Saturday, April 10, 2010

Florida Gators have first spring football game in five years without Tim Tebow


For the first time in five years, there was no sign of Tim Tebow or his No. 15 jersey Saturday morning in the Gators' locker room at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Whether Urban Meyer likes it or not, he has to turn the page.

"I don't want to say I'm over it, 'cause I'll never get over it," Meyer said after the annual Orange and Blue spring game. "But to not have Tim in there, I'm kind of used to it now. Not saying I like it, but I'm used to it."

Tebow was at the stadium at Florida Field on Saturday — giving an impassioned speech about playing for the Gators to several dozen recruits in attendance — but he stayed away from the official festivities.

This is John Brantley's team now, after three long years on the bench.

Several former Gators came back to the sidelines to enjoy the festivities — Brandon Spikes, Chris Leak, Louis Murphy, Riley Cooper and several others — but Tebow didn't want to get in the way of Brantley's moment.

"It felt a lot different, going out there, knowing that I'm the guy now," Brantley said after leading his team to a 27-24 victory. "But I'm surrounded by great players who are making it a lot easier for me."

About 51,500 fans turned out for Saturday's scrimmage to get their first glimpse of the Tebow-less Gators in a live game setting.

"I thought post-Tebow we'd have 11,000 out there," Meyer said. "And I told Johnny Brantley, 'No one's here to see you, big boy.' Then all of a sudden a big crowd shows up. I'm very grateful."

The players toned down the contact and didn't return punts or kickoffs, but the coaches were able to see how all of the fresh faces handled the spotlight in The Swamp.

"Heck, there were more people there than some teams that play in this state have at a home game," offensive coordinator Steve Addazio said. "So that's a pretty good judge of how a guy's going to do in the bright lights."

And though several starters sat out to avoid injury, Meyer was impressed with what he saw.

"I grade the spring game an A, and I haven't had many A's," Meyer said.

Brantley's first pass of the day was a 47-yard bomb to Glades Central grad Deonte Thompson, and he finished 15-for-19 passing for 201 yards and two touchdowns against a mostly first-team defense.

But more important than Brantley's numbers on Saturday was the way he developed as a leader this spring.

"We know he can throw the ball," Addazio said. "Can he lead? Can he win? Can he motivate? Can he grab the team? Johnny did those things this spring. It was really cool."

Brantley wasn't the only player being unveiled to Gator Nation on Saturday. Andre Debose caught two passes for 30 yards after missing all of last year with a hamstring injury. Trey Burton scampered for 128 yards, including 76 on one play. Freshman Matt Elam from Dwyer delivered hits in the secondary.

"Just looking around and seeing all of the people, my heart was pumping, I was ready to go. It was the best feeling I've ever had," Elam said.

The Gators went 26-2 with a national title the past two seasons with Tebow at the helm. Now they head into the long summer looking to prove they can continue the momentum despite all of the fresh faces in the locker room.

"You've got a team that's got a chip on their shoulder in the locker room," Meyer said. "It's kind of cool to have that again.

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