GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Will Muschamp and Tennessee coach Derek Dooley have more in common than deep SEC roots and a history with Alabama coach Nick Saban.
Their depth charts alsp are similar. They show that the two former Saban assistants aren't hesitant to use younger players.
That's evident in Dooley's second season at UT. It's just as apparent in Muschamp's first season at Florida.
If you projected Florida's starting lineup for this season after its bowl game, you wouldn't recognize some of the names that will start Saturday in The Swamp against Tennessee. The change tells you how little respect Muschamp had for the status quo.
Nick Alajajian, Ian Silberman and Matt Patchan were projected as starters on the offensive line. By the end of preseason camp, all three were backups. Jonotthan Harrison, a redshirt sophomore with only one career start, won the center job; redshirt freshman Chaz Green claimed a tackle spot; and Notre Dame transfer Dan Wenger moved in at guard.
Wenger was an unexpected plus. He's a sixth-year senior who started 19 games at Notre Dame in between multiple injuries. When he transferred, he was reunited with Charlie Weis, who signed him for Notre Dame as a head coach and is now the offensive coordinator at Florida.
The revamped line, which includes returning starters Jon Halapio and Xavier Nixon, has helped the Gators average 248.5 yards in their first two games.
Muschamp also has shaken up the secondary, which includes cornerback Marcus Roberson and safety De'Ante Saunders, who became the first true freshman duo to start a season opener for Florida. Cornerback Cody Riggs, who started three games last year as a true freshman, and sophomore safety Matt Elam are the other starters — at least until injured junior cornerback Jeremy Brown is healthy enough to play.
The lack of experience in the secondary could jeopardize the Gators' chances against a passing game as effective as UT's has been the first two games. But those young starters bode well for Florida's future.
The youth is obvious in every area of its team. The Vols are young. The Gators are even younger.
Nineteen of Florida's first- or second-team defensive players are freshmen or sophomores. Fifteen offensive players on their two-deep depth chart are freshmen or sophomores.
The Gators start only one senior on defense and four on offense. That's not much different from the Vols, who start one senior on offense and three on defense. And like the Gators, UT depends heavily on freshmen and sophomores.
So many young players have never played such a prominent role in the long-standing SEC rivalry, which helps explain why the Gators and Vols were ranked behind South Carolina and Georgia in many preseason polls.
But it also tells you that no matter how the game turns out Saturday, both teams could be significantly better next season.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 27
Vol_in_VA writes:
Floriday!
TommyJack writes:
And whatever happened to 99gator?
tulelakevol writes:
Go Vols! Man I can't wait until this game kicks off.
mdvol writes:
SHOCK and AWE in Gainesville on Saturday!
VOLS start the season 4-0! (Probably 5-0, actually!) Georgia 0-2.
VOLS_SEC_RULES writes:
Floriday?
murrayvol writes:
He may be with Randolph Scott.
SmokeyDayAfternoon writes:
Floriday? You would think they would catch that...
BigVolinCarolina writes:
"Floriday" in the headline? Seriously?!? Come on, KNS!
ProwlinAndGrowlinSmokeyDog writes:
Love your screen name!!!
Smokey says good one...
SmokeyDayAfternoon writes:
Thanks man. I heard Chris Berman on Sunday and immediately thought of it. Haha.
dvhill100 writes:
John,
You are a professional writer. Spell check, dude, spell check.
iadvol writes:
this is the start of our sec / national championship runs in 2012 and 2013..vols pour it on in 3rd quarter and win 35-17
hamneggs writes:
Lets see, a team that has out recruited you every year over the last 6 and has also won every head to head meeting during that period. A team that has won 15 of the last 20, many of which were absolute blow-outs. I advise all fans of the orange to caution their words with wisdom. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
eVOLved writes:
That's right, BigVol, it should be Florigay
SummittsCourt writes:
Floriday? Their depth charts alsp are similar. alsp?
Funny how these editors continue to screw up despite all the people pointing out their mistakes.
pj_ladyvolnMI writes:
And then second paragraph, 4th word is "alsp"? Seriously.
rootin4volz writes:
He had to have meant FloriGAY.
rootin4volz writes:
Really? It's an online legitimate news publication, not a remedial middle school English class.
kcbigorngX writes:
Thanks for the column, John.
It will be interesting to see Bray/Hunter/Rogers work on the Freshman corners.
castoff121 writes:
"Their depth charts are alsp similar" Journalism isn't what it used to be.
NashvillePreds writes:
GO VOLS!!
Beat Florida!!
Volunatic writes:
Randolph Scott?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS0efF...
Volunatic writes:
That's the effect of "downsizing".
TheRealDragonSlayer writes:
I honestly would love to see a tough, hard fought game that is decided on the last play. Both teams are pretty even, and it could go either way. I do believe that the tougher test is for the Gator secondary, but if they solve that, then the tougher test will be for our running game. If we can score on 75% of our posessions, then this game will be very very close. And with the confidence that Bray and co. are showing, I think that we have a very good chance at keeping this game close.
Weis and co. have yet to show that they can establish a strong passing game, other than dumpoffs to Rainey and Demps, even against UAB (especially in the red zone). I am confident that our defense is preparing for that. Yet another reason why I believe this game is going to be very close.
Florida has tremendous talent on the field, no doubt about that...but for the first time in several years, we are going in with the confidence that we can match up well with them. There is something to be said for confidence and state of mind.
All you trolls thinking this is going to be a runaway Florida victory, think again. This game is going to add several years to the fans of both teams.
UTengr36 writes:
Let's see, what team has the better QB and better offense? What team had trouble getting in the endzone from the redzone against UAB?
BigVolFaninSC writes:
I saw that ESPN deal with Shaw and Urban breaking down the tape. They showed one play where they said Bray did a good job standing in the pocket against Alabama to complete a pass. They didn't notice that that was actually Simms, because Bray hasn't PLAYED against Alabama yet! How could the editors not catch that? I'm not so sure they didn't do it on purpose! I hate ESPN and their bunch of media front-runners!
snakeplissken writes:
This game made it clear who's freshmen and sophomore were better and better coached. I'm already putting a "L" beside Florida for the 2012 and 2013 schedule. After that season Dooley will be fired, then we might hire a proven coach rather than one with 4 losing seasons out of the 5 he's coached.
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