Gators are ready
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:13 am
For the third straight Thursday, Urban Meyer left practice feeling very good about his football team. As the top ranked Florida Gators finish up their preparation for Tennessee on Saturday (3:30 p.m., Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, CBS), Meyer knows he has a team that understands how to get ready for a ball game.
“It’s been a mature group,” Meyer said after Thursday’s practice. On the Thursdays before the Charleston Southern and Troy games, Meyer was also very complimentary of the way the Gators had gone about practice and the mental preparation it takes to play a game.
The Gators had what Meyer termed a “sloppy” practice Tuesday and while Wednesday’s practice was an improvement, there were still a few rough edges that had to be dealt with Thursday. The sloppy practices had everything to do with the multiple looks Tennessee’s defense gives and nothing to do with players dogging it or coming to practice unprepared to put in a hard day of work.
“It was very sloppy on Tuesday, not so much because of our players but because of the looks,” Meyer said. “They give you a lot of looks but Wednesday was cleaner and it was real clean today.”
Meyer got the clean practice he was looking for Thursday and declared his ball club ready to go.
“We had a great day today and we just beat the weather so we had a great day today,” Meyer said. “We’re really ready. We have a saying around here that preparation stops when the foot hits the ball so we’ve got a great day coming tomorrow but our players are ready.”
WELL-PREPARED WIDE RECEIVERS: On opening weekend in the NFL, Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy both caught touchdown passes and Bubba Caldwell got the start for the Cincinnati Bengals. Six Gator receivers have been drafted since the April 2006 draft, which is more than Southern Cal and Tennessee combined in the same period.
Apparently Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin hasn’t checked the record because earlier in the week he commented that wide receivers want to go someplace [like Tennessee] where they prepare players for the NFL, unlike playing in an office like Florida’s, which runs from the spread.
“It’s just amazing what I hear people say about the spread offense and wide receiver play,” Meyer said. “It’s absolutely amazing what’s being said. We’re very proud of the wide receivers we have starting in the NFL and playing very well because Coach G (Billy Gonzales) trains them so well. CI (Cornelius Ingram) would have been [starting] if he didn’t hurt his knee because they’re all well trained and they’re great kids. We’re very proud of them.”
DEBOSE SURGERY: Freshman wide receiver Andre Debose had surgery Thursday to repair a torn hamstring tendon in his left thigh. The surgery was performed by Dr. Pete Indelicato and rehab is expected to take four to six months.
Debose was expected to contribute heavily in his freshman year but the hamstring tear, which took place in the state track meet back in May, never healed. Meyer said it’s disappointing that Debose won’t be able to play this season.
“It’s real disappointing because I think he’s a great player,” Meyer said. “I think he has great skill. If ever there is a young player who could come in and play he’d be one of them.”
Now the rehab process begins and that is both a physical and mental process. Meyer does expect Debose to handle it all very well.
“It’s not the injury to the athlete that matters,” Meyer said. “It’s the reaction to the injury. We don’t have a player on our team that hasn’t been banged up or hurt. That’s part of the game. It’s the reaction. You go in the tank, you fall behind in school and act like you’re miserable and don’t take advantage of the opportunity to get bigger and stronger. That’s the reaction. The injury is the injury. He’ll be fine.”
INJURY REPORT: Meyer said that nose tackle Lawrence Marsh “is a go” for Tennessee and that freshman linebacker Jelani Jenkins “could help us with special teams.” Both Marsh and Jenkins have been slowed by high ankle sprains.
Getting Marsh back will be a real plus against Tennessee’s running game even though the Gators have plenty of capable players at nose tackle.
“You’ve Omar Hunter, and Brandon Antwine and Troy Epps so you’ve got some bodies in there but Marsh is our best nose guard,” Meyer said.
Senior wide receiver Carl Moore is still rehabbing his back injury and no decision has been made yet whether he will be able to play this season. Cornerback Jeremy Brown had a similar injury but he’s further along in the rehabilitation process.
“He’s getting a little better,” Meyer said. “He’s a little further ahead [of Moore]. I’m hearing a couple of weeks he’s going to start going again.”
“It’s been a mature group,” Meyer said after Thursday’s practice. On the Thursdays before the Charleston Southern and Troy games, Meyer was also very complimentary of the way the Gators had gone about practice and the mental preparation it takes to play a game.
The Gators had what Meyer termed a “sloppy” practice Tuesday and while Wednesday’s practice was an improvement, there were still a few rough edges that had to be dealt with Thursday. The sloppy practices had everything to do with the multiple looks Tennessee’s defense gives and nothing to do with players dogging it or coming to practice unprepared to put in a hard day of work.
“It was very sloppy on Tuesday, not so much because of our players but because of the looks,” Meyer said. “They give you a lot of looks but Wednesday was cleaner and it was real clean today.”
Meyer got the clean practice he was looking for Thursday and declared his ball club ready to go.
“We had a great day today and we just beat the weather so we had a great day today,” Meyer said. “We’re really ready. We have a saying around here that preparation stops when the foot hits the ball so we’ve got a great day coming tomorrow but our players are ready.”
WELL-PREPARED WIDE RECEIVERS: On opening weekend in the NFL, Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy both caught touchdown passes and Bubba Caldwell got the start for the Cincinnati Bengals. Six Gator receivers have been drafted since the April 2006 draft, which is more than Southern Cal and Tennessee combined in the same period.
Apparently Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin hasn’t checked the record because earlier in the week he commented that wide receivers want to go someplace [like Tennessee] where they prepare players for the NFL, unlike playing in an office like Florida’s, which runs from the spread.
“It’s just amazing what I hear people say about the spread offense and wide receiver play,” Meyer said. “It’s absolutely amazing what’s being said. We’re very proud of the wide receivers we have starting in the NFL and playing very well because Coach G (Billy Gonzales) trains them so well. CI (Cornelius Ingram) would have been [starting] if he didn’t hurt his knee because they’re all well trained and they’re great kids. We’re very proud of them.”
DEBOSE SURGERY: Freshman wide receiver Andre Debose had surgery Thursday to repair a torn hamstring tendon in his left thigh. The surgery was performed by Dr. Pete Indelicato and rehab is expected to take four to six months.
Debose was expected to contribute heavily in his freshman year but the hamstring tear, which took place in the state track meet back in May, never healed. Meyer said it’s disappointing that Debose won’t be able to play this season.
“It’s real disappointing because I think he’s a great player,” Meyer said. “I think he has great skill. If ever there is a young player who could come in and play he’d be one of them.”
Now the rehab process begins and that is both a physical and mental process. Meyer does expect Debose to handle it all very well.
“It’s not the injury to the athlete that matters,” Meyer said. “It’s the reaction to the injury. We don’t have a player on our team that hasn’t been banged up or hurt. That’s part of the game. It’s the reaction. You go in the tank, you fall behind in school and act like you’re miserable and don’t take advantage of the opportunity to get bigger and stronger. That’s the reaction. The injury is the injury. He’ll be fine.”
INJURY REPORT: Meyer said that nose tackle Lawrence Marsh “is a go” for Tennessee and that freshman linebacker Jelani Jenkins “could help us with special teams.” Both Marsh and Jenkins have been slowed by high ankle sprains.
Getting Marsh back will be a real plus against Tennessee’s running game even though the Gators have plenty of capable players at nose tackle.
“You’ve Omar Hunter, and Brandon Antwine and Troy Epps so you’ve got some bodies in there but Marsh is our best nose guard,” Meyer said.
Senior wide receiver Carl Moore is still rehabbing his back injury and no decision has been made yet whether he will be able to play this season. Cornerback Jeremy Brown had a similar injury but he’s further along in the rehabilitation process.
“He’s getting a little better,” Meyer said. “He’s a little further ahead [of Moore]. I’m hearing a couple of weeks he’s going to start going again.”