Photo via Florida Gators
Happy Orange and Blue Spring Game week to all those who celebrate! That’s right, the Florida Gators spring game is just five days away. Florida also just held another scrimmage over the weekend.
All that means it’s time for another round of Florida Gators spring practice news and notes. As per usual, nothing I write is based on one single observation or vantage point to weed out anomalies.
DJ Douglas looks like a starter in the secondary
Tulane is known for having a strong emphasis on academics, meaning that everyone who attends school there comes equipped with high intelligence– athlete or not. DJ Douglas, who played for Tulane before arriving in Gainesville, is no exception. But that’s not what has people buzzing about him.
The physicality that Douglas brings is a welcome change to the Gators’ secondary, as only Jaydon Hill (who is now gone) ever really displayed that consistently the past few years. But from what people tell me, Douglas is a heat-seeking missile. He’s very aggressive in tackling drills, and possesses an impressive burst of closing speed– not only when pursuing a ball carrier, but when the football is in the air. That was why Nick Saban pursued him so hard coming out of high school, and he’s showing that same skill set now in practices.
Douglas looks far more like a safety than a corner, and that’s where he seems destined to play, but I’m also told that he’s been working on his man coverage skills a little bit. That’s something that could come in handy if there’s an emergency and Ron Roberts needs to slide somebody over from safety to corner in a pinch. But all in all, you can expect him to line up at safety on August 31 against Miami.
More chemistry developing between Mertz and receivers
I’d previously talked about how Graham Mertz– when he’s not out there recruiting— and his wide receivers were working on their timing together. That process is coming along rather nicely– at least in the last week of practice or so.
Speaking in general terms, the defense has been getting the better of the offense in most scrimmages and 7-on-7 skeleton drills. However, Mertz is finding his receivers more regularly now, even when he’s not given the cleanest pocket. That statement is specifically written with Eugene Wilson and Arlis Boardingham in mind, but more receivers are stepping up now. In particular, Aidan Mizell looks a lot more ready than he did a year ago, and he has this extra gear of speed that Mertz didn’t seem to know what to do with at first, but now the two are much more in sync.
How the offensive line fares will go a long way toward determining what the numbers ultimately look like for Mertz and his pass-catchers. But there’s certainly been some development here, and it’s something to watch for both in the spring game and in summer ball.
Defense looks a lot more coherent this spring
As alluded to above, Florida’s defense looks a lot better than it did this time a year ago. In a variety of ways.
The Gator defense looks a lot more cohesive as a unit in terms of the fundamentals. The tackling looks better, players are taking better angles toward the ball carriers and there are fewer missed assignments by various players. Douglas was one name that stood out among the people I spoke to, and the names of fellow defensive backs Ja’Keem Jackson and Sharif Denson keep coming to my attention, too, but the new personnel’s arrival seems to be having an impact across the board.
Joey Slackman has been an immediate upgrade on the defensive line, and while LJ McCray was said to have taken a little longer to come along than some other freshmen, he’s looked tremendous lately. Between those two, Caleb Banks, TJ Searcy, Kelby Collins and Cam Jackson all having been said to make strides, the Florida Gators should have what comfortably amounts to the best defensive line they’ve had under Napier. All things told, the spring game won’t tell us much– it didn’t last year– but the defense being ahead of where it was twelve months ago has to be taken as a good omen.
