11/22: Urban Meyer’s Monday press conference

By Adam Silverstein
November 22, 2010

Head coach Urban Meyer and a small group of players meet with the media each Monday before the Florida Gators compete in a game the following Saturday. OGGOA has compiled some of the most important notes and quotes from the event this week.

LONG LIST OF INJURY UPDATES

Though even more Florida players are currently dealing with injuries, Meyer updated the status of a number of guys. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Andre Debose (ankle), redshirt sophomore cornerback Jeremy Brown (hamstring) and redshirt senior linebacker A.J. Jones are all listed as probable for Saturday. Freshman defensive tackle Dominique Easley (ankle) is questionable and redshirt sophomore defensive end Earl Okine (concussion) is doubtful. Florida should receive preliminary word on junior CB Janoris Jenkins’ status on Monday after he suffered what was initially deemed a minor concussion over the weekend.

Meyer also noted that the Gators are indeed seeking a medical hardship waiver for kicker Caleb Sturgis, who has already missed seven games this year with a back injury. If it is granted, Sturgis will enter next season as a redshirt junior.

CHAMPIONS

Meyer announced Monday that 19 Gators had earned the designation of Champions after Saturday’s win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Offensively, Meyer named senior center Mike Pouncey as his player of the game along with redshirt senior tackle Marcus Gilbert, redshirt senior T Maurice Hurt, redshirt senior guard Carl Johnson, redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley, sophomore running back Mike Gillislee, redshirt junior fullback Steven Wilks, redshirt freshman G Jon Halapio, redshirt junior WR Chris Rainey, redshirt freshman tight end Jordan Reed, redshirt sophomore WR Frankie Hammond, Jr., redshirt junior WR Deonte Thompson and freshman QB Trey Burton as his champions. On the defensive side of the ball, senior LB Brandon Hicks won the POG award, while senior safety Ahmad Black, redshirt junior CB Moses Jenkins, senior DE Duke Lemmens, redshirt senior DT Terron Sanders and freshman DT Sharrif Floyd were champions.

NO MORE PUNISHMENT FOR MOORE

Redshirt senior WR Carl Moore was ejected from Saturday’s game after retaliating during a fight with an opposing player. Meyer said Monday that Florida would not impose another penalty on the player seeing as the standard punishment is missing half of a game and he has already done that. “I had a meeting with him yesterday. We don’t do that, and I’m going to reemphasize that with the team,” Meyer said. The NCAA also decided not to pursue the issue further.

HELPING BRANTLEY IMPROVE

Asked how Brantley needs to improve from this point forward as a quarterback, Meyer said his two biggest issues are getting rid of the ball quickly and knowing when to “burn it” when being blitzed or having no open men downfield. Meyer cited the fact that Brantley being sacked causing a 2nd and 17 puts the Gators in a deeper hole than a simple incompletion on 2nd and 10 would.

He also noted, like he has previously this year, that Brantley (as a dropback passer) needs a strong, big running back and solid tight end play to compliment him. “When you have a quarterback like that, he’s got to be able to hand the ball off. It’s nothing new – it’s been like that for 100 years,” Meyer said. “When you’re limited at tight end and you’re limited at fullback [and you don’t have a big running back], you’re in quicksand. Hand the ball off – play action pass – and then utilize the dropback passing game.”

QUOTES (After the break…)

On Florida State QB Christian Ponder: “This guy’s a tough cat. He’s athletic; he throws the ball very well.”

On if this is a must-win like vs. FSU in 2005: “Sure. Sure.”

On UF-FSU in the 1990s: “Both of them were the fastest teams in college football. Everybody watched that game. You wouldn’t miss it – a lot like the Florida-Georgia game.”

On this game being significant for recruiting: “That’s absolutely correct. The last two years we have kind of done well, but make no mistake about it the quality of athlete on that team is as good as any in the country. They get theirs, we get ours and there’s a lot of guys on the fence right now.”

On senior DT Gary Beemer using the word “progenitor“ in his press conference: “That’s why I gave him the ball.”

On the second-team offensive line’s play: “We out-manned them. I watched very little of it to be quite frank with you. I think we got some young linemen.”

On all seven of Florida’s touchdowns coming when a dual-threat QB/multiple QB system was used: “I guess we got to get some dual threat quarterback in here. I think that threat is real, especially the quality player that they are and the threat that they give you. That’s interesting.”

On using the “rivalry” edge when motivating the team this week: “It’s all team-to-team. I just go back to the ’08 team, the ’08 team didn’t need to be told it was a rivalry. The ’08 team was executing at an extremely high level, so the focus was on executing at an extremely high level. […] This one’s a little different. We’re obviously not executing at an extremely high level. So we may need to focus more on the rivalry than other [times] with the young guys.”

On the priority of improving kickoff hang time and distance: “1A or 1B. You’re trying to get four-second hang time between the five yard line and the goal line, and we’re nowhere near that.”

6 Comments

  1. Todd says:

    After all of the problems this year, beating FSU would still make this a successful season. Any year we beat Tenn, UGA and FSU is a good year. When the game is over, it’s time to demote Adazzio to waterboy.

  2. Gatormiami says:

    A loss to FSU makes this season a complete disaster….. a win makes it just terrible! Expect more of the same with the 2011 edition of Urbaddazio, regardless of the superiority of Gator talent!

  3. Gatorgrad79 says:

    Wow – that’s huge that Carl Moore can start against fsu! On another note – UF vs ucf in the Autozone Bowl in memphis?! Uuugh – longing for the good ole days and the Gator Bowl….

  4. Gatorgrad79 says:

    Todd – Addazio is FINE as offensive line coach! He is NOT and will NEVER BE an offensive coordinator – lets hire Kerwin Bell away from JU and finally have a real quarterback coach that can run an offense !!

  5. Aligator says:

    maybe our talent is not so good? or maybe we are too young? I mean, both of our lines are leaving and i can assure you that what is coming up will be no better, especially on the oline side. 6-6 here we come if addozzio stays on as OC and Olin coach.
    That mind you is not the end all be all, we all have real lives to live and football is cyclical.

  6. Gatorgrad79 says:

    Aligator – I have said it before, we need to recruit some GROWN men from the top JC’s in the country to come in and play O-line! We don’t have time for kids to grow up and put on 30 pounds of muscle before next year…

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