Gators Online writers Zach Abolverdi and Nick de la Torre preview the Florida-Texas A&M game with Ryan Brauninger of TexAgs.com. We break down both sides of the ball, players to watch and keys to the game. We also react to UF's first injury report.
Gators Online Podcast
Ep. 104: Florida vs. Texas A&M Preview | Gators Online Show
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Visit high-five casino.com. High-five casino. No purchase necessary, but prohibited by law must be 21 years or older terms and conditions apply. [MUSIC] What's up, Gator Nation? Welcome into the latest Gators online show. Zach Abba Verde and Nick Deltori here. An SEC play has arrived for the 40 Gators in 2024. The Gators open conference play Saturday in the swamp against Texas A&M at 330. A very important game on Florida schedule. They had two big match-ups early on this slate at home. They lost the first one. Obviously, you need to split the second one, Nick, before they hit the road for the first time. We will preview the Aggies and what they're going to be coming to the swamp with with Ryan Broniger of textags. He will join us here momentarily. But first, we're going to talk about everything coming out of Gainesville. Nick, how are you doing, my friend? You're supposed to be in the hospital today. Yeah. Yeah. This was Frankie's due date. We've gotten three extra weeks with her. I've got these new dad bags and coffee that comes with me everywhere. Yeah. A little sentimental this morning. We had due date crossed off on the calendar. So I woke up this morning to make coffee. Oh, yeah. She was supposed to be due today. It's been a whirlwind three weeks for me. Both personally and professionally as Florida has not acted normal since August 30th. Yeah. It's been quite the two weeks. Or maybe it is normal. Maybe it is normal. This is the three years cycle that we're on. We're just, uh, we are Bill Murray and Groundhog Day. Well, look, there's going to be a lot that you guys want to follow with these next few weeks coming up. They're going to be critical for this program. They're going to be critical from a recruiting standpoint. So if you're not subscribed to Gators online, we gave you a great deal right before the season kick. It went so well that they said, you know what? We're going to give you guys another chance to join this great site that we have. We've got another flash sale this week. If you're not a member, you can get a subscription for 50% off for the entire year. Uh, when you go to check out, you use the code go Gators and that'll get you 50% off. So another big weekend in the swamp for recruiting weekend. Obviously the Gators open SEC play will see what this quarterback situation plays out with something that's been talked about all week long in Gainesville. We got a lot to cover. As always, we will stay on top of it. So make sure you guys get in the door at Gators online.com. Nick, I think first week after, or should I say the week after the first game, it was all about. Like seven months, man, seven days, about like seven months between the basement comment, the water bottle, the, and then obviously just questions about the performance about his job. I mean, it's, it is a lot. Then everything goes well last Saturday. And then the conversation turns to DJ lagway and all this week it was about lagway. And it was about Graham Murds, who should for to start, it's, it's been nonstop. I think to the point and we'll get into it here and we'll break down our depth chart a little bit later in the show, but. Uh, I'd like to get your, your thoughts on Billy's decision to no longer release depth charts weekly depth charts after two years and two games of 2024 doing so. Um, maybe he did not want to catch that heat. Uh, by putting Graham Murds number one at that quarterback position, just to let everybody know who he started. Uh, maybe he had other reasons for doing it. Nonetheless, though, no more depth charts, uh, coming out of this camp. Yeah, um, you know, it's probably just a coach thing. Like there's probably. A school that isn't. And now everyone has to release these availability of reports mandate. Um, Lordy. Underbilly Napier has always had that section on their depth chart of an injury report. Um, always. So I'm guessing it's except for the first weeks of the first weeks this week. Yeah. I don't really, I don't really care. I think. I think I think it's something that the fans are like, they're just. Fans just pissed off ability. And like, no matter what it does, anything to get mad about, they will. Yeah, no matter what he does outside of like, no one was going to be happy with the depth chart unless there was only one name at quarterback. Like, unless, unless quarterback only said DJ lag, maybe DJ's name twice, like DJ will back up DJ. Um, but DJ was not going to be listed ahead of Graham on the depth chart. That's what it was. Or it was not going to be or it was not going to be DJ ahead of Graham. Um, even though numerically, he has a smaller number than Graham. Um, El does become before him. I learned that in school. L. M. N. O. P. It's all one word and one letter. Yeah, he's doing an alphabetical order. He would be first on the depth chart alphabetical numerical. He's first, uh, not in the actual depth chart. And like I get it. I get why people are mad. Um, I think the biggest thing is for people is that. I think what we've said consistently is right now, Graham's ceiling is probably higher than DJs. Um, long term DJ ceiling is higher than Graham's, but right now I think. I felt the staff certainly felt Graham probably gives you a better chance to win right now because he's more seasoned. He's a veteran. Um, and also DJ's floor is going to be lower than Graham's because he's more seasoned and he's more veteran, uh, Graham than DJ. I think what we saw Saturday is wherever you thought that floor was. Like a flood that that it rose the floor rose and what we thought could be bad. Uh, unless it's still Samford. I think if DJ lagway starts the rest of the way, he would have like a Peyton Manning rookie NFL season in terms of interceptions and like you're just gonna have to deal with that. Um, as he learns and grows like the windows you threw into against Samford. Are the size of the Grand Canyon, compared to the windows you'll throw a get throw into against Texas A name in Georgia and LSU. Remember how much Emory Jones threw Ford against Samford. But it's not for good. I did forget as Florida was trying to remind us. Hey, Emory Jones just broke right shut up. You've given up 52 points to an FCS team on how much Emory Jones is thrown for in the fourth quarter. He shouldn't be playing in the fourth quarter. Um, so I get it. Like, but, but also the narrative of like Billy was afraid of what people on Twitter were gonna say. So he decided not to release the depth chart. That's what everyone says. He doesn't care. He doesn't care what you say about him. Probably doesn't care what Zack and I say about him. No, he doesn't. We've written mean things. We've been critical. And his response is, yeah, if we win games, you won't write that. And we're like, yeah, no, that's true. Like he gets it. He gets it. He gets all of the criticism and they've earned it. He understands that they've earned it. So yeah, he's not running and hiding. I think it's probably there's probably multiple teams in the SEC that aren't releasing a depth chart and now that he has to release this availability report. Um, he's like, I'm not going to do both. Yeah, I'm not going to do both. I'll do one or the other and I have to do this one, but it was not because he was afraid of the reaction on Twitter. And also to his injury report in the past, although I don't want to say they lied. They just didn't have to give all the information. They could, they could provide an injury report previously what they wanted to. Um, and they have to be so specific. They didn't have to include every guy. Uh, now it's different. Like they cannot lie gambling is involved. It's a SEC rule. So because, like you said, they have to, and they have to do it three times in the week. It's not just Wednesday. They got to update it two more times Thursday at 8 p.m. Friday at 8 p.m. Saturday, 90 minutes before kickoff. So it's like, if I got to do that now with my staff and be that specific about our availability, I'm also not going to just offer up who's starting. Especially in a week like this week where there was so much controversy about the quarterbacks, but especially when you know that you're going to keep Graham number one. Just just avoid the, the headache, even if he doesn't care about it. Uh, it's, it's still going to be all over social media for his potentially first players to see. I know they try to avoid it too. Um, we will dig deeper into the injury report. And the, uh, depth chart that we projected that Gators online a little bit later in the episode. We'll be joined momentarily by Ryan from TechSags to talk about this magic up and what to expect on Saturday. Uh, we do have to mention some very significant news that came from that injury report before we bring on Ryan. And that is, uh, not only is Graham Mertz not on it, which we expected, but Eugene Wilson is listed as questionable. Uh, Nick had a report of Gators online on Wednesday night detailing kind of where he stands, but, uh, this is a significant development, Nick, especially if he can't go Saturday. Yeah. Yeah. And speaking of depth chart availability report, I imagine Sean Spencer and Jay Bateman are thumbing through that, you know, scrolling through that online. They say Eugene Wilson questionable. Uh, what what's what's going on there because questionable is essentially at this point, a coin flip by the letter of the law from the SEC, it is a coin flip. It means you are around a 50% chance of playing. Um, Eugene Wilson sustained from, from what I was able to gather on Wednesday night, um, sustained injury Wednesday afternoon and practice was in a non-contact jersey Tuesday, Monday afternoon and practice, sorry, in a non-contact jersey Tuesday Wednesday. Um, the person I talked to was that practice said they didn't see him participate. Um, Billy Napier has said just last week, if you don't practice, we've only had one person not practice during the week that has played in the game. Um, massive, massive development for Florida, if Eugene Wilson is unable to play Saturday. Um, if he can, though you play on me, he would be the second, he'd become the second player. Yeah. Listen, man, here the, the seven routes you're going to run on Saturday. Don't worry about the plays, you don't need to know, playing receiver, you don't really need to know what the other 10 guys are doing, you got to know what you're doing. Well, unless you're a four-year player, the play receiver, you need to know what your route is. Like they say, the farther away you get from the ball, the easier it is to play. Um, so yeah, if Eugene Wilson knows the seven routes he'll have to run, including jet sweep, which is just the easiest pass. It's disgusting that we count that as a pass and that the quarterback gets those. He's not mad about it. Of course, DJs not mad. That's an 85 yard pass that he shoveled underhanded to Eugene six engines in front of him. Graham Mertz was a was great with those as well. He probably had about 600 passing yards, passing yards off of those last year too, but that's a huge development. So we'll have to see if Eugene, if Trey can practice Thursday. Um, I mean, you have to kind of pare down your roster too. I think the home team can only have 80 guys dress. Ex-A&M, you can only travel with 70. Um, Eugene will dress. He'll be on the 80 list like you're not putting somebody else in over him, but it'll be interesting to see how he develops and if he can play if he can't go. Uh, doesn't, doesn't help floor's office. No, it does not. Well, we're going to get helped right now with some info on the Texas A&M Aggies and what they're bringing to Gainesville. Bronnie joins the show now. What up, my man? What's up, y'all? Good to see you gentlemen again. Absolutely, man. You're coming down to our turn now. You like the hat? Yeah, remind me, you still have my hat at your house. I do. And I think I have one of Zach's jackets. One day we'll get it back. Maybe if my wife had thrown it out already. You know what? It's a, I think it was like a, uh, Bitcoin, uh, some unicorn coin, like a company sent me a hat because it was a unicorn. I would not imagine that your wife has left a unicorn hat lying around. Didn't really fit. You know, the, uh, the aura, the motif, her decorating style. What is the, uh, statue of limitations on when you leave stuff at somebody's house? It might be yours or hers now. I think it is yours or hers or the dogs. I mean, that, you know, the hat should not have been a chew toy. Okay. I should get that jacket back because I got it from the opening out in Oregon when we used to have that. But you know how it is in Florida, Ryan, it's usually never cold enough that you need a jacket. That's, that's, I think that's been my problem. Here's the way I am though is like, and you guys, I'm sure it's similar is like, if it gets. 81, I might put on like a long sleeve. Cause when do I ever get to wear that stuff? That's right. That's right. Yeah. Look at Nick and he's in his house right now wearing a hoodie. Yeah. Just so he can know what it feels like. That must be like new dad. Like the, the child has sucked all of the, like the child gets all the warmth and all the care and attention. And so like, you're willing to sacrifice your body temperature for your child's. I'm, well, I'm at, I'm at a different house now. So my child, I sacrificed my studio, my office for my child. So I'm at a different, I'm at a whole different house. But as soon as I get over here, that AC gets cranked down to 70 hotel room. Florida is uninhabitable without AC. Yeah, I treat this like a hotel, get in and drop back. Immediately hit the thermostat. Well, Ryan, we got another matchup between the Aggies and the Gator. What does access mean? Access means a quincea yanera for Lupita, and those to come. Access means an extra room for Labuela. Access means going from dreaming to achieving. No matter your goals, U.S. Bank Access Commitment Programs provide the tools to help you reach your financial aspirations. Access your financial goals at usbank.com/accesso. Equal Housing Lander, algouno sevisos pueden estáris con el es solo nígles. Miamro FDIC. In a world of dry eye, there's a long-lasting solution that can save the day, presenting sustained, complete, preservative-free. It's unique formula gives 8 hours of relief from the common symptoms of dry eye. Sustain complete, open your eyes to the lasting relief. It's time to have your high-five moment with high-five casino, the top social casino, where the action and real prizes never stop. Fun spins and big wins are right at your fingertips, with over a thousand games, including high-five casino exclusives. High-five casino is always free to play, with free coins given out every 4 hours. Sign up today for a free welcome offer that can get you spinning and winning right away. Visit high-fivecassino.com. High-five casino. No purchase necessary, but prohibited by law must be 21 years or older terms and conditions apply. Traditional SEC rivals. Yeah, Nick has been on this like this is like a big SEC rival right now. But the SEC is trying to make it. Florida has played Texas A&M significantly more than Auburn every year. And every sport. Yeah, they play a lot. It's like, which is good because I mean I've made friends with you guys and I get to share a lot of stories with Nick and get to see Nick around. And it does help our coverage and I would assume that it helps y'all's coverage. Absolutely. But yeah, man, like it's crazy that A&M is going on. This is year 13, I think, in the league and they played Georgia once in Athens. And this is how many times the Aggies and Gators have met now. And they'll be back in college state. Brian College Station, sorry. I don't want to make the tech sacks listeners mad at me. The back of college station next year, which will be the fourth. Fifth time. It'll be the fifth time. It'll be the fifth trip to college station. No, no, no. It'll be the fifth time they've played since they joined. Every time in college station. Still waiting. Correct. Ryan's still waiting to see what Georgia's uniforms look like. They're way uniforms. Yeah. Listen, in the first year of a new head coach, I'm not complaining that we don't get what Georgia is right now, whether it be in Athens or in college station. Like I think Mike Elko is fine not having Georgia on the schedule for a bit. Yeah, that worked out for the Aggies. Obviously, I think it worked out for them too, that they were able to land Mike Elko. Obviously went through a coaching change this offseason. You bring back your former DC guy that knows the program knows the territory. One of the best defensive minds in football. Ryan, what's that transition been like so far and has it been a little bit more seamless than most for new head coaches because he was recently in college station? I think that kind of depends on who you ask. It's crazy to me. It's absolutely crazy. You guys know how fans react to stuff. Like Mike Elko has gotten no leash from the A&M fan base because they lost the week one opener to Notre Dame. So I think the program's in really good hands. I believe in Mike Elko. I believe in, you know, A&M didn't go out and try to make a flashy hire like they did with Jimbo. They went and I thought they went out and made a sensible hire a football coach. A guy that's pragmatic that can understand problems and understands what this current state of football is in America, especially the college football scene like the NIL and the transfer portal. You know, he is, he wants to be up to date on that. He wants to utilize every advantage that he has. And he's willing to change things like he's really open minded and I think he sees the forest and the trees. And I think that, you know, maybe Jimbo that kind of got him in trouble over his last couple of years. And if you look at Jimbo's record with him without Mike Elko, it's one of the main reasons why Jimbo's probably not in college station anymore. And so, look, I just think that with this A&M team, when you're doing overhaul schematically on both sides of the ball, the offense is so much different this year than it was last year that I think the best version of this A&M team should be at least from like week eight on. And so you're going to go through hot and cold spells until everybody kind of settles in and gets more comfortable with it with the scheme, but I'm a big believer in Mike Elko in terms of the long term vision of the program. You know, his ability to run the program day to day his organizational structure, his recruiting structure, you know, everybody had a lot of questions about him as a recruiter when he came in. And it's so funny, man, these fans, they think that they definitively know about everything. You shouldn't hire Mike Elko, he can't recruit. Oh, how do you know that? Well, he didn't recruit well at Duke. I was like, he's never been at a place like this with all its advantages. And you giving these resources and you don't know how he's going to respond to it. Well, A&M's coming off of the two years where they were combined 12 and 13 in terms of their record. And Mike Elko's got him in the top 10 as a recruiting class in his first year. So yeah, it's not going to be Georgia or Ohio State right now, but he's done a really good job and a really admirable job, given the circumstances that he walked into. And I think, Nick, we talked about this. I think me and you talked about it in Omaha was like, I don't think people understand where this program was when Jimbo left. And I'm not here to take shots at Jimbo. It just been really mismanaged. And I'll leave it at that. Like every, every level of it. So what Mike Elko had to come in and undo and restructure, I think a lot of the average fan will never understand that. So given all that he's had to do in the short amount of time he's had to do it, I think he's done a very admirable job and we'll see what, you know, the road games over the last three years for A&M football have been. I mean, they've lost 10 in a row. It's like them, Temple Akron. Well, Jimbo was, you know, insistent on flying out two days before the game. So if, if Jimbo was still the head coach here, and then would be arriving in Gainesville today. You know, Cala, you have to say no, Cala. And so you'd have over 48 hours away from home. And I just think that, you know, I look at road trips is like, hey, we're going there to do a job and we're getting out. So like, if, if I can go to Gainesville and stay for 30 hours, I want to stay for 30 hours, like get in there. Get good nights for us play the game and then come home. I think that is what these college kids travel and they want to be in their own bed as much as they can. So when you, I don't know, and Jimbo never changed that right like not working and not working and he never changed. That was one of the big head scratchers around here is like, Hey man, like, the one year that you had success on the road was the COVID year when you had to fly out on Friday, and you had to fly back the same night. And so, you know, it just, it was a lot of stuff kind of like that. But yeah, I mean, Josh paid. I'm a big fan of Josh paid. He had, he did his A&M Florida prediction, I think two nights ago, and he picked the Gators. But one of the reasons he picked the Gators is he popped up the graphic about A&M and their road struggles and it's like A&M Temple Akron and Toledo are like double digit consecutive losses on the road and it's the worst in the country. And so, you know, Mike Elko is trying to undo that this weekend in Gainesville. Well, don't feel bad about taking shots at Jimbo. He's being compensated very fairly to not do anything. Listen, it's about, you know, I went through a baseball coaching search that had a lot of, you know, sketchy things under the surface and how it all went down. Jimbo never did anything like that. Jimbo just mismanaged the program, right? And so, like, I don't have an issue with Jimbo and, you know, I wish you would have done some things differently, but like, I don't want to come off as like I'm just like bashing the guy because I have some kind of disdain for him at all. I just, it didn't work out. He should have, he was stubborn in some ways. I wish he wouldn't have been, but it is what it is. So I just wanted to come across. Like, I didn't want it to say like, oh, man, this guy's just jumping on here and bashing Jimbo. I get it. You asked Jimbo for a loan and he hasn't responded yet. So we're keeping everything nice. We're keeping everything nice right now until Jimbo until that read receipt comes back. But that Jimbo is the biggest buyout ever, and I think if Texas A&M snaps that road losing streak, Lorda will end up paying the second biggest buyout. I think Is that show throat? What if it's a close game? I think if it's a close game, he can survive it. The issue is if you look like you did against Miami, I think Sunday, we could, we might be having a press conference and that's kind of where where things are. It's, it has not been a fun two weeks here in Gainesville. This is really kind of a must win, I think, at least they must look really good in a close loss for Billy Napier and the Gators. When I look at Texas A&M, you know, a lot of people were saying like, Texas A&M wants to run the ball. I think, you know, when you're early, but then I look at them like they're not running it well. Listen, they want to pass the ball. What is A&M offensively through two weeks? You know, it's hard to put, you know, you say you're, you're looking at the Aggies. I'm literally looking over my computer. You've seen where our office is. A&M's practicing right now. I can't, so far away. I can't say anything, but they're on the field. So I'm literally looking at the Aggies, but to answer your question. I don't, I don't know what A&M is yet. Like Colin Klein, you have to look at his history as an offensive coordinator at Kansas State and it is like, it's really, it's old school coming back around in terms of his run scheme. Like, it's pin and pull. We had one of the long time college offensive line coach and a professional offensive line coach actually in this morning, breaking down some, some film and he's like, man, this is like throw back to 1930s football. It's just done out of the shotgun, right? So it's like pulling three offensive or two offensive lamin and a tight end. It's a lot of different formation looks to get to run gap schemes and then some pin and pull scheme. So it's like a very diverse run game, but he's also got like, I think the outlier, the only thing that happened different that Notre Dame game than I thought was going to be different was that Connor Whitman played as poorly as he did. Like, nobody saw that coming. Nobody. And you heard the national pundits talk about, you know, David Pollack was like, this kid's a first round or Jordan Rodgers like this kid will go in the first round. Then he comes out and has an absolute stinker in game one, like there's no getting around it. He looked like he hadn't played football in over a year was in a new system against a really good defense. And he panicked like he had happy feet. He was seeing ghosts and he played poorly. So I just, I don't think that I don't think that's going to continue with Connor. And I think that Colin Klein will get to some more past happy looks with Connor because he is such a talented thrower. But for right now, going into this week to answer your question Nick, I would think that A&M is going to try to run at that Florida front seven with levy on moss as much as possible. A&M's feels pretty good about their offensive line, which has been one of the bigger revelations in this new coaching staff. The offensive guards are absolute molars. I mean, these guys are mauge Reed Adams and Chase Bassantis are the two best pro prospects on the A&M offensive line and Marjorie Adams came over. He's a Dallas kid. He came over from Kansas. He is just like he bulldozes people. He's mean, he's nasty. And Bassantis is a New Jersey kid that they got out of high school that's very similar. So I think what A&M would like to do is lean on those two guys. It's interesting. They lost their starting center for the year against Notre Dame. Well, I say starting center. He was splitting reps with the transfer from Utah. Well, the transfer from Utah was good. He started against McNeese last week, but his backup also got reps. The backup was arrested this week. Mike Elko said they're handling internally. It was a modern possession of failure to identify. So typical college kids stuff, right? So we'll, I don't know if he's going to suspend him for a whole game. All failure to identify. So, yeah, a lot of people were really upset with the college station PD, actually, with how this went down. But, you know, we could go to Athens. You can drive as fast as you want. Or to Baton Rouge. You can make it through Athens in roughly five minutes the way you drive once you go to scholarship at Georgia. Or you go to Baton Rouge and the team gets to vote whether you're, whether you're, I guess, infraction is deemed worthy enough for a suspension or not. The team, your buddies get to vote. Anyway, I don't know how Elko's going to handle that. But if A&M has one center that's been a center than the back. So something happened. That's when it would get really interesting because the backup would be a true freshman that was a highly recruited tackle. So that would be interesting. But I think what A&M is going to do going in is try to run the football first, especially, especially if I know Nick, we were talking earlier, we were texting back and forth about the weather and Gainesville has that cleared up like there's a lot of talk on our message for those could be sloppy Saturday in Gainesville. Yeah, listen, if you don't like the weather in the state of Florida, wait 15 minutes and it will change. Not this week. This week's been awful. Yeah, it has rained every day. This has been gloomy like all day long. Still like 65% chance of rain during the day with a just beautiful 88 degrees and 87% humidity, just actually living life like SpongeBob under the water. Did you heard what Elijah Badger said this week and said it feels like I'm breathing water. Yeah. It's a, you know, obviously way more humidity there, but it has been similar here. You know, college stations only about 60 miles north of Houston. So we do get a lot of runoff humidity. It has been kind of gloomy and heavy. So it'll be interesting to see whether I don't think those types of conditions would affect the game but certainly water falling out of the sky could affect it. Obviously, a lot of four defense are going to be tuned into the defensive side of all for Texas A&M, some former Gators on the coach's side and on the player side. I saw that Scooby Williams was listed as questionable this week. I think he's going to play. Okay. I do think he's going to play. I would think he'd play at like 70% in this game. Did Chamar's comments make it to text as a message for it. And I wonder how much of that is like group text. Hey, I'm going to roast you tonight. Yeah, between them and fans don't realize like hey, these guys were close friends for three years. They're all from Alabama too. They're all from the same state. Yeah, I think the A&M fan base wants Scooby to take it personally. Right, because it's football and they want those rivalry but you guys know now with the fluidity of players and as easily accessible as these players are with each other from the time they're in high school when they go to these camps and they start DMing each other group text that kind of thing. So I do think it was probably like something playful, but it's yeah it's been talked about definitely on our message board this week. But I will tell you it's been great at A&M he's been in week one and like I know in the preseason build up they were really pleased with him and so I know he had his issues at Florida kind of running all over the place. But he's at least been pointing in the right direction here since you know he's been in college station. Shamar was just saying the quiet part out loud of what Gator fans have been saying about Scooby for the two years he was here. Now listen you can change I think Scooby was like second on the team and Miss tackles last year Jaden Hill was third or fourth. Access means going from dreaming to achieving. No matter your goals US bank access commitment programs provide the tools to help you reach your financial aspirations. Access your financial goals at US bank.com/accessal. Equal housing lender. It's time to have your high five moment with high five casino the top social casino where the action and real prizes never stop fun spins and big wins are right at your fingertips with over a thousand games, including high five casino exclusives high five casino is always free to play with free coins given out every four hours. Sign up today and get free welcome coins you can spend for a chance at cash prizes visit high five casino.com no purchase necessary boy prohibited by law must be 21 years or older terms and conditions apply. Yeah, Jayden has a struggle here. Did I have an outsider inside. He's playing the nickel and he's missed some run fits and then you know I guess Notre Dame he badly missed one and then got out run to the corner for a touchdown so I think you're seeing you know maybe the first scoopy be a good thing and maybe the newness for Jayden be something he's still trying to shake off. And what type of impact has, well, first of all Elko had on the defense just kind of trying to restore that side of the ball and then how was it working with with him and Jay Bateman does Bateman call the plays as Elko call the plays and how does that pairing work I know they work together at Richmond for a year. Yeah, I think Bateman has said and Elko has said that's kind of where they both came up with the verbiage of their defense and so that's why they're so Elko was so comfortable hiring J is because they speak the same language on the football field. Jay's calling the defense I think with some input from Elko Elko stays completely out of the offensive side, but you know he's been adamant since he's become a head coach that he wants to be a head coach and so you know I think it takes them getting used to when you go from an all the time assistant coach to and you're just on one side of the ball to be in a head coach but you'll see him like it practices walk around with running backs and quarterbacks and you know sit and watch the offensive lineman so he is doing that but I think on game day in terms of preparation. He's very much more so involved in the defensive side I think Jay understood understood that when he took the job. And you know but I think Mike is letting him call the game and then with input from from the head man so I do think Elko has been, he was, he's known for like his exotic blitzes and like getting sacks from every level, creating match ups. We've seen very little of that so far and I think a lot of it has been due due to the scheme of who they're playing Notre Dame did a great job of getting the ball out as quick as they could. And then obviously having the legs of Riley Leonard to get them out of trouble. I think kind of skewed the pressure percentage that ain't and was actually putting on Notre Dame, you know last week McNeese they weren't going to do anything that was going to help Florida out at all. You just a lot up and play kind of like Florida was Sanford like I don't know how much you can glean from that but we'll see I think this weekend and especially depending on you know what Florida is going to do at quarterback which is a crazy question we just had two guys on our radio show downstairs and we were talking in the lobby and one. They're two all time great today and then the quarterback Steven McGee from the late 2000 early 2000s and then Ryan Swope the all time leading receiver we were just talking in the lobby about what does Florida do at quarterback because I honestly think this is crazy. I think it's crazy to say I think it's for Billy understanding what this game means and knows he has to win. Both. Like I do think you played both to try to win this game. If you're locked if Billy was on solid ground and he had two or three more years without question like it says in a situation like Elko. I think you play lag way. Right, because that's the future of the program, but I think in a must win scenario. I think you start Graham. You bring in DJ for certain stuff because he does different things and it can keep Elko kind of guessing on the other side and you've got to call. You've got to call the defense different. Go down. You've seen. Shoot you probably can't count on two hands how many times you've seen DJ lag way play over at Willis. He was always and tell me if I'm wrong, always the biggest fastest, strongest kid on the field when he played and I think you have to get some of that out of him and like the throw to eight in my cell last week as amazing of a throw as that is. The wrong. It's the wrong read. You probably should just run it because you had a lane to run instead of running jumping and just using your arm talent to throw ball 50 yards but that's a Sanford defensive back that probably doesn't go the same way against you. That guy had great coverage to them. But there's still some of that run around make something happen like at Willis you're just like listen hey here's your read and if that's not the read, have fun. We would like a first down or a touchdown please. Ready. Yeah. Well, and like to DJ's credit I love DJ as a kid. I've talked to Nick a bunch I'm just such a huge fan of DJ lag way the human being. Last year toward the end of the season. I went to one of their games and I went up to him and I said look man like you're not coming to A&M but just know that I will always be a DJ lag way fan. I don't care where you're at I'll be a DJ lag way fan. And just had so many good interactions with the kid throughout his high school career but and there are very few humans on the planet that can make that throw I think I saw that on Twitter it was a pro guy like an NFL scout talking about like it's less than 1% of quarterbacks on the planet can do what DJ did. But when you talk about he ran around he missed a read like how often can you let him do that against an SEC defense especially one with the front seven that A&M's got. And it's not so much that you worry about him playing poorly in in this game I think obviously with Billy situation you do. But you also worry about you know you see it in baseball a lot if you run a kid out there too soon he's not ready what do you do is confidence. You know and then are you working for the rest of the season to try to get DJ back to believing that he is the player that he is and that's why I think you sprinkle him in. But you got to let Mertz take the reins just because he's been through it he's seen it way more and he can be efficient like Graham Mertz can move the football. I think Florida's going to have to try to run it a little bit and have some success on the ground. If they can do that A&M A&M's run defense so far has been really good but they bust. Like most of the orders they've given up has come on like five runs. And so like if you just keep kind of pounding away and pounding away and try to pop a big one that may do wonders for the Florida offensive game plan and really the outcome of the game. You just alluded to this Ryan but I got to ask you about. The multi-million dollar question which is Florida fans always being concerned about DJ Lagway leading for Texas A&M first it was as a recruit flipping late. Now they're worried about it in season even as he's starting and setting records at Florida they're still worried about him going to Texas A&M. How real did that ever become when he was a recruit after the coaching change because I talked to Mike Elko about this week and he says they had conversations but he thought he was pretty entrenched in Florida. And do you think that A&M could entice him enough to come home if things don't work out in Gainesville or he just wants to change the scenery. So this is just purely my opinion I think that if Jimbo Fisher and Damian Craig hadn't completely dropped the ball on that recruitment from the get go multiple times. I think DJ Lagway would have signed with Texas A&M. I just think that DJ had a real level of comfortability in college station it's right down the road from home. But DJ you guys have gotten to know now he's not a big he doesn't like to be on the radar like great kid really keeps to himself really focused on becoming a better human becoming a better player loves football. I think this was a good fit for him and he knew that. And then obviously you know A&M on the last coaching staff for whatever reason decided they didn't really want to pursue and Florida did a fantastic job it was led by a Texan Joe Hamilton I think had great connections there and Joe did a phenomenal job with DJ and you know going forward there's just I hate speaking and defended it or like even hypotheticals because the fluidity of player movement now. Yeah could DJ lagway end up at Texas A&M sure. I mean any player could end up at any school. But I also don't think that A&M is like you know they they like this backup quarterback they got out of Tennessee Marcel Reed. He moves around he's scrawny but he shows some promise like so what is the first of all what does the temperature look like in Gainesville in terms of you know is Billy there. If Billy's there I think they'll obviously have a great chance to keep in DJ. Those are the conversations and I think like what fans are battling over now. Because because they want nothing more a lot of fans want nothing more than Florida to have their boosters right to check and get Billy out of Gainesville. That's where a lot of fans are and I told Billy and I told people and like there's a large segment of the fan base that will not come back on your side if you lose to Miami and not only do they lose to Miami. And I did not to even try to win the game or be competitive at any point after the coin flip. And then the fans are wrestling with well do you lose DJ lagway and I'm not in the camp of like hey you need to keep a coach if you think you he's not going to get the job done to save a player. But I also wrote me off season Billy needs to save himself before DJ can save his his job by getting an OC he decided not to do that and the offense looks a lot like it did the last two years. Yeah and again like I have no idea what anem is going to be needing in the offices like Connor Wigman there's not enough evidence yet that he needs to leave and go to the NFL. Like if he continues to have an up and down season or you know he gets banged up again. He needs to come back for a senior season. And I think Connor is very aware of that so yeah again to try to speculate on what's going to happen in terms of quarterback movement this offseason I think it's way too premature. But to Nick's point like I've been answering questions on the message board. I responded to thread this morning saying this is a must win game in the Mike Elko tenure. He has to win this game or he'll never come back from it. Three games in. Three games in and that's kind of where it's just crazy that the anem fan base is not giving this guy any leash where in year one under Jimbo they lost a big time game at home narrowly lost a big time game at home. In this first year like everything was left to Clemson and everybody then. Because it was Jimbo and he came in with a national title and all the pop and circumstance that came with a higher when anem lost that game to Clemson by two. Everybody went whoa and like we're on our way the message boards we were like everybody was so positive elko just does the exact same thing in game one, not game to in game one and everybody's already talking about when he can't get it done here. I remember. I remember telling the ball fans baby. I remember I remember Zach and I have had this conversation with a bunch of people but I remember talking about it. I thought unless I've been through lots of coaches Billy is my fourth coach and I thought to myself in year one I'm like man like they're at his neck way sooner than they've been at any of these previous coaches next and I wonder if it's. Because of the transfer portal because it's so easy to flip rosters things like that or. Well Nick hold on. This is a because I've been like adamant about this this question that you're asking and it's coming from the fan perspective. If it's so easy nowadays to flip rosters where's the evidence of coaches having your one success. In this new NIL and portal era. Brian Kelly had some success here one. And people are ready like the LSU fan base is ready to fire him in year three. Yeah. Like I think it's a lot easier to say and do in basketball and in baseball where the roster size is in a hundred kids. Yeah. It's so much harder like when these players become one year rentals in football a you better hit on them but it's such a team game where everybody's got to be on the same page. Yeah and so I just think that it's a common narrative that's been out there because players moved to and fro so so easily now. But there's no evidence like. Well Dion started the narrative and then they went for an eight. Right. Look at look at the top 15 teams right now. How many of them are in year one of a coach there's one it's Bama. So everybody's talking about it's easy to flip these rosters. I'm not saying that it's not. I'm just saying that we don't have enough evidence to definitively say yeah you can turn a football program around in one year. Because of the landing and. But not everybody has an 88 year old worth 33 billion dollars who wants to see his football team. When their first national championship before he dies and is willing to just. Plus how do that 33 billion dollars around. Plus how down was Oregon when he inherited it. I mean the pack 12 but this is the excuse me the pack two is and wasn't a joke it was three teams. But they but they weren't down as a program Oregon like they had they had been having success Chris ball left them. Yes. So. Yes I mean to Ryan's point. There's way more evidence. There's way more evidence that it still takes time to build a program. Yes. Yeah. Not in the minds of the fans right I know but like again like we're perception is reality. But until you start digging into it like that it's a narrative that has formed just because. Of the freedom of movement of players and that their ability to be paid. But there's I think now culture matters even more. Like these guys some of these guys are hard guns and you know Nick Saban said it the best on college game day you better know who you're paying and you better pay the right guy. Yeah otherwise he's just sitting there collecting money on your roster. Yep. Final few things on this matchup for you Ryan. I think obviously one of the biggest storylines we talked about Bateman but. Bateman versus napeer and Bateman having watched napeers offense and practice for the last two years. Watching Graham Mertz for the past year. You also got one of your linebackers that we figured would play a lot in Scooby Williams. He has seen these players and recognizes this offense. How much can that play a factor on Saturday. And do you think maybe napeer even is more likely to lean into lag weight because that is something that they haven't seen. What does access mean? Access means a quinceanera for Lupita and most to come. Access means an extra room for Labuela. Access means going from dreaming to achieving. No matter your goals. US bank access commitment programs provide the tools to help you reach your financial aspirations. Access your financial goals at usbank.com/accessal. Equal housing lender. Alguno salisa es pueden está solen ingles. Mi amiro FDIC. 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So similarly, Graham Marks has seen Jay Bateman's defenses. He hasn't though. He hasn't. Bateman wasn't coordinating the defense. That's right. He was just a linebacker's coach. So that may be a good point. I wonder if it's personal for Jay. Because Jay came on his linebacker's coach and Billy brought a 31 year old. No, 31 year old and then 30 year old. Oh, but he was 29 when he was hired. Yes. Bateman was passed over for play calling by a 31 year old and a 29 year old. And then Mike Elko, who is a great defensive mind in his own is like, Jay, I, I'm called my place. Well, and then don't forget. He called plays in one of the spring games and called a great game to the point that I asked Billy in the press or hey, who called plays. For the, for the orange or the blue defense. And he said it was bait. Yeah, so I didn't know that. Again, but to your point, Zach, like that's why I do think that lagway could be a little bit of a game changer. If you can sprinkle him in in the right spots, maybe you have a very limited package for him. And that will allow him to play to his strengths, make a couple of reads, get out with his legs if it's not there. You know, A&M defensively, they, they, we, I really, I think they're good. I think they're good. We don't know that yet, but I think they're really good. When you look at the amount of talent they have in the front four, the depth they have in the front four, the linebacker that will play opposite of Scooby-Williams is like one of my favorite football players to watch Tory in York. He was undersized under recruited. He was going to go to Baylor or Duke until Mike, until A&M offered him late under the last staff and he came here and was an freshman all American. When you look at the back end, they were so bad last year in the secondary and they've completely flipped that on its head. When you get in transfers like Des Ricks, Will Lee from Kansas State, Bryce Anderson's a long time starter at safety. They got a, a sophomore defensive back named Dalton Brooks, who everybody's convinced is going to be a star. So like, they got real pieces to their defense and they've got some depth there as well. So, but I think they're good on defense. So how does Florida have some success? I think switching the look, man, like just, you know, make A&M be aware of DJ's legs. And then I think you hand the ball to, or you snap the ball to Graham way more, but having DJ come in as kind of a, you know, a change up, I think would be good for Florida. Yeah, and DJ is a, he is a pocket passer who can run. Sure. His legs make you play 11 on 11. Graham, you're fine to let Graham run. You know, a defense coordinator would say, I would, I invite you to run. That's fine. If you would like to try to try to make plays to the leg, sure, go ahead. But I think what fans saw and there is really no objectivity to, it was Samford in their mind because of how good DJ looked, but I think what you, what you saw is DJ taking those shots downfield and stretching the field. They left intoxicated by DJ throwing footballs for the yards because they've been drinking non alcoholic, dink and duck, dink and duck brews served up by Graham Mertz the last two years and I just don't know that Florida with Graham Mertz stretches the field or gives A&M, like you said, gives A&M enough to think about. But I don't know how much they will change up. I think it's going to be a lot of fastballs. I just, again, if there's a bunch of rain falling, what does that do to both game plans. You know, I think that's another element to this. Like, I hate when weather, like these teams that are so evenly matched. If you have weather in it, it's really like it could come down to. DJ Laguay's hand size compared to Connor Wigman's hand size, like that could honestly determine a game, right? Like who can hold on to the wet football better. So, like, when you, when you're already splitting hairs and Vegas thinks this game is going to be close, you add the element of rain and I think it makes it even more unpredictable. It's going to be fun to watch. I'm looking forward to it. I know it would be nice to maybe have these teams play not as often, but I like any excuse I can to come to say Texas and we'll be back next year. So, hey, so when y'all come back, I don't want to mean to put either of you on the spot. Who's the head coach at Florida when you guys come back. I did put you on the spot. I said, I didn't mean to, but. All right, don't answer it. Here's a name. Everybody's saying Lane Kiffin, right? Everybody's talking about it. Here's a name to watch out for. I think Florida should take a look at if things go the way that I think they're going to go. G. J. Kenny, the head coach at Texas State. Do not be surprised they play Arizona State this weekend. They blasted UTSA last weekend. If they beat Arizona State, they are going to go undefeated and have a chance to go to the playoff. Let me tell you something right now, Bronnie. I put the name Jamie Chadwell out there and was shouted at. Florida fans are done with FCS coaches. Yeah, they are. Yeah, and it's another old Sunbelt, Texas State's an old Sunbelt team. They hired Mac Brown's coach in waiting and got Will Muschamp added here. Then they went and got a Saban guy and Will McElwain. Then they went and got not a Saban guy, a guy who had won a championship and was an SEC head coach and that lasted three years. Then they went to the Sunbelt to a guy that Auburn had tried to get in South Carolina had tried to get. They got only 1000 days into that experiment. Florida fans want Lane Kiffin, Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer. Remember when they remember they wanted. That's the list. Remember them all on one staff too. Remember Chip Kelly too. Or they also they also want to go by. They tried to get Chip Kelly. Urban Meyer. I think Lane's the head coach, Urban's the special teams, coordinators, Spurrier's the passing coordinator. Nick Saban can coach the secondary. No, Nick Saban's the DC. No, Nick Saban's the DC. I think you find a different DC. Nick's only coaching safety. So you got to find a better DC or just we're just building a message board coaching staff. Yeah. And all those guys are going to work under Lane Kiffin. Yeah, they're all working under Lane. Yep. That's super interesting. I will say this Ryan. I think it will either be Billy or big name coach to Nick's point. Like I don't think Florida can go the route that they typically gone hiring football coaches and just coaches in general. They sometimes go for an up and come or somebody that they can have that builds a program that they stay there for a long time. You know, decade plus being the coach up and that's worked out sometimes. But I think that they have if Billy does not work out, they will have to go with a big name proven higher. And there's only a few that I think that they'll be able to go after for sure. And like, maybe I'm being a prisoner of the moment with GJ Kenny and how many times have we seen the mid major coach that just rolls through that level of competition struggle whenever he makes a big jump up. But I'm telling you what, in the state of Texas, this guy's got a lot of people's attention and the way they score points. The Texas state program, like Sam Marcus, that school, like that town, they should, they could be really good. It's a massive school in terms of student population. I don't know if you guys have ever been to sand markets. It's really pretty. It's got a river that runs right like there's there's a big party school like it's got a lot of advantages. I don't know that they're going to be able to hold on to this guy. Like he he's making some real waves and I just wonder if he would even get an interview. I do think, you know, if Billy if Billy is out, I think that the number one target is clearly like, if I trust you when you talk anything Texas football, anything Texas really just the entire state. Thank you. So, so I don't doubt that he will be a great that is a great coach and will be a great coach. I'm just letting you know that. I'm too much trauma. I will leave. I will leave the beat if they even interview because I don't want to deal with people reacting to them interviewing Texas state's head coach. Hey, hold on. Sally's not letting you leave the beat. I'll tell him later. I'll go like Lane Kippen to Tennessee. Oh, yeah. Send to sell the attacks at 1230. Hey, man, I'm out. Bye. Were you being games or Ryan? No, I'm actually so it's super interesting. I thought about going. But just, you know, I cover high school football here and I've got a game Thursday and a game Friday. I've actually got a game Saturday night that I'm covering that's got an A&M commit and again, they're facing a massive A&M prospect and I got really good relationships with both head coaches. So, I want to get down there and see both of them. So, like, I'll probably watch up until halftime and then not to get to even watch the second half of the game. So, yeah, I'll keep updates on my phone. But it's like, you know, I'm not for tech sags. I'm not technically one of the football analysts. I get on air and I talk about football. So, you know, I don't have to be dialed in. Yeah, I don't have to be dialed in. My title is recruiting and baseball analyst. So the recruiting side has to take, you know, precedent. No doubt. Well, that's awesome. Obviously you get to see some great football out there. We appreciate you taking some time out to visit with us. Hey, how far is a Bushnell, Florida from Gainesville. I didn't know where Bushnell is. It's not something or high school. It's not far. It's not far. And I've got a commitment from a kid that it's an hour. Okay. It is 69 miles from where I am right now. Nice. Nice. And I'm just got a commitment from a kid there last Saturday. I will not drive to Bushnell for you. Okay. Maybe he'll come to Gainesville, though. Yeah, go and visit the Florida and then you guys can ask him about A&M for me. Yeah, you go. All right, guys. I appreciate it. Yeah, good seeing you again, buddy. Appreciate the time. Yeah, we'll see you. All right. That was Bronnie from TechSags. Great visit with him. Nick and I got to stay with him when we went out in 2022. We're recording this on a Thursday. You guys will see it Friday, but a little throwback Thursday from the Gator football social media account today as they're reliving their last match up with A&M and when Anthony Richardson went off in college station. So we'll see if number 15 for the Gators can go off like that on Saturday, Nick. Yeah, yeah, very similar skill sets. Absolutely. No, we're ready to see with this quarterback situation and how it plays out. What do you think the rep share shakeout is? Give me a percentage. I asked our message board last night and it went as well as you would expect. Um, you know, let's say Florida plays runs 70 offensive plays. How many of those 70 feature DJ lagway at quarterback. I think no more than 20. I think that's higher than I would go. I said no more than 20. The only way that I could see him potentially getting more run is if Graham is struggling or the office is not moving the ball and then he gets in and. I gotta say something. Okay, I gotta say something because I've been hearing this. From a few people throughout the week and it's just like. I've heard people describe DJ's performance against Miami as like unimpressive or that he came in and didn't do anything or it was insignificant or it was mop up duty. I totally disagree with that. I Florida's offense had not been driving the ball down the field all game long and he led them on a touchdown drive. They had not been able to throw in the pocket and beat Miami's rush all game long and he fired off too quick easy slant passes nothing special about the throws, but he showed the ability to deliver and make quick decisions. Obviously they got in the end zone. He made the nice scramble on third and 12 to pick up a 16 yard first down. That was impressive and they did have their starters in the game Miami did not have its backups in. I've heard a lot of people say this this week Nick, but the one thing that I definitely want to mention mention is I said oh wait through the pick. Watch the pick. Go watch the play. That was not a turnover on DJ or a bad decision by DJ or a bad throw by DJ or a misread or an inaccurate ball. He literally got a Miami defensive lineman pushed into him by Jake Slaughter as he threw the ball two seconds after he had received it from the snap. And Jake Slaughter literally goes like this and bangs himself on the helmet for the mistake that he made on the play. So for people describing DJ legways, you have to view as unimpressive or just like brushing it off. Like both times that this guy has gotten in the game for the Gators. He's looked good. He's drove them down the field. He's looked impressive at quarterback. And he's yet to turn over the ball on a bad decision that he made. Now is he going to throw in and turn over and have an interception at some point in the season? Yes. But like, I don't like that that narrative that's gotten like the farther we've gotten away from the Miami game, the less that people have tried to give him credit for how he looked. Again, also limited with injury, having a shoulder issue before the Miami game, which we've now learned and still also played that way. So I think he is deserving of all the hype that he's gotten so far. And if we're talking about taking snaps from Graham and putting him in the game and giving him a series or a package, there's a reason why. And it's because of how he's looked very, very, very, very early in his career. And to me, it's a great. I thought that Miami Drive that he led them on was fantastic play from number two. Yeah, I think the kick wasn't his fault. What does Access mean? Access means going from dreaming to achieving. No matter your goals, U.S. Bank Access Commitment Programs provide the tools to help you reach your financial aspirations. Access your financial goals at usbank.com/accessal. Equal Housing Lander. Algouno sevisas, pueden estados, uni les solen ingles. Miamro FDIC. 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It doesn't take away from DJ looking, reading, delivering, executing, but I did not leave as impressed as a lot of Florida fans did, but I do agree with you. As the farther we get away from Miami game, I mean, shoot, no one's talking about Miami anymore because when it comes to DJ because of how good he looked last week, but I agree with you. It was not Miami's back up the whole time, but -- Here's the line out here. Oh, what happened when he got in there against Miami? He threw a pick. That's the line. I've heard that from three different people on WRUF this weekend. I don't want to call anybody out, but like -- Call him out. Like, and it's a fair -- Oh, he threw a pick. But like, you've got to watch the play. I don't like these lazy criticisms. Like, if you didn't analyze the play and watch what happened, don't say that he made a bad decision and threw a pick because he didn't. Like, he literally was throwing a deep ball to Elijah Badger that ended up traveling eight yards because of Jake Slaughter's push. And that's football. I mean, it's like, that happens, but it's not something that you can critique a true freshman quarterback for and say, "Oh, look, it's not like he was Shador Sanders through a pick six right back up against his own Enzo." And it wasn't that type of pick. It was a flute play. But again, that's neither here nor there. I just like -- I've heard that a lot this week. Yeah, man. It's just like, dude, like, watch the play, guys. And I think that what we saw against Miami, if anything, that should be more ammunition or evidence that he should play against Texas A&M necessarily than what he did against Sanford. It's a much better competition on touchdown drive that he led against Miami than the touchdown drives that he led against Sanford. So, we'll see how it shakes out. We'll kind of run through these quick because we're our plus now. Shout out to Ryan for joining us, but just want to kind of put a bow on this matchup, what we think the keys to the game are on Saturday. How does Florida come out victorious, Nick, in your mind? What do they have to do? I think you need to stop A&M's running game, make them one-dimensional if you can. And I say that with Jakim Jackson out, Devin Moore -- listen, I'm counting on him being out. I believe Devin Moore is available to play in a football game when it's the first quarter and the defense is on the field and he's there. Unfortunately, just with his injury history, he has missed more games than he's been available for. And I'll even note, surprisingly, he did not start over Jakim Jackson in week one. Like Jakim Jackson has been for a starting cornerback opposite Jason Marshall, the first two games. It was not Devin Moore even wins. I think even before the injury, Jakim has started playing himself out of that position. He did. He did. He did not play well. And obviously, Florida lost Asa Turner. Shiree Denson is questionable. It's tough sledding right now in the secondary injury. Well, I don't mind Shiree Denson being questionable. Now, obviously, from a depth perception. But when I see Aaron Gates, and yes, it's Samford, and yes, the cornerback will be more -- or the receivers will be more talented. But my goodness, seeing Aaron Gates run through receivers to get to a screen, slice through, guys trying to block him. The instincts he has, the hard-nosed football I saw -- Give me 13 on the football field. I'm pounding my desk. I don't know if you can hear that. I'm Brian Kelly. Give me more of that. That gave me shades of Chauncey Gardner at Nickel that we haven't seen. Just like fighting through to make plays, not eight yards up the field, and then celebrate after giving up a first down, making a tackle, fighting through to at least affect the runner. And if you're making a play for somebody else, because you've affected him or making the play for yourself behind the line of scrimmage. If a team is going to throw the ball behind the line of scrimmage, and I'm playing Nickel, my first contact needs to be at the line or behind the line. Not seven yards into my own backfield, and then I celebrate with it after first down. So going back to it, it's interesting that I think Florida needs to make an M1 dimensional and to stop the run game when you consider all of the players out in the secondary. But I think if I'm Florida and if I'm Ron Roberts, I want to make Connor Wegman beat me with his arm. After I watched what they looked like against Notre Dame. Now Notre Dame has two cornerbacks who will be NFL players. So they just played a bunch of man and trusted their corners. And I think it is Florida there with Jason Marshall. Also, and you get to and affect the quarterback, because we've seen against Miami, you did not. No pressure. I think, I think Cam Ward has a court date in Gainesville to pay the loitering fines. He occurred, he, he got for, for just standing in the pocket with his hands down by his waist. All the time in the world, all the time in the world. I mean he, there was one time when he went out of bounds, Nick, and just like walk out of bounds. Can, can, I wish that I could protect my daughter, the way that Cam Ward was protected by his offensive line, because nothing bothered him. If I can protect my daughter, the way Cam Ward was protected on August 31. She has nothing to worry about the rest of her life sack. You can't expect Jason Marshall, Devin Moore, Dijon Johnson, Mustard on the beat, to cover Texas A&M's receivers for nine seconds. So Joey Slackman, Cam Jackson, Tyree Xap, Justice Boone. I feel like Justice Boone hasn't done anything this year. Um, you need these guys. You have the roughing the past and penalty. Oh, he did. He did do something. TJ Circe, George Gums, you need these guys to do something. You can't let Connor Wegman have as easy of a walk in the park as you did with Cam Ward. TJ Circe is questionable. So it's another one. And then on the other side of the ball, what stands out to you besides the quarterback, how far to handle the quarterback and have success with that because that's certainly, that's certainly a key. Yeah, my, my buddy Dan Thompson pointed this out to me. Shout out to Dan. Shout out to DK. He was thumbing through PFF grades. Florida is like a pitcher tipping their plays. Montreal Johnson is the only running back that is in when Florida is passing the ball, which clearly tells you they don't trust Trion Webb, Jayden Baw, Katie Daniels, Kobe Jackson in past pro. But you need to, you need to shake it up a little bit, buddy. You need to shake it up a little bit. It's like, Hey, when Jayden Baw is in the game, it is a run. When Montreal's in the game, it could be a run or a pass, but that's the only time it could be a runner pass if you're running back through two games is on the field is if Montreal Johnson. I do know one play. It was the DJ lagway pick against Miami. That wasn't a pick, but Jayden Baw was in the game on that play. But yeah, but with lack with Mertz. Yeah, that's probably your, your, your, your diagram from which exactly what you're going to do there when you change up the running back rotation. Yeah, and so offensively, I think, you know, I'm with, I'm with Bronnie and I think it's kind of lean on your running game and he said, you know, they fit the runs and it's so funny to, to, to hear that because such a complaint of Florida's defenses have been like giving up these gigantic chunk plays, and it would be a sack on first down a stop on second down third and 13 30 yard run 40 yard completion is like, yeah, man, yeah. So when he said that I'm like, Oh, that's so strange that and took Florida's linebackers coach defensive line coach and two other defensive players and you're having these issues of giving up gigantic chunk plays that keep your defense on the field. Who would have thought. That's where we are. So three 30 in the swamp on Saturday around run the ball. Yeah, I mean, that's obviously a key, but that that should be a good, good versus good matchup because so far this season, and I'm has done a good job running ball they rank. Fifth in the SEC and 24th nationally averaging 239.5 yards per game and the Gators have been doing the solid job stopping the run. Only 105 yards given up per game which is 46 nationally but again not really the competition yet and they obviously gave up some yards to Miami so we'll see how that looks on Saturday in the swamp. It's a very, very key game on Florida schedule again. They have two of these early home matchups against top 25 caliber type teams would have been great to get wins in both of them but you cannot go on to in these games before you hit the road for Mississippi State. So this is, in my opinion, a must win for this season and obviously further their head coach as well. We'll see how it plays out. I don't agree with the Texas A&M fan that said that this is a must win for my galco it is not. Welcome to the SEC it just means more Nick. So, we'll see how it plays out on Saturday in the swamp. We'll join you guys with another rapid reaction. Again, if you are not subscribed to Gators online and you want to keep up with all the recruiting and everything happening with this team this season, make sure that you take advantage of our team. You take advantage of our sale this week only. You can get half off of a membership to Gators online using the promo code Go Gators. So take advantage of that. We'll see how things play out in the swamp this weekend and then we will be back with another rapid reaction after things happen on Saturday. For Nick Deltoy, I'm Zach Ababurty. We'll see you guys then. What does access mean? Access means a quinceanera for Lupita and most to come. Access means an extra room for Labuela. Access means going from dreaming to achieving. No matter your goals, U.S. Bank Access Commitment Programs provide the tools to help you reach your financial aspirations. Access your financial goals at usbank.com/accesso. Equal Housing Lender. It's time to have your high five moment with high five casino. The top social casino where the action and real prizes never stop. Fun spins and big wins are right at your fingertips with over a thousand games, including high five casino exclusives. High five casino is always free to play with free coins given out every four hours. Sign up today for a free welcome offer that can get you spinning and winning right away. 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Gators Online writers Zach Abolverdi and Nick de la Torre preview the Florida-Texas A&M game with Ryan Brauninger of TexAgs.com.