KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — When Will Muschamp named Jeff Driskel his starting quarterback the Monday after Florida’s season-opening 27-14 win over Bowling Green, his reasoning for doing so seemed obvious.
The Gators’ offense was going to be predicated on running the football. Running back Mike Gillislee had a career-best performance against the Falcons, running for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
With Gillislee blossoming into a workhorse back Florida could lean on, the Gators just needed a quarterback to manage the game. Driskel had shown a tendency to do just that, avoiding risks whenever possible. Conversely, Jacoby Brissett had proven to be more of a gunslinger who would take shots down the field. Thus, it made sense that Muschamp would select Driskel to be his game manager.
On Saturday, Driskel proved he is much more than that.
In a 37-20 win against Tennessee, the sophomore completed 14 of his 20 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran the ball eight times for 81 yards.
What was more impressive than his raw numbers was the way he accumulated them in a filled-to-capacity Neyland Stadium. His 23-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Reed in the third quarter that gave the Gators a 27-20 lead was one of multiple instances in which Driskel stood strong in the pocket, stepped up, completed a pass and took a hit.
When the pocket wasn’t there, he used his legs to turn nothing into something, rather than running out of bounds for a loss, as he did against Texas A&M on multiple occasions.
A perfect example of Driskel’s progress in those scrambling situations came late in the second quarter with the Gators trailing, 14-7. On a first-and-15 play from the Volunteers’ 26-yard line, Driskel was immediately pressured up the middle but avoided a sack by scrambling to his right. As he neared the sideline, he threw a perfectly placed ball to wide receiver Solomon Patton 17 yards downfield for a first down.
Gillislee was effective again, rushing for 115 yards on just 18 carries despite battling a groin strain he suffered against Texas A&M last week. While the injury didn’t seem to affect him against Tennessee, the fact that it occurred in the first place shows that he is unlikely to stay healthy if the team leans on him as heavily as they did in the first two weeks.
Backups Mack Brown and Matt Jones haven’t proven they can compliment Gillislee on the ground, so the passing game will have to take the burden off of Gillislee from time to time. Driskel proved against the Volunteers he was capable of doing that.
“There’s nothing he does that makes me wonder, ‘I didn’t realize he could do that,’” Muschamp said of Driskel after the game.
If Muschamp has so much confidence in Driskel that the performance against Tennessee wasn’t surprising, then he shouldn’t hesitate to ask Driskel to put the team on his back at any point the rest of the season.
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel (6) attempts a pass over the Tenneesee defense during a 37-20 victory against Tennessee on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
