy to say he’ll be in orange and blue in the fall thanks to supportive teammates that wouldn’t give up on him when he was so depressed because of knee injuries that forced him to sit a year of football for the first time in his life.
“It got really frustrating toward the middle [of last season],” he said. “Everything looked good on the surface but deep down I was getting depressed. Now I’m able to get out here and hit people and throw people down like I used to and that feels good. This is so much fun. I really love it.”
And he loves being a Gator. Asked if he’s happy he will be a Gator in the fall, Wilson responded, “Definitely. I know over the summer I’ll get my knee 100 percent and I’ll be good to go in the fall. It’s awesome and this is where I want to be.”
* * *
For Carl Moore, Saturday was a breakthrough day. He caught six passes for 68 yards and a touchdown, but for the first time all spring he felt he knew what he was doing and where he is supposed to be at all times. He’s spent most of the spring trying to learn an offense that is many times more complicated than the one he ran in junior college last year, where he was a first team All-American wide receiver.
“In junior college I didn’t have to think at all,” he said. “We had maybe 10 plays and that’s all and you just ran the play that was called no matter what you see. You run a play now and it looks cover two but it’s not cover two. It’s really cover one man. You have to think everything in about three or four seconds and know everything you need to do. Once I adjust it’s going to be good.”
Because he’s spent so much time thinking about where he’s got to go and where he’s supposed to be, he’s been playing at perhaps 80 percent speed all spring. He’s looked like a possession receiver when he knows he has the speed to be a big time playmaker.
“I’m still tentative out there because it’s not [the offense] in my head,” he said. “I’m still thinking out there and trying to read and think everything that I see so it’s still a little difficult but today was better than it’s been all spring.”
* * *
Louis Murphy sat out Saturday’s scrimmage. The senior wide receiver has had to miss practices this spring because of a staph infection that’s now under control and because of a problem with chronic headaches. Meyer said the headaches are now under control, too.
“He’s had headaches since the fall and they found what it was,” said Meyer. “Chronic headaches but they found the problem. Next week I think he’ll be cleared to go.”