Wed, Aug 30, 2006 7.00 PM 31.C3.SECPAGE.FLORIDA
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2005 THE TIMES-PICAYUNE D-3
12: VANDERBILT • 11: KENTUCKY • 10: SOUTH CAROLINA • 9: MISSISSIPPI STATE • 8: OLE MISS • 7: AUBURN • 6: ARKANSAS • 5: GEORGIA • 4: ALABAMA • 3: TENNESSEE • 2: LSU • 1: FLORIDA
SEC FOOTBALL PREVIEW By Trey Iles Staff writer
F I V E G AT O R S T O W AT C H
Location: CHRIS LEAK DESHAWN WYNN JARVIS MOSS MARCUS THOMAS EARL EVERETT
Gainesville, Fla. QUARTERBACK RUNNING BACK DEFENSIVE END DEFENSIVE LINE LINEBACKER
Nickname: Leak is a drop-back passer Wynn is a fifth-year senior He has never started at A three-year starter, Thomas Everett led the Gators in
who was forced to play in who has potential to be a Florida, but he’ll quickly be- is a disruptive force on the tackles last season with 72.
Gators Coach Urban Meyer’s option star, but he has failed to live come well known. Moss, 6 feet defensive line. He had 45 He is one of the best lineback-
Enrollment: offense. Leak is a good player up to expectations. Last sea- 6, 255 pounds, doesn’t have a tackles last season, 10.5 tack- ers in pass coverage in the
48,500 with a good arm, and if the son he rushed for 621 yards nose for the ballcarrier, he les for loss and four sacks. SEC. He had two intercep-
Gators’ coaches are smart, and seven touchdowns. The has a nose for the quarter- He blocked a field-goal at- tions against Kentucky last
Founded: they’ll make tweaks in their coaching staff has been criti- back. He had 7.5 sacks in a tempt that was returned for a season, both coming in the
1853 questionable offense and let cal of his play. His contribu- limited role last season, which touchdown and an extra-point first half. He had a game-high
Leak throw. tion on the field will depend ranked fifth in the SEC. attempt that was returned for 14 tackles against LSU.
Football since: on how hard he works. two points.
1906
TODAY NO. 1
: The Times-Picayune is rating each Southeastern Conference
school on the attractiveness of its football program to a
prospective coach. The rating is based on five criteria: athletic director, facilities, recruiting base,
SEASON
intangibles and fan expectations. Each criteria is rated 1-12, representing the number of SEC teams,
with 1 being the best score. The total from each category gives each school an overall score.
FORECAST
THE SKINNY ON FLORIDA
Like the cheer says, it’s Jacksonville Atlantic
great to be a Florida Gator 10 Ocean
right now. And it’s great to
be the Florida Gators’ foot-
ball coach. Who wouldn’t
want this job? It pays Ur- MAP FLA.
ban Meyer $2 million a
GAINESVILLE AREA
year. He has some of the Coach Urban Meyer
top facilities in college foot- 75
ball. He has a football- Urban Meyer was the golden
friendly athletic director in Tampa 4 Orlando boy of coaching when the Florida
Jeremy Foley. Florida’s job came open two years ago. He
athletic budget is tops in had built a solid program at Utah
FLORIDA
the SEC at $69 million. 95 and was courted by anyone with
There’s plenty of fan sup- an opening, including Notre Dame.
port. And Meyer is in what 75 But Meyer felt the Florida job was
could be the most fertile Gulf of
Mexico one of the best in the country, so
recruiting ground in the na- he went south.
tion in central Florida. 50 miles The knock on Meyer is his of-
Florida’s program always
Miami fensive system, the one that
had the potential to be Ben Hill Griffin Stadium PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLORIDA
among the best in the na- STAFF MAP worked so well at Utah and Bowl-
tion, but it took favorite son Steve Spurrier to awaken the Zook, who in three seasons was 23-15 following Spurrier in ing Green got him noticed. It has-
sleeping giant. When he took over in 1990, Florida football 2002. As soon as he was hired, fireronzook.com was created. n’t work well at Florida. It’s a
took off. He won six SEC titles and a national championship be- Meyer will feel pressure this year. Florida, 9-3 a year ago, has- spread attack designed to keep
fore leaving in 2001. n’t played for the SEC championship since 2001 and hasn’t the defense off balance, but with
And perhaps that’s the only drawback to the Florida head won it since 2000. Meyer would be well advised to take the the speeds of SEC defenses, it
coaching position. There is a lot of pressure. Just ask Ron Gators to Atlanta in early December for the SEC title game. has floundered at times. Florida
FLORIDA
was effective when it lined up in a
conventional formation and ran
square foot training facility was completed The Gator Walk, when Florida players head
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR 2 for $5 million. And the school boosts a for the stadium two hours before the
inside or gave quarterback Chris
Leak time to throw. It will be the
Having Spurrier as coach was the primary 31,800 square foot, three-story academic game, is an SEC must-see. Seeing the real
second year of Meyer’s offense in
reason Gator football flourished in the center that cost $4.1 million. alligators on the Jumbotron before the
game gets the fans in frenzy, as does the Florida, so the team should have
1990s. But don’t underestimate what Ath- a better grasp of it. But he will
letic Director Jeremy Foley did to help pave team coming through the tunnel during
have to make some subtle
the way. He became AD in 1992 and has
helped make Florida’s facilities — and the
RECRUITING BASE 1 pregame. And the singing of “We are the
Boys of Old Florida” between the third and changes for it to be effective.
entire athletic program — among the best The top three states for recruiting football fourth quarters is one of the top SEC foot- If Meyer makes good on his
in the nation. Heading Florida’s University talent are Texas, California and Florida. ball traditions. threat to go without a tailback
Athletic Association, Foley has seen $149 The University of Florida sits in the middle (because he was upset at their
million in capital improvements. He was in- of the Sunshine State. Orlando, Tampa, Mi- improvement), keep an eye out
strumental in guiding the school through fan
discontent during Zook’s tenure. And he
ami and Jacksonville are all less than a
four-hour drive. Florida’s roster is chock
FAN EXPECTATIONS 2 for an open passing attack.
As huge as any other school in the nation. Even if the offense doesn’t im-
snagged Meyer, perhaps the hottest com- full of instate talent with 86 players. But the
Last year’s 9-3 record, with victories prove, Florida will win games this
modity in college coaching, two years ago. school has proven it can recruit regionally
and nationally. It has seven players from against rival Florida State and Iowa in the season because of its defense.
Georgia and five from Texas. With its re- Outback Bowl, would be considered good The Gators are loaded with size
at most schools. But not here. Florida fans and experience on defense.
FACILITIES 1 sources and location, Florida should al-
ways have one of the top-five recruiting came to see the December trip to Atlanta There’s not a lot of experience,
Among the best in the SEC and the nation. classes nationally. for the SEC title game as a birthright when but they do have four guys return-
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, or the Swamp as Spurrier was coach. They haven’t been ing who had at least 40 tackles.
Spurrier dubbed it, underwent a $50 mil- there in a few years. It’s a great crowd
The unit had 33 sacks last season,
lion expansion that was completed before
the 2003 season. The stadium now seats
INTANGIBLES 5 that easily gets behind the Gators and
stays the whole game. so expect more the same. This is
Spurrier created perhaps the best game-
the 100th season of football at
88,548 with 80 skyboxes. The school com-
pleted a $1 million renovation recently to day atmosphere in the SEC with his suc- Florida, and while the Gators
the practice fields. In 1998, the 11,000 cess. Tailgating parties rival those of LSU. OVERALL SCORE 11 aren’t ready to return to the glory
years under Spurrier, they will
make a run at the SEC East.
2006 SCHEDULE
THE FLORIDA DEPTH CHART DATE
Sept. 2
OPPONENT
vs. USM
TIME
5 p.m
OFFENSE DEFENSE Sept. 9 vs. UCF 5 p.m.
POS. PLAYER HT. WT. CL. POS. PLAYER HT. WT. CL. Sept. 16 at Tennessee 7 p.m.
QB Chris Leak 6-0 207 Sr. DE Ray McDonald 6-3 280 Sr. Sept. 23 vs. Kentucky TBA
Tim Tebow 6-3 229 Fr. Derrick Harvey 6-4 260 So. Sept. 30 vs. Alabama TBA
TB Kestahn Moore 5-10 206 So. NT Marcus Thomas 6-3 286 Sr. Oct. 7 vs. LSU TBA
DeShawn Wynn 5-11 230 Sr. Clint McMillan 6-1 285 Jr. Oct. 14 at Auburn TBA
HB Billy Latsko 5-10 233 Sr. DT Steven Harris 6-5 285 Sr. Oct. 28 vs. Georgia 2:30 p.m.
Eric Rutledge 6-0 238 Jr. Joe Cohen 6-2 290 Sr. Nov. 4 at Vanderbilt TBA
WR Dallas Baker 6-3 206 Sr. DE Jarvis Moss 6-6 255 Jr. Nov. 11 vs. S. Carolina TBA
Andre Caldwell 6-1 202 Jr. Darryl Gresham Jr. 6-1 260 Fr. Nov. 18 vs. W. Carolina TBA
WR Jemalle Cornelius 5-11 185 Sr. SLB Brian Crum 6-3 235 Sr. Nov. 25 at Florida State TBA
Nyan Boateng 6-2 205 So. Jon Demps 6-4 235 So.
LT Phil Trautwein 6-6 308 Jr. MLB Brandon Siler 6-2 235 Jr.
LG
Carlton Medder
Jim Tartt
6-5
6-3
312
315
Jr.
Sr. WLB
Darryon Robinson
Earl Everett
6-0
6-2
224
231
Sr.
Sr.
2005 RESULTS
Maurice Hurt 6-2 306 Fr. Ryan Stamper 6-1 225 Fr. OPPONENT RESULT SCORE
C Steve Rissler 6-3 305 Sr. LCB Reggie Lewis 5-10 195 Sr. Wyoming W 32-14
Eddie Haupt 6-4 295 Fr. Tremaine McCollum 5-8 177 Sr. Louisiana Tech W 41-3
RG Ronnie Wilson 6-4 309 Fr. RCB Avery Atkins 5-11 191 So. Tennessee W 16-7
Simon Codrington 6-7 302 Fr. Jermaine McCollum 5-9 187 Sr. At Kentucky W 49-28
RT Drew Miller 6-5 305 Jr. SS Tony Joiner 5-11 208 Jr. At Alabama L 31-3
Jason Watkins 6-6 310 So. Dorian Munroe 6-0 200 Fr. Mississippi State W 35-9
TE Tate Casey 6-6 245 Jr. FS Reggie Nelson 6-1 195 Jr. At LSU L 21-17
Cornelius Ingram 6-4 225 So. Kyle Jackson 6-1 200 Jr. Georgia W 14-10
Vanderbilt W 49-42
SPECIALISTS At South Carolina L 22-30
POS. PLAYER HT. WT. CL. POS. PLAYER HT. WT. CL. Florida State W 34-7
Iowa* W 31-24
PK Chris Hetland 6-0 186 Sr. P Eric Wilbur 6-1 202 Sr.
*Outback Bowl
KO Jonathan Phillips 5-11 198 So. LS James Smith 6-3 233 So.