Florida QB John Brantley had a 31-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Reed on 4th-and-19 vs. Georgia. (Photo by Kim Klement, US Presswire)
Florida quarterback John Brantley said he doesn’t plan on being limited this week, but offensive coordinator Charlie Weis isn’t revealing how he’ll use the senior. Weis said Tuesday that Brantley’s mobility has improved since returning last week for the game vs. Georgia.
Brantley played Saturday’s game in the shotgun as his sprained ankle limited his ability to turn to hand off the ball. Weis said the coaches would wait to see how Brantley progresses through the week before determining how much he’ll play under center.
“He can get under center, and he’s also politicking for me to be under center more,” Weis said. “His mobility is better this week than it was last week. But I’m not going to come in here on Tuesday and sit there and say, ‘Hey, by the way, John’s not moving very well, so we’re going to we’re going to shotgun snap the whole game.’”
Kicking game determined fourth-down call
With starting kicker Caleb Sturgis out of the game vs. Georgia, Florida opted to go for it on 4th-and-19 at the Georgia 31-yard line. The Gators scored a touchdown on Brantley’s pass to Jordan Reed and finished the game converting 50 percent (1-2) of its fourth-down attempts.
“Because we were uncertain in the kicking situation we had a yardage where between this yardage and this yardage we would go for it regardless of what the down and distance,” Weis said. “You didn’t expect it to be third and a million and the time right there. But one of the things tend to do some, which is a little unusual, is in long yardage situations they blitz more than some teams do, try to trigger you into a sight adjust and then they go make the play and play’s over. But in this case what they did is they brought a will weak safety blitz, and John stepped up and the weak safety could never get there from the outside, and Jordan was running wide open down the middle of the field.”
Gators banged up
Weis said left tackle Xavier Nixon played hurt during the game, but pointed out that many players are banged up at this point in the year.
“You get to your eighth game of the year, no one’s completely healthy,” Weis said. “Some people have sore ankles. Some people have sore knees. Some people have sore shoulders.
“You know, I have sore eyes because I’ve been watching the stuff I’ve been putting out there,” he quipped.
“He can get under center, and he’s also politicking for me to be under center more. But the question comes — will we use both under center, not under center? Yes. The question comes is how effective can you be when you’re doing it. You saw when I put Jacoby in for that one play that we were flippin’ it from our own 1-yard line. He was going to take the plays underneath center in the game. That’s what we were going to do in that game. John wasn’t going to take a play underneath center. Now, is he capable of going ahead and doing it? Yes he is. But we’ll just have to wait and see how the week goes. His mobility is better this week than it was last week. But I’m not going to come in here on Tuesday and sit there and say, ‘Hey, by the way, John’s not moving very well, so we’re going to we’re going to shotgun snap the whole game.’ “