Reply-To: "gatornews+owners@googlegroups.com" <gatornews+owners@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 at 8:16 AM
To: GatorNews <gatornews@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Del Rio ready to transfer practice success to live games
Del Rio ready to transfer practice success to live games
Florida quarterback Luke Del Rio will start Saturday's game against UMass. (Matt Stamey/The Gainesville Sun)
Published: Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 3:29 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 3:29 p.m.
He has done everything he's needed to do to become Florida's starting quarterback.
He's efficiently executed Jim McElwain's offense and brought the downfield passing game back into play. He's made quick, decisive and accurate decisions. He's taken care of the football. He's led his teammates. He's excited the fan base.
Now, can Luke Del Rio take all that good, positive stuff and transfer it from the practice field to Florida Field?
That is THE question surrounding the Gators heading into Saturday night's opener against UMass.
His coaches and teammates are expressing a lot of confidence in their new quarterback. But there is an element of the unknown with Del Rio because he's never started a college game and hasn't taken a snap in one in more than 20 months.
And, yet, there are some pretty high expectations for him and by him.
"Something Nuss (offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier) and I talk about quite a bit is we kind of forget that this is his first go round," UF coach Jim McElwain said. "It's almost like we expect him to do things a little bit like a veteran in how he approaches it and the decisions we make, and yet we've got to be conscious of the fact that, I don't care who you are, this is the first time being out there and being the leader of the Florida Gators.
"I think the big thing for him is, as I constantly will tell him, first off, what color jerseys we're going to be wearing that day and it would be a pretty good idea to throw it to those colored jerseys.
"And then the second thing is take what the defense gives you and eventually they'll give you the game. Remembering some of those things when you go in as an early starter is huge."
Del Rio seems poised, focused and confident heading into his first start, and does not appear to be putting a whole lot of pressure on himself.
"Obviously everybody's excited," he said. "It's the first game. Having sat last year, I'm definitely excited. I'm focusing on the game plan the coaches are putting together and looking forward to executing it.
"I'm really just excited for the opportunity. I'm not really focused on how I'm going to feel or what it's going to be like. I'm just going to take that as it comes. Really looking forward to playing football with my teammates. That's kind of the biggest thing I'm looking forward to."
Del Rio will be taking his first snaps in an actual game since coming off the bench in three games at Oregon State during the 2014 season.
Del Rio transferred to Florida last summer and had to sit out last season per NCAA transfer rules. He spent last summer and fall soaking up all the intricacies and nuances of McElwain's offense.
He became very efficient running it. At the same time, he started growing into a leader on the practice field and in workouts. The buzz late last summer was that if Del Rio had been eligible, he would have been UF's starting quarterback in 2015.
It didn't happen then, but it is now.
The players say they're ready for Del Rio to lead them.
"Since the summer, Luke's been taking charge, trying to get everybody on the right track," wide receiver Brandon Powell said. "We ended off bad last year, so his whole mindset this summer was to go get better. He was in all of our extra work sessions in the summer. This whole camp, he's just been taking charge and everybody has been rallying around him trying to get better and get ready for the season."
The defensive players apparently have also bought in.
"He's a natural leader and he's consistent," sophomore defensive end/tackle Cece Jefferson said. "There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't come out fired up and getting his side of the ball ready. It's contagious. Some days he will come out fired up and the defense won't come out fired up. He'll make a good play and start talking crap to us and get the defense fired up. His leadership and aggressive instinct are contagious."
Now it's time to see if Del Rio can take all the positive qualities he's shown on the practice field and apply them in an actual game.
McElwain has tried to temper the expectations.
"Let's not forget the fact this is his first start," McElwain said. "There are going to be some hiccups. And, yet, that's not an excuse. I don't expect that from him. But at the same time, it's going to be different. It's going to be different than the spring game and the scrimmages — the situational things we try to do to make it game like. But there's nothing like the game itself. I'll be interested to see how he handles it."
Contact Robbie Andreu at 352-374-5022 or robbie.andreu@gvillesun.com. Also check out Andreu's blog at Gatorsports.com.
Sent From Shane's iPhone
--
GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY!
1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions |
Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007)
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorNews" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gatornews+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment