travisduncan
Gator Fan
Former Gator running back Fred Taylor. ICON Sports
Former Gators Fred Taylor, Tim Tebow and Danny Wuerffel will be in town this week for the Orange and Blue Game.
Coach Will Muschamp said that Taylor will specifically address the team on Friday.
"Anytime that you have guys that have been in this program and been a part of the great tradition, and really built this place to what it is, that's an exciting thing for our players to ask questions to interact and to find out what it was like to be a Gator when they were here," Muschamp said.
"I think that's really important for our football team."
Here are the details of the spring game:
The game will kick off Saturday at 12 p.m. The game will consist of four 12-minute quarters with a running clock. The clock will stop during the two-minute drill at the end of each half.
The first-team offense will represent the Blue team, while the second-team offense will score for the Orange team. The first-team offense will square off against the first-team defense, while the second-team offense will face the second-team defense.
Regardless of Orange or Blue team designations, the offense will wear blue jerseys and the defense will wear white.
The game will feature guest media coaches. Coaches for the Blue team are Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun and Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune. The Orange team’s guest coaches are Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel and Steve Russell of WRUF Radio.
Muschamp said bringing in guest media coaches was something he did as an assistant back at Texas and carried it over.
Muschamp certainly understands the PR game as well as any coach out there. He may have learned some of that from Mack Brown, but he is a natural communicator.
Coach wants more consistency
Muschamp has talked a lot about injuries with the media this year. When speaking about how guys are performing he has been very optimistic and positive about his players thus far.
He did say Tuesday that he wants more consistency on defense. He wants more communication between the secondary and the defensive line.
"I truly challenged players after practice [on] the consistency of their performance. We've done some really nice things at all positions at times. But the consistency is not what it needs to be."
He also said he wants more communication between players in the secondary, as well as the offensive line.
He did attribute some consistency issues offensively to the depleted o-line.
But overall, Muschamp himself has emphasized he's not worried about injuries and he'll roll with the punches, but is optimistic by the fall guys will get healthy and or improve via summer conditioning.
“We've got who we've got,” Muschamp added. “I may line up at left tackle. We'll be fine. The kids will work through it and we'll manage it. That's what we've got and we'll do the best we can do with what we've got. We'll be fine."
-Freshman QB Jeff Driskel is a confident guy, he told the Palm Beach Post, "I'm not going to shy away from people causing hype about me. I've earned that through my play and my hard work. But they're talking about high school. College is a whole different deal. I'm just going to work hard, and hopefully that earns respect."
"I'm not crowning myself Tebow yet. He won two championships. He won the Heisman. I'm not Tebow. We have similar attributes. Hopefully my career ends up like his. I'm going to try to follow the legacy he left."
-The Gators three Heisman winners, Steve Spurrier (1966), Wuerffel (1996) and Tebow (2007) will be honored with statue unveiling during halftime.
-Redshirt freshman wideout Chris Dunkley has been suspended from the team for academic reasons.
-The Gators picked up their 9th commitment for the 2012 class this week when Hallandale high school defensive back Willie Bailey de-committed from Miami and gave his verbal to Florida.
Bailey is from the same high school as junior wide receiver Frankie Hammond Jr. who the recruit admits played a role in his decision.
