11/2: Addazio, McCarney, players discuss Georgia

By Adam Silverstein
November 2, 2010

Florida Gators offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Steve Addazio, assistant head coach, defense/defensive line Dan McCarney, junior safety Will Hill, redshirt senior guard Carl Johnson and redshirt freshman G Jon Halapio spoke to the media Tuesday as the team took a final look back on its win against the Georgia Bulldogs and ahead to its road game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

SPEEDY BACKFIELD CREATES HOME RUN THREATS

As head coach Urban Meyer has mentioned repeatedly over the last few weeks, one of the reasons for Florida’s inefficient offense during its three-straight losses was a lack of the home run plays. Addazio believes that element has officially returned now that junior running back Jeff Demps and redshirt junior wide receiver Chris Rainey are back playing. “The ability to have Demps and Rainey together back there, the ability to create a lot of speed back in that backfield again, gives you those opportunities for home run balls. [Options and dives] can be home run strikes now, they’re not just necessarily four-or-five-yard strikes.”

GEORGIA GASSED BY NO-HUDDLE OFFENSE

A common theme the players have expressed since the Georgia game ended on Saturday was how winded and unprepared the Bulldogs were for Florida’s enhanced no-huddle offense. “The no-huddle was actually harder in practice than it was in the game,” Johnson said. “It was fairly easy because Georgia was so tired. They weren’t even getting in their stance half the time because they were so tired. It wasn’t that bad. I thought it would be a lot, lot worse, but they make it so much harder in practice. We don’t have the 40-second clock rule in practice. The coaches are like, ‘Get on the ball, run another play!’”

Halapio shared similar sentiments. “I felt sorry for them boys because we practiced that bonazi stuff, that no-huddle stuff for two weeks. We were in shape. We had no mercy against them,” he said. “They were breathing and they couldn’t even get set. They were all walking around. They couldn’t even do trash talk or nothing. They couldn’t even talk to each other they were so gassed out.”

HILL EVALUATES HIS PERFORMANCES THIS SEASON

No matter what the coaches said about how he played, Hill knew he was better than the performance he was giving on the field throughout the season. After missing UF’s first two contests, Hill regained his starting job against Tennessee and has been performing admirably but with plenty of mistakes since. Though he suffered another miscue on Saturday, he hopes that he has now turned a corner.

“I played decent [early in the season]. I didn’t play like a top guy. I was just playing as a regular guy,” Hill said Tuesday. “I know what the coaches expect and I know what the team expects and I wasn’t up to those expectations. I was just average. [Saturday] was a big game for me. To be able to step up and help the team, I’ve been thinking about a lot of stuff like how can I help the team, how can I better myself, how can I better the team? By me performing the way I did, it just showed a lot of improvement.”

FIVE-STAR FRESHMEN DEFENDERS COMING INTO OWN

McCarney raved Tuesday about the progress of freshman defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd and defensive end (currently outside linebacker) Ronald Powell. He said Floyd is “the most improved freshmen that I’ve got on the defensive line right now,” adding that injuries have “given Sharrif more of an opportunity and he’s really gaining confidence, improving. I think he’s one of the most improved players on our defense right now.” As for Powell, his improvement has come from a variety of directions. “He’s playing lower. He’s playing with better fundamentals. He’s playing with better technique. He’s understanding the game. He’s understanding the game plan. He’s understanding schemes, what people are trying to do to him,” McCarney said. “He’s really improved a lot – immensely. He’s one of the most talented, most mature freshmen I’ve ever been around [and] I’ve been doing this a lot of years.”

QUOTES (After the break…)

Addazio on the return of the shovel pass: “That’s a big piece of our arsenal. That was a lot of yards for us last year – a lot – and we wanted to get that back.”

Addazio on the benefit of shifting quarterbacks: “It’s all reaction time. Defenses have to make a decision how they’re going to defend you. All of a sudden they’re defending a running set – so to speak – crowd more guys in the box you’re going to have cleaner coverages.”

Addazio comparing redshirt freshman tight end Jordan Reed to freshman QB Trey Burton: “They’re similar. You saw Jordan – he’s a big, physical, he’s a 240 lb. pounder with great speed and he can throw it, too. And he’s not involved in quite as many different things as Trey’s involved with, so he’s probably a little fresher. Just another element, you know? Great to get his feet wet a little bit in a big game atmosphere like that. He obviously handled that in the limited fashion he had to handle it. So now we grow.”

McCarney on whether or not he has been contacted to fill Minnesota’s head coaching vacancy: “No communication [with them]. None whatsoever.”

McCarney on improving the pass rush: “You don’t need to leave quarterbacks back there very long and they can hurt you. What we’re trying to do is improve, especially on third down, we’ve got to get more heat and more pressure and more disruption. You don’t have to have seven or eight sacks, but we just need to disrupt the timing and get the quarterback moving around more back there before he throws the ball.”

McCarney on if he will change third down personnel: “We got the right people on the field. We definitely have the right people on the field. We just need to improve at it.”

Johnson on senior punter/kicker Chas Henry: “He just won a game for us. Tremendous respect. The kid had a tough miss, big kick against LSU, Mississippi State. Come back and win against Georgia. Big, big, big, big, big, big. Chas came through big.”

Johnson on challenges with the no-huddle: “You saw it first hand – penalties. You’re playing at the best college in America, you got to fix it, got to get it going. Got to win.”

Halapio on if he expected this much action: “No, I didn’t, but this was my goal to get this much playing time. I had no idea I was going to play this much.”

Hill on how the secondary performed: “We played pretty decent. I know we could’ve played better, we let up a lot of yards, but when we came down to it we made a lot of plays.”

Hill on what he did different Saturday: “Playing with a lot more aggression. Mostly I was in the post all during the regular season, just sitting in the post. This game I blitzed a lot. I came up and I was in the run blocks with the linebackers.”

Hill on being winded and sick: “I had to go get an inhaler because it was just tough for me to breathe – plus all the guys laying on me [after the overtime interception].”

5 Comments

  1. HardToKillGtr says:

    Coaches and players figured out they had to do something different to win. Go Gators!

  2. Gatorbuc15 says:

    I’m very glad to hear that both Floyd & Powell are both making great strides. That’s very important for the future success of the D-line.

  3. Escambia94 says:

    Once again the offense and defense were exciting to watch (for most of the game).

  4. npgator says:

    Gatorbuc15 – you are spot on! I expect those two to be team leaders by next year.

  5. Timmy T says:

    Been saying it all year, and I’ll say it again. We are young and inexperienced, but very talented. We will finish with at least 4 losses this season, but this team will be NASTY next year.

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