Promising signs for the Gators in Orange and Blue Debut
Blue dominated Orange 44-6
46,000 fans traveled to The Swamp on April 9 to see what would become of the defending SEC East Champions in the coming fall.
The Orange and Blue Debut, taking place on a Friday night for the first time, gave fans the first opportunity to see the quarterback battle in action, catch their first glimpse at twelve early enrollees, and assess the maturing offensive line of the Florida Gators.
Spring in Gainesville means a full-on quarterback battle. Since Will Grier’s suspension in November and eventual transfer to West Virginia, Florida fans have been anxious to see who the next starting play caller will be. After the announcement of Treon Harris moving to WR and then being suspended and not with the team since January, the quarterback position was officially up for grabs.
The rumored order in practice seemed to be Redshirt sophomore transfer Luke Del Rio, early enrollee Feleipe Franks, Redshirt senior transfer Austin Appleby, and Kyle Trask in that order.
Not much to anyone’s surprise, Luke Del Rio seemed to be the front runner on Friday night, throwing for two touchdown passes. Del Rio went 10 of 11 for 176 yards.
No quarterback had a particularly explosive night. However, each seemed much more confident and collected than Florida fans have seen lately. Appleby performed better than expected during the O&B Debut. Seeming to fly more under the radar in spring practices to the media, he simply made fewer mistakes than Franks.
Franks threw three interceptions, likely due to a mixture of inexperience and stellar Florida defense. However, the potential is still very much there.
JuCo transfer kicker Eddy Pineiro had an overall impressive night that left fans feeling comfortable about extra points again. Pineiro hit several impressive kicks, including a 56-yarder, and missed only two. Hearing the student section chant “Eddy! Eddy! Eddy!” was refreshing after a season of being more stressed out about making a field goal than going for the play on fourth down.
RB Mark Thompson seemed to fit right into the running back rotation with Jordan Scarlett and Jordan Cronkrite after Kelvin Taylor declared for the NFL Draft after the 2015 season. Thompson rushed for 46 yards, one touchdown, and one fumble. He gained the most yardage of any RB, and played like he could be capable of wreaking havoc on several SEC defenses. The developing offensive line seemed to give RBs more time than they have had in the past to make plays.
The night ended in a spectacular orange and blue fireworks show right over the scoreboards of the Swamp. If the dazzling finale was any indication of the season to come, this team could have some explosive chemistry to overpower any team in their path this fall. Now we’ll just have to wait till September.