Florida coach Will Muschamp finally made a decision as to who will be the starting quarterback.
It’s Jeff Driskel who gets the job … at least for now. Driskel didn’t exactly get a long-term endorsement from his coach, but the sophomore quarterback will take it.
“It’s been a lifelong dream,’’ Driskel said. “I’m just excited to really be able to take command of the offense. He just wants me to go out there and play and not worry about me looking over my shoulder. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
Driskel was 10-of-16 for 114 yards and a touchdown against Bowling Green. Jacoby Brissett, who was in a battle with Driskel in the spring and all through fall camp, was 3-for-5 for 31 yards in the opener.
“I just feel like Jeff, with his legs, gives us some different variables in our offense than can help us as we move forward,’’ Muschamp said. “It will be Jeff’s game to play. I told Jeff, ‘I don’t want you looking over your shoulder but you need to play well.’ We certainly know Jacoby is capable of playing very well for us.”
The decision comes just in time to help Driskel get ready for Texas A&M and its famous “12th Man” student body that will be sky-high for the Aggies first SEC game. The quarterback swapping was not overly successful in the opener but at least now the offense knows there will be one leader Saturday.
But then, Muschamp did tell his starting quarterback “you need to play well.” That implies or else and don’t think that it went unnoticed by Driskel.
“It’s no different than it was before,” Muschamp said. “We need to play well at the position, and we need to play well offensively, need to play better defensively, need to play much better on special teams. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we can win with both guys but I feel like we needed to move forward with naming one guy and we’ll go that way.”
Muschamp was not happy with several aspects of the 27-14 win over Bowling Green.
“Special teams; very sloppy. Very disappointed, as good as we’ve been on teams, as much time as we spend on special teams around here, the effort needs to get better and the execution needs to get better, and it will,” Muschamp said.
One special team’s play that did please the Florida coach was Caleb Sturgis’ sixth field goal of his career from beyond 50 yards. He was 2 of 3 on field goals, hitting from 34 and 51 yards but missed a 27-yarder that hit the left upright.
Muschamp also elaborated on the injury front.
“Injury-wise, Drew Ferris will be out with a broken clavicle, broke his collarbone, and got rolled up on. Kyle Crofoot will assume the snapping duties for him,” Muschamp said, “I don’t think we’ll get Matt Patchan back this week, I’m hoping for Tennessee, but I’m not sure about that either.”
Muschamp knows what it is like playing at Kyle Field in College Station, having coached there during his three-year stint as the defensive coordinator at Texas.
“It’s an SEC-like atmosphere; it’s going to be very similar to a lot of stadiums that we walk into,” he said. “We’ve got some guys who are traveling for the first time and are playing in that atmosphere for the first time, so again I think all of our guys can help with that as well as myself.”
Muschamp has a lot of respect for the Aggies.
“They are an up-tempo offense and they will get as many snaps as they can get. They will give you the illusion of a lot of throwing but they’re going to run the football,” he said. “Johnny Manziel they have named as the starting QB from Kerrville, Texas, was a really good athlete, outstanding quarterback for their high school there. He’s a guy that’s got legs, throws it well.
“Ryan Swope is an outstanding receiver for them; he’s played well for them throughout his four years. Four or five offensive lineman are back from last year, which they did an outstanding job. Christine Michael is a running back from Beaumont that hurt his knee last year and is coming back from that and is another outstanding back.”
It will be a historic day as Texas A&M comes to the SEC. The big question Florida fans are wondering is will it be a historic days for Jeff Driskel?