Gator Chomp
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida had a fairly successful year under new head coach Jim McElwain. The Gators went 10-4 and 7-1 in the SEC. They won the Eastern division and played in the SEC Championship game.
Florida was known for explosive offense under Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer. After Will Muschamp’s first season as head coach in 2011 the offensive production came to a screeching halt. The lack of talent on offense during Muschamp’s four years will come back to haunt Florida this season.
Quarterback Will Grier improved and he was playing well in 2015. He led the Gators to a 6-0 start passing for 1,204 yards, 10 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He failed a drug test for PED’s and got a year-long suspension from the NCAA. He was not projected to return until at least October. Grier transferred to West Virginia.
Treon Harris became the starter after Grier’s suspension. He did not play well but that’s not the biggest issue. Harris along with wide receiver Antonio Callaway was accused of sexual assault and he’s no longer with the team.
Now Luke Del Rio, son of NFL head coach Jack Del Rio is the starter. This is his third college so we really don’t know how good he is. He walked on at Alabama in 2013. He transferred to Oregon State and played briefly as a back up. He completed 8-of-18 passes for 141 yards in 2014.
JUCO transfer running back Mark Thompson will be the focal point on offense. Standing 6’2 and 242 pounds he’s a big powerful runner.
The defense was 8th in the nation in total defense last season. The secondary did lose Vernon Hargreaves III and Keanu Neal to the NFL. Cornerback Jalen Tabor, Jr is the best player on defense. He had four interceptions in 2015 and returned two for touchdowns. He also had 40 tackles so he can also help stop the run.
The season begins in The Swamp against U Mass. This will be an easy 40-point win.
Kentucky comes to Gainesville the next week. Florida has beaten the Wildcats 29 consecutive times. This is another easy win.
The Mean Green of North Texas is another glorified preseason game. Hopefully the offense will really start clicking by the third game.
The first road game is at Tennessee. The Gators have a twelve game win streak in the series. All the pressure is on the Vols to break that streak and live up to preseason hype. I think the home crowd will be the difference maker and Tennessee will win.
They play in the state of Tennessee the following week against Vanderbilt. The Commodores don’t stand a chance.
LSU comes to Gainesville for the biggest game of the year. This is the only game I picked the Tigers to lose and I’m sticking with that.
Missouri comes to town November 5th. It’s the game before the bye week and Florida will win.
The Georgia game in Jacksonville is next. Florida is 20-6 against the Bulldogs since 1990. They beat them on such a regular basis I never pick against Florida in this game.
The next three games are against Arkansas, South Carolina and FCS Presbyterian College. I think they’ll lose on the road against the Razorbacks but win the next two games.
Of course the season ends on the road with arch rival Florida State. I’m not sure about the quarterback for FSU but they have a lot of talent. The Seminoles should win.
I believe Florida will win nine regular season games. I think that will be very good considering it’s McElwain’s second season.
