Jeff Driskel took to Florida Field during Saturday’s Orange and Blue Debut for the first time since suffering a season-ending fractured fibula against Tennessee on Sept. 21, 2013.
Even though it was the last time he had a chance to play at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the redshirt junior said the memory of the injury wasn’t on his mind.
“It was nice to get back out there with the guys, but I wasn’t out there thinking about any injury or anything like that,” Driskel said. “It definitely was nice to get out there in front of a bunch of fans and compete with the guys.”
Driskel’s first drive was a three-and-out, overthrowing wide receiver Quinton Dunbar on a deep ball and receiver Latroy Pittman on the right sideline.
On his second drive, he looked much more composed. His first completion of the day came on a 9-yard, play-action pass to Dunbar. He overthrew Dunbar on third down on the right sideline, which would have resulted in a touchdown as Dunbar had cornerback Jalen Tabor beat on the coverage.
On the same drive, Driskel hit Pittman on a screen pass, and the junior wideout bounced off a poor tackle by safety Keanu Neal to turn a short pass into a 15-yard gain.
With 2:56 to go in the first quarter, Driskel rushed for a total of 11 yards — he was wearing a non-contact jersey, so referees decided where he was “tackled” — and completed a 17-yard pass up the middle to Ahmad Fulwood.
Driskel’s first drive of the second quarter, an impressive 10-play, 65-yard scoring drive, ended with the fourth-year quarterback converting on a third down and hitting Demarcus Robinson on a crossing route. Robinson ran virtually untouched for a 31-yard touchdown.
Offensive coordinator Kurt Roper’s offense doesn’t ask Driskel to do much — just enough to make plays to get the offense up field — even if that means 5 yards at a time.
Driskel marched the offense into the red zone quickly on his next drive. With just 1:25 to go in the first half, he made consecutive completions to Fulwood and Dunbar to reach midfield and then rushed 14 yards on second and 6 to get inside Orange’s 32, but the Blue team had to settle for an Austin Hardin 24-yard field goal to put them ahead 23-13 at halftime.
On his last drive, he drove down to Orange’s six and went 6 of 10 for 31 yards. But he couldn’t connect with receiver Chris Thompson on a fade route in the end zone on fourth down.
Driskel finished Saturday 19 of 33 for 171 yards and no interceptions. With Will Muschamp as the coach, a run-first offense is the norm.
But Driskel looks significantly more comfortable on the run from the shotgun as opposed to under center. Making plays with his feet will be a key for 2014, and when he is asked to throw, it usually won’t be a deep ball.
“He’s a big kid,” Fulwood said. “Not many [defensive backs] that are in the [Southeastern Conference] want to be in front of that. He’s smart; he knows when to get down. He just knows what to do.”
Driskel still has all summer and fall camp to work one-on-one with his receivers and get timing and chemistry. For his first true game since being injured roughly seven months ago, Driskel did just fine.
“You can’t go back into fall camp without being in rhythm,” Driskel said. “So we’re going to have to do that, but we’re used to that. We’ve done that the past few summers. It’s nothing new to us, and we’re looking forward to it.”
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Jeff Driskel (6) signals down the field as he scrambles during Florida’s Orange and Blue Debut on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Driskel suffered a fractured fibula against Tennessee on Sept. 21, 2013.
