State's 'Big 3' to lean on their quarterbacks

[Brad]

July 12, 2005

State's 'Big 3' to lean on their quarterbacks

Even the most casual college football fan would lock in Florida State, Florida and Miami when putting together a top 25 list entering this football season.

Without a doubt, each of the three teams have talent and plenty of it.

But it's difficult to really put a gauge on how good any of the three might be this year.

Maybe the BCS's newest poll, the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, has the right idea by not debuting until Sept. 25 -- or after college football has had four weeks of games under its belt. That way, maybe we would know just how good our "Big 3" really are.

Athlon's college football preview magazine ranks Florida State No. 5, followed by Miami (11th) and Florida (13th).

Collegefootballnews.com has Miami at No. 4, followed by Florida (8th) and Florida State (11th).

Then you have Dennis Dodd, college football writer for Cbs.sportsline.com, who has Florida at No. 8, Miami at No. 12 and Florida State 18th. (His poll is the only one that takes into account Wyatt Sexton's condition).

So there you have it, three polls, three very different predictions.

One of the biggest reasons for the uncertainty has to focus on the quarterbacks.

Look at Florida State. With Sexton, who played 10 games last season, threw for 1,661 yards and completed 55 percent of his passes, out for the year, the job goes to one of two redshirt freshmen -- Xavier Lee or Drew Weatherford. Weatherford is the only one with actual game experience, but that lasted all of one play last year when he lost five yards on a rush and injured his ankle in the process.

The Seminoles can look at Tennessee, which played last season under similar circumstances. The Vols played true freshmen Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer and had good success. The Vols went 10-3, losing twice to Auburn (once in the SEC title game) and to Notre Dame.

Miami enters the season with Kyle Wright running the show.

Hurricanes fans can say what they want about Brock Berlin last year, but Berlin did bring a sense of calm to the offense and was a frontrunner for ACC Offensive Player of theYear.

Miami expects big things from Wright, a sophomore, who passed for 179 yards in the UM spring game. The 6-foot-4 California native threw for 2,825 yards and 37 touchdowns as a high school senior and was considered the nation's top prep drop-back passer by some recruiting services.The big question is this -- what do the 'Canes do if Wright goes down with an injury?

Kirby Freeman pushed Wright in the spring and Miami hopes he'll be ready to step in if something happens to Wright or if he struggles.

Regardless, the 'Canes will be entering the season with an untested QB -- which should make the Sept. 5 season opener vs. Florida State (which will be in a similar situation) in Tallahassee an interesting one.

Florida enters the season with the fewest questions at quarterback. Chris Leak goes into his junior season regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in the country. But, for the first time in his career, he'll have a different coach with a different philosophy.

That philosophy includes the quarterback running with the ball more and taking more hits. Leak has avoided injury his first two years in Gainesville, but an injury to him could be devastating to the Gators.

Gavin Dickey, who played outfield for the UF baseball team that reached the College World Series final, is the experienced backup. He completed 5 of 7 passes for 56 yards last year. But he's considered more of a scrambling QB.

Urban Meyer will also have Cornelius Ingram, who doubled as a guard for Billy Donovan and the basketball team. Ingram is a hometown product, having played at small Hawthorne High School. He has talent, but is raw.

There's also Josh Portis, the QB who Meyer brought over from the left coast.

Portis showed some spark in the UF spring game, but you can bet the UF coaching staff would like to redshirt him if possible.

The list of great players who have played quarterback at the state's "Big 3" are many -- Chris Weinke, Charlie Ward, Danny Wuerffel, Shane Matthews and Ken Dorsey, to name a few.

This year, new faces will try to put their stamp on the FSU and UM programs, while a familiar one aims to get UF back into the national scene under a new coach.

Contact Bradley at 242-3689 or kbradley@flatoday.net

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[goodknightfl]

hmmmmm still no big 4... guess UCF and USF better keep working.