Steve Addazio likes his options.
The Florida offensive coordinator believes he has a lot of tools to work with this season when devising his group’s approach from week to week.
“It’s hard for me to define the term spread (offense) anymore,” Addazio said. “We have taken that thing and twisted it and turned it a lot of different ways.”
Chris Rainey, who played as a running back in his first two seasons at Florida, made the move to the wide receiver position in the offseason. He will play a similar role to the one Percy Harvin, and more recently, Brandon James occupied.
Rainey and redshirt freshman Andre Debose will be vital in creating the mismatches the Gators’ spread offense depends on.
“Rainey brings that whole other dimension in here, as does Debose,” Addazio said. “We have those hybrid guys and we have an interesting dynamic in there to cause some stress.”
The versatility of these two players gives Addazio the freedom to use a two-back attack, which he mentioned as a possibility Friday. Florida used this strategy against Kentucky last season to amass 362 rushing yards.
UF is already expected to go three deep at the running back position with Jeff Demps, Emmanuel Moody and Mike Gillislee, who Addazio praised.
“Gillislee is a really, really talented tailback,” he said. “He’s got a great combination of speed, size and power.”
The luxury of having three quality running backs along with Rainey and Debose will lead to various exotic formations to help create space for these playmakers.
GATORS BEGIN SEASON AT NO. 3 IN COACHES POLL: Despite losing nine players to the 2010 NFL Draft – including first-round picks Joe Haden, Maurkice Pouncey and Tim Tebow – the expectations are still high for the Gators.
Florida came in at No. 3 in the USA Today Coaches Poll released Friday. It was one of six Southeastern Conference schools to make the top 25.
No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Ohio State are the only teams ahead of UF.
