Gator QB Discussion 2012

[InkedAdrenaline]

One thing that scares me for our 2012 season is we still don't have a defenative QB going into Spring.

Now I know we have 3-4 qbs on the team but Coach Boom hasnt really announced which one is emerging as our leader...WTF?? I don't have to much hope in Driskel, but then again I'm only going off his performance last year. Why is muschamp so quiet? I hope it's not because we don't have a QB going into the season...

Open discussion GO!

 

[Leakfan12]

It's either going to be Driskell or Brissett.

 

[Escambia94]

Don't care. Both are good kids with similar performance on the field. One of them will show separation in spring or summer practice, or we will platoon two quarterbacks. As long as we win, I don't care how many QBs we play as long as one is not solely a wildcat QB. Swapping between two worked for Spurrier.

 

[DRU2012]

Y'all have made the three basic points...now we just have to "wait and see"...as Pease put it (and E just restated from a slightly different angle), you'd "rather" have one guy step forward, clearly seize the role and make it happen, the sooner the better, but unless and until it does, you have to be patient, let them ALL develop under a certain amount of intense scrutiny--and if you end up having, say, two GOOD ones with slightly different skill sets that lend themselves to a 2-QB rotation, then you make that work, at least for the time being, until it either DOESN'T work anymore, or otherwise is settled by circumstance.
(Notice I said "all"--while I know realistically that a single starter will almost certainly arise from the Driskell/Brisset duo, if at all, I happened to have seen a rough, covertly video'd-by-Flip-camera segment of the practice where Tyler Murphy was given the first-team offense, ran it for that whole session--and ran it WELL...it's the only extended footage I've seen of ANY of the QBs this spring, and when both Muschamp and Pease mentioned later that day that he'd "done nicely", they weren't exaggerating: He was zipping nothing but tight spirals, right where they had to go, into tight spaces on the hands of receivers running full speed...Make no mistake--our "3rd-string-guy" is a quarterback TOO! Makes me wonder about Morhinweg as well, though he'll be red-shirted for SURE, I figure.)

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

Well I guess ya brisset then, but I figured it would have got out by now. I'm pretty sure with what Driskel showed us last year, he will not be our qb. I think Driskel is another form of Brantley.

 

[DRU2012]

Well I guess ya brisset then, but I figured it would have got out by now. I'm pretty sure with what Driskel showed us last year, he will not be our qb. I think Driskel is another form of Brantley.

You won't like this then: According to, umm, "someone I know who MIGHT be in a position to know more about this than any of us...", while it's true that no one has TAKEN it yet and made the job theirs, and the coaches like and WANT the QBs to continue to develop the mutually supportive good-natured/competitive attitude and relationship that has grown between them (all of them, but especially Driskell & Brisset), it is Driskell who has begun to establish himself as the stronger, more consistent one in terms of skill and leadership since practice opened, and this has become more decidedly pronounced the last few days.
Again, its early, this is NOT a detailed or definitive "inside analysis" (getting THAT much clear information on this subject was like pulling TEETH), and much can and will happen between now and next late-August, but there it is, little as it is, for what it's worth. As for what EITHER one of our two "talented true sophomores" did LAST season, you need to remember that they WERE both true FRESHMEN, both were basically "thrown to the wolves" (out of necessity), etc. etc.--and anyway now a new OC has arrived, watched the film, seen them throw in practice finally and pronounced them "even and starting from scratch" coming into 2012. We might as well take him at his word.

 

[Leakfan12]

Well I guess ya brisset then, but I figured it would have got out by now. I'm pretty sure with what Driskel showed us last year, he will not be our qb. I think Driskel is another form of Brantley.

Driskell was the number one in the class. Brantley was top ten.

 

[Escambia94]

Driskel would have easily asserted the starting role if he had a spread offense, or a more hands on pro style coach. Brissett seems to be a little smarter and more independent. Either one could pick up Pease's style of coaching.

 

[DRU2012]

Driskel would have easily asserted the starting role if he had a spread offense, or a more hands on pro style coach. Brissett seems to be a little smarter and more independent. Either one could pick up Pease's style of coaching.

Exactly--That's about as good of a "bottom line" as I've heard.
(Hey, we need to ask Robdog--"Where's the "Like"-button?" I know there's an "upgrade" in progress, but is THAT intentional?)

--ALL ANSWERED NOW...Thanx, rd!

 

[DRU2012]

(Saturday night--03/31/12)
Every day of practice is "golden" now, in terms of its relative importance in the process of building towards the fall, and NOWHERE is this more clear than at QB. My impression, from both publicly available information and my own private sources is that while Driskell's overall poise, growing maturity (mentally AND physically, btw) and mastery of the playbook put him ahead in the early going, Brisset's raw physical talent, drive, and continued efforts at "catching up" his overall familiarity with the offense has pretty well got him "even" on balance by now, with the latest scrimmage behind them (have you heard how Muschamp has been running these, standing no more than 10 ft behind the QB during play and closely observing their POV, options and decisions? Last year he only did this from the defensive side, apparently...I think its safe to say Coach Boom's fully involved--like Pease, the other coaches and everyone else on this team, by now).
If anything, the questions at quarterback have gotten even more complicated, for now. The surprise so far this spring at QB has been the play of Tyler Murphy, who has shown everything the other two have shown, by all accounts, "plus a little more"! He HAD to, I guess, to wedge his way back into the discussion of not only who the starter is, but if there is just one, who his back-up will be. This is real, not just something to push the other two--Murphy's been the most consistently accurate and timely-in-his-check-downs of the three when he's gotten the opportunity to work with the 1st team offense.
Less than a week to the "Orange & Blue Debut" (still don't love that title--too much of a silly, PR-inspired mouthful--but no one asked me, surprisingly enough), and this "race" looks to be far from decided by its end. Sigh. Still the summer, etc.--and the good news is, it's all still open 'cause they're all looking GOOD (yeah, all THREE, now).

 

[Escambia94]

According to NCAA rules, teams are allowed to scrimmage against themselves in the spring or against an out-of-conference team within reasonable driving distance. Wouldn't it be great if Florida could do a scrimmage against UCF, USF, UNF, Jax State, or possibly scUM to really work out the quarterbacks? In the Orange and Blue Debut, Brantley always looked great. We know the rest of the story about how he looked with an aggressive pass rush and suspect offensive line. Believe it or not, Tyler Murphy looks best amongst the three with a heavy pass rush. Under optimal conditions, Driskel and Brissett are about dead even now until one of them has an epiphany and creates separation. Either way, this is make or break for all three. Unless all three of these QBs love Gainesville, one of these three is going to want to transfer if he does not get the starting job this fall. It would be nice to see all three stay for another two years, but I cannot think of a time when any major university has kept three start-able QBs for 2-3 years.

 

[Escambia94]

Speaking of the Orange and Blue Debut, here is a video from GE member G8RB8R to get you pumped up:

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

I didn't get to go to the debut. Who was in the qb position the longest?

 

[Escambia94]

I didn't get to go to the debut. Who was in the qb position the longest?

It was fairly even between Brissett and Driskel in terms of snaps taken. The way the Orange and Blue Debut was formatted, you really could not tell who was the #1 and #2, and the way they both performed we will not know who is #1 any time soon.

If you had to guess, Brissett is only slightly favored. He got snaps as Orange team and Blue team QB. Or, the coaches wanted to match him with different receivers and running backs. Hard to tell.

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

Ya that doesn't surprise me. As I have stated before i think Driskel is a bust,an over hyped underperformer.

 

[Escambia94]

If I had to rank the top three plays, I would put it in this order:

1. Driskel's frozen rope to Debose.
2. Driskel's zip to Burton for a TD.
3. Brissett's deep ball to Pittman.

If the Gators unleash Driskel and do not constrain him to a Weis pro style, he will do great things.

If the Gators' running attack and offensive line fail to meet expectations, Brissett will do great things.

 

[DRU2012]

InkedAdrenaline, Escambia94
Actually, Driskel looked anything BUT "a bust" yesterday, IA--he was probably the more "polished" of the two, not just by his 12-of-14 completion-rate, but his command of the field and the way he ran the whole offense, including the running game. Brisset was less consistent--but then he'd pull it out with a beautiful long ball, something he did several times more than Driskel did...but then, Driskel didn't put the offense in as many late-and-long down-situations in the first place--something that coaches prefer, I think. Still, Muschamp's declaration that "we can win with either guy" appears literally true. E-'s summing up above is dead-ON.
You could put those 3 plays E- notes in a bag and pick any ONE of 'em as "the top play"--but that Brisset deep-ball to Pittman was a thing of real beauty--a potential late-game WINNER that looked unstoppable, something you just KNEW we didn't have among our "threats" in last season's moribund Weis-offense. The whole offense seems in general marked by wholesale changes, and the addition of greater strength, efficiency and "threat" putting pressure on opposing defenses--not an easy thing to do against our "D". Even the abbreviated version on display Saturday was clearly a confident unit, aware that it is the heart of this Gator squad and already rounding into form. With all the good things we saw in the offense, it's worth noting that they really weren't able to crack the defense on the scoreboard with any consistency until the thirdstring freshmen and walk-ons (albeit many who would be starting on other teams) were getting field time late in the 4th--it was 7-7 until then.

 

[Escambia94]

The good news is that even with stiff competition at each position, the player chemistry seems to be better. I hope this is like the 2011 LSU team (before the national title game) in terms of team chemistry and friendly competition amongst the 1st and 2nd teams. As long as Coach Pease uses mixed packages of personnel and players are not selfish about statistics, everyone will get the playing time they deserve.

Even Brissett and Driskel have been joking a lot throughout their competition.

 

[DRU2012]

Escambia94
You got that right, E-. In fact, the whole "mixed set-up", where personnel switched freely back and forth among the two "teams" ("Orange" and "Blue" were only nominal "distinctions" this time around), seemed designed to further promote that larger aim of team-building and familiarity among competitors. Coach M hopes to keep at least the top two guys, I think, no matter HOW it turns out--either as "1-2" or "1-A and 1-B", substituting as the situation warrants, in the latter case.
The way things are looking, it'll work that way at RB regardless: with 3 tailbacks, each with his own set of skills, and 2 talented fullbacks, plus another prized recruit on the way this summer (Coach may well have the luxury of redshirting him--but then again, he's got at least 2 more REALLY good ones committed for 2013, maybe even another one by then, so maybe not), Pease will be able to throw a lot of looks at opposing defenses this season.

(PS-- re G8RB8R's video, that first 40 seconds with Tebow yelling at the team before running out for the 2nd half was VINTAGE TT--and why, like so many other Gators, I will ALWAYS love #15, and will always BE a Tim Tebow-fan!)

 

[Escambia94]

I have been reading up on the Boise Offense, and it makes sense to mix and match players from 1st and 2nd team for the optimum personnel grouping. ESPN called it the Chameleon Offense under Chris Petersen. It looks like Bryan Pease has implemented the Chameleon hopefully a little more quickly than Brian Harsin did at Texas.

All that is missing is a clear cut leader in the huddle and in the locker room.