Spring Break
College Football's New Gators
Zack Walker
Issue date: 10/29/08 Section: Sports
It has always been a well-known fact that Florida's Percy Harvin is near unstoppable-but, who knew Florida had four Percy Harvins? Just a few weeks ago, Coach Urban Meyer didn't even know it.
In the Gators shocking loss to Ole Miss, the real Harvin, the only one anyone knew about, was dazzling. He zigged and zagged for 82 rushing yards, 186 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, he was the only one zigging and zagging. The other three Harvin clones-Brandon James, Jeffrey Demps, and Chris Rainey-looked on from the bench. The trio had only five touches combined.
The moral of the story was clear. You can't win a National Championship, or maybe even an SEC championship, with only one Percy Harvin. Lucky Gators…they had three more lying around.
The sting of the embarrassing loss must have sharpened Meyer's senses. At some point during practice that week, he had an epiphany. He decided to experiment against poor Arkansas-he would unleash his other three Harvins.
The results: Rainey had 10 carries for 103 yards, Demps had seven carries for the same amount, James got a few carries and caught a few passes, and the real Harvin was brilliant as usual. The Gators routed the Razorbacks 38-7. But more importantly, a new team was born.
These new Gators have since gone on to pulverize two more opponents. The first one is particularly painful for me to write about-they embarrassed my Tigers 51-21. Prior to the game, LSU had allowed a total of only 276 rushing yards. The Harvin, Demps, James and Rainy Gang rung up 265.
To save Kentucky fans the embarrassment, I won't even mention the score of that match-up. If you don't know, trust me, it was bad.
The bottom line is that this new Florida team is unstoppable. Speed is everything in football, and they have more than they know what to do with. The Gators won't lose another game, and if they get the chance to play in the national championship-it's theirs.
In the Gators shocking loss to Ole Miss, the real Harvin, the only one anyone knew about, was dazzling. He zigged and zagged for 82 rushing yards, 186 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, he was the only one zigging and zagging. The other three Harvin clones-Brandon James, Jeffrey Demps, and Chris Rainey-looked on from the bench. The trio had only five touches combined.
The moral of the story was clear. You can't win a National Championship, or maybe even an SEC championship, with only one Percy Harvin. Lucky Gators…they had three more lying around.
The sting of the embarrassing loss must have sharpened Meyer's senses. At some point during practice that week, he had an epiphany. He decided to experiment against poor Arkansas-he would unleash his other three Harvins.
The results: Rainey had 10 carries for 103 yards, Demps had seven carries for the same amount, James got a few carries and caught a few passes, and the real Harvin was brilliant as usual. The Gators routed the Razorbacks 38-7. But more importantly, a new team was born.
These new Gators have since gone on to pulverize two more opponents. The first one is particularly painful for me to write about-they embarrassed my Tigers 51-21. Prior to the game, LSU had allowed a total of only 276 rushing yards. The Harvin, Demps, James and Rainy Gang rung up 265.
To save Kentucky fans the embarrassment, I won't even mention the score of that match-up. If you don't know, trust me, it was bad.
The bottom line is that this new Florida team is unstoppable. Speed is everything in football, and they have more than they know what to do with. The Gators won't lose another game, and if they get the chance to play in the national championship-it's theirs.
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