Three areas that have to improve for UF to post a winning season

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

There are numerous reasons to look ahead with optimism as the Gators begin preparations this week for the season opener with Miami on August 31. Despite the toughest schedule in the nation, Florida has its best roster in several years to go with the most experience since Billy Napier took the head coaching job. That isn’t to say there aren’t areas of concern that if not properly addressed could turn this into a fourth straight losing season.

Here are three areas of concern:

1. Consistent pass rush: As easy as it is to criticize Third and Grantham for his tenure as the defensive coordinator from 2018-2021, getting to the quarterback wasn’t an issue. The Gators sacked opposing quarterbacks 158 times in four years including 49 times in 2019. The Gators finished 9th nationally in total defense that year. There is a direct correlation between sacks and good defense. The Gators have 45 sacks COMBINED in the last two seasons. The inability to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks has much to do with the Gators finishing 12th in the SEC in total defense in 2022, 11th a year ago.

The Gators have run out of a base 3-4 defense the last two seasons and that shouldn’t change although the addition of co-defensive coordinator Ron Roberts means more multiple looks and blitzes coming from every position on the field at the most unpredictable of times. When Baylor played Ole Miss in the 2021 Sugar Bowl, Roberts’ defense sacked the quarterbacks 10 times. As the defensive coordinator at Auburn a year ago, the Tigers had more sacks and forced one fewer turnovers than Georgia.

Auburn improved by cutting seven points and four first downs per game from its previous season under another defensive coordinator. Can he do the same thing at UF? It will all start by pressuring the quarterback.

2. Improvement by the guards: With O’Cyrus Torrence turning in an All-America season and Ethan White making second team All-SEC in 2022, the Gators were so strong up the middle that they averaged 5.51 yards per carry. The Gators gave up only 17 sacks all season, very few that came straight up the gut. Torrence went to the NFL last year and White transferred to Southern Cal. Guard play suffered. Early in the year, Jake Slaughter had his problems as a first year center, but from midseason onward he was outstanding. The same can’t be said about guards Richie Leonard IV and Micah Mazzccua, neither of whom distinguished himself either against the run or in pass protection.

By the end of the season a year ago, true freshman Knijeah Harris was getting regular snaps at left guard. He is penciled in as the first teamer at LG this year. He’s big, mobile and very, very smart. He should be an upgrade to Leonard.

It is the other guard that could be problematic. Damieon George Jr., who struggled at RT last year, moved inside during the spring to what should have been his natural position all along. He was inconsistent during the spring, which may have something to do with Kam Waites being moved inside. There is also Jason Zandamela, a rather beastly transfer from Southern Cal who was considered one of the top young O-Linemen in the portal.

The Gators have experience on the outside and Slaughter could wind up as one of the top three centers in the SEC this season. For the Gators to show the kind of improvement that can lead to the first winning season since 2020, the guards will have to step up their game.

3. Fewer missed tackles: According to Pro Football Focus, Florida’s defenders missed 116 tackles in 2023. That’s a shade under 10 per game. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to conclude the Gators might have won seven or eight games at a minimum last year if they had just put people on the ground. Was the plague of missed tackles the result of less contact in practice? Or was it more a case of inexperience? The Florida defense has a collective 239 starts and 686 games of experience heading into the seasons. Will that translate into fewer missed tackles? If the Gators approach anything close to 100 missed tackles, it’s going to be a lengthy season.

New scholarship limits kick in for 2025-26 season

Following the settlement of anti-trust lawsuits, scholarship limits will increase exponentially at each Division I school. Florida will have a maximum 518 scholarships available, and it will be possible to issue partial scholarships for football and basketball, unlike years past. The greatest increases will be track and field, lacrosse, baseball and football.

Here are the new sport-by-sport scholarship numbers for the University of Florida:  

Baseball: Previous 11.7. New 34.

Basketball: Previously for men and women 13. Both increase to 15.

Cross country: Previously for men 5, for women 6. Both increase to 17.   

Football: Previous 85. New 105.  

Golf: Previous for men 4.5, for women 6. Both increase to 9. 

Gymnastics: Previous 12. New 20. 

Lacrosse: Previous 12. New 38.

Soccer: Previous 14. New 28.  

Softball: Previous 12. New 25.

Swimming: Previously men 9.9, women 14. Both increase to 30.

Tennis: Previously men 4.5, women 6. Both increase to 9.

Track and field: Previously for men 12.6, women 18. Both increase to 45.

Volleyball: Previous 12. New 18.

40 Olympic athletes … but who’s counting?

Caeleb Dressel swam the anchor leg of the USA’s 4X100 relay team to capture gold at the Paris Olympics. It was the eighth Olympic medal for Dressel, who will swim the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly later this week.

Dressel is one of 40 Olympic athletes from the University of Florida, the most of any Southeastern Conference school and the fourth highest total of any college or university in the United States. Here are the top 25 schools at this year’s Olympics.

1. Stanford 51; 2. Southern California 44; 3. Michigan 47; 4. FLORIDA 40; 5. California 39; 6. Texas 30; 7. LSU 28; 8. Tennessee 27; 9. UCLA 24; 10. Arkansas 23; 11. Arizona State 22; 12. Penn State 21; 13. Duke 18; 14. Florida State; Harvard, Indiana and Wisconsin 17; 18. Kentucky and Virginia 16; 20. Georgia 15; 21. Notre Dame and South Carolina 14; 23. Princeton 13; 24. Ohio State and Texas Tech 12

Finebaum offers advice to Nebraska HBC Matt Rhule

At Big Ten Media Days last week, Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule said, “I think four teams from this league should get in every year because this is the best league. This is the NFL of college football.”

The NFL of college football? Let’s see. How many national championships has the Big Ten won since 2000? Three. How many has the SEC won? Fourteen. The SEC has had more players drafted than any other conference for 18 consecutive years.

Rhule’s comments rankled Paul Finebaum, who remarked, “Matt, stay in your lane. Job one, win enough games to get to some stupid bowl game. Don’t worry about the big boys because you’re not one of them. We saw what you did in the NFL. You were a complete disaster at Carolina. You somehow got this job at Nebraska and you’re talking like you belong at the table with Ohio State and Georgia. You don’t.”

Now, Matt Rhule is a good enough football coach to have won 10 games back-to-back at Shirley Temple. He turned things around at Baylor and won 11 games in his third year on the job. He was indeed bad in the NFL. Very bad – 11-27 before he was fired five games into year three with the Carolina Panthers. He went 5-7 year one at Nebraska and there is a chance he’ll turn things around there.

Good for him, but to start claiming the Big Ten is the NFL of college football isn’t exactly the smartest thing he’s ever said. Sorry, Matt, but Finebaum is right. Put Nebraska in a bowl game for the first time since 2016. And, let’s see if the Big Ten can win its third national championship of this century.  

Then you can talk all you want.  

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Wide receiver Rara Thomas is the latest Georgia Bulldog to run afoul of the law, this time for felony cruelty to children and two misdemeanor counts of battery. It’s not the first time Thomas has been in serious trouble when it comes to domestic violence. Shortly after he transferred to Georgia from Mississippi State, he was arrested for false imprisonment (felony) and battery (misdemeanor), both related to domestic violence. Ever so conveniently, the charges were dropped. Kirby Smart suspended Thomas from the team during the legal process but as soon as the charges were dropped, he was able to join the team for spring practice. In an injury-slowed 2023, he caught 23 passes for 383 yards (16.65 per catch).

Georgia reportedly has suspended Thomas indefinitely. Emphasis on reportedly. The way Kirby Smart handles discipline and the way the court system works in Clarke County, Georgia, there is no way of knowing if Thomas will ever be punished. Odds are he won’t miss a single football game if Kirby can find a friendly judge.

So far, there has been no statement from Kirby Smart, just a no comment because it’s “a pending legal matter” from UGa executive athletic director for strategic communications Steven Drummond. It’s baffling yet at the same time about what we have come to expect from Smart and Georgia where arrests are rather commonplace.

Kirby had the temerity at SEC Media Days to claim that Georgia has actually suspended players for speeding tickets. Oh really? Let me guess. If you’re a walk-on who gets his brains beat in on the scout team, you get suspended but only because your absence interferes with preparation for the next football game.

Within a month after transferring to Georgia from Florida Trevor Etienne was arrested for speeding, reckless driving and DUI. You probably believe in the Easter Bunny if you think for even a nanosecond that Etienne won’t suit up when Georgia opens the season with Clemson in Atlanta, particularly since Etienne’s older brother was a Clemson All-American.

Here is what Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South wrote about how once and for all Kirby Smart needs to prove he has the nads to clean up a very rotten Georgia football program: “I’m going to make this very easy for Kirby Smart: Start kicking players off the team. Then hold a press conference, and declare that the next player who receives a speeding ticket or reckless driving charge, or a felony charge of any kind, is off the team. Period.”

Am I foolish enough to believe Kirby Smart would actually do something like that? Are you?