Despite Urban Meyer’s poaching habits, the Gators aren’t so loaded with talent that they can just “reload” rather than “rebuild.” But if this is a “rebuilding year,” where they get to start somewhere in the top-10, I’ll take it.
The defending National Champs actually have a lot of questions this year. Will the ill-fitting Chris Leak be missed as Timmy! Tebow takes over full-time at QB? Will the almost completely new personnel at defense be able to keep up while the offense learns to find it’s groove? Will that offense continue to look like Frankenstein’s monster merged with the dead body of Pop Warner? How much butt sweat is absorbed by the average pair of jorts in The Swamp during a Florida home game in September?
Offense: Returning 6 starters, this is supposed to be The Year of the Timmy! But we’ve got a suspicion it’ll be more about Percy “Just Give Him The Damn Ball” Harvin… so long as he can stay healthy and upright. Either way, their OL returns almost intact, so they should have a fair chance to win the LOS battle often enough to let Timmy! and Harvin and Co. to figure it all out.
Defense: Return 2 starters. 2. Two. Ouch. They go from having probably the most verteran LB corps in… ever to the least experience corps in memory. Their DL has one returning starter, and their DBs also have one. That’s it. Good grief. Luckily they play in the SEC, where offensive scheming takes a back seat to cocktail dresses on most game days.
Special Teams: Despite Meyer’s rep for strong ST, expect a very blah performance here. They’ve got a freshman kicker who could only be an improvement over the previous starter, and their return guys are good, but they’ve also got a freshman punter. I’ve got a guy feeling that either the K or P will disappoint this year.
Facts:
- Urban Meyer has perfected the art of poaching to the point of making citizens of the Ivory Coast blush.
- During Steve Spurrier’s tenure, the gators won 9+ games for 12 years in a row.
- Florida returns 8 starters total.
HLS Top 25 Meta:
- Highest spot on a HLS Ballot: 3
- Lowest spot on a HLS Ballot: 8
- Average ranking on HLS Ballots: 5.5
Why Alex Trebek Loves Them:
- Gatorade was originally created for the University of Florida Gator Football Team. You already know that, but that’s as well as I can do given the fact that there’s nothing fun about Florida. Except for Disney World, or, as I call it, “God’s Country.”
Around the Web:
HLS Tracker 10 Forecast Technology Says:
We hatesssssssssssssss Urban Meyer! We hatessssssss him! We hates him and his ring! But we also haven’t seen any reason to really doubt him on the results front. I don’t think he can win it all, but he may be able to win the SEC if the SEC tears itself apart mediocre bit by mediocre bit. So that might not look too bad in the end.
- HLS Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15 - November 15, 2009
- HLS Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-08 - November 8, 2009
- HLS Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-01 - November 1, 2009
