Muschamp says Demps at top speed for Georgia, plus other tidbits from SEC teleconference
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 | Football, Cross Country, Scott Carter
Senior quarterback John Brantley isn't the only player the Gators are looking forward to having back on the field Saturday against Georgia.
Senior running back Jeff Demps played sparingly at LSU and missed the Auburn game due to a foot/ankle injury. However, Gators coach Will Muschamp expects Demps to be ready to run Saturday against the Bulldogs.
“Jeff has practiced well,'' Muschamp said Wednesday morning. “We feel like he – the off-week obviously helped – we feel like he's at top speed.''
Muschamp just completed his weekly SEC media teleconference with reporters. Here are some other topics he discussed:
--Brantley appears on pace to make his return on Saturday. He hasn't played since Oct. 1 against Alabama.
“John Brantley has continued to progress pretty well throughout the week and I expect him obviously to play on Saturday unless something shocking comes up through the latter part of the week,'' Muschamp said. “He's throwing it well there in practice. We'll progress through today and Thursday and then on our walk-through on Friday to see how he continues to improve. When he was in the game, it's a psychological advantage for our football team.''
--Muschamp had no interest in discussing the decisions of Gerald Christian and Robert Clark to transfer.
“The discussions are private,'' Muschamp said. “Let's talk about the players that are on our football team right now. Those two young men aren't a part of our team anymore.''
--This is Muschamp's first Florida-Georgia game as a head coach. He played in the game when he was in college at Georgia, so he understands the hype around the game between the two rivals.
How is he approaching the game as a head coach for the first time?
“My approach, as I've said before, is that every game is important,'' Muschamp said. “Certainly, I don't think I've got to stand in the team meeting room and explain to them how important this rivalry is to the University of Florida and to our players and to understand what's at stake to go to Atlanta for us. We need to win the game. They understand that and they see all that and what's at stake. I don't really spend a lot of time talking about that. I talk about what we need to do to execute in the game and to win the game offensively, defensively and special teams. That's sort of my motivation.
“I think that there is no question that there is a little more juice involved in the game as far as a game like this one. This is one of the great rivalries in all of sports.''
--Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray is considered one of the SEC's top young quarterbacks. The sophomore from Tampa leads the conference with 16 touchdown passes and will provide a difficult challenge for the Gators' defense.
“I think he throws the ball very well. He is completing over 60 percent of his passes and you don't really look at their passing game as an underneath passing game,'' Muschamp said. “They've got a lot of vertical throws. When you look at a vertical passing game and a guy is completing 60 percent, that's No. 1. No. 2 is mobility. He runs well and I think he's got a great presence in the pocket as far as feeling rushes and getting away from rushes. Those are the things to me that jump out at you.''
--Muschamp said cornerback Jeremy Brown remains the only player unavailable on Saturday because of an injury. Brown has not played this season after suffering a knee injury during fall camp.
--The Gators enter the Georgia game at 4-3, having lost three consecutive games following a 4-0 start. Asked how he is balancing the outside expectations against the reality of losing his starting quarterback during the toughest stretch of the season, Muschamp had this to say:
“I don't really worry about expectations outside of this building. Our expectation is to go to Atlanta and we still have that opportunity out there in front of us. Obviously it's a little bit out of our control at this point,'' he said. “Regardless of the situations with youth, injuries – and all of those things are excuses in my opinion – it's our job to go out and coach well and play well and win and do it the right way. That's something we've done four times and we haven't done three times, so we need to do a better job of coaching and get our guys in better situations to be successful regardless of the external circumstances.''
