Truth Takes: Why the Gators Could Win 10 in 2018 - Part 2: Roster

[InstiGATOR1]

Quarterback- B-

Running Backs A+

Receivers A

Tight Ends B

O-Line C

D-Line A (Buck Position Included)

Linebacker B-

Cornerback B+

Safeties C

QB: I think you can say C based on potential. The star gazers should like that the group is composed of two 4 star guys they were elated to see UF get and a 2 star guy that laughed at. So either a "talented" guy wins the job or a guy that beats out two "talented" guys.

RB: I think I would give this group an B+. I am not sure what great depth means at a one position slot. Four RBs are not likely to play. I would say A if Davis had not been injured. I had great hopes for Perine this time last year but both he and Scarlett have not yet shown anything great, maybe it is the OL, but then again Davis ran behind the same OL so maybe it was the RBs.

WR: I would give this group an A-. I like Toney a lot, but he got hurt his first year. I like Cleveland a lot. As I remember one of the transfers had nice production at Mississippi, but the other did little at Ohio State. There is good depth which is a plus in a position where you might put four on the field at once.

TE: C, this group has some talent ala QB, but has shown little yet.

OL: C+ this group is experienced which can be important for an OL in college. I think they may be the surprise group on offense and I may have them rated too low.

DL: I agree with your A rating. This is a good solid group with some experience.

LB: I think I would go with a B here. There is some talent and experience and a bit better depth this time around. I am particularly interested in if David Reese is in better position more this year and what looked like poor speed in the past was really poor positioning. I wonder is Smith might be a breakout player.

CB: I think I would go with A here. Two young experienced guys. I think one of them was a bit down graded by people because he was being compared to another Frosh who was surprisingly ready to play as a rookie.

S: I think I would go with a C+ here. Some experience but not with great play.

Someone talked about comparing one group to the SEC. For your purpose, can UF win 10 games this year, the correct comparison is to the teams on UF's schedule.

 

[Tay Bang]

I love your effort but you grade on a curve. I’d drop everything at least a letter grade.

 

[Gatorbait25]

I'd have the OL , TE and QB lower. QB much lower in particular. Lewis scored a TD two years ago. Outside of that
the TE either haven't played or in the case of Lewis/ Stephens have done next to nothing. I think Pitts can help us
here, but i'm not sure how much PT he gets this season. The one area I think the OP has underrated is safety. I like a combo
of Stewart and Davis. Taylor isn't a terrible option as a third guy here. He isn't very fast,and lacks good ball skills. Nor is he
very athletic, but he is actually pretty good at open field tackling. Which is one of the more important jobs of a safety. Also
Burney could be an option here. Eventually I think he will take someone's job.Whether that is safety, nickel etc.

 

[t-gator]

I'd say qb and linebacker is too high. I might even give the D- line an A+

 

[GatorTruth133]

What kind of grade would you give depth? At DL it's pretty good, WR it's ok...but elsewhere?

Depth

If we haven’t seen too much behind starters I’ll go with C. I could think a group is an A, but C in depth if that makes sense. The starters will be great, but questions if we lose them.

QB: idk. I do think we are better here than most people think. I could be very wrong. Trask is unproven but what I’ve seen he throws well. I don’t penalize Franks as harshly as many with the realization he’s never had a coach or scheme and playing behind that O-Line last year. He made plenty of terrible plays, don’t get me wrong, but re-watching the Michigan and LSU games recently his lack of time on a majority of drop backs didn’t help. If pressed, I’d say C for unproven, with room to grow. Jones is inaccurate as a thrower right now, based on info, but his running ability makes him an asset. I think Trask/Franks will be serviceable. I think Mullen and Co. will get guys open and these guys will get them the ball with YAC ability.

RB: A. We are 4 deep without even mentioning a true freshman with a ridiculous squat.

WR: B+. As I said in Part 1, I think Gonzales will help Hammond and Swain’s drop issues. Massey and Toney can burn, and Damion has size. However, besides Toney (who could be argued as starter), the others have shown inconsistency at best. I think they will be more consistent, but that remains to be seen.

OL: C. Well, some of the depth is experienced, though is wasn’t that great. Some of it is skill, some coaching (as discussed in the OP).

TE: C. Why do I reference a great play by a guy 2 years ago? Because it was phenomenal and shows the guys capabilities. I don’t penalize guys as much if they had Nuss/Nord in charge of development or their offense. I didn’t mention Stephens, but he was decent. Problem is, at least 2 big guys are first year so it’s hard to judge.

DL: A. Being about 3 deep everywhere helps.

LB: C. I’m curious to what Miller and Smith bring. I think aggressiveness will help. But until it does, I will hold this group’s depth as low. I think the top end will do well.

CB: B. I’m counting not being in Nickel for this. CGJ is quality corner depth (opinion he should start with Wilson). Dean sounds like he’s the next good true freshman UF corner. But hopefully we won’t have to know.

S: C. This group is so unproven, I don’t know. Who knows? Maybe Clement can be serviceable transferring to DB like Elijah Williams back in the day.

That’s what I’ve got. Time to get back to work. I tried to factor in a few other comments with this reply. I will get to more later. I know I am being too positive right now, but as I’ve said, I start high.

 

[GatorBart]

but as I’ve said, I start high.

#metoo

 

[Marine1]

I think everyone will be surprised at how hard Scarlett runs and how effective he will be. He had 900 yards as a sophomore splitting touches. The entire backfield group will be impressive. I also think many are shortchanging our WR’s. This is going to be a strength and will make our qbs better.

OL is much better coached and will be improved. They will be good enough that our backfield will be dynamic.

 

[chuckmcphail]

I think everyone will be surprised at how hard Scarlett runs and how effective he will be. He had 900 yards as a sophomore splitting touches. The entire backfield group will be impressive. I also think many are shortchanging our WR’s. This is going to be a strength and will make our qbs better.

OL is much better coached and will be improved. They will be good enough that our backfield will be dynamic.

I think Scarlett is going to ball out this year. He is pissed that he missed all of last year and he just looks like hes pissed off when he runs. Qbs only need to throw 5-10 yds in Mullens office in order to be somewhat productive. .Mullens office success is determined by the OL play. Look back at 06-09, and how many of those OL have started or still starting in the NFL. I think the OL will be "OK" we will see in Knoxville. If they haven't jelled by then, could be a long year for everyone

 

[Ancient Reptile]

Its almost the season. Even I am hoping for a little pumperish change on the team.

RISE! Rise from the ashes.

So the shoe is finally on the other foot. This should restore a little reality. Just bumped into a MSU grad who pointed out that CDM had never won in November. Could that be right? When is our FSU game? Hmmmmmm.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

OL drops everyone on offense down a grade. No amount of skill position talent can overcome a bad OL.
Depth another grade. Ones may be able to hang but when the injury bug hits we are in a world of shyt.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

So the shoe is finally on the other foot. This should restore a little reality. Just bumped into a MSU grad who pointed out that CDM had never won in November. Could that be right? When is our FSU game? Hmmmmmm.

That was the liquor speaking.

You know Im a pumper on game day anyway.

Hell I dont think he won much in October either. He was terrible in Nov but he won a few of the Egg Bowls, but only about half, even against the interim coach who was on probation.

 

[Gator Fever]

Depth



QB: idk. I do think we are better here than most people think. I could be very wrong. Trask is unproven but what I’ve seen he throws well. I don’t penalize Franks as harshly as many with the realization he’s never had a coach or scheme and playing behind that O-Line last year. He made plenty of terrible plays, don’t get me wrong, but re-watching the Michigan and LSU games recently his lack of time on a majority of drop backs didn’t help. If pressed, I’d say C for unproven, with room to grow. Jones is inaccurate as a thrower right now, based on info, but his running ability makes him an asset. I think Trask/Franks will be serviceable. I think Mullen and Co. will get guys open and these guys will get them the ball with YAC ability.

Got to give people having faith credit and hope this situation changes but I would like to have what you are smoking with this statement as Franks showed he is totally lost when under some pressure and hearing some things from camp I don't think he magically gained a bunch of field awareness all at once. I think Franks is probably below serviceable level and Trask could possible be a better option if he doesn't do the stupid stuff Franks does when under pressure but we are pretty sure he is very limited. Jones is a true freshman who struggles passing now like you say.

 

[rogdochar]

So the shoe is finally on the other foot.

Swonkey has 4 shoes, but we'd prefer to give him one big shoo.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

OL drops everyone on offense down a grade. No amount of skill position talent can overcome a bad OL.
Depth another grade. Ones may be able to hang but when the injury bug hits we are in a world of shyt.

Here is the problem with this claim, 6.7 yards per carry. That is the yardage Malik Davis was able to gain on an aveage run behind this OL until hurt. After the UTn game where he broke out with a big run, but a bonehead fumble, he had consecutive games where he was not just coming in after the opposing DL was tired:

at UK: 21 carries, 93 yards, 4.4 yards per carry
Vandy: 17 carries, 124 yards, 7.3 yards per carry
LSU: 14 carries, 90 yards, 6.4 yards per carry
aTm: 18 carries, 97 yards, 5.4 yards per carry

That is a representative third of UF's schedule not just games against either the easiest or toughest opponents. These total to 404 yards on 70 carries for 5.8 yards per carry. (BTW, for a season this would work out to 1212 yards on 210 carries) Heck he only had 4 carries against UGa before being hurt, but he averaged 5.0 yard per carry in those 4 carries.

So my point is that one of UF's RB was able to run against behind UF's OL last year. This makes me think the OL might have been better than many perceive and UF's other RBs not as good as some people think.

 

[lagator]

Swonkey has 4 shoes, but we'd prefer to give him one big shoo.

You know what they say, don't shoo the messenger.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

So my point is that one of UF's RB was able to run against behind UF's OL last year. This makes me think the OL might have been better than many perceive and UF's other RBs not as good as some people think.

They were improved in run blocking generally, though inconsistent. I don't know how much we can extrapolate from that however. This is a drastically different system they will be running. Some of the reach blocks and pulls that Mullen wants are going going to be difficult for some of our less athletic guys

 

[Ancient Reptile]

They were improved in run blocking generally, though inconsistent. I don't know how much we can extrapolate from that however. This is a drastically different system they will be running. Some of the reach blocks and pulls that Mullen wants are going going to be difficult for some of our less athletic guys

So you might go back to liking athletic linemen?

 

[Swamp Donkey]

So you might go back to liking athletic linemen?

The players have to fit the system. I like roadgraders but if the play calls for the tackle to pull to the sideline and block a DB on a screen, Fred Johnson just isn't going to get the job done.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Here is the problem with this claim, 6.7 yards per carry. That is the yardage Malik Davis was able to gain on an aveage run behind this OL until hurt. After the UTn game where he broke out with a big run, but a bonehead fumble, he had consecutive games where he was not just coming in after the opposing DL was tired:

at UK: 21 carries, 93 yards, 4.4 yards per carry
Vandy: 17 carries, 124 yards, 7.3 yards per carry
LSU: 14 carries, 90 yards, 6.4 yards per carry
aTm: 18 carries, 97 yards, 5.4 yards per carry

That is a representative third of UF's schedule not just games against either the easiest or toughest opponents. These total to 404 yards on 70 carries for 5.8 yards per carry. (BTW, for a season this would work out to 1212 yards on 210 carries) Heck he only had 4 carries against UGa before being hurt, but he averaged 5.0 yard per carry in those 4 carries.

So my point is that one of UF's RB was able to run against behind UF's OL last year. This makes me think the OL might have been better than many perceive and UF's other RBs not as good as some people think.

OK