ESPN's pre-spring positional rankings show uphill battle for UF . . .

Baits Out

ESPN's SEC blog has been releasing its pre-spring positional rankings for the conference over the last week. And the Worldwide Leader's ranking of Florida's offensive talent indicates just the predicament new coach Jim McElwain finds himself facing: that, frankly, the Gators don't have much talent on that side of the ball.

Below is where ESPN ranks each of Florida's units on the offensive side of the ball in the SEC.

QB: 9th
RB: 10th
WR/TE: 11th
OL: 12th

The bottom line? McElwain and his staff are going to have to coach up the offense as best they can to produce results early on, then recruit like heck in the 2016 class to start filling the talent void on the roster on offense. It won't be easy.

on_the_rocks

****... Champ left the **** cabinet bare.

fins4me

Here is the complete list when all of the position groups are averaged together.
1 - Tennessee - 4.75
1 - Auburn - 4.75
3 - Arkansas - 5
3 - A&M - 5
5 - Georgia - 5.25
6 - LSU - 5.5
7 - Miss St - 6.25
8 - Bama - 6.75
9 - Missouri - 7.5
10 - South Carolina - 9.5
11 - Ole Miss - 9.75
12 - Florida - 10.5
13 - Kentucky - 10.75
14 - Vandy - 13.75

Baits Out

Coach Mac, great as he seems to be, definitely has a lot of work to do to please and win respect and support from the hundreds of us Bull Gators, and thousands of others in the world-wide Gator Nation.

JaxNole

Baits Out wrote: »

Coach Mac, great as he seems to be, definitely has a lot of work to do to please and win respect and support from the hundreds of us Bull Gators, and thousands of others in the world-wide Gator Nation.

You are a Bull Gata? Never would have guessed.

Larry Mac

We may be small, but we're slow.

Hopefully our lack of talent won't seem as bad if it's coached up better

navigator2

on_the_rocks wrote: »

****... Champ left the **** cabinet bare.

That's yet to be proven. That's what they said when Spurrier arrived in 1990. Sometimes it is just flat out chitty coaching. We'll see.

2amigo

navigator2 wrote: »

That's yet to be proven. That's what they said when Spurrier arrived in 1990. Sometimes it is just flat out chitty coaching. We'll see.

Spurrier had a pretty good eye on who had the goods. Wasn't Shane Mathews stuck at like #4 on the depth chart from the previous regime when he arrived?

on_the_rocks

If the vols can't manage ti beat the Gata this year they should just give up, seriously.

Salty Gator

2amigo wrote: »

Spurrier had a pretty good eye on who had the goods. Wasn't Shane Mathews stuck at like #4 on the depth chart from the previous regime when he arrived?

Matthews was indeed buried on the depth chart. Galen Hall had no passing game accumen and Emmitt left early, but the cupboard was hardly bare for Spurrier. He had a decent offensive line and defense to start with.

I remember watching that first Spurrier game against Ok St. and it was just amazing to see a real passing attack with receivers wide open all over the field. It would be great to see a similar transition next year.

ZimmerNole

But we know one thing, the defense will be very good.

Tabor and VHIII have only gotten bigger, faster, and stronger.

Cane Pole

11-3

ZimmerNole

Cane Pole wrote: »

11-3

How'd that work out for you last year :rotflmao

What is your Dolphins prediction?

Tanny to the pro bowl again?

:rotflmao

Cane Pole

At least I'm consistent

ZimmerNole

Cane Pole wrote: »

At least I'm consistent

Yep.

Consistently inconsistent. :grin

JK

Flash

on_the_rocks wrote: »

If the vols can't manage ti beat the Gata this year they should just give up, seriously.

:grin

navigator2

on_the_rocks wrote: »

If the vols can't manage ti beat the Gata this year they should just give up, seriously.

Careful now. Them's fighting words for Fins. Ask him how I know. :grin

fins4me

navigator2 wrote: »

Careful now. Them's fighting words for Fins. Ask him how I know. :grin

:grin

NOLE66

I'll put the over/under on the Swamp Donkey at 4. I'm taking the under. One more sub-par year on the field will result in another sub-par recruiting class. Two straight years of lowly classes with basically zero in the chamber will cost them dearly for several years. The donkey has a hill to climb that no other uf coach has been faced with in a VERY long time. Will be interesting to watch.

Talent on OL, WR, QB, RB is horrible while the defense will obviously not be as good due to loss of talent and a great defensive coach.

Salty Gator

NOLE66 wrote: »

Talent on OL, WR, QB, RB is horrible while the defense will obviously not be as good due to loss of talent and a great defensive coach.

Sure hope Jimbo sees things through the eyes of BF and prepares the Noles with this mindset come November.

Talent on the OL and QB may be horrible but it is really more unknown than a known horrible entity.

Talent at WR is there but I will agree that their known performance was terrible under the old regime. This is the one position where improvement can be achieved quickly.

Talent at RB is not an issue. Taylor and Scarlett are both solid SEC caliber backs.

The defense lost Fowler, but nobody else with a lot of contributions. If Morrison comes back, the defense will be very similar to last year. If not, we may be a little weaker.

ZimmerNole

You haven't seen Scarlett run in a Gator uniform yet, I wouldn't get too close with calling him a SEC calibur back. YET! He could be very, very, very good for a few years to come.

We wanted him, no doubt. Huge get for the Gata, but I'm always worried about the private school kids down here. Only 1 year at STA, 3 years at Nova High/U School which is a flipping joke. It's not like he was the starter at Miami Central, Miami NW, etc.

EX: I get more excited about Dalvin Cook's tape vs Scarlett

Larry Mac

I see Coach Mac working Scarlett in a similar manner to how Jimbo did Cook.
We will see glimpses of Scarlett early but more later in the season.
He's received great coaching at STA and I've heard he's excellent at picking up blitzes in pass protection and catches the ball well. I know ---big difference between HS and SEC.
But the tape I saw on Scarlett showed an instinctive runner with excellent cuts.
Just hope he doesn't get hurt running track-- Debose missed his freshman year due to a torn hamstring at the state track meet.

ZimmerNole

Larry Mac wrote: »

I see Coach Mac working Scarlett in a similar manner to how Jimbo did Cook.
We will see glimpses of Scarlett early but more later in the season.
He's received great coaching at STA and I've heard he's excellent at picking up blitzes in pass protection and catches the ball well. I know ---big difference between HS and SEC.
But the tape I saw on Scarlett showed an instinctive runner with excellent cuts.
Just hope he doesn't get hurt running track-- Debose missed his freshman year due to a torn hamstring at the state track meet.

True, we only went to Cook due to injuries at RB. His breakout game was when Karlos Williams had a concussion.

Scarlett is a great player, I was just erring on the side of caution. One year at STA was better than nothing. Nobody expected Dalvin Cook to be THAT good last year. Yes, Scarlett will be good but I wouldn't call him SEC Caliber just yet. Dalvin and Scarlett are apples and oranges IMHO.

Like I said before, give me a 4 year starter at a Miami Central, Miami NW, etc over ANYbody at a prep school.

FWIW: I feel the same way about out 5 star Tavarus MCFadden from American Heritage.....soft competition = great film :wink

Larry Mac

McFadden didn't get his 5 stars just from high school-- included offseason 7 on 7 vs the best in the country. This is what can propel some prep school kids to the next level despite their high school competition- or lack of.

ZimmerNole

Larry Mac wrote: »

McFadden didn't get his 5 stars just from high school-- included offseason 7 on 7 vs the best in the country. This is what can propel some prep school kids to the next level despite their high school competition- or lack of.

Fair enough, and the 7v7 are great! I've mentioned before that I help out with the South Florida Express team (colleague is the head coach) and I've met a few of these guys throughout the past two cycles. Nobody that I really wanted to brag about, but I can see the difference in the game with some of these kids. The speed and athleticism shown on the 7v7 field is just ridiculous....Sam Bruce may be one of the fastest kids I've ever laid eyes on and he is small as hell.

Larry, as a whole (including UF kids) do you agree with my statements? Wouldn't you rather have a kid from a local powerhouse public HS that plays consistently versus the best in the area versus some of these prep school kids?

on_the_rocks

Yes, no question.

2amigo

St. Thomas has more of their players in the NFL than any other high school. So I will take players from that school any day

Cane Pole

AS ALWAYS...it really comes down to the QB.

Gator QBs don't give me much hope...but I've been wrong before.

I was just kidding about the 11-3...but we'll certainly top 4! (LOL Big Fatty 66)

Larry Mac

ZimmerNole wrote: »

Fair enough, and the 7v7 are great! I've mentioned before that I help out with the South Florida Express team (colleague is the head coach) and I've met a few of these guys throughout the past two cycles. Nobody that I really wanted to brag about, but I can see the difference in the game with some of these kids. The speed and athleticism shown on the 7v7 field is just ridiculous....Sam Bruce may be one of the fastest kids I've ever laid eyes on and he is small as hell.

Larry, as a whole (including UF kids) do you agree with my statements? Wouldn't you rather have a kid from a local powerhouse public HS that plays consistently versus the best in the area versus some of these prep school kids?

For the most part, I agree with you Zim, but there are exceptions. I agree with Zamigo about STA.
Just like American Heritage and Jax Trinity Christian, schools like this travel to play decent programs. Same thing with IMG.. But some kids that have great measureables from a prep program will adjust to the SEC competition as fast or faster than an overachieving kid of normal ability from a great program. Assuming he has a decent work ethic, I would expect a player like Scarlett ( if he learns the offense) to function at a high level by midway of his freshman year. He ran a 4.37 40 (and finished second wow!) at a Nike opening camp and weighs over 200 lbs and runs like a football player not a track athlete. That combination of size and speed is better than anyone we have. Btw, are you aware who is Scarlett's best friend?

But I agree with CP about our QB's and especially Grier's career at his prep program .
His stats were astronomical but still not sure how it translates to the SEC.

ZimmerNole

2amigo wrote: »

St. Thomas has more of their players in the NFL than any other high school. So I will take players from that school any day

I agree.

Scarlett transfered to STA for one year for just that reason, CROOTIN'

Larry, that is why I mentioned Sam Bruce :wink