McElwain highlights couple standout groups from first day
Florida coach Jim McElwain pinpointed some areas of the team he was really pleased with following the team's first fall practices.
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida held its first fall practices on Thursday, and coach
Jim McElwain came away impressed with what he saw, particularly from the first session of the day with the team's newcomers.
That group stood out right away from a physical standpoint, with a trio of towering defensive linemen and six very well-put-together freshmen defensive backs.
"You know what, we did pretty darned good in recruiting, guys," McElwain said. "I really feel without naming guys that it was really a good-looking crew. I like the way that they hustled. I liked the way that they didn't get affected by the chaos that's created in our practice plan."
The third-year coach singled out the defensive backs in particular for how they looked.
"Those defensive backs look like they belong," he said. "We've got a lot of camp left, but as far as walking off the bus, those guys are going to be OK. That's a good thing, now we've got to teach them what to do and get them comfortable in everything that we throw at them."
In the second session of the day with the veterans practicing, things got off to a little bit of a rocky start in the passing game.
Veterans
Malik Zaire and Luke Del Rio and redshirt freshman
Feleipe Franks threw in that practice and sailed several throws early on throwing to receivers against air. But they apparently settled in after the media left the open viewing portions.
"It was a little shaky to begin with," McElwain said. "You could tell some of the nerves, and yet as the practice wore on I thought we were very accurate in where we were going with the football. There were some big plays made on the outside, and that's a good thing, so we've just got to continue that moving forward."
McElwain also provided an initial assessment of Zaire in his first practice with the Gators.
"He does really have some good feet," the coach said. "He's got some real good pocket awareness. When it did break down, or I shouldn't say as much break down as when the defense was not in their pass rush lanes, he actually made them pay a little bit."
Finally, McElwain highlighted a position group he was impressed with in the veteran practice.
Ironically, it's one of the few units with the veterans that is made up entirely of sophomores.
"I liked what we got out of that linebacker crew, especially when we had (
Kylan Johnson) at nickel today working with (David Reese) and (
Vosean Joseph) in there," McElwain said. "I really felt there was kind of a sense of calm that here's some guys that have played a lot of ball."