Gator Football's Max Garcia and Mike McNeely Earn SEC Weekly Honors
Monday, November 3, 2014 | Football
University of Florida redshirt seniors Max Garcia and Michael McNeely earned the Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman and Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors respectively for their performance in the Gators' dominant 38-20 upset victory over East Division rival No. 9 Georgia, the league office announced Monday.
Garcia collected his second SEC Player of the Week accolade this season for his crucial role in leading an offensive line that tallied 445 total offensive yards and 19 first downs against the Bulldogs. The Gators rushed for 418 yards, which is second best in Florida history versus an SEC foe and fifth overall, as well as the second most-ever allowed by Georgia and the most allowed by the Bulldogs in the Florida-Georgia series in records dating back to 1965. Florida tallied the most rushing yards in a game on Saturday since recording 466 rushing yards against New Mexico in 1989 and set a record total rushing yards in a game under head coach Will Muschamp. Upon video review of the game, Garcia graded out by Florida coaches at 96% assignment, 90% technique, and 92% effort across 66 plays. Additionally, he forced five knock-downs.
McNeely scored Florida's first touchdown of the game with a 21-yard carry on a fake field goal to swing momentum in Florida's favor and lift the Gators to victory over the Bulldogs. The Clearwater, Florida, native helped execute Florida's first successful fake field goal since September 8, 2012 at Texas A&M.
Next up, the Gators travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to take on Vanderbilt (3-6, 0-5 SEC) this Saturday, November 8, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
