Receivers, Early Defensive Effort Highlight O&B

Onis Konanbanny hauls in an interception of a Will Griffin pass during Saturday's Orange and Blue game.

The statistics all even out if you’re a Gator fan. Would a dormant offense have portended something dire for the season, or will it have signaled a defense that is ready to flex its muscle this season? How would anyone know?

By CARLTON REESE

GatorBaitMedia.com

GAINESVILLE -- To draw any conclusions from Saturday’s Orange and Blue scrimmage would be as foolish as determining a life strategy following the first date of a potential courtship. As such, there will be neither chest thumping nor doldrums resulting from what transpired at The Swamp.

A nice-sized crowd of around 47,000 watched the Gators tie the Gators in some pseudo card-game scoring methodology. When a Gator made a spectacular play on a deep ball, the excitement could only be tempered with the understanding that it was also a Gator who got burned on the play. Every time a Gator broke a tackle at the line, there also was a Gator missing a tackle. When a Gator linebacker showed great instincts in picking off a pass, there too was a Gator quarterback having made a poor decision to cost his team.

It's up to the coaching staff to evaluate individual efforts and performances, something above my pay grade and so I won’t try to impress anyone with some faux insight as to who looked good and who didn’t. Tape reveals that the next day to Jon Sumrall and his staff.

What most fans are looking for in such a scrimmage is for a new breakout star to emerge. We saw Jadan Baugh break through in this game several years ago, and there always seems to be someone, usually on the offensive side of the ball, that punches his ticket to the fast line up the depth chart. Today, it was hard to find such a player.

My hope in the Orange and Blue game is to get more acquainted with the roster, which has more turnover than the Danish Bakery. The statistics all even out if you’re a Gator fan. Would a dormant offense have portended something dire for the season, or will it have signaled a defense that is ready to flex its muscle this season? How would anyone know?

The low-hanging fruit in these games is the quarterback position where the DJ Lagway saga has moved to what he hopes are greener pastures (quite literally in this case, Waco, Texas) and a new gunslinger must emerge. The battle looks to be between redshirt freshman Tramell Jones, Jr., and redshirt sophomore Aaron Philo, the Georgia Tech transfer. If you were hoping for some fireworks and a second-coming of Sammy Baugh, you will have to wait.

Early on, both Jones and Philo could only showcase short dinks and dumps – something we’ll likely see much of this year with Florida’s playmakers on the edge. During the early moments, the Gator defense dominated and gave the fans very little to phone home about. Philo would throw two interceptions, one into the arms of senior linebacker DJ Coleman, a Baylor transfer, and another that caromed off the hands of a receiver to junior safety and Kentucky transfer Cam Dooley. Admittedly, the Coleman interception came about as a great instinctive defensive play, but Philo earns a share of blame for his decision on what was essentially a run/pass option.

All in all, a non-descript performance for Philo, who did later connect with a wide-open Vernell Brown, Jr., on a deep touchdown. His numbers, for whatever they’re worth, read 21-for-28 passes for 193 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He seemed comfortable throwing to his former Rambling Wreck teammate Bailey Stockton and senior Auburn transfer Eric Singleton, Jr., who looks ready to round out what should be a solid UF receiving corps despite losing Aidan Mizell and Eugene Wilson III.

In seven possessions, Philo directed two TD drives, one field goal and two turnovers. He showed promise, but by no means dazzled anyone.

Jones might have taken a slight lead in the QB race with his performance Saturday, but marginally at best. He looks like a stud in waiting, and for now we wait. Saturdays’ scrimmage felt like the time for Jones to rip the QB role away and put on a show that would have Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler reminding everyone throughout the season. While Jones turned in a good performance, there were no ‘oohs!’ and ‘aahs!’ to create water cooler discussions during the week.

On his first pass, Jones threw behind Stockton on a crossing route and on his second possession lost his footing on a scramble for an 11-yard loss. In the second quarter, following two impressive first down runs by Byron Louis, Jones went to the air to connect his first downfield throw, a beautiful pass to Singleton for the game’s first touchdown. The next play after Philo connected with Brown for a TD, Jones hooked up with Micah Mays, the redshirt sophomore transfer from Wake Forest, on a 75-yard bomb that turned some heads.

Jones’ final line was 13-for-17 for 210 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

We’ve seen Aidan Warner before, and of all the QBs he may have looked the most comfortable, but only attempted seven passes. His 20-yard scoring run was indeed beautiful, but who was really trying their best to go after the quarterback anyway? Warner led two drives, both that ended in points, and that certainly works in his favor.

Many curious eyes fell upon freshman Will Griffin, who was unable to produce much thanks to a pass rush that seemed more fierce when he was on the field. He did seem poised and confident, sans one call for intentional grounding, but he remains a work in progress. Griffin’s best moment came when he fired a sidearm bullet to junior Jaylen Lloyd, an Oklahoma State transfer, for a first down late in the game.

If there is going to be water cooler talk from this game, it will most likely come from the receivers. Brown electrified the way everyone is accustom, but Singleton brings a fair amount of hype with him from Auburn and at the Orange and Blue game he lived up to the talk. Mays could be the sleeper in that no one really expects much from someone transferring in from Wake Forest, but as a state champion sprinter with reliable hands, he looks to be a very dangerous weapon for the Gator offense.

The two transfer wide receivers stole the show: Mays finishing with four receptions for 122 yards and two touchdowns, while Singleton made six catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. Throw in redshirt sophomore TJ Abrams, who finished with six catches for 56 yards and we’re talking about a seriously deep unit.

Keep in mind, Dallas Wilson did not play, but he was seen walking the field – albeit gingerly – without a boot. With a healthy Wilson, Brown, the two transfers mentioned, Abrams, Stockton and Oklahoma State transfer Jaylen Lloyd, this unit could make whoever wins the starting QB job look pretty good.

The Florida defense which dominated the first part of the game, showed no signs of tackling deficiencies, something that has plagued it in the past. Ball carriers were wrapped up and taken down, and even stacked up Baugh early on.

I’m looking at character, and I did notice one thing that caught my attention, and it came in the form of redshirt freshman cornerback Onis Konanbanny. Early in the second half, Konanbanny blasted the Gator receiver on an incomplete pass then went to high-fiving teammates. No one told him it was just a scrimmage, but Konanbanny was told to go play football on this day and that’s exactly what he did.

Not long after, Konanbanny was beat on a play by Kamir Jackson, leading to a pass interference in the end zone. The kid wasn’t done making his presence felt, as he then picked off a Will Griffin pass on a deep ball.

It’s only a scrimmage, but I love to see a player like Konanbanny just go out there and ball. If that’s the spirit of a Sumrall-coached team, that's a good reason to get me excited.