Gators Secondary Seeks to Live up to Hype
Thursday, September 17, 2015 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Keanu Neal woke up Sunday morning still disturbed at the numbers East Carolina quarterback Blake Kemp, in only his second career start, put up against the Gators the night before.
And Neal didn't even play.
“It killed me inside not being able to help,'' said Neal, a junior safety who has missed the first two games due to a leg injury.
Kemp passed for 333 yards and three touchdowns and led the Pirates on a potential game-tying drive to UF's 13 yard-line in the final seconds before he lost a fumble recovered by Florida defensive lineman Alex McCalister.
As Neal contemplated his return to Florida's secondary for Saturday's SEC opener at Kentucky, he began to text his fellow defensive backs about a players-only meeting.
Time to talk and push the reset button.
After two games, the Gators are ranked 11th in the SEC in pass defense, surrendering 241 yards per game in wins over New Mexico State and East Carolina. That's not what Florida's vaunted secondary had in mind after a summer spent being called DBU: Defensive Backfield University.
“You heard all the Twitter talk and social media talk about us being DBU and the best in the country,'' Neal said. “Well, the first two games we didn't show that. That meeting was to come back to a platform where we need to be, start from the ground up and work our way up, instead of having this pedestal.
“Just going back and figuring out what we need to do better.”
Much of the yardage East Carolina gained came in the fourth quarter as Kemp tried to keep the Pirates close. He threw for 148 yards in the final 15 minutes.
Multiple players said there were no glaring miscues in the secondary. They just want to play better. Sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor had one of the game's biggest plays with a 39-yard interception return for a touchdown and earlier in the game, nickelback Brian Poole recovered a fumble caused by safety Marcus Maye.
“We talked things over and we're going to get it right,'' sophomore cornerback Quincy Wilson said. “We just need to make the plays that need to be made. Tighten up coverage, make plays on 50-50 balls.”
The Gators fell behind on the opening drive of the game when Kemp led the Pirates on an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Davon Grayson.
Wilson, starting in place of All-American Vernon Hargreaves III (leg injury), had good coverage on Grayson. However, Kemp's pass narrowly cleared Wilson's hands as he jumped to defend the pass and Grayson hauled in the catch.
“For the most part I thought Quincy did a great job,'' Maye said. “After that [touchdown pass] Quincy locked in and played great. He was physical at the line of scrimmage and he made a bunch of tackles.”
The good news for the Gators is that for the first time this season the entire secondary is expected to be available to play. Neal missed the first two games to injury, Maye missed the season opener due to a suspension, and Hargreaves sat out the win over ECU.
Hargreaves returned to practice this week and appears on track to play Saturday. Wildcats quarterback Patrick Towles threw for 369 yards last season at The Swamp in a 36-30 triple-overtime loss to the Gators.
The Gators expect to be tested in the passing game and in front of a sellout crowd at Commonwealth Stadium as Kentucky seeks to start 2-0 in the SEC for the first time since 1977. The Wildcats won their conference opener last week at South Carolina, 26-22.
In the players-only meeting Sunday, Neal said he, Maye, Hargreaves and Poole did most of the talking.
Maye was glad to show up.
“It's not acceptable with the amount of yards we've given up,'' he said. “For the most part we have everybody back now and we have to live up to that standard if we're going to talk about it.”
Linebacker Jarrad Davis remains confident in his teammates in the secondary. The fact they called a players-only meeting on their own is proof of their desire to improve in Davis' eyes.
“That's a really big deal,'' Davis said. “We want to be the best defense in the nation and for those guys to come in on their time off – that's a day off, that's time away from football, you really don't get that that much in the season – it takes that kind of commitment to be a better group.”
