Florida Gators

In this episode of RecruitingNation 411, our recruiting experts go over the secret to Penn State's recent recruiting success, the impact of North Carolina's sanctions, Missouri keeping talent in-state, and a recruiting battle that's heating up out west.

Schedule: Florida opens spring practice Wednesday afternoon and concludes on April 7 with the Orange & Blue Debut, presented by Sunniland, at 1 p.m. ET in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. In conjunction with Florida Football's Annual Coaches Clinic, practice will open to the public twice -- March 16 and March 17.

What's new: Florida welcomes in new offensive coordinator Brent Pease, who left Boise State, as its new offensive coordinator after Charlie Weis left to become the head coach at Kansas. Florida also hired former Utah offensive line coach Tim Davis to replace Frank Verducci, while Jeff Dillman replaces Mickey Marrotti as the Gators' strength and conditioning coach.

On the mend: Florida will be down a few players this spring. Defensive tackle Dominique Easley is out while he recovers from an ACL injury he suffered at the end of the regular season. Cornerback Jeremy Brown is out with a knee injury that kept him out all of the 2011 season. Offensive linemen Ian Silberman, Tommy Jordan, Kyle Koehne and Cole Gilliam, along with linebacker Lerentee McCray and defensive end Kedric Johnson, are all out with shoulder injuries. Cornerback Marcus Roberson (neck) was cleared for non-contact drills. Linebacker Neiron Ball, who was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation after a blood vessel burst in his head before the 2011 season, has been cleared to resume physical activity, but not for practice.

On the move: Redshirt senior Omarius Hines is moving from wide receiver to cross train at running back and tight end. Hines has always been some sort of a hybrid player, recording 41 career receptions for 559 yards and two touchdowns and carrying the ball 13 times for 164 rushing yards and two more scores. Nick Alajajian is moving from offensive tackle to defensive tackle to provide depth with Easley out.

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GatorNation's Jeff Barlis and Michael DiRocco preview the Florida Gators as spring football practice begins today.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- All Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan wanted was just one run.

Trailing 2-0 with two runners on with one out in the bottom of the third inning against rival Florida State, getting one run was the goal to stop the Seminoles' momentum. Preston Tucker gave O'Sullivan what he wanted -- plus two more. The senior right fielder hit a three-run homer over the right-field wall to spark the Gators to a 9-2 victory in front of a McKethan Stadium-record crowd of 6,005 Tuesday night.

"We were down two runs at the time," said Tucker, who is second on the team with 16 RBIs and six home runs. "We were trying to at least get one across. He left it up a little bit and I put a good swing on it."

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak to Florida State. It also was UF's 14th win in a row, which tied a school record set in 2001 and 2004.

Tucker's homer loosened up UF's offense. Nolan Fontana drove in a run in the fourth on a groundout and another in the sixth on a solo home run. Mike Zunino drove in runs in the seventh on a sacrifice fly and in the eighth on a single. Daniel Pigott also drove in a pair of runs in the eighth on a single.

While the top-ranked Gators (16-1) were rolling offensively, the sixth-ranked Seminoles (14-2) couldn't solve UF's bullpen. UF relievers Greg Larson, Steven Rodriguez, Daniel Gibson and Austin Maddox limited FSU to just two hits in 6.1 innings and at one point retired 12 consecutive batters until Sherman Johnson's one-out single in the eighth.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida offensive coordinator Brent Pease doesn't have a magic formula to fix an offense that struggled in 2011 and finished 105th nationally.

But he does have five criteria that he believes are keys to any successful offense, and if the Gators master these five things they'll be better in 2012 -- a pounding running game, an explosive passing game, creativity, eliminate turnovers and great quarterback play.

"We want to get more physical up front, we want to develop a little bit better tempo, we want to eliminate some turnovers, a lot of turnovers, and put ourselves in better situations," Pease said Tuesday. "We're not going to run anything different. People run power, we're going to run power; they run zone, we're going to run zone. No one is reinventing that part of it."

Pease comes to UF after spending the past six seasons at Boise State. The first five were as receivers coach, but Pease was the offensive coordinator in 2011 and helped the Broncos finish tied for 10th nationally in total offense (481.3 yards per game). He's being charged with fixing a UF offense that averaged 328.7 yards of total offense per game and just 185.7 yards per game passing. The Gators haven't averaged that few yards of total offense since 1988 (316.0). UF averaged 184.3 yards per game passing in 2010, but that's the fewest since 1989 (148.0).

His first task is to find a quarterback. Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel will share reps this spring, but UF coach Will Muschamp said there is no timetable to naming a starter. They both could play in the fall, Muschamp said, which is not what he would prefer but is willing to do if neither separates himself in the competition.

"Not particularly in favor of that," Pease said. " I'd rather see one kid step forward and take charge and be productive and let it be his team. But if that's not the way it works out, then as coaches you've got to do what's best for your football team."

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Kell's (Marietta, Ga.) Brendan Langley, an ESPNU 150 Watch List cornerback, took in the Atlanta NFSC this past weekend and took time out to break down his recruitment. His top five in no particular order includes: Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It's definitely not a good sign about Florida's NFL Draft prospects when there's significantly more talent watching the pro scout day workouts than participating in them.

Quarterback John Brantley, running back Chris Rainey, defensive tackle Jaye Howard, and receiver Deonte Thompson worked out in front of NFL scouts from 24 teams and one head coach -- Jacksonville's Mike Mularkey -- on Tuesday morning at Florida Field. None of those players are projected any higher than mid- to late-round selections, which would snap the school's five-year streak of having at least one player taken in the first round.

Contrast that with the talented group of former UF players who watched the workouts. There were four first-round picks -- Maurkice and Mike Pouncey, Travis Taylor, and Percy Harvin -- and four others who were taken in the seventh round or higher: Terry Jackson (fifth), Riley Cooper (fifth) and Kerwin Bell (seventh). Mularkey was a ninth-round pick.

"We need more guys out there in position to be drafted," UF coach Will Muschamp said. "That's pretty evident as you go through our last two pro days.

"We need to do a better job recruiting. We need to do a better job evaluating. We need to do a better job of developing our players and coaching. Bottom line."

Rainey ran a 4.38 in the 40 0n Tuesday. His biggest goal was to prove to the scouts that he can catch the ball out of the backfield. As to where the 5-foot-9, 180-pound athlete fits on the next level, he said he's basically a smaller Harvin clone. He can play receiver or running back, return kicks and punts, and play on kick or punt block units.

"My goal is to confuse the scouts and they do the rest [in figuring out where he should play]," said Rainey, who finished his career with 3,948 all-purpose yards and 21 touchdowns. "If you’re going to be a playmaker on the field, that’s all that matters."

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ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi breaks down Florida's chances in the NCAA tournament. He says the Gators may have been underseeded.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The first couple of weeks of March haven’t gone well for Florida guards Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker.

The Gators’ starting backcourt has had trouble offensively in UF’s three games so far this month.

Boynton averages 16.3 points per game heading into Friday’s NCAA tournament second-round game against Virginia, but he’s only scoring 7.7 points per game in March. He’s shooting just 23.1 percent from the field (6-for-26) and 25.0 percent from 3-point range (4-for-16).

However, Boynton is 7-for-7 from the free-throw line -- which included three huge ones in the closing seconds against Alabama -- and he has eight assists and just one turnover in the three games.

Still, the Gators need the 6-foot-1 junior to return to the offensive form that had him averaging 16.9 points per game and shooting 44.9 percent from 3-point range in nine February games.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida's pro day should be a low-key affair Tuesday morning at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, at least compared to the hoopla surrounding this same event two years ago.

This year the NFL Network won't be on hand for a live broadcast, nor are hoards of NFL head coaches and general managers expected to make the trip, as they did to watch Tim Tebow in 2010. The event is open at 10:30 a.m. ET to the public, but it's doubtful there will be a large number of fans with homemade signs directing their favorite team to draft a certain popular Gator.

No, Tuesday's pro day will feature just two prospects who were invited to the recent NFL draft scouting combine and a host of other former Gators, some who ran out of college eligibility with Tebow in 2009.

It's safe to predict Florida's streak of five straight years with at least one first-round selection will come to an end this April. Former Gator cornerback Janoris Jenkins, however, could be picked on the first night.

The highest rated ex-Gator slated to work out in front of NFL scouts at Tuesday's UF pro day is running back Chris Rainey, whose speed could make him a mid-round selection. Rainey has a Scouts grade of 69 and is rated the No. 9 running back available. He led the entire combine field in the three-cone drill (6.50 seconds) and led all running back prospects in the 60-yard shuttle (11.06 seconds) and 20-yard shuttle (3.93 seconds). His 4.45 in the 40-yard dash tied for second among all running backs, but Rainey will look to improve upon that and perhaps give himself a shot at being picked in the third round.

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