I’ll have a big welcome back from our 18 month hiatus post tomorrow, I promise. Right now, I’ve got other stuff going on, so I’ll just break this news and leave it at that.
After Jeff Driskel’s season ended against Tennessee, his backup, Tyler Murphy, came in and did a pretty good job against the lower level competition. But when the opposing talent increased, his success decreased, mainly because of a horrid offensive line that allowed him to get beaten to pancake batter every time he took the field. After one too many of said beatings, and with the Gators’ season in shambles anyway, it looks like we’ll see Murphy’s understudy, Skyler Morninwheg, for the first time in a Gators uniform.
There’s not much known about Morninwheg, other than the fact that he dumped Penn State in favor of Florida following the Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Will Muschamp says he’s been accurate in practice, but being accurate in practice and being accurate in prime time on the road are two totally different things. The Gators have quite a history of breaking in new starters in big road tests, most recently Jacoby Brissett against LSU in Death Valley. While perhaps not quite as loud as Death Valley, Williams Brice Stadium is going to be plenty loud, and that’s something Morninwheg has to anticipate going into the game.
Tyler Murphy has not actually been ruled out, but with the entire season in pieces, I’m not even sure he should play again this year if he’s hurt. Why bother? I’d let Morninwheg finish the year, just to see what he can do. Who knows, maybe he’ll rally the Gators to a stunning upset of South Carolina on the road and then an even bigger one against Florida State in the Swamp. It’s worth a shot, especially with Murphy being banged up and the last thing you want to do is get Murphy hurt going into the offseason. If Will Grier or Jeff Driskel fail for any reason (and I do believe the 2014 starting QB job will come down to those two), you want a healthy Murphy who’s gone through all the reps in spring ball.
So, we’ll see what happens. But from what the coaches are saying, it seems like a pretty sure bet we’ll see Skyler Morninwheg get the start against Ol’ Cocky on Saturday night.
