GAINESVILLE, Fla. – There were plenty of positions this spring in Gainesville that saw competition. Among them, were the safeties, and the starters and rotation here seems to be one of the bigger question remaining following the Orange and Blue game.
Brad Stewart, Jeawon Taylor, Shawn Davis, Donovan Stiner and Quincy Lenton have all battled throughout spring practices for a starting position and spots on the depth chart.
Throughout, the safeties showcased solid play, but as the spring game neared, flaws started to show through a bit and in the Orange and Blue game the group was torched.
Spring games are meant to highlight the offense, and the Gators followed in that suit as they only ran four different looks defensively and Taylor did not participate due to a late minor injury, but the broken coverage’s and consistent mishaps throughout the day from the safeties raised some concerns.
So, where does the competition stand following the game?
As it sits currently Stewart and Taylor will most likely be the starting duo, but they might both be at free safety this fall.
If that’s the case, then we could see Stiner or Davis take over the strong safety spot for the season, and Quincy Lenton would be the third stringer for both spots and fill in wherever he’s needed.
On top of that, John Huggins could throw a wrench in that rotation as he has put together a fantastic spring at nickel and could see a move back to his original position at safety if the coaches feel his skills are needed.
Each guy showcases better skills in different categories at safety than others, but no one within the group has a perfectly rounded out game. Stewart is the best athlete and showcases the most talent and best ball skills, but can sometimes find himself out of position.
Taylor is the opposite. He understands the system best, but lacks some athleticism and speed for strong safety. Stiner welcomes physicality and can make some nice plays, but his ball skills are not quite where they need to be and he can find himself out of position at times as well.
Davis is the best hitter at safety and can go from sideline to sideline well, but he can overrun plays at times and his coverage skills could use some improvement. Lenton has nice traits and shows solid ability to cover and make a physical play, but he doesn’t seem quite ready to take on a bigger workload in this system yet.
Then you have Huggins, who has not had hardly a single bad day at practice. Of course he has had plays throughout spring ball where he was beat and made mistakes, but they were few and far between.
His mix of physicality and coverage skills were second to only Trey Dean, the starting nickel, this spring, and Dean was nearly lights out this spring as he made the switch from corner to nickel.
This unit certainly has the ability to put together a good rotation and starting duo, but it depends on which guys can round out there game best. Following the Orange and Blue game Gators Territory looked at the post spring depth chart based on what we saw this spring.
Stewart or Taylor would be the starting free safety with Lenton as the third stringer and Stiner would start at strong safety with Davis behind him at two and Lenton at three.
The group is not as bad as what we saw in the Orange and Blue game, but there are more questions there than we thought at the beginning of spring, and there is more competition for the top and rotational spots as well.
Whoever can round out his game the most will see a better spot on the depth chart and even a starting spot.
