After transferring in as a JUCO, QB Ben Lewis won the starting job in 2014 and improved upon the success of previous QB Joey Jones as Lewis threw for 3969 yards with 32 TDs completing 62% of his passes but threw 21 Ints. After attending the Manning Passing Academy in the offseason, he has improved dramatically and should be a top-tier QB in 2015. Waiting in the wings is Redshirt Freshman Nick Jude who will watch and learn for another season before likely taking over in 2016.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD AWR THP THA QB Ben Lewis Florida Sr 85 61 71 91 90 QB Nick Jude Florida FrRS 77 66 70 88 79 QB CJ Bozeman Florida SoRS 77 68 70 82 83
HB Randall Williams graduated after the 2014 season and while the coaches thought they had signed his successor, a 25th hour sway saw him signing to Texas instead. In his place, HB Michael Swan will get the starting job after redshirting in 2014. Swan isn't exciting but he is very solid, particularly his first step and ability to change directions quickly. Look for Swan to be used as a back to move the chains, particularly in the passing game.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC STA INJ BTK TRK ELU STF SPM JKM CAR BCV PBK RBK HB Michael Swan Florida JrRS 75 87 56 94 90 85 82 70 76 86 82 87 88 67 83 43 50 HB Joel Wilson Florida JrRS 75 89 60 71 79 81 85 83 69 72 77 77 73 71 75 43 43 HB Stephen Stewart Florida SoRS 74 88 60 79 84 81 86 70 77 80 79 78 78 72 84 42 42 HB Dwight Butler Florida So 71 93 55 85 84 81 69 64 74 88 78 80 80 69 77 54 54
With the departure of HB Williams, FB Will Gunn will likely see a larger role as a running back, particularly in short yardage situations and also as a blocking back in passing situations.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC BTK TRK ELU STF SPM JKM CAR BCV PBK RBK CTH FB Will Gunn Florida SrRS 78 85 70 79 84 77 79 77 72 71 70 82 72 73 71 71
After back-to-back 1000+ yard receiving years, WR Travis Anderson graduated and left a big hole in the Gator's receiving core. Taking his place as the primary receiver will be Mark Chambers who tallied 58 catches for 678 yards and 4 TDs. Alongside Chambers will be redshirt Freshman Donald Boone. Boone worked on his receiving in the offseason and looks to make a splash. At the slot receiver will be a combination of Travis Clifford (38 for 631) and Tyler Pittman (46 for 672). Clifford offers good hands and nice speed but Pittman offers an extra burst needed for sweeps and screens.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC JMP CTH SPC CIT RTE REL WRX Donald Boone Florida FrRS 73 85 46 73 80 87 72 80 80 85 79 WRX John Jefferson Florida JrRS 73 88 43 83 88 75 70 60 68 77 77 WRX Nate Stallings Florida Fr 66 87 49 70 73 84 73 67 75 70 68 WRY Travis Clifford Florida Jr 76 92 43 83 86 75 78 60 66 79 66 WRY Tyler Pittman Florida Sr 72 95 50 80 86 83 65 73 62 75 71 WRY Dustin Burch Florida Fr 70 94 49 72 84 78 57 69 77 89 76 WRZ Mark Chambers Florida Sr 77 84 48 75 77 87 87 72 82 77 71 WRZ Trent Holmes Florida JrRS 74 91 44 80 85 82 69 64 67 83 66 WRZ Calvin Butler Florida So 73 90 45 81 88 76 73 54 62 71 65
After a great Freshman year for Smiley catching 60 passes for 642 yards and 11 TDs, he returns to again claim the starting role in the Gator's offense. With the second best hands on the team, expect Smiley to catch a lot of passes over the middle and in short yardage situations again this season.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC JMP BTK TRK ELU STF PBK RBK CTH SPC CIT RTE TE Avery Smiley Florida So 69 71 75 63 86 64 66 79 60 80 66 69 79 72 84 51 TE T.J. Bush Florida So 72 75 73 62 76 63 79 82 68 71 75 67 64 64 80 75 TE Josh Johnson Florida SrRS 55 68 52 57 70 63 58 65 55 61 54 59 84 55 68 68
With a rebuilt offensive line in 2014, the 2015 line looks mostly the same. At LT is Marquardt who has good pass blocking skills to protect the blindside. At LG is Phillips who can create a good push up the middle and help Marquardt in run blocking on the left side. In the middle at Center is Freshman Cedric Myers who takes over for Matt Johnson. At the RG is John Archer who like Phillips, can create a good push in the run game up the middle. Outside at RT is the best overall lineman in Anthony Mills. Behind the starters is very shallow but reliable depth if it's needed with Matt Johnson being the first man off the bench and the ability to play at any position on the line.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC AWR PBK RBK LT Brandon Marquardt Florida So 74 60 82 64 82 71 83 75 LT Joe Jones Florida Fr 67 57 79 64 84 46 79 73 LG Cory Phillips Florida So 71 55 86 60 92 54 72 82 C Cedric Myers Florida Fr 70 59 81 58 83 46 76 75 C Kirk Ford Florida Jr 73 64 76 65 80 49 80 79 RG John Archer Florida So 72 58 85 60 87 58 72 84 RG Matt Johnson Florida So 71 68 80 57 83 45 78 80 RT Anthony Mills Florida So 77 64 87 62 91 65 77 85
At Defensive End, Nick Martin and Eric Kerr will start and compliment each other very nicely. While Martin doesn't have the same strength as Kerr, he does have exceptional ability to get off a block and get after the ball carrier. Whereas Kerr is a brawler on the outside holding blocks allowing the Linebackers behind him to make a play. Backing them up is a lot of inexperienced players with Brewer the first man off the bench behind Martin and Howard backing up Kerr.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR TKL HPW PUR PRC PMV FMV BSH LE Nick Martin Florida Sr 76 72 71 70 87 81 76 88 88 74 LE Phillip Brewer Florida JrRS 73 63 71 79 80 81 72 84 71 81 LE Shelton Howard Florida Fr 68 71 77 67 79 80 63 72 79 72 RE Eric Kerr Florida So 76 69 81 78 75 75 79 78 77 79 RE Maurice Harvey Florida Jr 76 72 72 71 87 79 74 78 80 80 RE Terry Bullock Florida Jr 73 73 74 75 84 71 75 75 65 81
Sophomore Scott Dixon returns as the man in the middle after recording 19 tackles, 12 for loss including 7 sacks in 2014. With great strength and good ability to get off blocks, he can get into the backfield to cause chaos, just don't expect him to run down any ball carriers from behind. Freshman Brendan Owen had high expectations in 2015 but due to academic ineligibility, he'll have to sit his first year on the team and redshirt. Due to that and the inexperience behind Dixon, the Gators will likely run with a 3-4 base defense and rely on their Linebackers to make more plays.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR TKL HPW PUR PRC PMV FMV BSH DT Scott Dixon Florida So 80 54 86 77 82 79 80 83 80 83 DT Mike Ford Florida Jr 71 52 79 70 74 72 76 81 76 80 DT Rodney Smith Florida Jr 53 46 76 70 67 44 49 60 45 71 DT Brendan Owen Florida Fr 80 60 83 81 77 79 78 85 77 81
At the Linebacker position, the Gators have a good mix of experience and leadership combined with youth and raw talent. Leading the way at Middle Linebacker will be Demetrius Stewart who recorded 61 tackles, 17 behind the line of scrimmage including 3 sacks. Alongside him in the middle will be Sophomore Jason Mitchell who possesses similar, yet under-developed traits as Stewart. On the outside, Scott Robinson is another stud ready to make plays after recording 50 tackles with 13 behind the line of scrimmage. He has a knack for recognizing the play early, chasing down the ball carrier, and then punishing him with a tackle. Opposite Robinson is still to be determined as the Gators have some young talent that they want to experiment with. David Douglas comes in as a speedster with good strength and Travis Woodard is his near polar opposite with slower speed but a good ability to get off blocks when rushing the backfield. Look for both to spend some time at the LOLB position early in the season.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC TKL HPW PUR PRC PMV FMV BSH MCV ZCV LOLB David Douglas Florida Fr 69 88 76 72 86 73 70 67 68 67 62 73 67 64 LOLB Obadiah Moody Florida Jr 69 80 69 64 85 75 77 77 74 62 58 71 70 72 MLB Demetrius Stewart Florida Sr 88 85 86 65 76 87 84 80 88 81 80 83 77 77 MLB Jason Mitchell Florida So 82 83 80 61 87 87 82 78 85 64 62 79 72 72 MLB Travis Woodard Florida Fr 70 77 81 62 70 78 74 72 74 76 76 66 66 67 ROLB Scott Robinson Florida SrRS 84 80 77 77 99 77 99 92 85 77 81 80 79 73 ROLB Trey Martinez Florida So 72 77 74 74 94 77 75 69 76 65 75 68 71 74 ROLB Damon Baker Florida Fr 67 86 80 62 95 72 60 61 76 55 59 61 62 64
At the Cornerback position returns both starters from a season ago. Jonathan White is the proven veteran with very good coverage abilities as well as the ability to jam the WR at the line. Opposite him is the speedster Casey Jenkins who also is very reliable in coverage but can get blown off the line when trying to jam. Behind those two are also very reliable corners, however coaches are contemplating redshirting Brian Jones to give him another season under his belt so he can take over for White after this season. If that comes to be, look for FS Jermaine Grant or John Bell to play the Dime position.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD AGI ACC JMP TKL HPW PUR PRC MCV ZCV PRS CB Jonathan White Florida Sr 80 89 81 88 88 62 75 81 80 92 89 87 CB Casey Jenkins Florida So 78 93 92 86 85 66 67 79 83 88 85 69 CB Brian Jones Florida Jr 78 92 85 86 84 70 72 79 71 87 85 77 CB Bernard Johnson Florida JrRS 76 87 86 93 85 59 62 80 70 90 86 77 CB Charles Moore Florida Fr 67 91 90 87 84 60 61 67 70 75 72 77 CB Greg Nixon Florida Fr 66 84 88 86 84 61 60 63 63 80 75 76
Free Safety is one of the very few positions this season where an incoming player will replace the incumbent. FS Jermaine Grant joins the team with great abilities that the coaches can't ignore. With great speed, agility, acceleration and jumping abilities, plus good coverage, Grant will start instead of John Bell. However, after recording 53 Tackles and 2 Ints in 2014, expect that Bell will see lots of time especially when the Gators go to a Dime look and Grant moves up closer to the line.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC JMP TKL HPW PUR PRC MCV ZCV FS Jermaine Grant Florida Fr 76 93 50 90 90 88 64 62 73 72 79 80 FS John Bell Florida Sr 76 94 45 87 88 81 59 65 75 76 72 81 FS Fred Meyers Florida SoRS 73 78 77 68 81 86 63 87 92 71 69 75
After leading the team in tackles in 2014 with 68, Gray is will return as the SS starter and leader in the secondary. Behind him is Willis who will still see plenty of playing time in 4-2-5/3-3-5 looks as well as in Nickel, particularly against a good receiving Tight End. Both posses great speed and pursuit abilities but Willis shines with his ability to wrap up and punish the ball carrier. Behind them is newcomer Justin Carter who has very good abilities himself, but looks to redshirt a year to develop before taking over for Willis in 2016.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR SPD STR AGI ACC JMP TKL HPW PUR PRC PMV FMV BSH MCV ZCV PRS SS Tye Gray Florida Jr 84 93 67 90 95 91 80 70 79 75 56 64 74 72 83 84 SS Oliver Willis Florida Sr 80 96 70 72 90 70 94 87 81 60 51 60 77 67 65 90 SS Justin Carter Florida So 73 90 70 89 91 74 76 71 74 62 56 58 65 68 71 80
Kicker Marcus Fields returns as the starter in 2015 and is better than ever. After missing two kicks in 2014, mostly due to poor coaching, Fields attended as many kicking camps as he could to improve his accuracy. He comes in as the most accurate kicker in the country with a very good leg to boot... look for a much better Senior season in 2015.
Pos Name TeamName Year OVR AWR KPW KAC K Marcus Fields Florida Sr 94 71 91 99 P Richard Hooper Florida Jr 70 54 77 64
At the Punter returns Richard Hooper who isn't asked to do too much and manages to at least accomplish that.
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