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Gators position battle preview: Which role will each wide receiver fill?

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports (Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

Scan the Florida Gators football roster and tell me what position is deeper and more filled with talent than the wide receiver corps. Go on, I'll wait.

As we continue the Gators position battle preview series here at Gators Territory, today we will break down the stacked wide receiver room. Much like the group of running backs, which we broke down on Friday, there's plenty of mouths to feed in Dan Mullen's spread-out passing offense.

So how will quarterback Feleipe Franks do it?

Let's take a look at the projected starters and what receiver positions they are best suited for, as well as the remaining key contributors and how they will receive targets going forward.

Note that these player/role pairings are not set in stone, as Florida tends to move their players around quite a bit. Players are paired at receiver positions in which their skill-set best fit.

X-Receiver: Trevon Grimes, Jr., 6-5, 210 lbs.

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There's no better fit for X-Receiver on Florida's offense than junior WR Trevon Grimes. The former Ohio State transfer and Rivals 5-star has the perfect pair of size and athleticism to make a huge impact on the outside and on an island.

That much could be seen when he made contested catches last season.

Grimes is poised for a breakout season, heading into his second year in orange and blue. For the first time in his college career, he enters a season with momentum and familiarity with the system. Grimes has also sharpened his footwork on route breaks to eliminate wasted movement and separate better.

Expect Grimes to become a much more consistent player in 2019, specializing at contested catches and working the boundary and redzone, but also adding shorter, inside routes to his arsenal as his game becomes more complete.

Z-Receiver: Van Jefferson, R-Sr., 6-2, 197 lbs. 

Van Jefferson is the leader of this talented receiver group, following a team-leading 35 reception, 503 yards, and six touchdowns.

The redshirt senior might not be the fastest receiver on the roster, but his polished footwork and route running ability more than makes up for a lack of blazing speed.

Jefferson plays with a ton of twitch and agility, keeping his feet constantly chopping underneath him and utilizing fluid hips to separate from defenders with ease. Route running technique is critical, especially in a spread offense with up to five receivers on the field. Jefferson is the most poised in that regard among the Gators receivers.

Lining up in a trips formation right, Jefferson sells a stop-n-go double move with a receiver selling the underneath to his stutter step, which keeps the outside cornerback from following Jefferson deep.

Jefferson sells the double move perfectly, leaving the safety tripping over his own feet and Jefferson completely open down the field. No defender within 10 yards.

Pairing Jefferson with a slot receiver to run route combinations to one half of the field can be deadly for Florida's offense, whether it be utilizing Jefferson's abilities to get him open for the ball, or as a decoy to open up zones for other receivers. Thus, placing him at Z-WR - the outside receiver typically paired with a slot to their side - is the perfect fit.

Y-Receiver: Kadarius Toney, Jr., 5-11, 190 lbs.

Dan Mullen and Co. have been dedicated to the idea of Kadarius Toney as a three-down player while he makes a full transition to receiver. Mullen has spoken of that throughout the past spring and on his speaking tour this past May.

The best way to keep Toney on the field for all three downs is as the starting slot. The Y-Receiver.

Toney's short-area burst and twitch meshes well with the short-field routes that come with the slot position, often running 90 degree routes, crossers, and breaking routes on the vertical stem.

The coaching staff knows that Toney is a game-changing player with the ball in his hands. They want him on the field for all three downs to prevent defenses from assuming he's getting the ball, whereas in the past he was typically recording a touch when he saw the field.

Of course, he can only expand upon his snaps if he has progressed as a receiver in all aspects. That's something we will get a better feel for in camp, but the potential is clearly there, and the coaching staff is buying into it:

4/5 Wide Slot Receivers: Josh Hammond, Sr., 6-0, 194 lbs. and Freddie Swain, Sr., 6-0, 199 lbs.

Hammond and Swain have both earned roles in this offense, and were really solid contributors in 2018. However, with the emergence of Toney as a three-down WR, both Hammond and Swain will likely see their snaps docked a bit.

They'll rotate mainly in the slot positions, whether it be occasionally with Toney in the 3-WR sets, or when 4/5 wide sets are on the field. Hammond out-produced Swain and became a very dependable target in the short field last year for Franks, so as things stand he would have the upper hand for more snaps than Swain.

Swain should carve out a role in the redzone at slot receiver, however. He scored touchdowns on more than a third of his receptions in 2018, and that scoring ability will be important in the redzone for the passing offense to take the next step.

Other key contributors

Tyrie Cleveland, Sr., 6-2, 206 lbs.: Cleveland will be the primary reserve for both outside receivers, with solid size and experience to contribute on a rotation of reps.

Kyle Pitts, So., 6-6, 247 lbs.: Pitts, despite entering the program as a tight end, saw time with the receiver group this past spring. Considering the lack of production from any TE on the roster currently, I'd still expect Pitts to play the majority of his snaps there. However, his killer size/speed combo makes him an intriguing big slot option in redzone situations.

Jacob Copeland, R-Fr., 6-0, 198 lbs.: The young speedster missed most of the spring camp from a nagging hamstring injury that limited him in his freshman season. Copeland is a legitimate talent when he can get onto the field, but he needs to stay healthy in order to rise up the ranks of Florida's immensely talented WR room. 2020 might be the better breakout season for the young Gator.

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