It’s been a full month since Luke Del Rio last took a snap in a Gator uniform. The memory is a pretty bad one: Del Rio got hit late by Joshua Wheeler and had to be helped off the field.
Saturday’s game against Missouri presents him with an opportunity to overwrite that memory, and make new ones.
No, Del Rio won’t be throwing for 400 yards against Mizzou. No, he won’t launch himself into the Heisman race. He’s just going out there with the mindset that he’s going to get his offense back to the way it was before he went down- vanilla as could be, but significantly more efficient than what we’ve seen in his absence with Austin Appleby.
And despite Appleby actually having the better natural throwing arm, we’ve seen that Del Rio is the better fit to lead the offense. We’ve seen the difference being a better decision maker can make. We’ve seen just how much it means to be familiar with an offensive system.
Put simply, Del Rio knows how and where to throw the ball. Different types of pass totes call for different types of balls to be thrown. The “where” is just a matter of going through your reads and not locking in on one receiver, which is certainly easier said than done, but it’s the “how” to throw the ball that often gets lost in the discussion.
If a tight end is open for a split second on an out route- fire it. If a streaking receiver has a step on a fly pattern- lob it and drop it in. Appleby may have the stronger throwing arm, but all (well, most) of his passes were lasers and very inaccurate compared to Del Rio’s. I like Appleby on a personal level, don’t get me wrong- he played the situation exactly the way you want someone in his shoes to, and I’m grateful for the way he stepped in and got a win on the road in the SEC. It’s just that… well, now we know why Del Rio won the job so easily this past offseason.
So for Del Rio, the key to success is easy. Be you. Be the guy with the robotic mind that goes through all the different progressions and then makes the right decision on where and how to throw the ball. Be the smart, effective leader I know you can be, and that you’ve proven to be. Hit check down routes when you can, take your shot when it’s there, and do the great job I know you’re capable of doing in selecting which of your teammates gets to run through the Missouri defense that gave up 634 yards to an LSU team that didn’t even have Leonard Fournette on each given play. Again- and I’m sure this is nothing new for your ears- just be Luke Del Rio.
And if you are the Luke Del Rio we’ve gotten a glimpse of, the sky’s the limit.
