Florida football: Squeaker over USF goes beyond talent issue for Gators

During Saturday night’s near debacle against USF, there were one of two camps that Florida football fans seemed to fall into:

• Give Billy Napier time, he doesn’t have the talent yet
• Fire Billy Napier

The truth is that neither of these statements is true and while Billy Napier does need time, let’s not pretend that Napier didn’t have a roster of guys that should have easily covered a 24-point spread against USF.

Florida football: Questions for the linebackers

Let’s address the “lack of talent” argument. The Gators are ranked 12th in the country based on the 247 Sports Talent Composite ranking. It feels low at times because it’s only fifth best within the SEC. But compared to USF being ranked 65th in the same ranking, Florida still had way more talent on the field than USF.

The biggest issue for Florida football on Saturday night was that it had zero answers for stopping the running game from USF. The Gators were down Ventrell Miller, and while he is the heart and soul of the linebackers, his absence shouldn’t have caused a collapse.

Derek Wingo, Shemar James, and Scooby Williams are all former top 100 recruits. Diwun Black was considered the top JuCo recruit in 2021. Amari Burney was a top 200 guy. Antwaun Powell, while used mostly on the edge but some inside was a top 200 guy.

And yet it’s Miller, a three-star guy that was ranked 569th in the country in the class of 2017 that Florida can’t live without.

Playing inside linebacker is hard and the transition from high school to college is tricky because one can’t get away with pure athleticism and dominate the position in college. One has to be able to line up correctly and fill the correct gaps on run plays.

Yet Gator linebackers routinely looked like they had no idea where they were supposed to be or what gaps to fill. On USF’s first touchdown drive, Williams had multiple plays where he simply had no idea where to be. On the touchdown run, Gervon Dexter is triple-teamed next to Williams and yet Scooby still looked like a lost puppy on where to be.

Again, Williams is not some walk-on with a Rudy-like story. He is a high-ranked four-star that should do better.

On USF’s second drive, it was Powell biting two plays in a row rather than setting the edge.

After Kimber’s pick-six (which we gave him credit for in our write-up yesterday), it was Cox biting rather than setting the edge on back-to-back plays that allowed USF into field goal range.

Florida football: Patrick Toney’s defensive scheme

It’s at this point that defensive coordinator Patrick Toney didn’t exactly help his defense out. Knowing USF was running at will while struggling with the pass and knowing that USF was particularly gashing Florida football with the same guard-tackle counter that LSU used last year, Toney still kept sending Florida out in two high safety looks.

After Anthony Richardson’s first interception set USF up, the Bulls scored in four plays:

• Incomplete
• Short pass
• Seven-yard run
• Six-yard run, touchdown

On both running plays, Florida had two safeties high with just two inside linebackers. USF has three WRs, one TE, and one RB. USF QB Gerry Bohanon fakes the handoff and keeps it. The RB runs ahead to act like a lead blocker and USF gets the first down because there are now seven guys to block Florida’s six guys in the box.

That’s not a lack of talent, that’s a lack of making USF do something else.

With 2:35 left in the 3rd quarter, USF lined up with two TEs, two WRs, and one RB. Florida football again opts for two high safeties, just two inside linebackers, and shockingly enough USF runs for nine yards.

The other issue for Toney as the game progressed was having the cornerbacks line up 10 yards off the ball. Florida has talented corners yet they were relegated to Grantham-era coverages. So USF took advantage and threw some soft passes underneath that picked up 10 yards each time.

That’s not a lack of talent, that’s a lack of making USF do something else.

On USF’s last touchdown, the Bulls get down to the one because Burney tells Trey Dean to go play two high safety, USF runs right at Burney, and Dean is too slow to come back down to clean the play up.

That’s not a lack of talent, that’s a lack of making USF do something else.

Florida football: Defense going forward

Step one for the Florida football is getting lined up properly. That has nothing to do with talent and mostly everything to do with coaching. Step two is allowing Florida’s corners the opportunity to challenge opposing receivers. Jalen Kimber had a great game. Jason Marshall had a fine game despite being told to line up 10-yards off the ball.

Step three is getting linebackers to fill the correct gaps. This is going to be the hardest fix because linebacker play under Grantham was lacking this trait and it isn’t something that Toney can fix overnight.

The Gators have the talent to do it. And if a guy who wasn’t even a top 500 recruit can do it, the guys ranked in the top 100 should be able to do it as well.

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