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Florida On The Football Fast Track

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Percy Harvin runs the ball against Michigan at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando,

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By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 26, 2008

Updated: 08/26/2008 01:29 am

GAINESVILLE - When Urban Meyer first arrived at the University of Florida four seasons ago, bringing a newfangled spread offense designed to send skill players racing scattershot past slack-jawed defenders, there was one building block topping the new coach's construction list.

From Day One, and in bullish terms, Meyer expressed a desire to field the fastest team in America.

This year - wow, that was quick - he just might.

"Mission accomplished," ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. "There are a lot of good offenses out there. There are a lot of teams with a lot of speed. But in my opinion, why Florida is preseason No. 1 for me has everything to do with what's around Tim Tebow. This is an offense that will score close to 50 points a game if they really want to."

Think of it like this. If Tebow, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, is Florida's triggerman, then he is well armed with a full clip of speeding bullets.

Running back/receiver Jeffrey Demps is a near world-class sprinter with a 10.37 clocking in the 100 meters last year as a high school senior, yet he has been beaten twice by redshirt freshman Chris Rainey in 40-yard smack-talking showdowns away from the practice field - once barefoot in an open lot behind dorm rooms.

"Yeah, I'm undefeated ... in the streets," Rainey said.

So that makes the 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back from Lakeland the most speed-enhanced Gator, right?

"Actually, I think I can get Demps and Rainey," said senior wideout Louis Murphy. "I'll line up with anybody. But I'm going to be perfectly honest. I think Percy is the fastest."

That would be junior wide receiver Percy Harvin. Although still recovering from heel surgery last spring, he is no less a legend among his peers after snagging 59 passes for 858 yards and rushing for another 764 on 83 carries last year.

"He's scary good when he's 75 percent," Murphy said. "Man, what a first step. When he gets 100 percent, it's going to be something."

The same can be said for Florida's argument for college football's fastest team not handing off a baton.

All told, at least eight Gators - six on the offensive side - consistently run 40 yards in 4.3 seconds or faster. Along with Harvin, Rainey, Demps and Murphy the Gators' speedsters include wide receiver Deonte Thompson, running back Brandon James and defensive corners Joe Haden and Wondy Pierre-Louis. Five of them - Murphy, Rainey, Thompson, James and Pierre-Louis - have competed for the Gators track team and Demps expects to in the spring.

"We were laughing the other day as a staff," running back coach Kenny Carter said. "Joe Haden is a 4.3 guy and he's the seventh fastest guy on our team. That puts things in perspective for you."

Such swiftness can't be judged in an opponent's film room. It can't be duplicated by scout teams. Seemingly well-scripted defensive game plans can be savaged in the blink of an eye. There is no way to teach speed. Either you have it or you expect to give chase.

"You think about it through the whole week until the game comes," Florida cornerback Jacques Rickerson explained from a defensive perspective. "It kind of works on you."

A problem, however, is that simply being able to go from point A to point B in a big hurry doesn't always translate into good football.

"A lot of times you hear 'track guy' and go 'uh-oh,'" Herbstreit said. "But from what I gather, looking at these players, Meyer is not going to track and field meets to find guys who can run. He's finding guys who are football players who can run. There's a major difference."

The Gators are quick-- get it, quick - to agree.

"A bunch of our speed guys run track, but they don't consider themselves track guys," Carter said. "They are football players who run track, which is a big difference. You don't see a gazelle trying to warm up and stretch before the lion attacks him in the jungle. That's the mindset they have. They are fast guys with power."

From a neutral corner in the CBS broadcast booth, analyst Gary Danielson supports that theory, actually insisting that obsessing on Florida's speed is a likely mistake.

"I'm not fascinated by their speed," Danielson said. "I'm fascinated by the amount of discipline their fast players have. How good a football players these fast people are."

Certainly no offensive scheme in football is better designed to utilize speedy skill players than the spread formation that Meyer continues to tweak and that other programs are adopting. By stretching defensive personnel, gaps are enlarged and more working room is created. There is more room to run.

"That's the essence of our offense," Meyer said. "If you can create matchup issues, you're in good shape. For example, in the game last year versus Florida State, a safety went down to cover Louis Murphy and Tim Tebow identified it. That's one of the benefits of spreading the defense and when you have great speed, you create matchup issues."

All the same, while the Gators might like their chances in a chase for the finish line - "If the track team wants to race the football team, we could get it done," Murphy said - this season is not a sprint. Harvin has been held out of almost all preseason action except conditioning drills. Murphy has been slowed by a sprained ankle. Demps is yet to play his first college game. There's a long list of potential pratfalls that could slow UF's run toward the SEC title game to a crawl.

Or not.

"Be careful putting too much weight on one attribute," Danielson warned. "Are they fast? Yes, but speed is not the way Florida is winning. It's one of the 10 arrows in the quiver. It's not the only arrow."

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534 or melliott@tampatrib.com.

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