Top 25 | The Master List | Conference Rankings | Lower Divisions
4
Florida
Lying in the weeds? In the unfamiliar position of not
defending the SEC title, the Gators make a fresh run at the championship
behind their vaunted defense
| |
A lack of premium talent at quarterback and receiver means
the versatile Jackson should get his shot at
stardom.
(Tom
DiPace)
| All right,
so Florida
didn't win the SEC title last year, for the first time in five
years.
That hardly rates as futility in fifth-year
senior tailback Terry Jackson's book.
Jackson—student body vice president, team captain and
all-around deserving guy—has played with teammates in
about 20 video-game leagues over the past four years,
competing in everything from Madden football to
NBA Live to Super Mario Karts, but he has yet to win the big one.
"I'm the only one who hasn't won a championship,"
says Jackson, who is so passionate about the leagues that
he draws up membership contracts stipulating when games
must be played. "I'll go
undefeated during the regular season and then choke in the
playoffs. But I have a feeling this is going to be
my year."
This might be Jackson's year to grab some long overdue
glory on the real gridiron as well. The third member of his
family to wear
number 22 for the Gators (his father,
Willie Sr., a receiver from 1970 through '72,
was Florida's first black player; his older brother, Willie
Jr., became the school's alltime leader in touchdown
receptions before being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in
'94),
the 6-foot, 218-pound Jackson has lined up at tailback,
fullback, linebacker, strong safety and punt returner. He
played each position with such skill that coach Steve
Spurrier has called him "the best all-around player in college
football." Jackson
has 216 carries for 1,207 yards (a
5.6-yard average) and 14 touchdowns in his Gators career, but
though his talent remains impressive, his
achievements have been curtailed by injury
or
obscured by bigger
names.
This year there are no big names on
offense, only big questions, especially at quarterback.
Junior Doug Johnson threw for 21 touchdowns in '97 but is
recovering from a surgically repaired shoulder and only
began throwing footballs again this month. He
won't be ready for the season opener against The Citadel on
Sept. 5. That puts the ball, at least for now, in the hands
of talented but raw sophomore Jesse Palmer, who was yanked
quickly in his only start as a freshman, against Auburn.
Whoever ends up
taking the snaps will be throwing to the leanest group of
receivers in Spurrier's seven years in Gainesville.
"This year," says Spurrier, "I think we'll
be more Fun,
Run 'N'
Gun."
So why can't anyone wipe that grin off Spurrier's face? For
one thing, Palmer had a terrific spring game (three
touchdowns, no interceptions), and his smarts and work
habits have prompted his hard-to-please coach to routinely
invoke the name of 1996
Heisman Trophy winner Danny
Wuerffel. Moreover, although Johnson's erratic play frequently sent
Spurrier into his trademark visor-tossing tizzy last fall,
he has demonstrated that when healthy he can put up big
numbers—and win—in the Florida coach's madcap
system. Indeed, Johnson showed his mettle last year in wins
over Tennessee, in which he threw for 261 yards and three
touchdowns, and Florida State, in which he and the now
departed Noah Brindise combined to throw for 336 yards
against one of the
nation's most fearsome defenses. As for the concerns about the
unit's lack of star power, consider this: From 1991 through
'96, not a single Florida offensive player was taken in the
first round of the NFL draft (only two were taken in the
first three rounds),
yet the Gators won four
SEC titles and had the conference's highest scoring offense
during that
period.
Spurrier didn't have half the defense then that he has now.
Last year the Gators allowed just 70.7 rushing yards a
game, second in the nation, and set a school record with 50
sacks. Since Bob Stoops arrived as defensive coordinator
two years ago,
Florida has held opponents to three-and-out 39.9% of the time, and
the Gators should be even more brutally efficient this
year. The front seven might be the nation's best. Six of
the projected first-teamers started the 1997 Sugar Bowl,
and the one who
didn't,
6' 5", 254-pound junior linebacker Jevon Kearse, has been
making up for it ever since: Despite starting just four
games last year, Kearse led the team with
6 1/2 sacks and
29 1/2 "big plays," Stoops's accounting of forced
fumbles, quarterback hurries and the
like.
One thing Florida won't have is the swagger that comes from
topping off four straight SEC titles with a national
championship. Returning vets remember with stinging clarity
the ambushes that Georgia and LSU pulled on them last year.
"Those games felt
like losing the '96 Fiesta Bowl," says senior defensive
tackle Ed Chester, recalling the 62-24 thrashing at the
hands of Nebraska in the national title game. "We know
now we can't take anybody in this league for granted. I'm
just glad I get one more chance
at those
guys."
For Chester, Jackson and even the sublimely self-assured
Spurrier, overconfidence will not be a problem. For the
rest of the
SEC, that
is
the
problem. —Kelli
Anderson
Fast Facts
1997 record: 10-2 (6-2, tied for 2nd in SEC East)
Final ranking: No. 4 AP, No. 6 coaches' poll
| 1997 Averages | Offense | Defense |
| Scoring | 37.2 | 18.1 |
| Rushing Yards | 145.0 | 70.7 |
| Passing Yards | 276.3 | 219.7 |
| Total Yards | 421.3 | 290.5 |
|
Lineup
Coach: Steve Spurrier
Ninth year at Florida (83-16-1); career Division I-A record: 103-29-2
| OFFENSE |
| WR | Nafis Karim | Sr. | 12.2-yd. avg. gain on 23 catches |
| LT | Zach Piller | Sr. | Junior year marred by injuries |
| LG | Corey Yarbrough | Jr. | Plays center until Kalich returns |
| C | Ryan Kalich | Jr. | Broken foot, out four to six weeks |
| RG | Zac Zedalis | So. | 2 starts as a freshman |
| RT | Cooper Carlisle | Jr. | On SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| TE | Dwight Edge | So. | 1 catch for 2 yds. |
| WR | Travis McGriff | Sr. | 25 catches, 382 yds., 4 TDs |
| QB | Jesse Palmer | So. | Doug Johnson will bid for job |
| RB | Terry Jackson | Sr. | Has also played LB and FB |
| FB | Rod Frazier | So. | Tommie Frazier's kid brother |
| K | Collins Cooper | Sr. | Career-long FG is 40 yds. |
| DEFENSE |
| LE | Tim Beauchamp | Sr. | Had only 11 tackles in '97 |
| LT | Ed Chester | Sr. | 28 tackles, 3 sacks |
| RT | Reggie McGrew | Jr. | Out four games with torn MCL |
| RE | Willie Cohens | Sr. | Led line with 61/2 sacks |
| OLB | Jevon Kearse | Jr. | First-team All-SEC last year |
| MLB | Johnny Rutledge | Sr. | Butkus Award semifinalist |
| OLB | Mike Peterson | Sr. | Moves from strongside LB |
| CB | Tony George | Sr. | Started every game at SS |
| SS | Rod Graddy | So. | Played in 11 games as freshman |
| FS | Teako Brown | Sr. | 10 career int. |
| CB | Dock Pollard | Jr. | 1 tackle in two seasons |
| P | David Wasilewski | Fr. | In battle with Josh Korn |
|
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are from 1997 season.
Pivotal Players
Junior quarterback
Doug Johnson,
who
was in coach Steve Spurrier's
doghouse for playing minor league baseball in '97—he
hit .191 as a third baseman for the Princeton (W.Va.) Devil
Rays of the rookie league—eschewed the diamond over
the summer to rehab after rotator-cuff surgery in
May. Sophomore
Jesse Palmer,
who completed 21 of 38 passes, will begin the season as the
starter.... Senior tailback
Terry Jackson
excels at both carrying the ball (118 yards and two TDs in
the 1997 Sugar Bowl) and catching it out of the backfield
(41 career receptions, four
TDs).... Starting wideouts
Nafis Karim
and Travis McGriff,
both seniors, have only five career TD catches between
them.... Senior
Tony
George, who moves from strong safety to cornerback (both of last
year's starters are gone), will be under the gun in the
pass-happy
SEC.... The Gators need injury-plagued senior defensive tackle
Ed Chester
(second-team
All-SEC last season) to stay healthy and anchor the
line.
Key Games
Schedule strength: 25th of
112
Sept. 19 at Tennessee
You can't win the SEC without winning your division
first; in four of the past five years this game has
determined the Eastern champ. Florida won all five
times.
Oct. 10 vs. LSU
Revenge match: Last year in Baton Rouge the Tigers
dethroned the reigning national champs 28-21, snapping the
Gators' 25-game SEC winning
streak.
Nov. 21 at Florida State
The Gators knocked the Seminoles out of national
championship contention in each of their last two
meetings—but Spurrier is just 0-3-1 in
Tallahassee.
X Factor
The Gators, known for their high-octane Fun 'n' Gun
offense, have actually run the ball 48.8% of the time in
Spurrier's eight seasons as coach. Look for that percentage
to rise this
year.
Bottom Line
The offensive line is solid, the defensive line superior.
If the Gators can establish their passing game and find a
way to stop everyone else's, they should collect their
sixth SEC title in eight
years.
Top 25 | The Master List | Conference Rankings | Lower Divisions
|
