Countdown to Kickoff – Week 6

Florida looking forward to life after Tebow

He was a nightmare for opposing defenses – an athlete known by just one name: Tebow.

The defense knew he was coming but didn’t have the manpower to stop his rushing and passing ability as well as the customary Gator Chomp that followed.

During his time at Florida, Tim Tebow oversaw a pair of national championships, and was the Gators’ signal caller for 48 victories and just seven defeats.

But the Sunshine State legend has gone to the NFL, and the Gators will be left to rebuild in 2010 if they want to compete for a third national championship in five seasons.

But if you listen to Florida coach Urban Meyer talk about Tebow’s replacement, Jeff Brantley, it might be status quo again this season in Gainesville.

“You know when you sign a Tim Tebow that getting a Jeff Brantley to follow him is very rare,” Meyer told the team’s website following the Gators’ orange and blue game. “He is truly a great player.”

To fill half the footprint Tebow left in Florida, Brantley will have to make his coach’s high words hold true.

Brantley’s predecessor had 145 career touchdowns at Florida and won the Heisman Trophy, while being a finalist two other times.

But in limited action playing mop up duty behind Tebow, Brantley hasn’t been too shabby, either, completing 75 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns and zero interceptions in 2009.

In the Gators’ spring game, the incumbent starter completed 15-of-19 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions.

“I just want to keep [Florida’s success] going,” Brantley said following the game. “We’re not going to miss anything. We’re not going to take a step back at all.”

While the bullseye for success is painted brightly on Brantley’s orange jersey, the Gators’ fate might be decided everywhere else on the depth chart.

Florida lost nine players in the 2010 NFL Draft, including six players in the first two rounds.

Gone along with Tebow are other Gator stalwarts like Joe Haden, Maurkice Pouncey, Riley Cooper, Brandon Spikes, Jermaine Cunningham and Aaron Hernandez.

Brantley said the question marks about the team’s depth would give the team fuel heading into the new season.

“That’s all false,” Brantley said when asked about the team’s depth questions. “But that’s what we’re going to be taking into this summer as motivation.”

Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio didn’t sound as optimistic and said the team will have to play through growing pains in 2010.

“Sometimes it’s hard to watch them, but I thought there was some great growth there,” Addazio said following the spring game.

Along with the player departures, Florida also lost a critical part of its coaching staff, as well.

Former defensive coordinator Charlie Strong left the Gators’ program to become the head coach at Louisville.

Strong was the mastermind behind the Gators’ 2009 defense that terrorized opposing offenses and ranked No. 4 in America in both total defense and scoring defense.

The team’s new defensive coordinator is Teryl Austin. Despite lacking the pedigree of his predecessor, the new coordinator said he has a few wrinkles he can add to the program.

“I think we are building our own defense – a Florida defense,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s Charlie’s, I’m not going to say it’s mine, because it’s the University of Florida’s defense.”

Question marks abound, but Meyer said the team got off to the right foot in the spring and is ready to turn heads in 2010.

“I rate this spring an A, and I also thought the game today was an A,” he said following the spring game.

University of Florida

2009 Record: 13-1

Starters Returning: 11

Key Returners: Offensive lineman Mike Pouncey, quarterback John Brantley, halfback Jeff Demps, receiver Deonte Thompson

2009 STATS

Scoring Offense: 35.8 points per game

Scoring Defense: 12.4 points allowed per game

Total Offense: 457.8 yards per game

Total Defense: 252.4 yards allowed per game

Inexperienced no more, Bucs looking for a comeback

Inexperience plagued the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year.

First-year quarterback.

First-year coach.

First-year scheme.

Luckily for Buc fans, early inexperience became late season redemption.

Struggling out of the gate and leaving its prized rookie quarterback on the bench, Tampa Bay lost its first seven games, five by double digits.

Then in Week 7, trailing the New England Patriots 35-7 in London, England, head coach Raheem Morris decided three Josh Johnson interceptions was enough and it was time for team’s future to start now.

He inserted 2009’s No. 17 draft selection, Josh Freeman for the final drive of the game.

Although the former Kansas State Wildcat only mustered 16 yards on two completions, the Bucs jumped back across the pond with a renewed sense of hope.

After a bye week, they carried that momentum into Freeman’s first start.

Three touchdowns later, Freeman led the Bucs to their first win of the season over the playoff-bound Green Bay Packers.

Although Freeman struggled mightily over the next five weeks with four touchdowns and 12 interceptions – all losses – the Bucs bounced back to finish the season on a high note winning two of their last three games, including a win over the eventual Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints.

“Now we’re at the point we’re developing our young man [Freeman],” Morris told the media after a mini-camp practice. “We’re developing the support staff around him, and we’re developing the people that are going to come around and help him.”

Morris said he enjoys much greater continuity with his offensive and defensive coordinators in their second season, and he feels a full offseason with his main pieces intact will benefit the team greatly.

“Josh has been our starter from the get go. It’s so big having our quarterback here, having him go through quarterback school, having him on the same page as our coordinator,” said Morris.

But Freeman isn’t the only “quarterback” Morris said is having a great offseason. He said defensive “quarterback,” linebacker Barrett Ruud, has taken a leadership role among his teammates this summer.

“I’ve had a couple dinners with Barrett, and we talked about a lot of the things we want to do on defense,” said Morris. “So having those two ‘quarterbacks’ in the building and having them translate to their guys has made a really easy transition as far as getting all the guys caught up. You’re only going to go as far as your leader takes you, and those are our two leaders.”

Veterans stepping up as leaders will be important for Tampa Bay because of the youth of their roster.

With the departures of wide receivers Antonio Bryant this offseason and Joey Galloway last offseason, the Bucs look to team veteran Michael Clayton with a slew of young and unproven players.

Tampa Bay drafted Illinois wide receivers Arrelious Benn in the second round and Syracuse’s Mike Williams in the fourth round. Coaches hope they, along with young, unproven receivers Reggie Brown, Micheal Spurlock, Maurice Stovall and Sammie Straughter, can fill the large shoes the former Pro Bowlersleft behind.

Athough the receiving corps sprouts with youth, Morris said the group has developed the camaraderie necessary to having a successful position group.

“What all the guys have shown is the willingness to work,” said Morris. “They’re setting a good standard for their position group – coming out on weekends and how they want to go to each other’s houses and throw the football when they can. I’m sure they’re going to have some fun together, but that’s the continuity and the kind of competitive edge you want.”

With five of the first 101 picks in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Buccaneers didn’t just address their offensive needs.

They needed to address a defense ranking near the bottom of the league, giving up 25 points and 365.5 yards per game.

That’s why the team drafted defensive tackles Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma with the No. 3 pick, UCLA’s Brian Price with the No. 35 pick and corner back Myron Lewis of Vanderbilt with the No. 67 pick.

Because Tampa Bay had so many draft selections, Morris pushed back his offseason schedule as much as he possibly could to allow coaches and veterans to have as much time as possible to work with the newest Bucs.

Inexperienced players and coaches alike will continue to learn on the fly in the Buc locker room.

Moving forward into year No. 2 of the Morris regime, he feels he has learned a great deal from his initial 3-13 season and has a better sense of what direction in which to place the team.

“Before you’re a head coach, you just think what you should do,” said Morris. “Now, I’m at a different point. I’m just like Josh Freeman in my development.”

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2009 Record: 3-13 (1-5 NFC South)

Starters Returning: 20

Key Returners: Quarterback Josh Freeman, running backs Cadillac Williams, Earnest Graham, linebacker Barrett Ruud, cornerbacks Aqib Talib, Ronde Barber

2009 STATS

Scoring Offense: 15.3 ppg

Scoring Defense: 25 papg

Total Offense: 287.5 ypg

Total Defense: 365.5 yapg

Texas State Bobcats hope to build on winning reputation

After opening the Southland Conference schedule against one of the league’s worst teams, Nicholls will see the opposite end of the spectrum in its second conference game – powerhouse Texas State.

The Bobcats have won 10 of their past 14 Southland games in the past two seasons, including a pair of victories against Nicholls.

But this season, Texas State will face plenty question marks – especially on the offensive side of the football – if they hope to again be an FCS Top 25-ranked team.

The Bobcats will have to replace seven offensive starters, led by four-year starting quarterback Bradley George, who rewrote the school record book in his career, ranking first in school history in passing yards, touchdowns, completions, attempts and pass efficiency.

Also gone is halfback Alvin Canady, who scored nine touchdowns on the ground last season.

Former LSU assistant coach Slade Nagle has been brought in to alleviate some of the team’s growing pains.

Nagle will serve as the team’s co-offensive coordinator and will work primarily with the team’s passing game.

He said he is excited to build on the Bobcats’ winning tradition in 2010.

“I’m excited to be a part of it, and I look forward to adding some of my ideas but also keeping some of what they’ve got here and building on it the next couple years,” Nagle said.

What’s already in place is a stout offensive tradition.

The Bobcats scored 27 or more points in eight games last season, including a 34-28 win against the Colonels.

The team’s 21-point output against TCU was the second most points scored on the Fiesta Bowl participants all year.

But without several regulars from 2009, the coach knows success will be difficult to maintain in what has become an extremely competitive Southland Conference.

“What a great league,” Nagle said. “You get to play week in and week out against great competition, and I think the league has become very evenly matched, where week in and week out, you’re always battling good opponents.”

The coach added that in the face of stiff competition, he’d like to see the Bobcats achieve greater offensive balance.

The team ran 420 passing plays compared to just 348 rushing attempts last year.

“We’re going to try to be as balanced as we can be,” Nagle said. “We’re going to run the football, as well as throw it. To be a championship-caliber team, you just have to be good at both.”

“What we want to do is we always want to be the aggressor,” he added. “We want to be the style of offense to where we dictate how the defense plays.”

Regardless of the team’s offensive output, defense will also serve as a major factor if the Bobcats want to make the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.

Texas State held their opponents to less than 20 points in just three of 11 games last year.

But 2010’s defense will be a mirror image of the 2009 version, as the team has eight returning starters, led by All-Southland linebacker Marcus Clark.

Texas State

2009 Record: 7-4

Starters Returning: 15

Key Returners: Linebacker Marcus Clark, guard D.J. Hall, halfback Karrington Bush and receiver Darius Bolden

2009 STATS

Scoring Offense: 31.9 ppg

Scoring Defense: 28.8 papg

Total Offense: 422.2 ypg

Total Defense: 415.7 yapg