While Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps remained the focal point of the offense against Kentucky, the Gators did something they had not done all season: go vertical.
After stalling on the first two drives of the game, the Gators’ offense took over in Wildcats territory midway through the first quarter thanks to a fumble by UK running back Josh Clemons. Quarterback John Brantley found tight end Gerald Christian with a perfectly thrown ball on the next play, hooking up for a 45-yard touchdown and the first points of the game.
“To have a fumble recovery and flip the field real quick there with the vertical pass to Gerald, I was very pleased with that,” Florida coach Will Muschamp said Saturday.
Much has been made about the Gators’ downfield passing attack this season, and the touchdown to Christian was the quick-strike, over-the-top ball critics have been longing to see from Brantley.
Coming into Saturday’s game, only 17 of Brantley’s 47 completions had been to wide receivers, and he completed just one pass longer than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage against Tennessee.
But the offense came out firing Saturday, as Brantley went deep on the game’s first play to wide receiver Deonte Thompson, who was streaking down the left sideline. The pass was incomplete, but it set the tone for an evening in which Brantley looked downfield more often than not.
Demps and Rainey entered the game as the team’s leading receivers, but Brantley completed just one pass to a running back in the first half, and that was a 2-yarder to Demps. Brantley finished 8 of 14 for 115 yards and one touchdown, deceiving numbers considering the running game again led the offense, and he didn’t play much of the second half.
Brantley’s eyes were downfield all game, and just two of his passes went for less than 10 yards — something he will likely be forced to do again this Saturday when Alabama and its vaunted defense comes to The Swamp.
“You have to be multiple when you play Alabama, you can’t be one-dimensional with what you do,” Muschamp said Monday.
Muschamp said he is confident in Brantley and the wide receiving corps should the offense need to lean on the passing attack against the Crimson Tide and in the future. He said the doubt resonates from much of Florida’s offense coming on the ground, a byproduct of holding large leads at halftime in each of the first four games.
“John is going to be able to throw the football,” Muschamp said. “I’m very pleased with his progress, what we’ve done in the throwing game and what we’ve asked our football team to do on tape so far on Saturday. What I see in practice is a very productive passing attack.”
Brantley said he’s still a bit sore from taking two hard hits against Kentucky, but he said he will be fine for Saturday’s game and has “all the trust in the world” in his receivers.
“Any time we get to throw the ball downfield, we will,” he said.
“We’re just going to take what the defense gives us and try to protect up front.”
Contact Matt Watts at mwatts@alligator.org.
After Omar Hunter recovered a fumble midway through the first quarter, Florida quarterback John Brantley hit tight end Gerald Christian on a 45-yard touchdown pass for the Gators’ first points of the game.
