11/18: Meyer provides player updates, injury news

By Adam Silverstein
November 19, 2010

Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer met with the media after practice on Thursday and divulged a few important notes about the team’s 11th game of the 2010-11 season on Saturday against the Appalachian State Mountaineers. OGGOA has compiled some of the key details which you can check out below.

FORGET ANY RUMORS, MEYER’s BACK

When discussing staff evaluations (which he will do after the season), Meyer casually noted Monday that he will be back in 2011. Though most assumed that would be the case considering he is feeling better and under contract, rumors persisted throughout the early part of the season that he decided to come back for only one more year. He put those questions to rest on Thursday. “Oh yeah. One hundred percent. Absolutely,” Meyer said when asked to clarify that he would be back at Florida next season.

STICKING WITH THREE QUARTERBACKS

Meyer also said on Monday that he panicked when last weekend when South Carolina jumped out ahead and simultaneously shut down freshman quarterback Trey Burton early. He noted the same thing would not happen this week as the Gators will stick with the three QB system for the entire game. As for how they manage the rotation? “A lot of it’s based on flow, but we script a few series and we get those guys in the game,” he said. “A lot of it is flow, how they’re playing and how we’re moving the ball.”

Though Meyer said after the Vanderbilt game that redshirt freshman Jordan Reed‘s future was at tight end, he gave a cryptic answer Thursday when asked if he had given any consideration to moving him back to signal caller full-time. “I don’t know. We’re just trying to get this [win]. At some point that will be discussed,” he said. “The task at hand is we got to get this seventh win somehow.”

INJURY UPDATES

» Junior running back Jeff Demps (foot) – active – “He hasn’t practiced in six or seven weeks. He kind of goes through the motions because he’s a tough kid and holds onto the ball. Devastating.”
» Redshirt senior linebacker A.J. Jones (hamstring) – out
» Redshirt junior defensive tackle Jaye Howard (ankle) – active
» Sophomore LB Jon Bostic (bruised sternum) – probable
» Sophomore LB Dee Finley (broken collarbone) – out
» Sophomore RB Mike Gillislee (hamstring) – active – close to 100 percent
» Freshman DT Dominique Easley (suspension) – eligible

QUOTES

On senior center Mike Pouncey: “I love the term ‘Gator Great,’ because I think that’s really descriptive. He’ll certainly go down in that trophy room as one of the greatest players ever to play here. Part of a national championship, leader, tough, moved positions. He’s one of my favorites of all time because of his passion and love for the game and his love for this university. He loves Florida.”

On rallying the troops for the game: “I asked them to stick together and let’s send these seniors out winners. I’m proud of those guys. We just got to get them a win. They can finish as one of the winningest classes in SEC history and Florida football history.”

10 Comments

  1. npgator says:

    Why would anyone think he is not coming back? We are damn lucky to have him as our Head Coach.

  2. cline says:

    This has been a bad year for injuries. Demps going down early I think really killed our offensive production. Harp on the coordinators all you want, but losing Demps IMO was a major blow to our options. This team is very young and hopefully we can finish strong and get to the spring.

  3. ziggy says:

    At this point, I will be ecstatic with 9-4

  4. ziggy says:

    I think we can get to 9-4 if Meyer will just let his play maker play. What seems to be hurting us in big games is that the play calling starts out very conservative in an effort to avoid making mistakes. What happened to the Urban Meyer that wasn’t affraid to let his play makers go and attack the defense. The first offensive drive needs to include both Burton and Reed with some kind of gutsy but safe play other than a swing pass or dive play. It looked like the philosophy going into the USC game was to limit touches to our freshman play makers in order to avoid early mistakes, but it caused the offense to bog down, lose confidence and the coaches panicked.

  5. DC says:

    Sure would like to see Debose get involved more. Two kickoff returns for TD in limited action is outstanding. Hopefully he’ll be the man next year. Meyer’s resume speaks for itself. He’ll get things back on track…just the kind of competitor he is. Can’t wait for that to happen though.

  6. John S says:

    I would love to be 9-4, but that’s a ways off. Regardless of injuries our O-line is terrible, even if we still had Tebow our production would be greatly reduced. I agree with ziggy that the conservative play calling early in the game has really hurt our production. You can’t slowly build a QB’s confidence by going 3 and out. This team is incapable of grinding out a win, the fundamentals are not there. We’re 6 and 4, time to put the cards on the table.

  7. npgator says:

    I think we go 9 – 4 this year and FSU has done nothing to deter that prediction.

  8. Capn Gav says:

    Give me a break…Mike Pouncey one of the greatest. For cryin’ out loud! Urban Meyer is full of more crap than oven roasted red snapper.

  9. Basshole says:

    cline, I hat to bag on the coaching staff too much, but as someone said here before the Alabama game, they should have held Demps out of practice for at least two weeks. The way we kept trying to get him out there week after week, he never got a chance to heal. I know hindsight is 20/20, but our rushing him out there probably will probably ensure he won’t be 100% the rest of the year.

    And yes, I agree, him being out really hurt our season. I still think we have a down year this year, but if all of our playmakers are healthy and not suspended, I think we only have two losses.

  10. Scooterp says:

    I dunno Capn Gav, my oven roasted red snapper tastes pretty good and has no crap; perhaps your not following the recipe……. The first two series will determine how we finish our season, plain and simple.

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