247 Top Position Battles (UM CBs, UF QBs)
Barton Simmons at 247 put together a list of the top position battles in the NCAA going into the season.
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 2:40 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 2:41 PM ^
Good catch, edited
August 16th, 2017 at 2:44 PM ^
Frankly, I don't give a damn.
* "my dear" eliminated for obvious reasons
August 16th, 2017 at 3:44 PM ^
I went to the Jerk store ....
August 16th, 2017 at 4:03 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 4:28 PM ^
and beans?
August 16th, 2017 at 8:08 PM ^
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:02 PM ^
Yeah, I see this as Zaire being not very good rather than Franks being great. And we know Del Rio sucks. I, for one, would love to see UF trot out a freshman quarterback to face a Don Brown defense.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:27 PM ^
I'm torn. The unknown with Franks makes me nervous. I know he has a big arm and a lot of the Florida people on places like r/cfb talk about him in a similar way we do with Peters. So he could be really really good or bomb out.
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 4:15 PM ^
I want their QB who is most likely to chuck a few into our loving arms. That seems like Franks. Zaire could see some snaps, but they'll dumb down his reads early in the season. That is, if it's possible for Nussmeir's offense to be any dumber.
August 16th, 2017 at 4:24 PM ^
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 2:46 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 2:55 PM ^
I think someone accidently posted the 2016 twitter announcement for Del Rio.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:41 PM ^
I read the same thing, which said that Both Franks and Zaire are the better Talent but are both struggling to learn/command the offense
August 16th, 2017 at 2:52 PM ^
I think it was from a local beat writer for UF but IIRC, Zaire is having a problem grasping the playbook.
August 16th, 2017 at 2:58 PM ^
Florida's whole offense has had trouble grasping the playbook for years now.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:04 PM ^
UF's playbook since Meyer left is the quarterback crumpling to the turf and waiting for the defense to run out and try to win the game...or least keep it close.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:15 PM ^
Which was still good enough to win 3 fo the last 6 SEC East titles.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:22 PM ^
And just how sad is that for a conference that is universally touted as the best in the business?
August 16th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
*Looks at Big Ten West*
Nothing to see here, folks.
August 16th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
That's only one team. Georgia has been much better than Nebraska and Iowa.
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
Oh that's so magical.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:11 PM ^
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:13 PM ^
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
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.
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:37 PM ^
ND lost games becuase they refused to run the ball in a hurricane, not because their 2nd round QB couldn't pass. They had plenty of talent but the coaching staff was terible.
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:55 PM ^
the coaching during that nc state game will forever be considered among the worst
August 16th, 2017 at 5:16 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 8:07 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^
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.
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.
August 16th, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
Every position is up for grabs, and I don't think that's simply a Harbaugh platitude. We don't know how practice is going, if Speight is plateauing, if Pep changes the equation at all, etc.
I'd be surprised if O'Korn got the job, but not shocked.
August 17th, 2017 at 5:37 AM ^
If JOK is named the starter, the only thing you will see around here is: Welcome to your new Drupal Website!
August 16th, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
If true I'm not sure to feel about Hill having trouble staying ahead of true freshmen. I mean, he's only a soph himself, but...
We're going to give up some big plays this year.
August 16th, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^
August 16th, 2017 at 3:47 PM ^
He has only been in the program for a year and seemed ok in spot duty last year, so I wouldn't say the book is written on him even if practice rumors are true. But for this season there's a lot of pressure on to develop.
August 16th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^