Rebooting Johnny Brantley

[Escambia94]

Flashback to September 4, 2010: John Walter Brantley IV emerges from the tunnel in his first game as the starting quarterback for the mighty Florida Gators, ranked #4 in the nation in week 1. The weight of the Gator Nation is on his shoulders as JB4 attempts to make his own mark on Gator lore by following the greatest Gator quarterback in history, the Anointed One, Timothy Richard Tebow. The first score of the game was....a field goal by Miami (OH)? WTH? This game was a harbinger of things to come all season--fumbles, bad snaps, dropped passes, missed extra points and annoying penalties plagued the Gators on this day as they eked out an accidental 34-12 win over the "overmatched" Miami Redhawks on the laurels of the defense's four interceptions. Brantley's stats as a first-time starter? 17/25 for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns. Reminder: the Anointed One started the season 13/17 for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Fast forward to September 3, 2011: John Walter Brantley IV emerges from the tunnel in the first game of the Will Muschamp era. He has a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, a new offense that fits his skill set, and he is one more year removed from the memory of the Anointed One. What does Brantley do to reboot his football career? Remember, this is the former 2006 Gatorade Player of the Year, a player that actually outgunned a slightly hobbled Tim Tebow in an Orange and Blue debut game. Does he have it in him to win back the hearts and minds of the Gator faithful?

 

[Swamp Person]

Just voted!I hope it wasnt wishfull thinking. Go GATORS <CHOMP>

 

[TebowsToTheFace]

I'd say 16/25 for 220 and 2 scores

 

[Escambia94]

Just voted!I hope it wasnt wishfull thinking. Go GATORS <CHOMP>

It's not wishful thinking if you are just showing faith. Now, if we are halfway through the season and still sucking, that is wishful thinking.

I just voted. I think he will throw for 300 yards. Yes, 300. We will have a couple miscues, but no calamities like last year against Miami (OH). My prediction: 15/22 (68%) for 305 yards, 2 touchdowns, -15 yards rushing. That's being optimistic, which is against my nature, but as I have been saying--this is a new year, a new head coach, a new offense, and a new beginning. Go nuts with some optimism and faith. It should be a good remedy for a year of misery.

 

[DRU2012]

You know where I'm at on this--all OVER the friggin' place, by now...I was tempted by "Other (Explain)", but I've done quite enough of that at this point, I figure. Time to put up or shut up, and I decided to go with the hopeful, optimistic view--like E-, against my well-worn nature, but it is the best outcome for us all this season, and certainly possible. We'll know the truth soon enough, we are aware of how quickly and easily it can all come crashing down in an overdose of "reality", and there'll be no shortage of "painful acceptance" or cries of "Next!" should the "He is what we THOUGHT he was!"-Brantley be the one that materializes. For now, though, NO ONE KNOWS, so I figure hope, faith and a positive attitude going in is the way to go here. May be my last chance for a while...

 

[DRU2012]

PS The title, "Rebooting Brantley", says it all. Good one. (Either way, he gets "booted", right?)

 

[GainesvillebornNraised]

who the hell has us ranked #4?

 

[Escambia94]

Believe it or not, this time a year ago one of the preseason polls had us #4 and one had us #7. Yeah. #4. That just goes to show the value of those early polls. Brantley was a dark horse Heisman candidate. We had a favorable schedule. LSU was no threat to beat us, since neither quarterback was good enough to beat us. We had Rainey and Demps poised to run all over the field. We had the best, veteran offensive line in the conference. This is what the experts said about us one year ago this week.

 

[GainesvillebornNraised]

well our coaches also had us believing it was a hard choice picking between brantley and newton for the starting job then we all saw newton was as good as tebow at the spread and brantley was the worst ever lol

 

[Escambia94]

Actually, Cam Newton struggled mightily with the spread. He grew up a lot at Blinn College. (Or that $180K paycheck motivated him...).

 

[GainesvillebornNraised]

i could still see cam not knowing what to do or even calling his own plays and we have a much better season then last yr just cuz he was that much more athletic and brantley never dodged a tackle in his life

 

[Escambia94]

What surprises me is that Brantley ran the spread well as a backup and excelled in the Orange and Blue debut...running the spread. He threw for 3 TDs and ran for 2, beating out Tebow. In practice he looked good running the spread as well. Maybe he will write a book and tell us what happened.

 

[DRU2012]

Oh please, no.

(Not that your point isn't well-taken, E-, and mostly tongue-in-cheek, but still:
"Dude: Show us. You're getting a 2nd chance. A pass, a fresh start, something precious.
Either make the most of it, or get out of the way and go quietly into obscurity."
If that's too much pressure, then he's got a problem before the first kickoff--and so do we.)

 

[Escambia94]

Check out what Temple and Mississippi State did with lesser talent today. Same spread offense, better results against powderpuffs. JB4 had better ****ing throw for 300 yards or more or else I'm setting my television on fire.

 

[CaliZona_Gator]

Seriously, MSU put up some big numbers with Mullen's offense.

 

[Jack&Dew]

I think Brantley will have a good game. I think 300 yards is going to be tough to reach. I think that Weis will run the ball....a lot! I expect that this will be a blowout and that Brantley will be out mid 3rd quarter so he wont have the whole game to put up the numbers. I do think that he will perform well and will look more comfortable.

Good God he better!

 

[DRU2012]

Point is, he needs to DAZZLE us the first half or so of this game...and even then, we'll say, "OK, good start, let's build on it and see if we're ready come the SEC-schedule." I'm not counting yards so much as I'm looking for #12 to run the offense with authority, put the ball where it's needed when it's needed there, AND drop a rainbow or two into an open WR's hands. The big test may come if and when someone DOES drop a nice one (if it's "Brickhands", that's another guy who deserves a quick hook!): when that happened last year, it was game over for little Johnny, he'd withdraw into a tentative shell and start over-throwing everyone. I want to see him suck it up, maybe even YELL at somebody, carry on and connect on another one a few plays later. That's leadership at QB.

 

[Swamp Person]

DAZZLE is the WORD for Saturday Bratley sorry, Brantley The word for Saturday is D-A-Z-Z-L-E DAZZLE....Best point BY FAR DRU....It's coming, Game Time is coming.I guess we will see very soon..Good Lord I'm getting FIRED UP.

 

[Swamp Person]

DRU I didn't get the DAZZLE from Brantley.But I think we seen some IMPROVEMENT from last year.I think he did well like you said in another thread on here he showed he could be calm,and shaking the mistakes off was great.I'm proud they used the screens to our running backs to build everyone up.(Those dudes are fast )!The running game looks solid.Our defense was relentless !!Our special teams well were special lol.Overall it looks like we improved but I'm still going to hold out before i go and get to hyped up.Remember no disrespect to The Owls they weren't really supposed to be a threat to us anyways.
We should have another warm up before we start going into the Bigger games against better opponents and I'm hoping we get even better.If they can stay healthy the sky might be their only limit.Go Gators.I'm proud I hope every one here get's to rest a little better this week .I know i will.Good night God Bless......<CHOMP CHOMP>


PS How bout those Bulls putting it to The Irish ....<I hope that's allowed..

 

[Leakfan12]

Check out what Temple and Mississippi State did with lesser talent today. Same spread offense, better results against powderpuffs. JB4 had better ****ing throw for 300 yards or more or else I'm setting my television on fire.

Hope you didn't follow through on your threat.