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The Florida Gators have six spring football practices under their belt and expect to have their first scrimmage of the year on Saturday. While the defense continues in the fourth year of the same system, the offense is starting over from scratch for the third time in four years.
New offensive coordinator Kurt Roper has Gator fans dreaming of the Urban Meyer-Tim Tebow days with talk of a no-huddle, up-tempo, spread offense coming back to the Swamp for the 2014 season. Head coach Will Muschamp is fast to compliment Roper and the offense through six practices praising Roper’s coaching style and the offensive production on the practice field thus far.
“His energy on the practice field and how he coaches the players on every down and corrects them when they’re wrong and congratulates them when they do it right is outstanding,” he said. “He plays to the player’s strengths and does a great job at it as he’s a very fundamental football coach.”
Muschamp isn’t the only one who has taken notice of the offensive change. Redshirt sophomore safety Marcus Maye sees a change in the opposite side of the ball not only from a scheme standpoint, but a confidence standpoint as well.
“It’s definitely a change and different. Everyone seems to like it and everybody is moving very well,” he said. “It’s very fast paced and spread out.”
A key cog in the offensive engine will be redshirt junior quarterback Jeff Driskel who was recruited by Meyer to run a system similar to the one being implemented now. Muschamp believes Driskel’s experience and skill set will play a huge role in winning games in the fall.
“We have to be able to do what we got to do to win football games,” Muschamp said. “When you have some experience, number one, and then, we feel like, some really talented players behind him, we feel really good about that.”
The Gators have four more practices that are open to the public, including today at 4:00 PM at the Sanders Practice Facility, prior to the Orange and Blue Debut on Saturday, April 12 at 1:30 PM.
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