Buddy Martin Blog: Say Hello To Emory Jones, Gators’ Newest Starting Quarterback - And Heir To Glory
Updated: Sep 3, 2021
Kyle Trask, Chris Leak, Rex Grossman, Jesse Palmer, Shane Matthews…
Florida Gator quarterbacks by birthright are born virtually as rock stars. They walk on campus as future Unicorns, maybe as heirs to royalty, perhaps with a touch of diva, eliciting the adoration of a Spanish matador. Yet seemingly, they have all been different. This next one for the Gators certainly is.
By rough count via the Internet – I never was good with numbers and we certainly know about the dubious nature of online stuff – there have been 94 previous starting Gator quarterbacks. In 1906 Charlie Thompson started it all.
Say hello to Emory Jones. Starting QB No. 95, who probably deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for patience.
Let me jump in and say, again, that while Emory Jones may not yet totally comprehend the powerful legacy he inherits, I predict he will contribute mightily to it. He takes the sword Saturday after a three-year wait. And it’s mathematically possible he could play seven years at UF if he wanted to. While possible, it’s very unlikely, given his projected NFL future.
At the University of Florida, the standards are set in bronze. It’s hard to miss because the current starter passes the three statues on the way to work, which lionize the trailblazers.
Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Tim Tebow …
Frankly, even though this will be his fourth season, we really don’t know much about Emory. But we are about to find out.
As he stood before reporters in the Zoom presser this week, several of my colleagues did their best to extract some flavor of his personality. We got as far as his playlist and a little convo about his piled-up hairstyle vs. that of a bald reporter. He was good natured.
Not to be critical of Jones, but he’ll probably be defined by the barometer of Teddy Roosevelt’s “Speak softly but carry a big stick” paradigm. Emory has lived somewhat in anonymity as a backup to Felipe Franks and Kyle Trask. And he’s not exactly loquacious. Maybe even a touch shy.
So when the lights turn on Saturday night, what will we see?
Emory Jones will speak with his arm and legs. All smart football people I’ve spoken with don’t see a big dropoff in production this season. EJ can spin it and tote the rock. His ability to keep the defense off balance dictates the effectiveness of schemes.
Florida will be trying to run the ball more, including with its quarterback, and hopes to utilize an almost embarrassment of running back riches. And that marries nicely with a revived defense that needs more of a respite from the field. This all fits nicely into the Emory Plan.
Angus Williams, Haywood Sullivan, Tommy Shannon…
The reason he’s at Florida, Emory told us, is Mullen’s acumen for building an offense around the skills of the quarterback. He’s known Mullen since he was barely in high school, been to his camps, studied his offense and although headed for Ohio State out of high school in LaGrange, Ga., as a four-star he flipped to Florida when Dan took the job at UF.
Mullen says he feels his ability to adapt to the quarterback’s style provides potential recruits like Jones with the confidence their best skills will be on display. He said:
“I think all our quarterbacks know because they sit in the room and they sit there and know how we prepare and put the packages together and we put the plan together … I don’t know that I’ve ever had two that are similar. I think they see we’re gonna build around their individual strengths and there’s a comforting factor in knowing that.”
How did Emory feel about playing in this system after waiting over 1,000 days to see how Mullen has tailored this offense around him?
“It makes me feel really good,” said Jones. “It’s the reason I chose to come to Florida. He creates his offense around the quarterback. And that takes advantage of my abilities.”
Chris Leak, Kyle Trask, Rex Grossman, Jesse Palmer ...
While Emory Jones may not yet totally comprehend the powerful legacy he inherits, I predict he will contribute mightily to it. He takes the sword Saturday after a three-year wait.
There is also the factor of what, if anything, those bright lights will do to a first-time starter. Not much in his case, I don’t think. Probably because the ingenious way of Mullen’s development style, which is to interject the apprentice at various times in a game without any regular sequence. Just as he will this year with promising understudy Anthony Richardson, whose unofficial reviews have been lofty. That’s how Mullen preps his QBs.
“I think you look at what makes quarterbacks successful and a lot of the intangibles that come with that,” Mullen said. “So a lot of our focus is on the intangibles at the quarterback position. Obviously we go out, and we teach the techniques.
“We teach the fundamentals of the position. We teach the offensive scheme and make sure that they understand what they’re supposed to do. We set up a lot of our practice around quarterback development. But then it is really important to look and find what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses …”
Terry Dean, Kerwin Bell, Wayne Peace, Don Gaffney, John Reaves...
Jones is prepped and ready, because he has been placed in various situations at different times. It’s not just the amount of playing time, but the conditions when he enters the game – down, distance, time and score, etc.
On that count he’s a veteran, even though he’s never started a game at Florida. Mullen wasn’t afraid to sub him for Trask at key times and let him do his thing. He likes to remind people that on the second series of last year’s SEC Championship Emory was in the game.
“Always put them in a position to be successful. And that’s really what we’ve done, and I guess we’ve been really good at identifying the strengths and then have the flexibility within our offense to highlight their strengths and to ask them to do what they do well, I think, is – I mean that’s kind of the secret, I guess.”
Jimmy Dunn, Doug Dickey, Angus Williams and Bobby Lance, Clyde Cannonball Crabtree … Bobby Lance?
I’ve seen probably half of those 95 quarterbacks in person – maybe because I always yearned to be one. Unfortunately Bob Woodruff didn’t recognize the enormity of my one-star skills as an Ocala High School quarterback. I was very jealous of those spiffy low-cut shoes worn by Bobby Lance as a Gator. And I was pretty sure Woodruff could have adapted his offense around my skills. Because he didn’t have any, nor did I.
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