Gillisee is one of the three that I said had de committed. He did, but then recommitted yesterday, so we have only lost two. One, Nick Kasa, is gone, the other, Greg Reid from Georgia, may yet be a Gator. Gaterz, Rainey got a redshirt last year so he was a redshirt freshman this year. Terry, your question is a good one that a lot of Gators wonder also. So far we've had trouble getting that kind of running back. Moody seems to be in that mold but he really didn't get a lot of playing time this year. A lot people wonder why. On the other had in all the games after the Ole Miss loss I believe the Gators averaged over 200 yards a game rushing. So I don't know were we go with running backs.
Richardson is visiting Tennessee on the weekend of the 30th. The last weekend before signing day is shaping up to be one of upmost importance for the Vols. Here's a sampling of who is scheduled to be in Knoxville that weekend. Marcus Hall 5* OT Marlon Brown 5* WR Orson Charles 4* TE Randall Carrol 4* WR Chad Bumphis 4* WR Many of these guys have pledged to visit since Kiffin and staff have been on the road. Any and all would be huge gets for Tennessee. I would like to see some big-time DTs on that list but I'd be happy if they landed a few of those guys.
Bill, I think you are right, Gator running game has been very effective at the collegiate level. But I don't think kids like the one I mentioned would/should go to UF as they are more suited to a different style of running game. Plus I doubt if any Gator RB under Meyer will make a NFL starting RB. They will all likely be Wes Welker type of Slot recievers...not a bad position. They are extremely fast like Welker (who btw was a RB in HS) but lack the size to be RB's in the NFL. On the flip side a QB like Terrell Pryor would have been foolish to go to Notre Dame, he would not have fit the Patriots offense that Charlie runs. He and other "athletic" QB's are better suited to teams that run a Zone Read type of spread. Terry
I can't disagree Terry. I do remain hopeful that we might get one of those stud running backs but so far no go. When Tebow leaves after next year and Brantley takes over at QB it might be that we need a bigger running back. Only time will tell. In the meantime I would expect much of the same next year with Rainy, Demps and Moody all getting time and yards, along with Tebow of course.
I'd be tempted to speculate how the Gator offense would look with Brantley at QB instead of bruiser like Tebow, but then Alex Smith is more like Brantley in body type and he did pretty well at Utah.
Terry, you have always been a gentleman and a scholar, feel free to speculate all you want. In fact I'm curious about your thoughts, it's a topic that has run though my mind a lot also.
What Terry may be speculating about is what I have been wondering about when I post "How good is Tebow?" I really don't think the impact of this guy can be underestimated. He is a bona fide run threat whose physical play wears down the defense over the course of the game. I watched dang near every game Florida played this year and saw time after time in which his biggest impact was in the 3rd qtr to early 4th qtr. He's quick enough to beat the end and strong enough to take on the LB.. the safety has to respect that... It leaves a whole lot of room for those quick darters that Urban is bringing on the angle from the slot. The counter trey thing that Florida runs, and runs, and runs is a thing of beauty. You can stop it 4 out of 5 times (although unlikely), but that 5th time will go big... and a rather large reason that keeps college defenses from over-pursuit is Tebow.. they can't cheat and he's the reason. Alex Smith did do well at Utah but it took a while. Tebow hit the ground running from Day 1.
By the way, if you'd like to read a very good article from a great football blog about Urban's offense... Check out the article here.
Guys UF is recruiting in Scout's top-100 5 Stars Xavier Nixon at #5 - commit Jelani Jenkins at #7 - alledged to be a UF silent Gary Brown at #9 - commit Trent Richardson at #13 - most likely to Alabama Marlon Brown at #28 - probably UT or UGa Andre Debose at #30 - commit Orson Charles at #45 - hopefully he understands UF has one scholarship TE who's probably one more and done to the NFL Dre Kirkpatrick at #50 - seems to be pretty solid to Alabama 4 Stars Greg Reid at #56 - who knows? Hopefully UF but UGa depth chart is more appealing Jon Bostic at #60 - commit Nu'keese Richardson at #6 - commit1 Jamaal Berry at #69 - tOSU commit but seems momma wants him in Florida Nick Alajajian at #70 - commit Jawanza Starling at #71 - see Greg Reid re UGa depth chart advantage Jarvis Jones at #72 - was thought to be a UF lean (even a silent) at one time but seems Texas and UGa may be favorites. Hopefully, Spike's departure to the NFL will bring him to UF http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=4&pid=88&yr=2009
Great read on Tennessee recruiting: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3835807&name=feldman_bruce Supposedly, it's a done deal that Thompson (LB coach at Bama and top recruiter) will be joining the Tennessee staff.
I hear UT landed Bama's LB coach. Not only is he a damned fine coach, but he is one heck of a recruiter. He had finally opened up the Mobile area to the Tide. If true, that is a HUGE land for the Vols. That is fast becoming the 'All-Star STaff' of college football.
Gives UF the follwoing defense returning in 2009: Rushing Defense #15 105.43 ypg Pass Efficiency Defense #3 96.76 Pass Defense #20 179.86 ypg Total Defense #9 285.29 ypg Scoring Defense #4 12.93 ppg BTW, I see that Trent Richardson's primary recruiting contact is Lance Thomas, who's now headed to UT. Maybe .... this will give Trent a reason to look more closely to UF. Of course, Alabama lost Coffey to the NFL so the two probably just offset one another.
Gaterz, I saw that defense coming vs.Oklahoma although it was much better than I even thought it would be. The defense was dominant all year and the fact that all return....amazing to say that.... gives Tebow and the offense a great chance to lead UF to a repeat. Defense does indeed win championships.
Yeah, maybe.....But then again, considering Richardson is reportedly visiting Tennessee on Jan. 30th according to Scout, I would guess it gives UT a better shot at landing him especially considering he had the visit scheduled before Thompson was announced.
-15 and snowing in South Bend this morning. This should help the Irish finish strong in recruiting 8)
LOL ... sounds like Saban was set up by Thompson!!!! I bet that has Nick pretty miffed: http://blog.al.com/rapsheet/2009/01/trent_richardson_on_lance_thom.html Gotta love recruting. I'm still wondering who Meyer's going to steal from ND, this year??! :wink:
I still think any RB with NFL aspirations, and don't they all, would not be very well prepared for the NFL at UF. Alabama, Georgia, and the old Tenn offense would prepare them for the NFL. Now if you are 5'9" or smaller and 170 and run a 4.3 40 then the current way UF runs the ball and uses players like that you would have a lot of fun.
Well .... four years ago, many many folks were saying Urban Meyer's offense would NEVER work in the SEC and against BCS competition. I guess we'll see about his offense producing NFL RBs. Gotta like these ypc averages against the #2 schedule in 2008 Code: Harvin,Percy 70 668 8 660 9.428571429 Rainey,Chris 84 673 21 652 7.761904762 Demps,Jeffrey 78 621 16 605 7.756410256 Moody,Emmanuel 58 424 7 417 7.189655172 Moore,Kestahn 29 147 5 142 4.896551724 James,Brandon 14 65 6 59 4.214285714