As seniors say goodbye to The Swamp, Emory Jones’ performance shows Dan Mullen just getting started
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On a college football Saturday that saw the likes of The Citadel tied with mighty Alabama at halftime in Tuscaloosa, there would be no similar drama in Gainesville.
Florida’s contest with Idaho was all but over after Chauncey Gardner-Johnson intercepted a Mason Petrino pass and took it to the house for six points on the game’s first play from scrimmage.
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Gardner-Johnson’s play electrified the Gators’ sideline and quickly put to bed any ideas Idaho may have had about pulling a big upset.
The Gators led 28-0 by the end of the first quarter and by the time the curtains closed on Florida’s home schedule, a senior class of Gators that has experienced most everything a player can during their four and five years on campus exited stage left with a 63-10 win.
It’s worth spending a few paragraphs on the Florida seniors, and in truth, juniors like Gardner-Johnson and Jachai Polite, who likely also played their final game in The Swamp on Saturday.
Martez Ivey and Cece Jefferson were the centerpieces of Jim McElwain’s transition class, the 5-star anchors that kept a small class from falling off the recruiting rankings cliff. They remain the only two consensus 5-stars on Florida’s roster, stark reminders of the prior coaching staff’s recruiting failures and respected leaders.
Ivey started his 43rd game Saturday and will leave having played his finest season as a Gator. He’s keyed a Florida line that has helped Florida re-establish itself as a physical football team at the line of scrimmage with a dominant running game. More vitally, as a more-vocal leader, he’s helped an offensive line that was the worst in the SEC at protecting the quarterback a year ago (37 sacks) become one of the SEC’s best in pass protection. The Gators have allowed only 13 sacks this year, good enough to rank in the top-20 nationally and second in the SEC behind Alabama.
Cece Jefferson exits playing the best football of his career.
The numbers weren’t dominant this season (17 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 6 quarterback pressures and no sacks). But Jefferson, who commanded double-teams through most of Florida’s five-game win streak in September and October, should be proud of what he put on film, and an NFL executive told me this week that he “would be astonished” if Jefferson isn’t selected in the first four rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft, assuming he shows well at the combine.
Ivey and Jefferson each had their moments. Each saw glimpses of what Florida football can be. Both saw action in multiple SEC Championship games as young Gators. They won 10 games as freshmen, beat Georgia twice, and next week will get the chance to end Florida’s program-long five-game losing streak to rival Florida State.
But along with the rest of the senior class that Florida honored Saturday, they’ve also seen what happens when a culture becomes toxic and broken and a roster is incomplete.
Partly because Florida remained inept on offense, but mostly because the McElwain staff didn’t invest the time in recruiting needed to line the Florida roster with more Iveys and Jeffersons, the Gators bottomed out a year ago at 4-7. Leading a foundation-building renaissance that may end in the program’s first New Year’s Six bowl bid may be the proudest and most important part of this senior class’ legacy. For that reason, Saturday’s romp in The Swamp was well-deserved.
Saturday also provided an encouraging glimpse of Florida football’s future.
Determined to work on the downfield passing game, Florida’s star running backs Jordan Scarlett (zero rushes) and Lamical Perine (6 carries, 34 yards) hardly played. Instead, the Gators threw more than 30 passes Saturday, with Feleipe Franks sharp on intermediate passes, like this strike to Kyle Pitts for a score.
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Franks would finish with 274 yards passing and 3 touchdowns before giving way to freshman Emory Jones late in the first half.
Jones, the highly-coveted dual-threat QB that Mullen flipped from Ohio State upon his arrival in Gainesville, promptly entered the game and showed just how much he’s developed from the somewhat overwhelmed, wire-framed early enrollee fans saw this spring.
Jones was terrific Saturday, leading a 76-yard touchdown drive on his first possession that included a great play with his legs and an absolute dart to Trevon Grimes before Josh Hammond did the lunch pail work on a short swing pass touchdown.
The first full drive of @eXjones6’ career with the #Gators was a rousing success. pic.twitter.com/vyeeIqkoNq
— InAllKindsOfWeather.com (@AllKindsWeather) November 17, 2018
Jones has clearly benefitted from early enrollment and the new redshirt rule, which has allowed him to play — and show improvement — in three games this season, including his two-plus quarters of work Saturday. Jones can only play in one of Florida’s final two games to avoid burning a redshirt, but given what he showed Saturday, he certainly appears ready to push Feleipe Franks in the spring.
Jones already throws a more-accurate deep ball, and he showed poise and comfort in the pocket, refusing to force things, sticking with progressions and, as Mullen puts it, “being a willing runner” when the offense demanded it. His development appears to be coming along beautifully, and unlike Feleipe Franks, who was rushed into duty too soon by Doug Nussmeier and Jim McElwain, Jones hasn’t been forced to do too much too soon.
Franks has shown glimpses this season, and to his credit, is vastly improved from the unfair-to-him disaster that was his freshman year. But competition breeds excellence and Florida appears poised for a healthy duel between capable quarterbacks in the spring — a duel that could and should include three names assuming Kyle Trask recovers from the unfortunate foot injury that may have cost him the chance to play meaningful football against South Carolina earlier this month.
With 4-star Virginia quarterback Jalon Jones also expected on campus next year, Florida’s quarterback room should be highly-competitive and talented, a far cry from the collection of not-quite-ready freshman and former walk-ons that filled the room at the end of the McElwain era.
Culture matters. Personnel matters. Coaching matters. Filling The Swamp and again making it a wall of sound matters. Seniors matter.
These were the lessons of Florida’s first season in The Swamp under Dan Mullen. An immensely important rivalry game against Florida State remains. But Saturday was a way to thank the senior leadership for helping flip the culture and, more critically, get a glimpse into a future Florida fans should consider bright.
Neil Blackmon covers SEC football and basketball for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
