By: David Soderquist -- May 20, 2023 The 2023 recruiting class had its ups and downs regarding recruiting battles. But when it came down to breaking down the class as a whole, it felt like Florida still took a step forward in the right direction, with just 20 high school commits, a 92.03 player average, and a 90 percent blue-chip ratio (percentage of 4 and 5 stars in the class) the class was far better than a regular Dan Mullen "take who I can get" class. Billy Napier Bringing Back "Florida Speed"
Yup. Speedy people with good hands. All of our best teams had those fast athletes. Spurrier's teams, Meyer's teams... Building the perfect beast absolutely requires those guys. Even on defense. In the past we've had those defensive backs that didn't just play it safe and keep everything in front of them. They broke on the freaking ball, were super fast, and just took that ball away. More of those types...twitchy ball-hawks. Fast receivers. Go Gators.
I remember that play like it was yesterday. I'm still stunned that to this day not one person mentions that Earl Everett's helmet was ripped off his head by a blatant facemask penalty... that was never called. I also liked that fast attack defense that we had. Speed kills... in all positions.
Both Andy Jean & Wilson need to play as true freshmen; hopefully, they will make an impact in the passing game right away. They should also be on special teams during returns as well as on the kick-blocking teams!
Yep, because they never look to see why he's running around with no helmet on. What caused him to "lose" his helmet in the first place. That happened to us two years ago in the game with FSU in Gainesville. I believe their #10 on defense ripped Pierce's helmet off and then tried to pulverize his head afterwards. That dude is a POS. And yes, we got a penalty for that too.
And that penalty was complete BS. The rule specifically says if it is the ball carrier who loses the helmet the play is supposed to be call dead. They are specifically excluded from the penalty since by definition the ball carrier can’t stop participating in the play. Was still awesome watching push into the end zone, though.
Now if we can only get them to review that play that caused Pierce to lose his helmet, and call the freaking facemask, all will be well.
Lol... I was going by my memory when I called out FSU's #10 as the defensive player that ripped Pierce's helmet off his head, and I was right, thanks for posting the clip, ET.
you can rip off a helmut and not be facemasking and it's hard to say that #10 had facemask or above the FM, but at the 4 sec mark, it is apparant that he had both hands wrapped around the helmut. I don't know the rules, but if as mentioned previously, if the ball carrier has his helmut removed, the play is over and he should have been called down at the 4. Still, the players MUST know that they can't continue play without a helmut, no matter what circumstanses. Not football smart!
So... it's legal to rip a helmet off an opponent as long as it's not from the facemask? You'd think they would have sort of rule against disrobing a player on the field... Lol.
