I was at the kickoff party last night at O'Boys in Winter Park; here's what took place:
For some reason Brady Ackerman was unable to make it, but in his place were Jeremy Fowler from the Orlando Sentinel and Shane Matthews as the featured speaker.
Fowler opened, and had the following to say: Ryan Stamper's message to the Central Florida Gator Club was that he and his teammates are ready to play all year; Coach Meyer got a good chuckle out of Matt Patchan's comment on Lane Kiffin being a "bozo", we play Miami again in 2013, we may see Joe Haden taking snaps on offense in the upcoming Charleston Southern game, Andre Debose may play later this year if it's decided that he won't need surgery (at the present time he's having difficulty making cuts on the field on offensive plays), even though Patchan will be a starter on the offensive line he'd also like to see play on the defensive line rotation, Jaye Howard has nailed down a starting slot on the D-line, Janoris Jenkins may sit out Saturday's game on suspension for that fight this past spring (but that has yet to be confirmed), and in his opinion Tim Tebow will win a second Heisman.
Shane Matthews then took the mike. He's presently coaching at the high-school level, but also helps run a quarterback camp in Jacksonville. Contrary to what the rumor-mongers and the bloggers have been saying, he and Coach Meyer get along well (he also expressed his dismay at the media for twisting facts, especially what he says on his radio show) - and he also stated that Florida is now Meyer's dream job. He also talked about his recruitment as a high-schooler; he grew up an Ole Miss fan but in the end wound up coming to Florida (he also noted that his mother did not want him to commit to that school out west!) and said that "dreams" do change. He noted how The Swamp started evolving into what it is today during the early 90's at the onset of the Spurrier years, and what was started by SOS way back when laid down the foundation for what Florida football is today. Though he spent considerable time in the NFL with teams such as Chicago, Washington, Carolina and finally Miami, he still prefers the college game to the pros.
He was also very praiseworthy of both Tim Tebow and Johnny Brantley; when he, Kerwin Bell and Danny Wuerffel ran the BMW Passing Academy in Ocala both Tim and Johnny were campers there. In his opinion Tebow is the greatest college player he's seen, but he also noted that Johnny Brantley is one of the best pure passers and has future NFL potential. He spoke well of new QB coach Scot Loeffler; he likes what he's done so far in working with Tebow and Brantley, and believes he'll help improve Tebow's mechanics. He also noted that we may see the hurry-up offense at times this year as well as Tebow taking snaps under center on occasion.
He has a concern about the depth of our wide recievers on the roster right now, but on a side note he thinks Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey are ideal running backs for the system currently in place at UF.
As far as recruiting goes, he really didn't delve into that area very much but stated that the team out west is way behind UF, and that Florida is in good shape for the next 2-3 years.
As far as our rivals and his predictions, Shane did have this to day:
- He thinks we'll beat LSU in Baton Rouge, but that we need to watch out for Arkansas, especially with their transfer QB in from Texas.
- When asked about Mississippi State, he thinks we'll "hammer" them in Starkville.
- As far as his favorite venue to play on the road, it was LSU.
- He predicts a rematch of Florida-Bama in Atlanta for the SEC Championship, and thinks we'll be in Pasadena come January.
