5 major takeaways from Florida’s Orange and Blue spring game
For starters, we saw why Florida does not play any Thursday night home games. The workday traffic was brutal.
That said, it was a glorious night in so many ways: perfect weather and a great crowd (estimated at 45,000 for Billy Napier’s first spring game at the University of Florida.
It felt like a spring game, but it was also taken way more seriously than it had for several years. No silliness, just football.
The Gators did not look like a team trying to re-invent the wheel, but there were some things for Florida fans to take with them.
One was the fact that there were 317 recruits at the game. Not all of them are being recruited, but UF had more five-stars in attendance than normal for a spring game.
Here are five takeaways from the game, won by the Blue 34-0.
I have never seen as many former players at a spring game
… or for that matter any game. Certainly, they came back for [autotag]Johnny Townsend[/autotag]’s fundraiser for pediatric cancer research, but the point is that they came back. That fundraiser in the north end zone parking lot was like a Who’s Who of Gator greats.
And it continued (in a way) at halftime when all of the awards given to current players were all named after former Gator players. Giving out awards at halftime was something [autotag]Steve Spurrier[/autotag] used to do at halftime of his spring games.
Talking to former players, they seemed really excited to be back and to be welcomed back. It has certainly been a mixed reception over the last decade and hopefully will continue.
It was not a good night for Demarkcus Bowman
… who fumbled the opening kickoff and then fumbled early in the second half to hand the Blue a touchdown drive of one play and 12 yards.
[autotag]Montrell Johnson[/autotag] looked like a guy who will be the starter when Utah comes to town. He has a knack for finding the hole.
Bowman ended up with 61 rushing yards and Johnson had 55 for the Blue and seven for the Orange. [autotag]Lorenzo Lingard[/autotag] was the forgotten man again with only four carries.
Anthony Richardson is definitely the starter.
He left no doubt about something that everyone already knew, and that was running an offense that is rather vanilla.
Florida has issues behind him. [autotag]Jack Miller[/autotag] made a terrible throw into triple coverage in the end zone for a pick by [autotag]Donovan McMillon[/autotag], who made a better catch for the pick than anyone did all of last year.
Miller finished 13-for-23 passing and it was also clear that Florida has very little behind him.
It’s difficult to recruit someone from the portal to be a third-team guy but Florida may have to do that.
Richardson would probably be the offensive player of the game
… but a close second would be walk-on [autotag]Noah Keeter[/autotag], who had three catches for 53 yards including 42 yards after his catches.
That was big for an offense short on tight ends and the room may get smaller with another possibly entering the transfer portal.
But Florida still lacks the outside speed at the receiver position. The longest gain by a receiver was Keeter (29 yards).
This is still a position of need in the portal.
Gator fans around the country probably gasped
… when [autotag]Donovan McMillon[/autotag] was awarded a turnover chain after his interception.
Luckily, Napier calmed us all.
“Nobody ran that by me,” he said after the game. “That ain’t gonna happen.”
Thank goodness.
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