Archive for April 15th, 2008
GAINESVILLE | The Gators’ 2006 BCS National Championship trophy may be broken, but fans don’t need to worry. A new one is on its way.
Florida’s operations and facilities director Chip Howard says the trophy had been sitting on a coffee table in one of the stadium’s sky boxes during a move to a new spot. But when the table was bumped Friday, the trophy fell.
The trophy was insured and will be replaced. The new Waterford crystal trophy should reach Gainesville in 90 days.
There is also another backup. Howard says the school had ordered a second trophy when they won the championship. That one was on display Saturday before the spring game.
The 2006 recruiting class was very talented but we still redshirted most of that class. The 2007 recruiting class was very, very talented and we didn’t redshirt that many players. That means that we have a ton of Sophomores starting and contributing this year. Take a look at our depth chart.I think it also means we will be talented for the next 3 years. You really can’t look farther than that, and usually 3 years is too far to really tell. But the depth chart doesn’t lie. We’ve all talked about this year, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about this year. But look at the next 2 years, 2009 and 2010.
Next years [2009] defense will return almost everyone. Defensively, we will lose one starter and that will be at Linebacker. We will lose Chris Evans, Merrill Johnson, Courtney Harden, Tez Doolittle, & walk-on Safety Jonathan Vickers. We have plenty of depth at Line backer and will be fine, particularly if JUCO Eltoro Freeman comes in ready to contribute. With the additional years experience to all of those sophomores, we should be a lot better in 2009.
Next years [2009] Offense should be better also. We lose a lot more on offense but there will be plenty of guys with lots of experience ready to fill in. We lose Brad Lester and Triston Davis at RB. However, we were without both of those guys much of last year anyway. We lose 3 wide receivers, Rod Smith, Robert Dunn & James Swinton. We lose Jason Bosley and Tyrone Green on the offensive line. I guess all together, that would be 5 starters [Lester, Smith, Dunn, Green & Bosley] We’re losing a lot there, but there is plenty of young talent ready to step up to starter at every position. More importantly, our QBs will have a full years experience in the new system.
Our odd year schedules are very tough and 2009 will be no exception. However, our 2009 team will be good, but that odd year schedule doesn’t set up well for us to have a championship type year. UGA in particular will be very tough in 2009 particularly if Stafford stays for his senior year, and I believe he will.
The 2010 season is 3 years away. But remember, it is an even year with a favorable schedule and we will be loaded almost every position with an experienced senior starting at almost every position. Many will have started or contributed significantly for 4 years. There should be more senior leadership in that year than 2004. Again, 2010 is a long time from now; but, it looks good.
We need to redshirt a lot of players this year. Our depth is so strong at most every position, it would be difficult for a freshman to break into the starting lineup or rotation this year, like so many did last year. I just don’t see it. I would hate for a kid to lose a big senior year getting just a few backup reps in blowout games. However, we probably have 1 safety, 1 cornerback, 1 Def Tackle, 1 running back and 1 or 2 receivers contribute as true freshmen.
How those past 6 years treating ya?
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