The most frequent talking point throughout Florida’s spring practices has been about fresh starts, and perhaps no player is poised to capitalize on the Gators’ changing of the guard more than Chris Rainey.
The redshirt senior running back is coming off his least productive year at UF since 2007, when he sat out all but four games with a shoulder injury. At the same time, last season was the most newsworthy of Rainey’s career, as he was arrested for aggravated stalking and received a five-game suspension.
Addressing reporters for the first time since his arrest on Sept. 14, Rainey said he grew up last fall, although he declined to elaborate further.
“I look in the future,” he said. “That’s in the past. New team, new me, new system.”
And with the offense shifting from the spread to the I-formation, Rainey is the early favorite to receive the bulk of Florida’s carries.
Freshman Mike Blakely (shoulder surgery), sophomore Mack Brown (broken fibula) and junior Mike Gillislee (stress fracture in his foot) will miss the rest of spring with injuries, and senior Jeff Demps can only participate in walkthroughs and team meetings as he continues running track this spring.
Rainey wishes he could split practice reps with some of the other backs, but he has impressed the coaching staff thus far. Coach Will Muschamp said Rainey will thrive in the I-formation, as it causes him to line up deeper in the backfield than he did in the spread offense.
“Chris Rainey has had a good spring,” Muschamp said. “He’s a guy that makes an awful lot of plays. … You’ve got to be really gap-sound on him.”
Running plays take a longer time to develop in the new offense, giving Rainey more freedom to cut back as he sees another lane develop. He thrived in a similar offense at Lakeland High.
“You’ve seen high school for me,” said Rainey, who ran for 2,478 yards and 32 touchdowns as a senior at Lakeland. “It’s just like that.”
REED STILL ADJUSTING: In his two years in Gainesville, sophomore Jordan Reed has gone from quarterback to tight end back to quarterback and finally back to tight end.
Still, he feels he has plenty to learn this spring as Florida’s starting tight end.
In the spread offense, the tight end’s role revolved around the passing game.
In the new offense, however, Reed will be asked to line up next to offensive tackles and block more on running plays, something he rarely had to do last year, and he cited that as the area in which he needs the most improvement.
DUNBAR IMPRESSING: Wide receiver Frankie Hammond Jr. said the most eye-opening player in his position group so far this spring has been freshman Quinton Dunbar.
Dunbar, who missed all of last season with a hamstring injury, has emerged as a deep threat for the team, Hammond said.
