In the aftermath of last night's game, there are several thoughts and feelings I need to muddle my way through, so here goes: - Lagway exceeded my wildest expectations. I knew he had "the look" of a potential super star and that he was reputed to possess a combination of physical talent and emotional maturity that was possibly unique in a player his age. In no way did I expect the show he put on last night. DJ obviously has the "It" factor, in spades. In my estimation, the only other true freshman QB to bring that kind of instant impact to his first start as a Gator was Timmy T. Apparently there is no concealing the heart of a champion. FTR, at this point in his career, DJ is more advanced as a down field passer than any FR QB I've personally ever seen - ever. The young man has phenomenal natural talent, period. - The overall team effort was "somewhat" encouraging. The team has apparently not given up on the season or on BN just yet. But the bone-headed penalties and lack of talent/discipline/sustained effort on the OL remain as dire concerns in my eyes - concerns that will cast a shadow on the future of the program until/unless a solution is found. - Billy didn't bring the fanbase to the point of near mutiny overnight. And he's obviously not going to win the fanbase back with one semi-impressive win against a vastly overmatched opponent. We will see what's what next week when Billy's response to the first whiff of actual progress in forever tells us something about whether or not he can develop the coaching acumen I and many others have come to seriously doubt.
I hate to be negative but the oline has to get better if we are going to have a chance against SEC teams. That’s my biggest disappointment so far. Lags and Mertz have to have better protection. As to DJ. His long passes are sweet. He leads the receiver letting them run to the ball. Nice loft and touch. One issue is he threw into triple coverage on a couple long balls. Those passes get picked by SEC caliber players. He cannot do that moving forward. I’d like to see him process a little better, look off, except that’s difficult when your protection breaks down so soon. We may have to go to a moving pocket to give our QBs more time. Curious if Coach Napier knows what that is? (Jk, sorta) Webb is our 4th best RB. Defense is banged up. I can’t say at this time they are much better than last year. Except for having more depth I’m not sure about their ability to stop the big boy offenses. TBD
Exceeded my expections as well. It appeared he was very cautious running (and makes sense to avoid injury) but his arm strength as well as his accuracy was incredible. We have yet to see what he can do with his legs. Given that with what we know of Tim T's running ability and DJ's arm, put them together and you have the best college QB ever! Unfortunately things don't work that way. He was very impressive.
agree with this. I think Lagway was doing a heat check with that triple coverage deep throw to EW3 early in the 3rd quarter but he can't let that become a habit. I’m with you about the OL. That right side is NOT good. That’s where i’m hoping have Lagway as a running threat, and as much as it bothers me at times, Napier having a quick passing game can take some heat off him but at some point, we ARE going to have to run long developing plays and they’re going to have to hold up
DJ felt the pressure and moved around in the pocket buying time. He may not have run but avoided the pressure where Mertz took the sack.
Nothing to argue with there. That's exactly why I and many others remain dubious, at best. If there are no answers on the OL/protection schemes, or a fuller mastery of the basics, there will be little hope of success against anyone with a pulse. It just is what it is. FTR, I also agree with your RB assessment. I think Jackson and Baugh are absolutely the future at RB.
I agree with you 100%! Another factor to deal with will be the Gators playing better teams on the away games. I am sure Lagway will develope well in these experiences. It won't be just Lagway developing on the away games. The team as a whole really needs to step up their game. The last sentence also includes the coaches. One last note. Running QB's are injury prone. I am not suggesting that Lagway be wrapped up in bubble-wrap. I just do not want him to overreach when running with the football. Especially as a Freshman QB. The more times a QB runs the ball, the more times he is likely to get injured. The best way to avoid a future injury (which is impossible) is for him to get more time on the playing field. College Football is a light year beyond High School Football. The players are bigger, faster, talented, and more experience. Lagway need to experience this factors on the field and learn how to adjust and grow as a player. His learning curve maybe short, medium, or long. Hopefully what he learns will tell him when to take a knee or go into a slide.
Granted it was Samford but I have seen us struggle with lower level teams before, so take this with a grain of salt. My take is, DJ deserves to be a bigger piece of the offence game plan. We are not going anywhere so lets develop next years QB. The positives - DJ looked poised, took downfield shots, and overall made the right (albeit simple) reads. We had as many downfield shots (5) in one game as we did ALL of last year, which included games against McNeese and Charlotte. The negatives - Still undisciplined penalties, D still looks shaky, I did not get the sense that the Gators imposed their will, and you can not fumble the ball on the goal line.
What we saw last night is simply Lag makes the offense a whole lot better. He is able to do what GM can't as in chunk plays and avoid sacks. OL still remains weak and our two OL coaches aren't earning their money. We will know more about our team this Saturday, I still feel our DL is a liability, I will say this, I do think TAM, MS, CF, UK, fsu are all beatable provided Lag plays the majority of snaps.
I don’t know man. I have my thoughts about offensive lines, and usually people with more football knowledge disagree with me, but I always feel as though the OL and QB are symbiotic. A QB can make an OL look good or bad, and the opposite it also true. A strong pocket passing QB can make the OL look good by making the right reads pre-snap and getting rid of the ball quickly. That forces the defense to back off the pressure at the line of scrimmage, thus making the OLs job easier. A good mobile QB avoids the pressure and makes plays out of the pocket, thus avoiding sacks and making the defense back off. My point is… I don’t always think OLs are as good or bad as people think. Of this was the first UF game I ever watched, I’d say that they have a pretty good OL. Lagway and the RBs had success. We have a good enough OL… maybe not elite, but good enough to win if the QBs force the defense to change strategy.
Stretching the field the way Lagway can does wonders for the offense as a whole. The defense can’t stack the box if you are capable of throwing downfield, to put things simply.
That's all nice theory but we have real problems along the OL. They're not "good enough" right now and I'm not convinced they will be over the course of the season.
Short and sweet......I saw enough last night to give me reason to believe we can compete with the best of them this year. IMHO, MOST of the miscues were from a bunch of new guys trying to get in sync with each other. This should improve over time. We couldn't have asked for a better scenario than for Mertz to sit out this game and for us to play this particular opponent. This game had to instill CONFIDENCE in our players and staff, going forward. Go Gators!
So are you saying that they only looked good is because of the opponent? Not arguing… just trying to see where you are coming from.
