The kickoff to the 2012 season is only three days away, but coach Will Muschamp is still mum on the identity of Florida’s starting quarterback.
Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel will each play a quarter on Saturday, although Muschamp hasn’t announced who will take the season’s first snap.
“I have not made that decision at this time,” Muschamp said Wednesday. “Both guys deserve the right to start, deserve the right to play.”
Muschamp said that Wednesday’s and today’s practices would be a part of the evaluation process. Rather than make the decision just prior to kickoff, Muschamp plans to give the starter enough notice to mentally prepare.
“We’ll give them some time,” Muschamp said. “We’re going to give them both a quarter to see how we sort this thing out, and we’ll move from there.”
Position switches: Coaches are evaluating freshman Jafar Mann at guard, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said on Monday.
Mann came to UF as a three-star defensive tackle, but Florida’s coaches saw potential for him to play both sides of the ball, as he did in high school.
“We wanted to put him over at offensive line for a couple weeks and get the evaluation there,” Quinn said. “We took our time looking at him on defense. We’re going to do the same thing on offense. After this week or next, we’ll make a final determination.”
Quinn said the Gators are also flirting with the idea of using defensive back Jabari Gorman on both offense and defense. Gorman is listed as the second-string free safety on UF’s depth chart. He also played wideout in high school.
Valdez Showers, the second-string strong safety, impressed coaches in his time at running back on the scout team, but Quinn “fought for him to stay at safety.”
“He’s really settled in at safety,” Quinn said. “We are counting on him to do that.”
Quinn said the roster was otherwise settled and no further positional switches are planned barring injury situations.
Pittman progressing: In spring, football was easier for Latroy Pittman.
Sure, the freshman had to learn a new playbook for a new team, but the coaches kept it simple.
As the calendar turned to fall, the coaches began to ask more of him, and, like most freshmen, he hit a wall.
“At the end of training camp, he might have hit that a little bit,” Muschamp said. “He’s come back through it, and we’ve narrowed some things down as we continue to game plan through this week.”
Pittman was a four-star prospect who enrolled early and shined in Florida’s spring game, hauling in catches of 8 and 43 yards. Given Florida’s struggles at the wide receiver position in 2011, the team hopes Pittman can provide a boost.
“[We’re] excited about his progress,” Muschamp said.
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
