Florida Football Preview
Gators Look to Reclaim the Title
Their key losses include receiver Louis Murphy and the multiple offensive threat of Percy Harvin, who was drafted to the Minnesota Vikings.
If Tebow shows up this season and plays as well as he has his past three years then Florida should have no problem getting to the championship.
Tebow already has won two SEC championships and two national championships in his three years of college football.
He also won the Davey O’Brien Award, Maxwell Award, and a Heisman Trophy in his 2007 season in which he became the first person in NCAA history to pass for 20 touchdowns as well as run for 20 touchdowns.
The only thing that is changing for Tebow is that his former offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen, has left to become the head coach of Mississippi State.
The new offensive coordinator is Steve Addazio, but the main one making changes to the way that Tebow plays is new quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler. Loeffler has had Tebow work on changing his throwing motion to more over-the-top compared to his usual side-arm throwing.
After playing exclusively out of the shotgun, Loeffler has had Tebow work under center some more preparing for this season. They believe it will help prepare him better for the NFL.
It seems like a gamble by changing the passing motion for one of the most dominant college players ever.
The coaching staff does not think it will hurt him, but help him play better and move his draft pick up when he leaves the Gators, since many NFL scouts currently see him playing different positions in the NFL such as fullback or tight end.
Meyer is bringing one of the most talented teams into this season, but it takes more than just a group of talented players to win it.
Florida’s Winning Formula
It takes experience, which the team has a ton of after winning two national titles in the past three years.
A championship team also needs good leadership, which should be no problem with players like Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes.
Another key to a championship team is chemistry. Florida should have no problem with this as they have many returners, but it is difficult to predict if a team will have good chemistry in the locker room. Add all of these things up and the Gators look pretty favorable coming into the season.
Florida’s Path for the Title
Florida will also have a pretty tough schedule this year in playing some quality SEC opponents. LSU should be a good test for the Gators, but they are lucky to not play the Alabama Crimson Tide, which went through last season undefeated.
They also do not have Ole Miss on their schedule, who handed Florida their only loss in 2008. Either of these teams would make a great challenge for the SEC championship. One thing you can never tell is how the SEC season will pan out, as every game is unpredictable.
LSU and Georgia should be some tough competition for them in seeing how their season will go. Meyer also has to be looking forward to the Tennessee match up after all of the trash talking that Lane Kiffin has done this offseason.
Although Mississippi State does not have the talent that Florida does, they do have former Gator offensive coordinator Dan Mullen as head coach.
This season should be full of excitement as the Gators look impressive going in as defending national champions, and it seems hard to doubt that they are the favorites in doing it again.
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