Hate to say I told you so....... but

[awebbf5]

Elam and Floyd are expected to go 1st round, what you talking about?

Watch the UA game on ESPN right now, Gator future is looking good. Especially with Hargreaves, dude is a beast

Brandon Siler was expected late first to second, he ended up getting drafted on the second day in a late round. That's what I'm talking about. These guys could improve the draft stock greatly by coming back and get more money which is the most important thing to them. I'm not trying to be Mr. Negativity and yes we are getting great recruits, but these freshman are not going to come in and make a Matt Elam type of impact. Don't get me wrong we will have a good year next year but I don't believe we will be contending for the national championship.

 

[awebbf5]

As for the QB discussion, the 2012 season is over. Time for a new QB battle. May the best man win. Driskel did his best in 2012, but in 2013 he needs to be the best man for the job. Brissett's Twitter pages indicate that he will have a discussion with Will Muschamp and make a decision whether or not to transfer this spring. Classes begin on Monday, so I expect some news on Monday. If we hear nothing from Brissett on Monday, then assume that Muschamp opened up the starting position for battle amongst Driskel, Brissett, Mornhinweg, Staver, and Murphy. If anyone does not like the results of spring practice, then I expect a transfer in April. May the best Gator win.

IMO driskel is our guy, but like dru I'm a driskel guy,and am not high on brissett.

 

[awebbf5]

Before declaring for the draft before mid-January, each interested draft entrant gets a screening for potential. If the athlete likes the initial screening, then he is free to get an agent. He may have not been scouted at 1st round, but Jordan Reed was satisfied with whatever his reading was. Maybe that was 2nd-3rd round. It is his call.

I heard that Hargreaves was UA MVP. I have limited Internet access now, so I cannot check.

Hargreaves is a beast,very excited about this kid.

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

IMO driskel is our guy, but like dru I'm a driskel guy,and am not high on brissett.

Driskel sucks. He's another Brantley. He will never improve. Can't wait for 2 years to pass to get him the hell out.

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

Hargreaves is a beast,very excited about this kid.

Yes he is a beast. He reminds me of Haden in so many ways.

 

[Escambia94]

Driskel sucks. He's another Brantley. He will never improve. Can't wait for 2 years to pass to get him the hell out.

Maybe Mornhinweg or Staver will emerge.

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

Maybe Mornhinweg or Staver will emerge.

I am hoping.

 

[Leakfan12]

Driskel sucks. He's another Brantley. He will never improve. Can't wait for 2 years to pass to get him the hell out.

Sad part the Gators will get another Brantley at DT.

 

[Escambia94]

Sad part the Gators will get another Brantley at DT.

The good news is that they are not related, and Caleb is not a QB

 

[Escambia94]

This just in: Demarcus Robinson is back on board with the Gator Nation. Don't abandon hope yet.

Demarcus Robinson ‏@demarcus11robin
I love my gators can't wait to arrive on campus!

 

[NaffGutts]

This just in: Demarcus Robinson is back on board with the Gator Nation. Don't abandon hope yet.

Demarcus Robinson ‏@demarcus11robin
I love my gators can't wait to arrive on campus!

Yep, and he is actually reaching out on twitter to get more people to flip over.

- Jelani Jenkins declared draft too

 

[DRU2012]

Just want to say one more thing about 2012--and that "unfortunate performance" in our "last game of the 2012-season/FIRST game in 2013" actually serves to underline the point I believe we'd have been fooling ourselves NOT to learn had we cruised to a big win as expected:
Leaving aside for the moment that precipitous plunge to "#9/#10, depends-on-the-poll" in that game's aftermath (the travesty and explanation for which I note in my comment following travisduncan's column/article on the game and final ranking above), the fact remains that no matter HOW that one had turned out, the main thing we needed to take from season 2012 for the sake of our future was twofold:
(1) How FAR we really still were from the kind of dominance we MUST have as a CHAMPIONSHIP--no, a MULTI-Championship Team--Mostly of course in that truly WEAK offense that, while having its strong points, especially when even CLOSE to healthy, just didn't have enough even then. Any ONE of us could list what HAS to be improved in both "needs-at-position" and at DEPTH across the WHOLE SQUAD: With it, we will be a juggernaut; Without it, it's another "darn good season" of 10 or 11 wins where we'll have done it with "great 'D', smoke and mirrors" once more--something that was admirable and generally a fabulous OVERachievement for the season just past, but, fair or not, "UNACCEPTABLE and a big let down" for 2013...
(2) We could least-of-ALL then afford to expect to just "show up and win"--That's a dangerous mistake for ANY team at ANY time in major college football, and WE did that a LOT this past season...It damn near cost us before this, more than once (though that one game against a FAR inferior team in our 2nd-last reg. season game, SHOULD have warned us finally, you'd think--but we were able to dismiss it as "playing down to our competition" when we came back at the end in spectacularly clutch fashion, then went out and flattened FSU the following weekend)...The point is, we have got to get OVER that, once and for all:
As a TEAM, we have GOT to be a determined, non-stop, self-disciplined no-mercy squad that takes every game as a direct challenge, in which it must prove itself, as individual players and as a team, once again. No "foot-off-the-gas", EVER...when the 3rd-string guys come in late THEY are trying to prove themselves in the same way, whatever they are asked to do...THAT'S the "winning attitude" we seem to have either forgotten, or at least gotten far too "relaxed and casual" about, too often taking it for granted as we hit our stride this past season.
With all of that, even our offense began to pull its weight, and felt "on the verge" as the season wound down. In fact, in the end we WERE right in the feeling that we COULD have beaten Notre Dame if WE'D been there instead (Hell, any of the top 5 teams in the SEC could have beaten them HANDILY--that makes ALL of this hurt even worse, when you think about it), that we WOULD have likely been "UP" for that one, would have properly prepared mentally and been more ready to go come KO of a game we weren't "kind of let-down for", against a team and in a game we were psyched to play--but THAT'S THE POINT HERE: You get ready to play and BEAT the team you are facing in the next game you play, REGARDLESS! That very weakness throughout our team, in attitude, preparation and character (and this is on the Coaches as much as the players) no doubt played as big a part in why we WEREN'T in that Championship game as in why we lost the one we WERE in.
Yeah, we needed/NEED a MUCH improved offense as well, but I'll tell you right now, if we don't get that core-emotional problem at the heart of this team fixed as well, it won't MATTER that much if and when we field an offense to match our fine "D": We'll likely blow a key game at SOME point ANYWAY--when someone ELSE "wants it more" AND prepares better than we do--and believe me, it will hurt all the more, and this'll have all been for nought, if we don't learn from it and that "NEXT time" it happens to us it is in the National Championship Game.

 

[DRU2012]

Re above posts fr. Escambia94, and NaffGutts, re "re-recruits" (fun to type that):

Btw--The weirdest thing about what is happening among these prized-recruit/prospects "returning to the fold" is that it is happening, well, not just "in SPITE of" our poor performance in the Sugar Bowl, but (from the feedback on line and behind-the-scenes) as much BECAUSE of them--there's a growing feeling among these potential-young-stars that they'll be playing together sooner-rather-than-LATER on this growing-future-juggernaut-of-a-Gator team: We are the "Hot/Cool squad-of-the-future", where they want and believe they will HAVE a chance to play, and soon.
In other words, it seems that a combination of THAT VERY LOSS, and the particular players LEAVING their junior years here after all--both of which are otherwise major BUMMERS to we Gator fans the last few days--turn out to be apparent factors in spurring this very enthusiasm/bandwagon-effect that is now gathering speed--and NOT just in Florida either, from what I've been told...we can expect a couple of more big-time recruits from out-of-state down the stretch here as well. Boy, talk about good news at the right time...Still, weeks to go, work to be done, and the deeper TEAM issues still remain come the spring.

 

[DRU2012]

AS for return to comment here re the QB-position, the "bottom line" is that we are now unequivocally COUNTING on JD to become what he has shown he very well COULD be, and in fact even at times in flashes SURPASSED being, this past season...I go into this in some detail at the bottom of the "Jacoby Brisset Transferring"-thread, so I'll spare y'all belaboring my arguments again here, but when all else is said and done, Driskel will be the KEY to whether next season is a Championship-run or "just another good one"--and while he isn't a "sure thing yet", and there are a number of factors that could make or break him AND us--some within his control and some not--on balance he has the tools and a good chance he'll rise and take charge, which in turn is OUR best chance to win BIG, after all.

 

[NaffGutts]

AS for return to comment here re the QB-position, the "bottom line" is that we are now unequivocally COUNTING on JD.

Not so fast my friend, heard we are recruiting Grier pretty hard, not sure. Also, we have a QB hiding among the ranks already ...Trey Burton, I would LOVE to see Pease somehow work with him on the "wildcat" look on some play action pass plays.
Also, love the fact that D Easley is returning for his senior year, probably the best news. He is a beacon for Defensive players coming and wanting to learn from him and Muschamps genius.

 

[DRU2012]

Not so fast my friend, heard we are recruiting Grier pretty hard, not sure. Also, we have a QB hiding among the ranks already ...Trey Burton, I would LOVE to see Pease somehow work with him on the "wildcat" look on some play action pass plays.
Also, love the fact that D Easley is returning for his senior year, probably the best news. He is a beacon for Defensive players coming and wanting to learn from him and Muschamps genius.

Actually, NG, I agree with everything you say there--and didn't mean for MY comment to negate ANY of it...
First, as far as I know, we are as "in solid" with Grier as we possibly could be with a 2014 recruit--he REALLY wants to be a Gator (and plans on BEING one--he is already online and at camps recruiting other members of that class nationwide to JOIN him here), he appears to have it ALL, BIG time, but as a 2014-prospect that puts him coming IN on what would be JD's senior year, IF Driskel IS still the starter and stays--in which case (depending on our situation at QB at that point with regard to Mornigweg, Staver, et al) we could then either red shirt him (ideally, if we're set at starter AND back-up already then) or start his on-field apprenticeship THEN, as the case may be...No, I have been aware of and HIGH on Grier since LAST year when we first started hearing about this precocious young 10th-grader from out-of-state who was "slingin' it all over the field and wants to be a Gator"!
Beyond that, you're right, we've got a COUPLE of possible MORE-than-decent QBs "hiding among the ranks" in Mornigweg and Staver, as I mentioned--and ONE of them will have to step-up as at LEAST the Back-Up in 2013--and between injury and the unknown, he's got to be good and ready enough to STEP IN if called upon.
...And I personally believe that Pease PLANS to use Trey in exactly the way you suggest, and a few other creative ways OFF of the Wildcat, too--both he and Muschamp himself have raved about Burton, and more than once called him the "best athlete on the team".
(Real good news about Easley, too--not just his talent that we get to keep back there, but possibly even MORE important his FIRE as well: Between calling the defensive signals, lifting everyone around him and showing the younger guys especially how you "take it to the limit" every time, practice and every play of the game, with Elam gone, he may be the most important player left on defense going into 2013...Glad you reminded me to note here what a great relief that was his not turning pro yet!)

 

[awebbf5]

Everybody hating on driskel was probably saying how awesome he is during games like when we were playing Vandy. As for trey burton being qb, during wildcat im all for it but imo he wouldnt be a very good every down qb.

 

[DRU2012]

Everybody hating on driskel was probably saying how awesome he is during games like when we were playing Vandy. As for trey burton being qb, during wildcat im all for it but imo he wouldnt be a very good every down qb.

Well put, aweb--I mean, this sudden backlash against Driskel among some (let's call it a "substantial minority") is kinda weird, yet also "kinda typical" among a certain segment of what could be termed "fickle, gotta-blame-it-on-SOMEONE Gator fans". OK, there are people (like our own Inked Adrenaline) who have never been sold on JD, and that's one thing--But you're right: You can BET there was a big chunk of that OTHER group who were cheering and talking him up when JD was on-the-rise through much of the middle-to-end of the regular season. Sure, he's had some set-backs, and seemed to slip back on "bad habits" along the way--he's GOT to be more consistent "on the upside" his junior year (I could say more about all of that, including him not getting a whole lot of help out there much of the time in 2012, but then I'll just be accused of "making excuses for him" no matter HOW true my claims)--but all-in-all, as I say, we better HOPE he IS the player AND leader he has shown all signs of having it in him to be, 'cause his continued improvement and overall success is our best shot at having a much-improved offense and a great year overall in 2013.
What I say above about our other QB-candidates doesn't negate ANY of what I say here about Driskel...We WILL need a strong back-up, AND ideally begin setting up that kind of "conveyer belt/assembly line" situation that readies us for producing the NEXT starter-and-back-up a couple of seasons down-the-line. Personally, of course, like you I happen to feel I've seen enough to be sure Driskel CAN be "that guy" going into 2013: He'll have the tools and the plan, and he's not an inexperienced underclassman learning-on-the-job anymore. Now he's got to go out and get it done.

 

[Escambia94]

Sudden backlash? He was horrible against Bowling Green, and we stuck by him. He was horrible against Georgia, and we stuck by him. He was pitiful against Louisville, and all of a sudden there is a sudden backlash? That is utter B.S. Throw the ****ing ball, kid! Or, run. For crying out loud, DO SOMETHING.

I refuse to stick up for Driskel next year. No more excuses. Throw the ****ing ball already, or let any of the other QBs get a shot. I am not going to sit back and watch another John Brantley scenario where we sit back and make excuses. Nope. Not any more. Especially not next year with four new WRs, a new WR coach, and another year of experience and stability.

 

[DRU2012]

I just don't see it that way. Sorry--to me, it has seemed that Driskel, like the whole offense, had its good and its bad days over the course of the past season, his first as starter. I won't make excuses EITHER, and I TOO expect improvement and especially consistency in 2013: I'll be ready and willing to make that kind of harsh assessment if we do NOT see the kind of wholesale improvement expected in Driskel specifically, and the offense in general next season, right from the start--but I refuse to freak out at this point. The same things I saw and liked about him are still there, I figure--and in the same way that most of us have learned to trust the staff in their judgment in other areas concerning personnel choices, I think it is wise and only fair to trust them in this one, possibly the most important area-of-choice of all.
Anyway, I'm sorry you feel SO strongly about it that you seem to take my reasoning so personally, E- (and just so you know, I honestly DIDN'T have you, of all people, in mind when making the point that included the word "backlash"), and am doing my best NOT to take it too much to heart right now--otherwise I might get the idea that all this is about more than just the one issue, which I gotta admit, I just don't really understand to begin with.
[...And btw: JD's 1st pass of the game was popped up in the air on (a) what should have been an easy catch (now THAT pissed me off!), and (b) what should have been "scripted" either as a running play or a "Long Bomb" in-the-FIRST-place--a perfect Volleyball set-up for the Pick-Six that you yourself insisted--and I agree, as a 1st-hand witness--would have changed the whole nature and flow of the game, and very possibly its entire outcome (I STILL say "We lost THIS game on the coin-toss!")...Tell me: Can you honestly say you yourself might not feel differently now had that been the case, and we had WON the game, going away, as expected (ESPECIALLY if it had been a beautiful "rainbow-TD-pass" to open things up)?...And if there is even the SLIGHTEST SLIVER of a possibility that that is so, how does that reflect on the hard and sharp anger you appear to still feel now? I mean, no matter what, Driskel's not a bad kid, he has talent, and he's giving all he's got--so whether he's "it" or NOT, what IS with the hostility? I'll be disappointed TOO if we have to take a step back, open up competition to find a new starter mid-season, and somehow recover while our defense meanwhile hopefully carries us again (on offense another "Brantley-like situation" after all)--and maybe even angry, if it's part of a general series of misjudgments that have us essentially missing-an-opportunity, MISSING-ANOTHER-YEAR, in the final analysis--but I HOPE I won't hate Driskel, blame him alone...as with any such breakdown, there'd be plenty of "blame" to go around. Frankly, NONE of this changes my basic point that for good or ill, at the moment, choices, timing and resulting situational details have determined that we ARE NOW COUNTING ON JD--That is, it would be our "best-case scenario" if he WERE to come through and succeed as the starting QB in a revamped-offense...but he will ALSO in turn be depending on new runners, receivers and a rebuilt O-line to help ensure that success. Either that, or he'll have to ignore everything, just run around and fling it out there in spite of everything else screwing up around him, if that's what is happening, and we just don't have evidence that he could take his very real skills and DO that, game-in/game-out. Let us DEARLY hope, then, that doesn't turn out to be required! Can we agree on at THAT much, at least?]