Florida football: 5 Towson Tigers to watch vs. Gators Saturday

You have to do a lot of digging to find information about the Towson Tigers — the opponent Saturday for Florida football. But, we have found some nuggets.

It will be a battle of ranked teams Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as Florida football hosts No. Towson.

Of course, Towson is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association and plays in the Football Championship Subdivision — you know, where they have a tournament-style championship.

The Tigers have the potential to be a formidable opponent for Florida football. They can run, pass and seemingly score when they need to.

However, they have yet to face a defense the caliber of the No. 9 FBS-ranked Gators.

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But, after some careful research by Hail Florida Hail’s crack team of researchers — okay, not going to lie, it was just me — we’ve found some players you will want to watch when Towson comes to Gainesville.

Tom Flacco, quarterback, R-Sr.

We’ve already established Flacco is the youngest brother of Denver Broncos’ quarterback Joe Flacco, but the younger has some impressive stats of his own.

He is the clear offensive threat for the Tigers as he leads them in rushing with 227 net yards on 34 carries, as well as passing — going 77-for-134 for 1,092 yards and six touchdowns.

So, clearly, a dual-threat kind of quarterback.

In the passing game, the younger Flacco likes to spread the ball around, targeting 13 different receivers in the first four games of the season.

He is one the Gators will have to contain.

Yeedee Thaenrat, running back, Senior

Thaenrat (and who doesn’t love that first name, by the way), is 5-foot-11, 220-pounds and, despite not even being the best rusher on the team by yardage, he does have the most touchdowns with eight.

He only has 89 yards on the season on 25 carries, so that means he is a short-yardage back that comes in when the Tigers are inside the 5-yard line.

Thaenrat played two years at Tennessee Tech before transferring to Towson. While at Tech, he had 1,418 all-purpose yards and was the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year.

Regardless, the Florida football defense is going to have to be prepared for Thaenrat if, and when, Towson gets in those short-yardage situations.

Robert Heyward, linebacker, R-Sr.

Heyward has been a beast on defense in the first four games of the season.

Now, it’s certainly not unusual for a linebacker to lead a team in tackles, but Heyward has amassed 34 tackles — which is more than any member of the Florida football defensive unit (David Reese has 28, for reference).

Heyward also has a pair of interceptions for the Tigers — which isn’t even the best on the team.

It’s safe to say that the Towson defense could present a bigger challenge than Tennessee did last week — which isn’t saying a whole lot.

S.J. Brown II, safety, Junior

Brown transferred to Towson from Sierra College — a northern California community college — for the last two years.

But, he has made his presence felt in his first year with Towson.

He is second to Heyward on the team in tackles with 31 and has an interception to boot.

Brown just adds to the defense the Gators are going to have to be ready for on Saturday.

The rest of the Towson defense

Their offense doesn’t worry me that much, especially considering they haven’t played a defense the caliber of Florida.

But, their defense can present problems.

I know what you may be thinking: “But Matt, their defense hasn’t played an offense like Florida.”

True enough, but our offense hasn’t necessarily been all rainbows and unicorns.

Yes, Kyle Trask and the passing game are pretty solid, but Towson has really good pass defenders. In addition to Brown and Heyward, they have Coby Tippett, who has three interceptions and a pass break-up. Oh, and Keon Paye, who also has three interceptions for 111 yards and a touchdown and three pass break-ups along with six passes defended.

So, while the offense doesn’t pose a big issue for me, the defense does — especially if our offense decides to be stagnant because they are taking the game for granted, looking ahead to Auburn next week.

No. 9 Florida (FBS, by the way) hosts No. 10 Towson (FCS, by the way) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.