A more realistic look at the 2008 Florida Gators

A lot of people are talking up Florida, but I’m not sure how much better we’ll be since last year. First of all I recently learned UF was ranked 41^st in defense nationally. Maybe that doesn’t sound so bad given there 117 or so Division 1-A teams, but think about how many Temples and Baylors there are.

The alarming thing is I don’t see the defense as being that much better this year. Sure in college young players who gain experience can get worlds better quickly, but lets break this down. The team had no passrush last year and Derrick Harvey has since left – there was no one doing anything last year – don’t believe the hype about Jermaine Cunningham (49), he pumped up his stats against a few crappy teams but otherwise was a non-entity. Meyer and company have been talking up Carlos Dunlap – that gawky #8 guy who jumped on a few piles – saying he is a beast. That said at least those two have experience at DE. That’s still better than at DT where they are will be throwing a bunch of true freshmen – one of whom (Matt Patchan) was shot downtown this spring (!?!) – into the rotation to see if something will happen.

As for our secondary I’m hoping Markie Anderson (14) is healthy now because with him and Joe Haden (12) our corners would be at least average. After them depth is shady – The Wondy Wonder (Mr. Pierre-Louis #4) is fast, but doesn’t know how to play. Maybe the offseason will have helped constantly abused Jacques Rickerson (23), we have to hope so because after him there is no one with any experience.

However we’ve already had on big blow in the secondary (the reason I am writing actually) with the loss of Dorian Munroe (20) at safety. While his loss was not made a big production of in the press, it really, really hurts. With Tony Joiner (19) gone Munroe was the only safety we had who knew how to cover – I was counting on him to be the stay at home guy and prevent big plays. With his ACL now in multiple bits the best safeties we have are hard hitting true sophomore Major Wright (21) who showed no nature for coverage last year despite his popularity (he’s our Roy Williams of the Dallas Cowboys) and true freshman Will Hill who was a hot prospect (#1 at safety I believe).

On offense we still look powerful – maybe moreso if The Savior (15) has kept improving at reading defenses the way he was at the end of the season (he’s still not nearly an NFL QB). Or maybe an offseason of a million press conferences will slow him down. We have some super fast RBs, but no one, not even the USC transfer Emmanuel Moody (21 says the ‘net) has pushed Kestahn Moore out of the lineup – which makes me worried we’ll be unbalanced with Tebow running all the time again. On the OL we get tackle Phil Trautwein (75 – and yes mentally every time I think Trautweenie too), which everyone says is great, but I remember seeing him get pushed around two years ago.

We have a ridiculously easy schedule our first seven games are against teams with either a new coach or QB (or both). Then comes Georgia, but after that the only threat is South Carolina because Vandy, The Citadel (that we play them is indicative of the problems of college football), and FSU (ha ha, they suck again!) aren’t beating us. We’ll be an SEC contender, but not a title contender – maybe a BCS birth though.