We missed you. Sincerely. After a week off, The Mailbag is back to answer your pressing questions related to all things Gators. As expected, the Tennessee matchup was a hot topic this week. Let’s “square” up these questions.
@PhilipGaryTalks: Janoris Jenkins made a name for himself in his first Vols game, can we hope for the same from our freshmen this time?
You can certainly hope for it. But, as the saying goes, you can wish in one hand…
The Tennessee passing attack is no joke. The Gators must get pressure up front to hurry Bray into making mistakes with the ball. He hasn’t shown that this season, throwing seven touchdowns and zero interceptions. But Bray did throw seven picks in a three-week span against Vandy, Kentucky and North Carolina last season. Affecting his comfort level in the pocket will be the key, and if it happens, someone in the secondary could be the beneficiary. Just don’t be surprised if the opposite happens.
@ericsolgard: In what way does Marcus Roberson remind him of Jenkins, hopefully he is referring solely to his football ability?
Let’s put this in context first. On Wednesday, wide receiver Deonte Thompson told the media that freshman cornerback Marcus Roberson reminded him of former UF and current North Alabama corner Janoris Jenkins when he was a freshman. For those who don’t remember, Jenkins, like Roberson, started in the secondary as a true freshman.
When asked how Roberson reminded him of Jenkins, Thompson said Roberson is physical at the line of scrimmage and very good at jamming the receivers. Given that Roberson doesn’t have an arrest to his name, we say the comparisons don’t go beyond the football field. There’s no correlation.
@K_J_C: Can you discuss the beach house owned by Fisher and Muschamp? Haven’t heard much about this.
Oh, the infamous beach house in the Pensacola area shared by FSU coach Jimbo Fisher and Florida’s Will Muschamp. We haven’t been invited to the pad — yet — but we have heard they throw some quality ragers there during the offseason.
All you need to be concerned about is that Muschamp has said the two have no intentions of wagering the house in this year’s post-Thanksgiving matchup in The Swamp. Though, that would certainly raise the stakes of an already-intense rivalry. The rest of the chatter is just that, meaningless chatter. Just because the two are friends and share a home does not mean they don’t want to beat the other senseless come November.
@AlligatorArmy: Which Gator would win an eating contest staged at Gator D?
You sure do love these hypothetical superlatives — kind of like a certain Florida beat writer we know, but we digress. We think this should actually happen, and will consider recommending it to the O-line and D-line. As for the answer, it depends on what Gator Dining is serving that day. If candy is on the menu, we got Jon Halapio. If it’s chicken, we got Omar Hunter and his “Chick-fil-A love handles” that teammates poked fun at during media day in August.
@AschoffESPN_SEC: Will the Gators run the option this year? I’ll hang up and listen.
Oh, look everyone, a celebrity submission. Please welcome ESPN’s Ed Aschoff, best known for finishing in a tie for sixth place in last year’s alligatorSports Brand Picks Column.
Well, Ed, thanks for the question, but the answer is simple: Yes, they will — unfortunately. Brantley ran the read option once against UAB. Does that mean they will run it often? Hopefully not. You might be able to count the number of times on one hand, as Charlie Weis suggested. But they will run it, nonetheless.
@tbailey: Who are the Tebow/Cooper McCoy/Shipley bunk buddies we can depend on announcers harping on all year for this team?
Did you all know Tim Tebow and Riley Cooper were roommates? Now that we’ve gotten than fun fact out of the way, let’s get to this year’s bunk buddies.
We aren’t sure if the announcers have hammered this one home yet, but look for them to discuss the UF offensive line — namely Halapio, Jonotthan Harrison and Kyle Koehne, who all live together and share a couch. Yeah, a single couch. That’s 921 pounds of grown men together on one piece of furniture.
@zachmoller: Call it today: Will Brantley have more INTs than Passing TDs?
No. But not because we believe Brantley is somehow a different quarterback than last year, when he threw nine touchdowns and 10 picks. He’s clearly not. We realize he’s already behind pace with one touchdown and two picks, but with Charlie Weis calling the shots, Brantley will be constantly put in a position to succeed. Even Jimmy Clausen threw just four interceptions compared to 28 touchdowns during his senior year in Weis’ system. Jimmy Clausen! While Brantley will never put up those kinds of numbers, he will be somewhat serviceable. We predict 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Submit questions: @alligatorSports.
