Five Florida Gators Who Could Benefit From Strong Fall Camp
The Florida Gators kicked off their 2020 fall training camp on Monday, after what has been one of the craziest and most unique offseasons in college football history amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Whether the SEC will make it to its scheduled season opener on September 26th remains to be seen, but programs are full steam ahead in preparation for their first game. Spring football was canceled just as teams began or were set to begin practicing, making fall practices more vital than ever for players to compete for roles and coaching staff to install their schemes and concepts.
With that being said, which Florida Gators players could benefit the most from a strong fall camp, especially after losing out on the spring? We're particularly looking for veteran players in a position to receive significant snaps for the first time in their careers or young prospects who could demand playing time.
RB Malik Davis
His career got off to an electric start with the Gators, as Davis averaged 6.8 yards per touch across 86 plays from scrimmage as a freshman before suffering a season-ending knee injury. The next season, Davis saw action in all of two games before breaking his foot, and in 2019, he fell out of favor to Lamical Perine and Dameon Pierce.
Pierce is set to take on the team's starting role as Perine is now in the NFL, with Miami transfer and former five-star Lorenzo Lingard looking to receive playing time as well.
That leaves Davis in a tricky spot entering his fourth season as a Gator. Standing third on the depth chart in 2019, Davis struggled with ball security and saw only 40 total touches, averaging 2.5 yards per rush across 34 carries. As Florida's run game is in need of improvement after ranking 107th nationally in rushing offense a year ago, a revamped Davis could give the Gators a big boost offensively and allow the team to diversify its run game.
QB Emory Jones
While redshirt senior Kyle Trask is Florida's projected starting quarterback, Jones' third offseason in the program was set to be a big one.
Head coach Dan Mullen's first quarterback signee as Florida's head coach, Jones earned snaps as a freshman without burning his redshirt and was viewed as the heir to former Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks. When Franks dislocated his ankle, effectively ending his Gators career last season, Trask took over and shined, leaving Jones in somewhat increased rotational role and likely out of the starting gig entering year three.
Jones finished his 2019 season completing 65.8% of his 38 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns, rushing for an additional 256 yards and four scores. After missing spring camp, both Trask and Jones have rust to shake off, and should Jones come out firing from start-to-finish, Mullen could be left with no choice other than to increase Jones' snap-count dramatically.
WR Rick Wells
Following the 2019 season, four Gators wide receivers took their talents to the NFL.
Weeks prior to the 2020 season, another three Gators receivers elected to hold out of Florida's fall training camp, all three of which projected starters this season in Trevon Grimes, Jacob Copeland, and Kadarius Toney.
Wells has never had a better opportunity at Florida to seize snaps. The fifth-year senior has rarely produced for the Gators, given some off-field trouble early in his career and loads of talent at the position ahead of him as of late.
Three career receptions for 33 yards is nothing for the Gators to hang their hat on as the future of the wide receiver position is clouded by uncertainty, but four years in the system is. Wells offers more experience in the system than the remainder of the room - Trent Whittemore, Ja'Markis Weston, Xzavier Henderson, and Ja'Quavion Fraziars - combined.
CB/S Trey Dean III
Dean has had an up-and-down first two years at Florida, leaving him in position for a bounce-back season in 2019. Multiple times throughout the offseason, we've heard that Dean has looked impressive both on the field and in the strength and conditioning program as he transitions from the STAR nickel cornerback position he held in 2019 back outside to cornerback, along with some time at safety.
As a true freshman, Dean started nine games at cornerback and played well, intercepting a pass and defending a total of five. However, Dean didn't show enough agility to make an impact at STAR in 2019, leaving the team looking to utilize his length and straight-line speed a bit deeper moving forward.
Florida is seemingly set at cornerback with Marco Wilson and Kaiir Elam set to start, but will surely rotate Dean in subpackages when the starters need a breather. Following inconsistency at the safety position a year ago as well, Dean's development on the backend could be a huge plus in terms of depth and potential playmakers.
S Rashad Torrence II
While he is a true freshman, Torrence plays at a thin position that was one of the biggest question marks on the roster throughout the 2020 season. On top of that, Torrence enrolled in January, which doesn't mean as much as it normally would as college football went without spring practice amidst the coronavirus pandemic, however, he has been in the program and learning the system for eight months now.
In his high school tape, Torrence displayed physicality in run support, great processing and instincts in coverage, and seemingly always knew where to be on the field to make a play. He's not an elite-caliber athlete and may not have a super high athletic ceiling, but his play speed is at least serviceable and his other traits suggest he can play pretty early in his college career.
In which case, keep an eye out for Torrence in the approaching season, should he have a strong camp.
