Much was made this past offseason about the heavy personnel losses Florida would have to deal with heading into 2016. But when the time came to stop lamenting the departures and start embracing the returning leaders, Jalen Tabor’s name came first.
That’s what happens when you’re the best cornerback in the country. And like any good leader, Tabor embraced the fans embracing him as their leader.
Tabor, though, spent most of his career being partially overshadowed by teammate Vernon Hargreaves the past two years. I say partially because the debates about which of them was better raged on between Gator fans ever since Tabor’s incredible one handed pick against Vanderbilt in 2014. But Hargreaves- perhaps because he was a year older, a returning All-American and a consensus top ten NFL Draft pick- got more buzz than Tabor.
The debate took some odd turns at times, though. Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins opted to use Jalen Tabor to cover dangerous receiver LaQuon Treadwell when the Gators faced Mississippi last year, while Hargreaves and Quincy Wilson swapped covering Quincy Adeboyejo and Cody Core. Why? Because Tabor is bigger, stronger, and naturally quicker than VH3, and Hargreaves may have been physically overmatched by Treadwell. Hard to believe, but we saw Amari Cooper burn him in coverage in a 2014 game that didn’t matter. What makes Hargreaves a great corner are tremendous instincts, smarts and technique, but in terms of physical ability, Tabor has him beat (and Quincy Wilson may, too.)
That’s some pretty sharp criticism for a guy who turned out to be the #11 overall pick in the NFL Draft. But the fact of the matter is that Tabor shut Treadwell down that day and more than earned his respect. So from then on, Collins matched Tabor up with the opponent’s biggest and most physical receiver- a tactic that worked until the SEC Championship Game, when Hargreaves was beaten for a long touchdown to Ardarius Stewart.
Anyway, that debate has lost its relevance. Hargreaves is gone now, and that leaves Tabor as the unquestioned leader of not just the secondary, but the entire defense. It’s a role that’s made easier if you have the freakish natural talent that Tabor does, but the great leaders don’t rely solely on their physical abilities. They need to use their brains, too.
And Tabor is learning that.
Tremendous physical ability only takes a player so far, especially on defense. When you match a top flight receiver against a top flight defensive back, the offensive player will almost always have the advantage for the simple reason that he knows what he is going to do and the defensive player does not.
To counter this, the defender is forced to study lots of game film so he can learn the offense’s tendencies, and what formations typically mean what play is coming. It’s a whole lot easier to defend against four plays than it is forty, and even though it’s never foolproof (again, the offense knows for a fact what is about to happen and the defense does not) it’s still better to be 25% sure what play is coming and then rely on your natural talent than be 0% sure and beg said natural talent to bail you out of any given situation. Nobody can react that quickly. Not even Tabor.
So he spent the offseason studying film and learning tendencies in formations, and word from practices was that he was becoming better and better at it with each passing day. Before the season began, though, Tabor got into a nasty fight with teammate C’yontai Lewis, and both were barred from playing in the opener against UMass. Not very leader-like, for sure.
But against Kentucky, Tabor had a chance to show what he had learned- both in the film room and in McElwain’s dog house.
The Wildcats had run a quick screen to Dorian Baker earlier in the game, and had run the same play twice against Southern Miss. The play began with quarterback Drew Barker taking the snap, and executing a play fake. Given the endless amount of plays can be run off of play action, the play fake alone wasn’t a giveaway. But Tabor had noticed fellow receiver Garrett Johnson lined up next to Baker before the snap- and remembered the play from the USM game. Johnson was there to block, but Tabor had a better idea. He slipped right past Johnson and jumped the route for perhaps the easiest interception of his life- an interception he earned in the film room rather than with his incredible physical talent.
Granted, Kentucky isn’t very good. That’s fine. Tabor, like Luke Del Rio, showed positive results, and that’s all coaches can possibly ask of a player in his first game of the season. So while better teams may make it more difficult by presenting fewer and smaller opportunities to showcase them, we at least know now that Tabor, with talent to the stars and back, is doing all he can do to continue to improve.
And you can’t really ask more of a leader than that.