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Florida Gator Faithful: Don't Point Fingers at John Brantley
- Thread starter Jack&Dew
- Start date
mjfan23
VIP Member
Well said article.
Is brantley been frustrating to watch? Yes... But thats on the coaching staff. I simply cannot stand Addazio at this point. He needs to go, the offense needs to adjust to the weapons we have.
Is brantley been frustrating to watch? Yes... But thats on the coaching staff. I simply cannot stand Addazio at this point. He needs to go, the offense needs to adjust to the weapons we have.
Yes--read 'em, along with the other featured pieces...
Thing is, while there are valid points, they ignore some basics that are much discussed elsewhere--like that fact that JB HAS had his chance to lead, AND even to at least SHOW that "rocket arm", "pin point accuracy" etc. we heard so much about (and caught signs of when it "didn't count", like the Spring Game and last year in "garbage time" against teams we were pummeling)--and he hasn't managed either. Worse (and more ominous), as others have pointed out, he has regressed (Escambria'94 talks about this on other threads--in one post I highly recommend here he statistically breaks down JB's personal performance, THEN he places him in the context of where he stands in relation to a long line of Gator QBs: it tells the tale in a stark, unemotional fashion).
Having said all that, I don't "BLAME" JB for anything, really; I hold him RESPONSIBLE for his own performance in specific situations, but even there I see and understand the many factors beyond his control (injuries, dropped passes, misuse in this system, terrible OC, and so on). Perhaps he has been fighting , on his own and the offense's behalf, behind the scenes. We don't know. (Did you read the other pieces featured at Bleacher Report? I've recommended one that MAY shine some light on this)
Up until now, we can only go by what we see--and "what we see" appears to be a passive young man who is not leading so much as going out there and obediently, unquestioningly carrying out the orders, directions, plays and procedures given him in his place as "good soldier in the chain-of-command"--however that really works. Even when that requires him to actually do things he is supposed to be proficient at, he has hardly impressed.
I'm sorry. I don't want to "climb on the kid's back", but those are the situation and events we've all witnessed this season, and while "Gator Quarterback" is a position that can bring glory when you perform and win, it is also "the hot seat" that will make you "the goat" when you do not. Like a lot of things in public life, sports in particular, it isn't always fair.
You're right, but aside from Brantley himself we really didn't/don't have the other weapons for the kind of offense in which Brantley MIGHT have thrived--and we neither recruited those types nor ever actually "adapted the offense to suit him" as was much-promised.
What we've learned we DO have are some multi-skilled athletes that can run a potentially high-powered multi-pronged attack, and at least one of them, Reed, has shown he may be the kind of duel-threat QB that could really make it GO; even Meyer has lately acknowledged that he is rounding into form.
Then there is Driskel on-the-way--and he may be The Real Deal...if Brantley DOES remain the #1 QB, I suppose Driskel may be red-shirted--but if #12 weren't there, it gets interesting. My guess would be they'd make Reed #1, but Driskel would be getting more and more reps as the season wore on. It would be another bumpy, transitional season, I'm not gonna lie to ya, but we might come out the other end right where we ought to and WANT to be: ready to make a Championship-run in 2012.
If Brantley stays, then obviously, either the OFFENSE changes, or we're looking at a repeat performance of 2010--in which case Gator Nation will be in "Lynching-mode" long before the season comes crashing to a close!
I still support Brantley and they need to fire Addazio and retool the offense so that Brantley and the Gator offense can succeed. The coaches should have got for Tyrod Taylor (now with VA Tech) if they wanted a spread QB. They let Tim Tebow air it out. Why not a guy who has a better arm (I heard)?
To be sure: we would have done better in the win-column AND (perhaps MORE important) found out a lot more about what we've got and where we're going if Addazio hadn't been the OC.
Getting him "gone" seems the most important single potential change, clearly.
Getting him "gone" seems the most important single potential change, clearly.
I've stated it before. JB is a nice guy. He can date my daughter. He just can't lead the Gators to more victories than Reed and Burton. It's not his "fault"--the offense needs a mobile running back or a brick wall o-line. Given the situation, the SO/ZR offense is not for JB. You get an A for effort.
Hate to say it (AND also hate to bandy cliches), but in the oft-quoted words of that old Brooklyn Dodger Leo Duroscher, "Nice guys finish last".
Not ALWAYS true, but apt often enough in sports to KEEP it being quoted something like 75 years now...
Some anger and assertiveness would have served JB well. It STILL couldn't hurt, but his window-of-opportunity may have passed: his on-the-field skills appear to have regressed, and the period during which he could have made this team HIS seems to have passed without him having done so.
JB needs to turn to the Dark Side of the Force. Channel that anger. The hatred. Strike down his master and call his own plays.
Something just clicked when I read this: there came a point LAST year when we all came to believe the SAME about Tebow, too (remember "Good Timmy" and "Evil Tebow"? I think mlm @ Alligator Army was the first to come out with this idea, but I and a LOT of others "got it" and ran with it!).
It was in observation of what we saw Tebow himself starting to do in response to being stifled in his OWN way by Addazio's game-planning and play-calling. The difference: at least TT TRIED to break thru' and OUT of it, it seemed.
(Just more evidence that this was and is an ADDAZIO-PROBLEM--and it was already happening LAST season: pretty clear it STARTED when Addazio took over as OC.)
The Zooker
VIP Member
None of our quarterbacks are the answer. That's the hard facts. We don't have the pieces in place to allow Brantley to be a drop back passer. And Reed/Burton are not able to be quarterbacks who can throw 20-30 passes a game while managing it at the same time. Reed/Burton look good as secondary players but I'm not so sure we'd look great with Reed as a full time quarterback. It's a very difficult situation. The coaching staff did not recruit and prepare properly to have Brantley in place and we get our current results. You can throw athletes like Reed/Burton into the mix and get great results. But I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that they could be the full time starters. It's easy to make that assumption when Brantley is doing so poorly. But you have to remember that Brantley is played in certain situations and Burton/Reed are played in different situations. Comparing production between the three is like comparing apples and oranges. Our overall issue is that we have absolutely no offensive identity whatsoever. Three quarterbacks? That's not a solution. That's a cry of desperation.
I think Reed and Burton would be fine for the rest of the season, even without knowing the entire playbook. Just let the athletes run wild. It worked for Texas and Vince Young.
As for next year, give all the QBs a chance to fight for #1. Maybe Reed doesn't win it and we get JB, but make him earn it and make him run this offense with the talent around him. If the o-line cannot block for him, JB better learn the option. If Reed gets the rest of the playbook, let him be the '11 starter. If somehow Driskel gets it, then do the unthinkable and make a freshman the starter.
"...Three quarterbacks? That's not a solution. That's a cry of desperation."
To be honest, whenever I get to thinking about this lately (for eg., when I'm WRITING about it) the same conclusion comes to mind. For now and the remainder of THIS season, I think Reed would consistently get better results from THIS offense and line-up than Brantley has or will, especially inside the redzone, and Burton can do a lot of things that offer that offense more options while making his presence confusing to the opposing "D"--but in the long run, you're right: it isn't a solution.
We need a quarterback that can run the Spread, WHICHEVER version Urban creates, adapts or returns to. That's the simple, straight-forward answer, and we don't have one. Maybe Driskel will be that guy. Whether he is or whether it turns out to be someone else we don't even know about yet , the bad news is that "HE" isn't here yet, and even if we were to know tomorrow that such a one was a "lock" and on-the-way, we'd still just be about where we THOUGHT we were before THIS season--just "older and wiser" and more realistic, better aware of what this offense needs to try to be. The good news? Well, we DO have all those talented young "O" and "D" playmakers from successive top recruiting classes coming along, and another batch looks to be on its way; if we WERE to actually LEARN from the mistakes and experiences of this season, adapt accordingly, grow up and grow together as a team, NEXT season's outcome would likely be considerably different than this one's.
However, a team so young and without an established on-the-field leader even at QB, the key position on offense, will depend all the more on vision, strength, and clear-eyed leadership from the coaches who command everyone's respect and trust. I just don't see how that happens without some variation on the big and basic changes we've talked about here.
To be honest, whenever I get to thinking about this lately (for eg., when I'm WRITING about it) the same conclusion comes to mind. For now and the remainder of THIS season, I think Reed would consistently get better results from THIS offense and line-up than Brantley has or will, especially inside the redzone, and Burton can do a lot of things that offer that offense more options while making his presence confusing to the opposing "D"--but in the long run, you're right: it isn't a solution.
We need a quarterback that can run the Spread, WHICHEVER version Urban creates, adapts or returns to. That's the simple, straight-forward answer, and we don't have one. Maybe Driskel will be that guy. Whether he is or whether it turns out to be someone else we don't even know about yet , the bad news is that "HE" isn't here yet, and even if we were to know tomorrow that such a one was a "lock" and on-the-way, we'd still just be about where we THOUGHT we were before THIS season--just "older and wiser" and more realistic, better aware of what this offense needs to try to be. The good news? Well, we DO have all those talented young "O" and "D" playmakers from successive top recruiting classes coming along, and another batch looks to be on its way; if we WERE to actually LEARN from the mistakes and experiences of this season, adapt accordingly, grow up and grow together as a team, NEXT season's outcome would likely be considerably different than this one's.
However, a team so young and without an established on-the-field leader even at QB, the key position on offense, will depend all the more on vision, strength, and clear-eyed leadership from the coaches who command everyone's respect and trust. I just don't see how that happens without some variation on the big and basic changes we've talked about here.
Read this from Robbie Andreu's "Attacking the Seminoles" from today's gatorsports.com, on The Gainesville Sun-site--it's exactly in line with what we're talking about--and Urban seems to "get it", not so surprisingly:
'At Urban Meyer’s weekly news conference Monday, someone pointed out a very telling statistic from Saturday’s victory over Appalachian State that Meyer said he was not aware of.
Here it is: The Gators scored touchdowns on seven of their 10 offensive possessions in the 48-10 victory. In all of those scoring drives, the Gators alternated quarterbacks, giving the offense a dual-threat at the position. On the three drives where the Gators did not score, the offense was led exclusively by throwing quarterback John Brantley and did not have a dual threat.
“I guess we have to get some dual-threat quarterback in there,” Meyer said.'
I guess.
'At Urban Meyer’s weekly news conference Monday, someone pointed out a very telling statistic from Saturday’s victory over Appalachian State that Meyer said he was not aware of.
Here it is: The Gators scored touchdowns on seven of their 10 offensive possessions in the 48-10 victory. In all of those scoring drives, the Gators alternated quarterbacks, giving the offense a dual-threat at the position. On the three drives where the Gators did not score, the offense was led exclusively by throwing quarterback John Brantley and did not have a dual threat.
“I guess we have to get some dual-threat quarterback in there,” Meyer said.'
I guess.
I guess? I guess? WTF are you talking about, Coach?! It's in your own 'effing book: "A mobile quarterback is essential to spreading the field." "The quarterback needs to be a running threat in order to even out the numbers."
He wasn't "aware of that"--and a reporter has to point out the statistics "proving" it?!!!
Yikes.
Yikes.
I heard he's yelling at Addazio granted if the rumors are true.
The Zooker
VIP Member
Lol, sorry for that repetitive rant about the qb's. I was hammered when I typed that. Bunch of in-laws in town for the holiday. I'm handling the best I can -- with alcohol.
The Zooker
VIP Member
Another thing to consider is that Meyer doesn't want Reed to exclusively run the show because that throws Driskell into a weird position. All of a sudden he's coming into a situation where he is a freshman and the starting quarterback is a sophomore. So Meyer would either have to tell Driskell to redshirt and hope he gets a couple years in down the road. Or he has to tell Reed in 2012 that he has to switch back to TE. Either way you are kind of dicking around with one guy. I'm afraid Meyer is going to keep up the triple attack next season. Maybe even a quadruple attack with Driskell. Then in 2012 Driskell can take over as the lone starter with Brantley gone and the other two playing hybrid TE roles.
