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Florida Gators Football: Grading Each Position From 2016 Season
Jan 2, 2017; Tampa , FL, USA; Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain speaks to the media while presentint the trophy during a press conference after defeating Iowa Hawkeyes 30-3 at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The 2016 college football season has officially concluded. How did the Florida Gators perform? We break it down position by position.
It was an up and down year for the Florida Gators football team.
The good includes winning for the 30th straight time against Kentucky. It also includes their goal line stand for the ages against LSU, which clinched their second straight SEC East division title, as well as ending their season with a bowl win over Iowa.
The bad was blowing a 21-3 halftime lead against the Volunteers, thus losing to Tennessee for the first time in 11 years. It was also losing to a weak Arkansas team and getting dominated on both sides of the ball from the opening kickoff.
Florida was also embarrassed by in-state rival Florida State and Alabama in the SEC Championship
Nevertheless, I will go by each position and grade them on their performance this year and give a preview of what to expect next year.
Quarterback: D-
Quarterback was a position that a lot of people had questions about in the beginning of the year. The primary question was whether or not they could perform better than last year’s group.
They did, but not by much.
With the exception of the Kentucky game, Luke Del Rio and Austin Appleby failed to eclipse 300 passing yards in a single game and was extremely poor throwing the football. While they had some solid performances during the year, it was not what Florida fans had hoped for.
The experiment for transfer quarterbacks has failed, and will more than likely lead to an in-house starter for Florida next year.
With the bright, and young quarterbacks Florida have, the offense should improve. The problem is, we have said the same thing about the quarterbacks this year.
Jan 2, 2017; Tampa , FL, USA; Florida Gators wide receiver Antonio Callaway (81) catches the ball in front of Iowa Hawkeyes defensive back Brandon Snyder (37) in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2017; Tampa , FL, USA; Florida Gators wide receiver Antonio Callaway (81) catches the ball in front of Iowa Hawkeyes defensive back Brandon Snyder (37) in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Running Backs: B-
Jordan Scarlett, and Lamical Perine have really given the Florida Gators a dynamic duo for their running game, while Jordan Cronkrite and Mark Thompson took a back seat.
When Florida ran, they ran hard. The vision helped them run through what little holes they got, and punished anyone trying to tackle them. As far as passing, they were subpar, and did not make many plays via the pass.
We have seen this group take over games at different times during the season, and if the offensive line can improve next year, they will become even more dangerous.
If Thompson uses this off-season to work on his ball security—which was an issue this year, and the primary reason why he lost carries—the Gators can have a very scary trio of running backs.
Wide Receivers: C+
This a young receiving corps, and have a lot of young weapons, but they were above-average, at best. Florida’s best offensive weapon, Antonio Calloway was a non-factor in the second half pretty much every week.
Calloway only had 16 receptions on an average of 10.7 yards per catch in the second half of games this season. It has to do with Calloway never being 100 percent. Florida needs to fix that since Calloway is the linchpin of the passing game.
Powell took a bigger role this year, and is a good compliment to Calloway. Florida also has their young stars with Tyrie Cleveland, Jeff Hammond, and Freddie Swain. This group will be much better next year, though, no matter the quarterback situation.
Jan 2, 2017; Tampa , FL, USA; Florida Gators offensive lineman Martez Ivey (73) celebrates with fans in the stands after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 30-3 at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Tight Ends: F
Outside of the Alabama game, where DeAndre Goolsby had 91 yards and a touchdown on seven catches—a touchdown scored when Florida was down 24, and the game was already lost—the tight ends made virtually no impact in the passing or running game.
Combined in the regular season, Lewis and Goolsby had 47 catches, which is only nine more than Jake McGee had last year by himself. They had only 408 yards in the regular eason, which is only 71 yards more than McGee had by himself last year.
The tight ends only had three touchdowns, which is less than McGee’s four by himself last year.
Gooslby and Lewis also did not even come close to McGee’s ability to run block, as they are undersized to be blocking tight ends. By far the most disappointing group on this team.
Offensive Line: D+
At times this year, they looked to be improving. At other times, it looked like they had taken a step back.
Overall, they’re still a young group. Martez Ivey has stepped up his play as a true sophomore, T.J. McCoy has shown flashes in his limited time as a true freshman, and Jawaan Taylor by far has been the biggest surprise making the All-SEC freshman team.
But, this group did not play well for most of the season. It struggled against most opponents, even against weaker teams like UMass and North Texas. The offensive line had trouble with playing consistently in both passing, and running game.
This group has gotten deeper, and is starting to develop. While they played rather poorly down the stretch this year, they showed enough for coaches to believe they can be a more dominant group next year, even with the loss of David Sharpe.
Oct 15, 2016; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators linebacker Jarrad Davis (40) against the Missouri Tigers during the first quarter at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Defensive Line: C
Don’t let the overall stats fool you, this has been a very disappointing group Outside of the first three games against weak opponents, this group has allowed 158 rushing yards per game over the last 10 games.
Time and time again, Florida has seemed to struggle to stop the running game, and played very poorly in big games. While it’s well-known that Florida has gone through more than their fair share of injuries in the front seven, that doesn’t warrant the drop-off that they had this season.
This is the position group where Florida needs to improve as far as recruiting. Not only to have capable starters—which they had this year—but to also have some depth in case of injuries.
Linebackers: B
This group has been solid this season. Nothing spectacular, but they held their own when facing adversity. Despite losing Jarrad Davis and Alex Anzalone for several weeks, David Reese, Vosean Joseph, and Kylan Johnson all stepped up in their absence.
Davis and Anzalone were the true leaders of the defense. They led in many ways, whether it was making plays or making sure everyone else were doing their assignments to the best of their ability.
The issue this position group will face next year is losing the veteran leadership that they had this year.
Both Davis and Daniel McMillan are seniors and going pro. Alex Anzalone is skipping his senior season to play in the NFL, as well. So the aforementioned freshman linebackers will have to step up in a bigger role next year as sophomores.
Oct 29, 2016; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Florida Gators defensive back Quincy Wilson (6) against the Georgia Bulldogs during the second half at EverBank Field. Florida Gators defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 24-10. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Secondary: A
Florida’s most solid position group on the team without a doubt. While this group has allowed some big plays to get past them, they have been spectacular the entire season, living up to the hype.
The only time they have been the inferior group was in the second half against Tennessee, which is the only team to pass for more than 300 yards. Florida has eight games where they have allowed less than 200 yards passing.
With players like Teez Tabor and Quincy Wilson playing well all year, and players like Duke Dawson, Marcell Harris, and Chauncey Gardner all stepping up in their roles have been key for this defense.
Next year will be a down year, despite getting Marcell Harris and Duke Dawson back for a senior season, as well as a couple of young stars like Gardner, Joseph Putu, and Jeawon Taylor. This is still a group that will be solid in the years to come, but the fact is they had three players that might go in the first round from this season.
Coaching: B+
For the second straight year, Jim McElwain and company had to work miracles to overcome how erratic the offense was. They also had some of their young players play well all throughout the season.
They found a kicker, Eddy Pineiro, and have been very effective in coverage on special teams. They’ve developed a punter, Johnny Townsend, who should have won the Ray Guy award.
The downside is at times they seemed to be out-coached and made their fair share of mistakes. Whether it be play calling, or personnel that’s in the game, that’s something this coaching staff can improve upon going into next season.
But for the most part, most fans and boosters are extremely satisfied. This staff will need to step up in recruiting this cycle and get some of the those top recruits that Alabama gets in their sleep.
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