247 Top Position Battles (UM CBs, UF QBs)

Submitted by Prince_of_Nachos on

Barton Simmons at 247 put together a list of the top position battles in the NCAA going into the season.

http://michigan.247sports.com/Gallery/Barton-Simmons-11-most-important-undecided-position-battles-106200158

Usually these are click bait type articles, but this one has some interesting takes.

1) Lists the Michigan cornerback battle, and says that Long has already locked down a spot while Hill is battling Ambry Thomas, Washington, and Watson.

2) Lists the battle for fourth UF DB (could be safety or cornerback). Sounds like they have several talented and at least somewhat experienced options.

3) Lists the UF QB battle. Barton says he's very surprised to list this, but Franks may legitametly be overtaking Zaire. 

corundum

August 16th, 2017 at 2:45 PM ^

On #2: They had Marcell Harris, a starting safety, go down with an achilles at the beginning of camp. This might be a battle to replace him.

 

I've heard that Franks is the starter and Zaire might actually be behind Del Rio as well. Zaire has really only had one good game his entire career, so getting passed over for the starting spot should surprise no one.

corundum

August 16th, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^

I think Franks will be a good QB same as Peters. I surely don't think either would have a great day going up against a front 7 like Michigan will be trotting out, especially in a first career start. I might be a homer, but I just don't see this game being that competitve. 27-13 sounds about right to me.

Sione For Prez

August 16th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^

Is the offense anemic because of poor scheme or lack of quarterback play? I know Nussmeier is the OC so there will be limitations. But Nussmeier's first year at Florida in 2015 they were pretty good offensively with Redshirt Freshman Will Grier before his suspension. That included a game against #3 Ole Miss where Grier threw for 300 and 4 TD in a 38-10 route.

I do not expect to lose this game but my biggest concern heading into it is the corners.

ijohnb

August 17th, 2017 at 8:17 AM ^

of this discussion makes me wonder if other SEC teams are going to start to have trouble recruiting players that don't get offers from Alabama.  The prize for winning the SEC East is getting face-pounded into irrelevance by Bama in the SEC title game.  That may be a hard-pitch for a lot of schools.

stephenrjking

August 16th, 2017 at 3:38 PM ^

If this is true (big if), that eliminates his biggest advantage over a talented freshman. If neither of them have true command of the offense, why not go with the young hotshot? 

The idea of Don Brown facing a QB who doesn't have years of experience making reads is an enticing thought.

lhglrkwg

August 16th, 2017 at 3:19 PM ^

because they weren't in a good position to start and this isn't like a JOK-Speight-Peters battle. This is probably closer to a Sheridan-Threet battle. I feel quite good that whoever starts for QB at UF is going to look quite lost on 9/2 and will probably spend much of the game running for his life

LKLIII

August 16th, 2017 at 3:55 PM ^

Which will hopefully mitigate our own young secondary issues.  If the Florida QB doesn't have the time or skill to get the ball out to open receivers, those blown coverages & getting burned by the WRs won't nearly matter so much.

Hopefully our backfield is strong and in the hip pocket of the Florida WRs.  But in the likely event that they aren't, I'll settle for a bunch of frustriated Florida fans yelling at their televisions as the QB misses wide open WRs because he's throwing ducks or running for his life.

1VaBlue1

August 16th, 2017 at 3:25 PM ^

So the QB transfer that was supposed to be the savior of UF football, is losing the 'battle'?  Well, I mean, this is the same person that couldn't beat out the starter on a 4-8 team.  So, yeah...  Color me not shocked.

befuggled

August 16th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^

They scored 27 or more points in all but two of their losses. One of the two losses where the offense was a problem was against Stanford and the other was NC State in the hurricane.

Not saying their offense was all that great but it was respectable. With a little more defense they would likely have been a marginal bowl team.

Bambi

August 16th, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^

Simmon's article and chatter from camp point towards Zaire losing the job more than anyone else winning it.

Most places are pegging Franks as the starter now but this article said Del Rio had the best showing in the last scrimmage. If that's the case and he ends up being the best option, that's great news for Michigan. He is what he is, and that's not s good QB

LKLIII

August 16th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^

In the Florida practice notes from yesterday (the 15th), Del Rio was working with the 1's.  The Florida poster responses were pretty funny.  My favorite was:  "Triggered."

I don't know if that even means much right now.  Are we still splitting snaps with the 1's between Speight/JOK/Peters?  At some point you'd think there is more utility in just having the clear starter eat up the lion's share of the snaps, especially w/ half of the OL being new and a super young WR corps.

At any rate, even if we are still splitting snaps, it sounds like the Florida QB battle is legit. Basically to determine "who is the least bad."  And the longer that goes on, whoever does have the start against Doc Blitz, Gary & Co at Jerryworld will be at a disadvantage because they didn't lock down the job quickly to get more snaps w/ the first team prior to the game.

 

 

stephenrjking

August 16th, 2017 at 4:11 PM ^

JOK and Speight were taking turns with the 1s as of last week, no idea if that's still the case. It doesn't mean Del Rio is neck-and-neck for the role (nobody thinks O'Korn has any real shot) but if it means that things aren't so clear-cut that they can just permanently drop Del Rio down then cool for us, I guess. 

 

CarrIsMyHomeboy

August 16th, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^

I'm surprised the Franks/Zaire/Del Rio but is getting all of the focus. There's been precious little said about the M corners. Now I don't know Barton's insider credibility on this, but if he's right about Long, then we just learned something important.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

August 16th, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^

The spring chatter was that (based on toughness complaints) *maybe* Hill is too frail or ball-shy for Big Ten football. If true, and if his other ball skills are as expected, then it would be easy to overestimate concern about him battling Amber. Of course, Amby is pretty slight, which certainly doesn't fit this hypothesis, though sometimes the slightest ones are plenty physical.