So my impressions of the Gator Bowl game....

Dec 30, 2023, 1:05 PM

The crowd was great. I thought the KY fans were (on average) good-natured, though most definitely drinking the SEC kool-aid.

The good (and there was a lot of it)

The O Line played pretty well. I noticed MUCH better use of hands, better footwork and a LOT more push in short yardage situations with better LEVERAGE (guys playing lower, not standing up anymore). And playing through the whistle. Coach Luke was a great hire---I anticipate much better play next year if this is any indication of what he did in a few weeks.

The return of Williams helped a lot. Guys were definitely getting open. But, we still don't have that elite deep threat or boundary receiver that can stretch a defense over the top. We also had some nice play from Adam Randall....hopefully this game can be used to build his confidence. I'd like to see him play a little more physical and use his arms better. He tends to wait on the ball instead of attacking it.

Cade played extremely well when we played with tempo. But, see below: it's a tale of two stories.

Mafah gave us an MVP performance. Not much else can be said than what has already been said. Shipley ran hard, but still has problems seeing the right running lanes. He did play very well on KR. Just hope he's OK after a pretty nasty fall out of bounds.

I thought Carter and Woodaz played extremely well. And my son got to meet Sammy Brown, who most definitely looks the part according to son of RB--though my son is a little taller, Brown is just built like a LB. But you can just tell---this kid is going to be special. Nice kid, btw.

Shelton Lewis played pretty well. KY threw at him pretty much all afternoon. For a guy who really got thrown into the fire, he responded with the game-ending INT. Good for him, because KY went at him excessively, IMO.

Khalil Barnes is a ballhawk. He just continues to make plays and force turnovers.

Weitz....huge momentum changer on that 52-yard (and 1 inch) FG.

Now, for the bad

There were some really bad reads by the safeties and LB's that led to two scores. Not going to name names, but this is something that the coaches need to work on and this will be good film.

Cade is still having problems going through his progressions and seeing the field. Stellato was wide open on what should have been an easy TD. Cade didn't even look at him. I could really see how Cade was scanning the field and not trusting his eyes and yes, he tends to "lock on" to a receiver and he doesn't really look safeties off the ball. He did once, but that was about it. He has no pocket awareness--he's lucky he wasn't hurt after that blindside sack when he limped off the field. He also struggles when stepping up in the pocket--my son (up and coming HS QB) noticed he doesn't throw to receivers so they can use their bodies or inside leverage to get to the ball---he only throws when he sees open receivers. But our OC has got to work on some of these things with Cade or I see more problems next year.

Kick coverage is a dumpster fire. Big changes needed here. Dabo knows it and I'm sure he's going to address it this off season. That can't happen against Jawja.

The officiating: Pure trash. They didn't call blatant holding, hits out of bounds, facemasks, and other infractions against KY. They even threw a flag when a kick went out of the end zone, which set Dabo off....these guys couldn't officiate a Pop Warner game.h

All in all, a great performance that I think will help a lot of the younger guys progress.