Florida Gators 2014 season-opening depth chart

By Adam Silverstein
August 26, 2014

Though things will undoubtedly change for the Florida Gators throughout the 2014 season, likely even before its season-opener against the Idaho Vandals on Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, head coach Will Muschamp on Tuesday released the team’s first official depth chart in nine months.

OFFENSE

QB: 6 Jeff Driskel, 3 Treon Harris
RB: 21 Kelvin Taylor OR 24 Matt Jones OR 33 Mack Brown
F/B: 41 Hunter Joyer, 25 Gideon Ajagbe
TE/B: 88 Clay Burton, 83 Jake McGee
WR (X): 1 Quinton Dunbar, 11 Demarcus Robinson, 89 Alvin Bailey
WR (Z): 5 Ahmad Fulwood, 4 Andre Debose, 85 Chris Thompson
WR (Y): 9 Latroy Pittman, 10 Valdez Showers, 14 C.J. Worton

LT: 70 D.J. Humphries, 78 David Sharpe
LG: 63 Trip Thurman, 73 Tyler Moore, 71 Antonio Riles
C: 76 Max Garcia, 72 Drew Sarvary
RG: 74 Trenton Brown OR 73 Tyler Moore
RT: 75 Chaz Green, 55 Roderick Johnson


DEFENSE

DE: 90 Jonathan Bullard, 94 Bryan Cox, Jr.
DT: 44 Leon Orr, 91 Joey Ivie
NT: 55 Darious Cummings, 99 Jay-nard Bostwick
Buck DE: 6 Dante Fowler, Jr., 14 Alex McCalister
SLB: 11 Neiron Ball, 34 Alex Anzalone
MLB: 51 Michael Taylor, 40 Jarrad Davis
WLB: 3 Antonio Morrison, 13 Daniel McMillian
Dime LB: 11 Neiron Ball, 40 Jarrad Davis

CB: 1 Vernon Hargreaves III, 5 Jalen Tabor
CB: 24 Brian Poole, 23 J.C. Jackson OR 12 Quincy Wilson
Nickel CB: 20 Marcus Maye, 24 Brian Poole
Dime CB: 24 Brian Poole, 26 Marcell Harris
S: 42 Keanu Neal, 7 Duke Dawson
S: 2 Jabari Gorman, 22 Nick Washington OR 26 Marcell Harris

SPECIAL TEAMS

K: 16 Austin Hardin OR 95 Frankie Velez
P: 4 Kyle Christy OR 19 Johnny Townsend
H: 6 Jeff Driskel, 43 Kyle Crofoot
LS: 46 Drew Ferris, 43 Kyle Crofoot
KR: 4 Andre Debose, 1 Quinton Dunbar, 85 Chris Thompson
PR: 4 Andre Debose, 11 Demarcus Robinson, 1 Vernon Hargreaves III

NOTES

» Though Burton is listed as the starting tight end, that is likely purely out of respect for him being a four-year player at Florida. UF could also need a blocker in for its first play of the game. McGee will be the Gators’ primary pass-catcher out of the position. This is not indicative of McGee’s status with the team.

» Cummings will be the defensive tackle facing center (nose), while Orr will be playing the more versatile three-technique position, likely lining up a bit closer to the guard.

» Taylor starts at middle linebacker over Morrison, who did not prove to be overly productive at the position in 2013. Davis flashed as a freshman and will be backing up both Taylor in the middle and Ball in Dime packages.

» Florida has four true freshmen and four second-year players in its two-deep depth chart for the secondary. Many of these assignments will change throughout the game as Muschamp will likely take a couple weeks to nail down a solid starting secondary.

» Starters have not yet been determined at kicker or punter, though chances are Muschamp will use both Hardin and Velez on field goals this season. If all remains equal with Christy and Townsend, Christy will likely edge out the sophomore due to his age, allowing Christy to play as a senior while Townsend takes the redshirt he was supposed to receive last season.

» Driskel takes over as the first-string holder.

22 Comments

  1. Dave Massey says:

    Have to say the biggest surprise here is Burton making first string over McGee. Robinson not getting the nod at WR is a mild surprise. Everything else is about what was expected.

    Defense looks really stout again this year.

    If we can stay healthy at QB and offensive line I think we have the potential to have a fine year.

    And, oh yeah, FOUR DAYS!!!

    • Gatorgrad79 says:

      Agree our defense should be able to hold even our ranked opponents …still impressed when they held fsu scoreless for a quarter and a half last Nov…

      • Michael J. says:

        First of all, UF didn’t hold FSU scoreless. Second, UF’s defense didn’t do anything extraordinary against FSU. They started very slowly against Nevada, Boston College, Maryland, Duke, and Auburn. I also don’t give UF much credit for Benjamin dropping a pass that may have went for a touchdown very early in the game. Why do I bring up these facts? Because it’s a fallacy to think UF was good in any area last year, including the defense. The Sytistics say that Florida had yet another fine defense, but the statistics don’t tell the real story. Uf never could stop a good team last year on defense. I won’t go through all the times the defense faltered, you saw it. The fact is that UF never could force a timely turnover or stop the other team from scoring when it needed. It didn’t matter if it was early in the game like Miami or Missouri, or late in the game, like South Carolina or Georgia Southern, or any of the other four games the Gators lost. There was one recurring theme last year, the defense never made a critical stop. The gators never beat a good team last year because the whole team was bad, offense, defense, and special teams. To solve any problem, you first have to recognize there is a problem. Face it, the Gators defense was a shadow of it’s 2012 version last year. The only great player was Easley, after he got hurt, the defense collapsed.

    • He’s a four-year player, McGee is in his first year. it’s just a respect thing.

      Dunbar and Fulwood were the best receivers.

  2. joaqui says:

    Glad to see will grier get the redshirt. Treon needs to play in a special package. I think treon has a real chance to be amazing. I’m surprised that jc is ahead of tabor. He must have performed really well in the summer because I remember how much hype there was on tarbor and dawson. I trust will with his assessment on db’s. Can’t wait to see the Gators live vs eastern michigan. It’s great UF

    • Dave Massey says:

      I’ll be surprised if Tabor isn’t starting soon. I believe they have him behing VHIII because these guys are playing the wide side of the field where you are more in the open and need more speed. Boundary versus field. That is just my guess though.

  3. Steven says:

    Burton is our starting TE. He is god awful.

    With the way we score points a good kicker is a must. Our kicking situation will cost us at least 1 win this year no doubt.

    Not sure what anyone ever saw in Hardin. I was at the UA All-American game he was in and saw him practicing.
    I thought it was a joke. The guy was regularly missing XPs and his ball knuckled. He didn’t have the end of end spin.

  4. NYC Gator says:

    Not sure if it’s an indictment on Grier that someone he had an 8 month head-start on still beat him out for the backup QB job or if Treon is just that good. I really really really hope it’s the latter.

    • Grier had a four-month head start…but only about a dozen practices. They played against vastly different levels of competition in high school. Read my story posting later today.

    • Dave Massey says:

      Grier has said all along that he wanted to redshirt. Harris wants to play as a freshman. Early enrollment does not necessarily mean early development. If Harris plays QB you can expect Florida to run the ball a lot more than they will with JD. JD staying healthy will be a huge determining factor in the Gators success this year.

  5. Michael Jones says:

    I agree with you, Dave, about being surprised that McGee did not beat out Burton. Especially in a spread offense.

    Like that Dunbar will be 1st string his senior year. Like that Mack Brown is listed as an alternate starter at RB. Like that Debose will be used as a returner for both punts and kickoffs but surprised he did not beat out Fulwood for 1st string WR. Like that Hargreaves is at least LISTED as a 3rd string punt returner. LOVE that our offense is building enough depth so that there are some pretty darn good players listed at 2nd and 3rd string skill positions.

    On defense, didn’t realize that Anzalone had a good enough camp to earn a 2nd string LB position. Looking forward to seeing McAllister and Ivie get some time this year. Interesting that Tabor will be backing up Hargreaves instead of being in the mix for 1st string at the other CB slot.

    And Kyle Christy. . .still scratching my head trying to figure out what happened after his all-world season a few years ago.

    And, yes, FOUR DAYS TO GO!!

    Bah nah nah nah nah, GO GATORS!!!! Bah nah nah nah nah, GO GATORS!!! Bah nah nah nah nah, GO GATORS!!! COME ON, GATORS, GET UP AND GO!!!!

  6. Kerwin4two says:

    Interesting to see Trip Thurmon win the starting job at LG. Look forward to your piece on Harris and Grier’s competition and background.

  7. Ken (CA) says:

    Interesting that Will Grier is 3rd string after going through Spring and Treon passed him by, considering Grier was supposed to be the next phenom. A bit surprised on DeBose and Robinson considering all the praise they got during practice about what game changers and play makers they are, and yet last year we “had no one to get the ball to” and yet we are going with exactly the same personnel that last year were supposedly no talent, n on-playmakers.

  8. Ken (CA) says:

    Interesting that Will Grier is 3rd string after going through Spring and Treon passed him by, considering Grier was supposed to be the next phenom. A bit surprised on DeBose and Robinson considering all the praise they got during practice about what game changers and play makers they are, and yet last year we “had no one to get the ball to” and yet we are going with exactly the same personnel that last year were supposedly no talent, non-playmakers.

    • Dave Massey says:

      With Florida running the no huddle spread offense this year all the receivers will get plenty of opportunities. Let the cream rise to the top. Whoever performs best will get the most opportunities.

      • Ken (CA) says:

        I get that, just kind of surprising when you consider the hype Vs. the complaints on lack of playmakers at the skill position yet they are still the chosen starters. Makes you wonder if it was Roper or WM decision…

        • Dave Massey says:

          I think the big question is, last year was it: 1. Lack of good receivers, 2. Lack of an arm to throw to the receivers, or 3. Lack of good coaching. I think that question will be answered real soon and hopefully we have all three ingredients this year or it will be another very frustrating year.

          • Ken (CA) says:

            That is the whole point. “last year lack of receivers” and yet, the depth chart is showing we are using the same receivers as last year now in starting roles. Hypocritical.

  9. aziatic41 says:

    How is Burton starting over McGee at TE. Burton was awful last year!

    • Ken (CA) says:

      Burton wasn’t awful, the coaching was. Every time he came in, especially in the “wildcat” opponents knew exactly how to defend. He did what he could with what he was allowed to do

  10. joaqui says:

    I think the important thing is to not take this as the end all be all of depth charts. I trust will on defense and think all 4 freshman db’s will play extensive this year in a rotation.

    I agree that Mcgee will lead Burton in receptions so I have no problem where he is slotted now.

    I believe treon can make an immediate impact as situational qb, but I like more the fact that will said he wants him to get game series early in idaho.

    I don’t agree with the ppl that say that the Gators can start slow this season. I think we have to put at least 38 points on idaho and the same on eastern michigan. Roper said he simplified the offense and that the practices alloted were enough to install the system, so it’s time to show it.

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