Florida Gators vs Texas A&M Aggies Preview: In-Depth Analysis and Game Prediction

we got Gator breakdown here we know we're business Gator breakdown because there's never a dull moment in Gator Nation the gator breakdown podcast is ready to go I am your host David Waters find me on social media Gator Dave coming at preview time Florida Texas A&M 3:30 in the swamp plenty to get into right here on this episode of course previewing the game multiple views multiple aspects we opponent Spotlight we'll get it going there um bringing in a guest of course to give us a good preview of these agies Robert Barons of good bull hunting on SB Nation he'll join us to break down these Texas A&M Aggies and then once again we'll also hear from Alex Shepard focus on the gator with Alex shipper like we do every week at he's there on the sideline taking photos for Gator breakdown every home game Florida Georgia as well so uh certainly looking forward to that conversation with Alex as well so everybody hit that like button subscribe to Gator breakdown as we get right into this big preview of the Texas Anum aies but one more time just to help us out like subscribe smash that like button on YouTube subscribe right there on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform uh and of course if you want to keep that conversation going lot of a few new members there Gator breakdown Plus getting access to that Discord keeping the conversation going there it's been a lively discussion um you the last few weeks of course uh but uh you know just a lot of uh a lot of talk about how big this game is and everybody kind of looking forward to what this game means right there on that Discord also get your adree episodes of Gator breakdown plus link is in the description many more many more aspects to get breakdown plus but Discord ad free episodes that's the pool right now during the season all right let's get into it and here we are with Robert Barons of good bull hunting on SB Nation Robert uh Florida Texas A&M you and I were talking right before we recorded not not either side feeling too confident about this one of course that first game for both teams Pro probably weigh pretty heavy in in the fan base's Minds but uh a big a big uh big offseason to change for Texas A and hopefully change for the better uh yeah obviously bringing in uh you know the new coach and Mike Elco uh whole new coaching staff coming along with them um and then about you know 20s something transfer players many of which are you're going to see on the field on on Saturday so yeah so I mean you know it's every bit you know the the modern college football like where it's like it's not a a three-year program turnover of to trying to get your own guys it's uh it's you know let's try to get this thing rolling right away um but like you said a lot of you know a lot of A&M fans with that first loss to Notre Dame um especially seeing what they did in week two uh against Northern Illinois um I think lots of folks having some flashbacks lots of folks kind of maybe not questioning Mike Elco but questioning just how far along are we in um in whatever you know that the reboot of this program is going to be um and and I think this Saturday is going to go a long way toward towards telling us that um and you know you kind of referenced both sides kind of you know being almost like meor images in a lot of ways just as far as how the season has started uh because both of us in week one disappointing home losses that that really kind of you know make you wonder what the season's going to be like and then both teams with some pretty impressive performances last week but against FCS teams so you feel like you really don't know right how much of that's going to translate uh so th yeah this Saturday I would say looms large is really pretty pivotal uh for both sides because whoever wins this is going to say okay you know we're one and0 in the SEC you know we kind of we looks like we we fix some things we saw some growth and we can build on this moving forward versus whoever loses is 0 And1 in the SEC is 0 and2 versus the FBS so far uh and and and probably has a lot of upset folks uh here you know heading into the meat of the schedule yeah absolutely so mention you a big offseason Mike Elco comes back replacing Jimbo fer of course he was defensive coordinator under Jimbo fer um what does he bring to the job that should be an improvement compared to Jimbo Fisher uh I think the thing that you heard the most often over the offseason was really just a bigger focus on on details on really just the organizational structure of everything as it pertaining to the program and you heard that um you know not just from from Outsiders from beat reporters but you heard that a lot from players too of just how different it was of you they were essentially they were being held accountable for when they missed a work out they were they had to check in at every single meal uh they were expected to eat every meal up there at the complex uh so yeah I think just accountability um organizational structure are the two biggest themes of the offseason that we heard uh and then I think you also um you also just hope that schematically you're going to see some improvements uh Jimbo's offense was notoriously uh a little bit stale and so you bring in Colin Klein from Kansas State U and obviously bring back Mike ELO uh along with defensive coordinator Jay baitman and bring back his defensive scheme that was pretty successful at A&M and you kind of Infuse all that with uh the talent that is here because if there's one thing jimo did he could recruit right and you no one ever accused this team of not having enough talent to win and so the hope is that when you take that talent and put it in a system that's more built to succeed in modern college football that you can have some success so you you mentioned of course game one game two really hard to know what to you know expect from this team we'll get into some specifics but kind of overall what have you learned about Texas A&M in the first two games I the biggest surprise I think for most A&M fans has been uh the offensive line and and actually performing relatively well um because offensive line was UN almost unquestionably the weakness of this team the past two seasons um and you brought back a lot of experience but you just didn't know how that was going to work because you're bringing in a new coach um and everyone hoped that we could see Improvement but you just I mean just like everything in the offseason until you see it on the field you just don't exactly know uh how things are going to play out but um but yeah pass protection has been u i I would say I'd say pretty darn good um the r run blocking was a little bit of it was an issue against Notre Dame but Notre Dame if if they have a strength it's it's in that middle of that defensive line so that wasn't too much of a shock uh so yeah I would say that's kind of the surprise positive that we've seen um if there's a surprise negative though unfortunately I think you have to point to Connor wigman uh because he was someone that all of us were extremely high on uh B just based on not only recruiting pedigree but just what we had seen out of him at A&M so far and uh and the Notre Dame game he He just flat out looked terrible uh just you know he was not accurate um now granted the receivers weren't doing him a lot of favors they weren't getting separation there wasn't a lot downfield for him um but even even the easy completions he was making him harder uh now he certainly looked a lot more in control last week against MCN uh but once again when you're playing a team like MCN that all becomes a lot easier so uh I think the proof is in the pudding for okay now he's back he's playing an SEC team he's playing in a hostile environment in the swamp um are we going to see him kind of reestablish more of what we thought uh we were going to see from wigman coming into the year or are we going to see some of those same bad habits from Notre Dame crop back up and if that's the case um it it's going to be a big concern for A&M uh and then I would say defensively uh overall the defense was viewed coming into the year as what should be the strength of the team and I would say so far that's played out uh if there is a knock on them is the run defense has been prone to giving up some some long runs um you know certainly like I wouldn't say they've been poorest by any means they they actually have been relatively Stout but if you're giving up two and four and three but then you give up 25 and then you give up 30 uh you know that averages out to having some problems um so definitely a little bit more vulnerable on the ground um but through the airm has been pretty Rock Solid you and I I think even chatted earlier this week online about the ANM pass rush they're not getting sacks which was a little surprising but teams so far are averaging 4.9 yards per attempt against A&M no one's completed a pass longer than 20 yards yet and I think a lot of that you know some of that certainly is the secondary uh but I think a lot of that too speaks to what that pass rush is doing and so far a lot of teams have just been game planning and saying okay we're going to get the ball out quick we're we're going to be hitting short passes because we don't think we're going to have have that kind of time um which I was actually I was doing some research earlier today and I just I found it very interesting looking at the stats because like I said A&M having not giving up a single pass of more than 20 yards this year and then you look at DJ lagway last week and nine nine of his 18 completions were for longer than 20 yards so that'll be certainly a kind of a something got to give right you mentioned Conor wigman and his disappointing performance we talked about mirror images of these teams so far and it's kind of the same way for grah Merz and in the game versus Miami you know you had these quarterbacks that were coming back you expected steps to be taken by these quarterbacks and they both disappointed you know their their fan bases in game one and looking for a bounceback uh this might just be called bounceback game for for for for for this for this for this matchup I think it it probably is a good theme to call it bounceback because I think especially both quarterbacks are are really looking for that bounce back in this game yeah ABS absolutely and you know I mean and just as is so often the case I think as goes the quarterback yeah kind kind of goes the rest of the team um and it's yeah it's just hard to overstate I feel like how vital this game is for both programs um you knowm certainly in a different situation just as far as program trajectory because we are we're only in game three of the Mike Elco era and so I think amm fans probably have a little bit more more patience in the tank at the moment but for this season in particular certainly this game you really feel like is a pivot point of if we can win this maybe We're Off to the Races maybe we can still do something special uh versus if you lose this one you start looking at okay well we still got missou we've still got LSU we we've got Texas there's there's so many other games that it's like well if you can't beat this team then how you going to beat all these other ones um and so yeah it's even even if at the end of the day it's only one game out of 12 I feel like for both fan bases uh people have so much either optimism or pessimism that's gonna just wildly swing uh just based on what happened on Saturday yeah we've already saw it a couple weeks ago before Florida lost to Miami yeah it would certainly would continue there um let's St on the defensive side of the ball where have you seen elko's fingerprints on the defense through two games um it's hard to say I you know just this early but yeah but I mean the biggest thing that you see with with Elco is that you know they are generally they're very multiple it's um for the most part it's kind of a 425 defense but he was actually just speaking in his press conference this week that they do have kind of a jack position which which you know is almost more of like the more traditional 34 defense you know where it's almost like exra linebacker slash pass rusher um but if anything you know A&M I think the strength of his defense certainly he always had a lot of defensive line talent but his background is that you know he played he played secondary when he was a player he was a a secondary coach coming up um so I think that really is his bread and butter um is is coaching that group um but yeah I think overall he's just very good at giving you a lot of different looks giving you a lot of confusing looks um and what and the biggest thing that I think so many A&M fans looked forward to was um he was the the king of I got like halftime defens defensive adjustments in his first stint here um I can't tell you you know how many times there was a game where early on you know a teams are having success they they're they figured something out but then you come out in the second half and all of a sudden oh it's fixed uh and so like hard to say like how much of that is carrying over now once again only being two games in really only one game into playing legit competition um but yes suffice to saym fans were more than pleased to to get him back in the fold uh just because we all so fondly remembered those uh those defenses that really kind of propped up uh the gimbo Fisher offense I would say for for several years here in College Station absolutely so hey look there's gonna be some familiar faces for Gator fans when they take a look at that Texas stadium sideline and on the field too Jay baitman Sean Spencer part of this Gator defense the last few year or last couple years under Billy Napier Scooby Williams Jaden Hill transferred to Texas A&M as well uh what about those familiar faces should Florida fans know now how's baitman fitting in Sean Spencer fitting in I know Scooby Williams was listed questionable on the availability report I believe that came out on Wednesday uh so you we'll see how how much we see of him but yeah baitman Spencer Williams Hill what's kind of been the Outlook of those guys since they've been in College Station uh I would say you know bman kind of came in as a little bit of an unknown I think a lot of fans probably didn't know too much about him until the hire came out um but I know but he and mik Elco go back a long way and I think that's that's where that hire gets made just because um you know it's just someone that he is very familiar with comfortable with um and and just I think knows that their defensive philosophies align very well um and to be clear it is a scenario where Elco is you know elco's on the sideline he's he is acting as head coach and Batman's up in the Press Box he's the one calling the defense okay um so it's not one of those like coordinator and Dame only situations um you know he he really is the one one calling the shots up there uh and then as far as the players I would say you Scooby he he started in game one against Notre Dame um and and really I would say looked looked pretty darn good he was U he was making the plays he was held out last week against MCN uh from the what it sounded like they made it sound like that was more of a precaution and that if he had if he had needed to play last week that he probably could have um so certainly with him being listed as questionable this week you have to think he's probably going to play um but yeah I mean so I would absolutely expect to to see him out there now now they do rotate that second linebacker spot so even if he is starting you're still going to see Solomon to Shields he was a transfer from pit and then also Damien Sanford uh probably rotating into those spots as well um and then a similar situation with Jaden Hill he's he's playing nickel at A&M uh and I think he and Tyreek Hill sorry not Tyreek Hill Tyreek Chappelle uh man don't give me anymore Tyreek Tyreek Hill on the brain this week yeah I don't need I don't need the other player to worry about no uh yeah Tyreek Chappelle kind of alternating with Jaden Hill at at the nickel spot for A&M but yeah so certainly both of those guys I think expect him to to to be out there taking Snaps against their old team on Saturday did it turn heads when I believe it was a gator linebacker Shamar James said he told his teammate running back trayon web uh to go kind of search out Scooby Williams and right just run at him so yeah definitely one of those things like I don't know if I would have said it publicly but and who knows how much those guys talk you know yeah and that's the thing you know it's like I mean because you know because we don't know what relationship those guys have they could be really close and could be like an inside joke that no one gets upset about but yeah yeah but certainly from the fan perspective everyone loves to take stuff like that and run with it for sure for sure um to to end this of course I know there's been a a lot of talk about Losers of 10 straight road games and that of course was under the previous staff anything Mike Elco has said about the road game issues and him trying to fix uh yeah yeah he's talked a little bit about it um part of it and this sounds like a small thing but it kind of became uh a big Todo amongst the fan base was Jimbo fer for his pretty much his entire tenure here we left for away games on Thursdays which almost nobody does yeah um and so generally that's not a big deal you say well whatever works uh but when it kept not working um all of a sudden it becomes something where everyone says look you can't win on the road and you're the only one that's leaving a day earlier um and so and Elco confirmed on Monday he said Noe we're we're leaving 4:30 on Friday uh so lots of folks were happy to hear that um but but he also kind of talked a little bit more just about uh just some of their routines even in the offseason of just you know basically the way that they the way they coach their players the way they call their signals and really just conditioning those guys to succeed in in those environments uh even when not kind of they don't have the comfort of the home stadium the home crowd um and if anything it's you know for the fans it would be a huge monkey to get off your back and probably for the players too I would imagine um but you do kind of have that hope that it's it's a new staff uh that you can turn that page and like goodness gracious this the streaks got to end at some point yeah yeah I think I saw something Temple's the only team in the country with a longer active road losing streak so I I would love to get our logo off of that graphic as as soon as possible um and you know and I will say like I was I was there in 2017 so so I know that it's theoretically possible for us uh to win there and and you know I will say the last time we won there it was uh it was the final year of of that head coach's tenure so it was it was Florida wearing the uh what we call the Ugly swamp green uniforms yeah those were something Felipe Frank's running however I don't know how he runs you know 80 yard run but it fla didn't win the game anyway but that a heck of a play it was it was and uh that's another thing you know Florida Texas A&M not permanent Rivals of course I think South Carolina was your guys permanent at the East before you know the conference is what it is now but still amazing how many times Florida and Texas M Texas and& M have had to play each other of course it was the the SEC welcomer with Florida and Texas A&M and Johnny manale game and then 2020 Co game you know Florida had a really good team there it turns out A&M did as well you know a late game fumbles I there's been there's been some drama when these two teams kind of kind of mix it up yeah it it's kind of become a running joke around here that you know this is the fifth time that we're playing Florida since we joined the SEC and we have played Georgia and Kentucky a combined twice right yeah Florida fans bring that up too like what why does Georgia never play Texas ADM yeah I you know and we still like y like Georgia hasn't come to Kyle Field we haven't we haven't gone to Lexington it's it it's it's really kind of silly um but yeah but you know I would say like for our side it's still very much viewed as probably like a a friendly rivalry I don't feel there's a lot of actual animosity between a and Florida and um and and a lot of that's probably you know the series has been has been two to two so like both sides feel like they've kind of had their success I think the only animosity was you know uh Dan mullen's comments after the game um B A packed Stadium whatever but yeah uh you I would say like I know a ton of people that were going out there to Gainesville and people were excited about it um and you know it's just one of those where even though we have played you know now it's gonna be the fifth time it's we play each other just seldomly enough that it's still like it's always feels novel and and even though we've been in the conference for over a decade now um it's just one of those things that it's still really cool to go play in the swamp you know we I when I was in college and I growing up and we were playing in Manhattan Kansas and Stillwater and Ames Iowa and all due respect to those schools but it's a lot different than the SEC yeah absolutely absolutely Florida's not been playing too well at the swamp uh you know recently game against Miami a couple weeks ago so uh yeah adm's had their Road W but Fida not been playing well at home lately either so certainly another angle to this game right here so hey Robert man I can't thank you enough good bull hunting right there for part of SB Nation can't thank you enough for uh hopping on and giving us a preview of these Texas a& mags absolutely man I appreciate it and you know looking forward to Saturday all let's continue on with this preview of the Texas A&M agies there were last Road win a 3514 route over Missouri all the way back October 16 2021 that means they have lost 10 Road games in a row of course under the last staff under Jimbo Fisher but woo man that's uh that's rough there that's rough so of course on the road again in the swamp this weekend Florida not playing too well at home of course in recent games either so something's got to give here certainly this new look Texas A&M staff looking to change some things and then get a win on the road so for the agie offense let's start there uh it may be a game plan to hide the um you know to to ride the Run game and protect quarterback Conor wigman I think they're ask to do too much not going to ask him to do too much uh but heck at the same time the gator defense must prove that pressure the quarterback well the agies may decide to open it up a bit more either way it's hard to know what we'll see out of Conor wigman it's still early in the season so stats of course don't say as much as they will later in the season it goes for everybody but that's all we have for this year let's go back two weeks ago the big opener versus Notre Dame for the aies um and you that will tell us more than last week against MCN Wegman had a terrible first half versus the Irish former five-star recruit seven of 17 in the first half two interceptions the first interception was an overthrow the second ball was well behind the receiver second half wasn't much better against Notre Dame as wman continued to struggle with accuracy issues uh and just a non-existent downfield passing game kind of sounds familiar uh not all of that is on wigman as wide receivers struggle to get separation but at the same time Wegman just didn't really look comfortable in the pocket remember he was coming back from injury so a little bit Rusty coming you know coming back for his first game as well so that could have played a large part in it but didn't look comfortable in the pocket even though there wasn't much consistent pressure from Notre Dame so wigman finished that game 12 of 31 for 100 yards two interceptions no touchdowns but here's the thing though before we get kind of carried away and and thinking he might can do the same things in the one maybe he does maybe he does but Notre Dame Notre Dame is going to lead secondary and I know what happened against last week and all that still Notre Dame got one of the best secondaries in the country point it don't uh so wigman wasn't really pressured all that much still you know he still still just looked offre Dame Secondary to me had a lot to do with that especially with the agies wide receivers not getting much separation only one wide receiver had more than one catch in that game uh the same uh so know we'll see um we saw for Florida two weeks ago the secondary still have communication issues wide openen Miami receivers all over the field and now this Gator secondary this got some injury concerns so you know we'll see what that means for Florida surely get some guys back uh but you know Sharie Denon I assume be back but you know how limited how if he's even going to play Deon Moore you know we'll see uh thej report this week starts for the gauges will be a little bit different so didn't not get a not getting a depth chart but availability report so we'll see how much that changes there but you know the guys who have been injured ASA Turner Deon Moore of course Sharie Denon we just have to see what that means and now jaem Jackson last week as well what that means for the Florida secondary uh but you maybe Florida gets the version of wigman where he hurts himself more than the defense does uh but of course can't necessarily rely on that you don't build a game plan around well he might mess up Wegman rebounded did he did rebound last week versus MCN finished that game with a stat line of 11 of 14 that was about 78% 125 yards two touchdowns also ran four times for 39 yards but after having two turnovers against Notre Dame no turnovers versus MCN looks more comfortable in the pocket given the opponent like like he should uh junior wide receiver Cyrus all Cyrus Allen been the main target for wigman early this season he had five passes for 72 yards last week against MCN he's called a pass in 15 consecutive games so look out for Cyrus Allen Cyrus Allen there and the Aggies you know New Look offensive line um success in the first couple of weeks probably ranked fifth look it's through two weeks we know that that's a disclaimer here but still through two weeks uh ranks fifth nationally uh while leading the SEC with just four tackles for loss so fifth nationally in lead the conference with just giving up four tackles for loss on the year Florida coming off a great performance in that department last week 12 tackles for loss against Sanford but of course that was almost non-existent against Miami a couple of weeks ago Florida's defensive line look they're big but they're not going to play behind the line scrimmage a lot it's just we we haven't seen that uh in you know P4 P5 similar level games similar to opponents of course they have played better up front you know they B it could be hard to move got some big guys up front 325 350 pound range you know cam Jackson Dez Watson over that you know maai burrow uh but the key for A&M if you watch them execute their pen and pull Concepts in the running game test Florida on the edges with the Run game I think that's what you're going to look for I Florida's played pretty good up the middle limiting inside runs with Cam Jackson Dez Watson maai burrow flashing of course linebacker play with p and Shamar so I do look for the Aggies to test the edges more pin pull there and see what they can get on the edges in this run game uh against Notre Dame the Russian game kind of hot and cold for the agies they finished with 12 four yards one touchdown Levon Moss showed flashes but the aies will need to get more consistent they did bounce back with 8.8 yards a rush against MCN last week so Moss carrying the group so far with three touchdowns on the year let's go to the other side of the ball let's go to the's defense I'm going to Big give a big shout out here to JP Gator on the gator breakdown Plus board he did some good work this week um certainly glad when Gator breakdown plus member is getting to the weeds of the game a bit too got that football no recruiting Channel and it's just pure football strategy in that channel uh but he said he went through the Texas A&M uh Notre Dame all 22 and a few notes uh Texas A&M on defense primarily four down front structure team you don't see them getting to Three Down stuff to often on early Downs though they will have a hybrid player standing D some diagram there that was showed in the gator breakdown plus Discord um shows what they like to do on third down in obvious past situations they are normally three down structure they present that in a very variant of ways a variety of ways but ultimately it's not clear on who they're bringing kind of like Florida with the simulated pressures and the creepers uh third down they run a variety of Sims and blitzes they do a nice job of mixing it up get a lot of free they got a lot of free runners against another Dame on early Downs you'll see some creeper Sims as well not as much as flart prefence to bring pressure from The Edge the nickel linebacker or safety from the slot and drop the hybrid at least in the game against Notre Dame would guess against Florida's more compressed sets they will want to bring the nickel even more need to have a plan there coverage wise they are pretty vanilla against Notre Dame they played a ton of cover one variants need to be ready with a game plan to beat man nothing too crazy on the back end safety flies downhill at the snap when they play um middle of field closed coverage super aggressive in the Run game wonder if potential to attack the voided space there with the RPO game um something that the RPO game something I'm very interested in I certainly think that would take off more with the DJ lague but you're also Young quarterback trying to make the right decisions there quick decisions we'll get into that just a second so for me you know this Florida offense is in a weird spot we all know by now the style of offense Billy NE wants to traditionally run uh and that just mainly starts up front you know run blocking been in consistent so far this year we all know about pass blocking the issues there look we heard Billy napy earlier this week they're still trying to figure out the best combo up front you know it's a big offensive line that can't you know pull as well as you'd like look too slow too often getting beat off the ball pass blocking a huge concern of course in protecting the quarterback your guess is as good as M the game plan here for Florida Texas Texas A&M hasn't played the run as well as they'd like to in the first couple of games but with no passing game at all M ran for 4.7 a rush last week and the week before the agies gave up 5.8 yards to carry Notre Dame and that was more than the Irish on a per pass basis with the Irish only get 5.4 yards per pass so got4 more yards running the ball than the Irish than passing the ball so first two opponents haven't had to light it up they haven't had to rely on the passing game to open up the Run game there's been some success from the Run games with Notre Dame and MCN you know for MCN still comparatively I mean only five only 4.7 yards a rush but that's okay for MC n against Texas A&M can the gator get the ground game going protect those quarterbacks slow down a rush Texas A&M's defensive line a force to be reckoned with of course we've talked about that matchup for a couple of weeks now ever since the Miami game knowing you got another pretty good front here got some big boys on the edge is quick Nimble in the middle however you they have been struggling with a few things getting in their run fits staying in their gaps taking good angles and sometimes not enough guys in the Box keep an eye on Shamar Turner Nick scorton or Nick scaron um at tackle those guys they can shoot up Field Scout and the transfer from Purdue those guys really shoot up field cause Havoc Gator's offensive Line's going to have their hands full trying to keep those guys from busting through the line now look at some stats they don't tell the whole story Texas A&M only has one sack through two games ranking 119th in the country one versus Notre Dame and I've even seen that one be counted as a tackle for loss but official stats say one sack versus another Dame no none last week versus MCN agies only have 13 tackles for loss ranking 85th in the country uh and Robert Baron who we just had a conversation with did bring up a good point on Twitter that opposing offenses are making sure they get rid of the ball the first two opponents have um averaged only 4.9 yards per pass attempt the sacks may not be there but teams are absolutely focused on getting the ball out quickly and virtually abandoned the downfield passing game it's A&M due to the pass rush threat to add to this the availability report came out on Wednesday evening and pretty noticeable that it listed Trey Wilson of course wide receiver for the Gators as questionable I saw swap 247 Jacob Runners report that he's unlikely to play versus the aies so after that I reached out to my sources and got back Wilson's doubtful and tank Hawkins will have to step up so pretty big hit to the Gator's passing attack against this Texas him defense so here's the deal with the ai's defense they're all about keeping their pass rush Lanes running stunts to squeeze the pocket for their goal is to make the quarterback throw the ball away because of tight coverage but for that you know it doesn't always lead the sacks or turnovers my worry though is that you know they just might bulldoze through for his offensive line and rack up sacks anyway you know it's not in a it's not a very aggressive defense so there's going to be a lot of oneon-one battles I think for Texas C that's what that's what they'll want right now not have to bring pressure they'll start this game I think not bringing a whole lot of pressure see if they can just win the battles up front big question is will Florida take a page from Notre Dame and MC's Playbook and have to rely on quick passes but then you're gonna have to have some catch and runs behind that because another day MCN still not averaging a whole lot in the passing game but getting the ball out I expect Florida to do the same hopefully the receivers catch and run ability if so you know lague is going to face a whole new ball game compared to last week he'll need to be lotting fast with his throws you know thread some pretty tight needles and if that's the plan those FL receivers better be ready to shake their Defenders because if the Run game doesn't get going and they're living in the back field in pass rush you're going to have to get the ball out of your hands flid receivers going to have to beat their man off the line and have some Yak now let talk about the A&M secondary love to play with two high safeties could switch up to you know three deep coverages on the Fly could be man or Zone their main goal is to keep everything in front of them but they are shuffling a lot of guys on the back seven so haven't really jailed yet on the back end they're still figuring out who supposed to cover who sounds a little bit familiar to Florida in some of in in that regard uh but especially be on the quarterbacks handling the outside receivers good news for Florida I think you know quick throws to the outside and Crossing routes could give A&M some pits if the quarterback has time to make the throws all boys down to that secondary can be taken advantage of I mean it sounds very similar to Miami a couple of weeks ago very very strong up front questions on the back end didn't really help all that much a couple weeks ago so Florida's lack of past rush going back to the other side that concerns me to affect webman consistently going to wrap it up here in this preview of the game prediction coming up but Florida's lack of pass rush that really concerns me we've seen so far this year that for for for for Wegman seems so far this year that he he can help a defense out on his own but for Florida's you can't Bank on that you don't game plan for that now there's some defenses out there that say okay the quarterback will eventually mess it all up we'll play Ben don't break he'll eventually mess it up there might be some of that here but at the same time we have seen the Florida defense be a get-right game for opposing quarterbacks the last few years you know Wegman can win or lose this game for Texas A&M he's got to improve his play as well but for this Gator defense that might be the might be the Elixir he's looking for looking at the other side for Florida not sure who will play at quarterback or how much makes this a little more difficult to predict I expect GRE merch to start but no matter who's that quarterback for Florida Merz or lagway both are going to have to be on point in rhythm in the quick passing game quick decisions are going to have to be made and that's where we need to see lagway where we didn't see him much last week faster decisions in tighter windows and if he's going to play more than a handful of plays we're going to have to see that from him now if it's just a few plays here or there all right maybe we don't need to see that from DJ like way but if he's going to be in there for you know a high number I don't know I don't know what the number like but if he's going to be out there for all right 20ish 25 plays hopefully more maybe more there's going to have to be times where he's going to have to make faster decisions throw in tighter Windows just because of the raising competition now for Merch you know if we get last season merch that could be enough to win this game as long as the defense shows up it it can be pretty much you know pretty much the story of last season but we saw how last season ended so gr M can play well and Florida can still lose this game he can play well and FL can be in the game defense is going to have to make a late play but if merch plays like he did last year which we didn't see versus Miami and the defense plays a good game f will win this game but we've also seen it the offense can have a good day of race by the defense and look I know a lot of people would go back too the aies lost to Notre Dame at home and then Notre Dame loses to NIU last week and Min will correlate that somehow into this game well for me personally I can't get the Miami game out of my head for Florida I'm in Pro it mode for Billy Napier I'm still not sure the Florida offensive line is you know ready to help the offense use the skill players enough to make a difference if lague plays more than I thank you will then I can see Florida squeaking this one out but without knowing that angle I'm rolling with Texas A&M 2720 I I think there are many reasons Florida can win this game and maybe I'm overreacting to what we saw two weeks ago I like Florida skill position players but I feel that Fielder is limited by the offensive line play and we'll see about quarterback far as offensive line play really affects how I think this game can be played I think Texas stadium controls the trenches and they walk out with a touchdown win 2720 I'm in I'm in provement mode I'm in Prov in provement mode you know got really down the Arkansas game last year I haven't seen much to really dig out of that after what we saw a couple weeks ago versus Miami so certainly a game Florida can win maybe some way should win and we just heard about Texas's Road wo but Florida hasn't been too good at home in recent games either can the swamp really be a difference what the difference a couple weeks ago and this whole sense of urgency about Florida as well where is that and I'll go back to what I said after the Miami game you should had all the sense of you should have had all the sense of urgency in the world for that game the back against the wall mentality for that game and you came out flat why should I believe Florida's got that prove the world wrong Back Against The Wall mentality now if you didn't have it then why should I believe you have it now why should I believe that should make a difference right now so maybe I'm grading too harsh right now but the whole blind belief the hope the faith no I'm in Prov it mode teams with a little more Talent maybe like Texas A&M overall similar talent I find it pretty hard to pick to pick a Florida win at the moment so unfortunately unfortunately I see a Texas A&M 2720 win over the Gators all right to end this episode let's catch back up focus on the Gators with Alex Shepard here we are back again focus on the Gators with Alex Shepard and Alex hey we finally uh finally going to talk about a win it's been it's been a while since about mid October last year first of all it was I don't care who it was we we can of course that plays into it but it was it was good to finally see the team get a win yeah I mean I'll take it any way I can get it now um you know obviously uh Samford gave us a little bit of a scare last time they were here yeah um but fortunately uh we looked prepared for this game unlike the last one um and got out of the swamp with a victory I'll take it absolutely um could you tell pregame the electricity around one DJ lagway oh man I mean any tunnel he was walking out of any any part of the crowd he was near you heard people cheering for him and yelling his name and and clearly he mentioned in his postgame presser that you know he was nervous he could he could feel the weight of that start on his shoulders despite the opponent being one that you know most people might consider a cupcake um you know it's still a big moment for a Young quarterback to come into a a stadium with you know I I don't think there was a full 90,000 in there but a you know 80 plus thousand crowd and and given the circumstances a good crowd yeah I mean excuse me a great crowd given what I thought was going to happen I mean I thought that you know we were going to see a lot of empty seats and there really wasn't that many um but he he knew it was a big moment the crowd definitely uh didn't let him forget that um but yeah lots of energy lots of excitement around DJ when he was warming up coming out of the tunnel um you know every photographer was just huddled around him so uh it was very exciting to see very uh electrifying for sure yeah but uh from from your Vantage Point on the sideline did it did it feel different like I mean pregame and and during the game uh I mean that energy stayed and and I'm sure as I don't know if they showed it on the TV broadcast but I mean after his first touchdown or I think it was his first touchdown uh toh tank Hawkins I mean people were just cheer like the whole crowd was DJ lagway clap clap clap clap I mean everybody was cheering for and after every single touchdown there on it was like that and even before the game started people were cheering his name like I said and and uh just really excited to see him on the field regardless of the appointment um and and that's what I likeed about it too you mentioned the you mentioned the touchdown the tank and we're showing your great images too that you took Saturday night Alex sheeper photography here um I mean the big I mean first drive of the game Elijah badger in the Big Catch and run the touchdown to tank the touchdown to maelle I mean it was also look that's what these games kind of provide for us but still at the same time like get a lot of guys involved and not just involved but some big plays from those guys yeah and sorry if my voice is a little bit scratchy today it's still recovering um but I I like seeing him spread the ball around and it was actually very special for him to get the ball to tank because he said that that's like his guy that's one of his best friends on the team and um you could see that there's the photo and they he I try and produce along the way I'll get lucky sometimes did a great job um you know for this one I mean obviously it was a long touchdown but as soon as the ball was uh entering Tank's hands you could see if you were watching DJ he was taking off sprinting for the end zone to try and go celebrate with him uh that didn't happen a few of the other times but um yeah this was a really special moment for the two of them and uh obviously I think most of us hope that there's more of this to come I think they need to get tank more involved uh given his speed yeah um you know he he and uh Trey Wilson could pose a huge threat to defenses if they just mix them up and do exactly what they did on Saturday I know some of your favorite string of images that you shared on Twitter was this deep one to Aiden maelle um just a just a crazy throw I mean you see lagway step up in the pocket not looking to run but looking to you know launch one and and boy does he ever he beat gets taken off the ground because he's th he's throwing the ball so hard uh and just rten a Bread Basket right there for a mail yeah you I mean when I was watching him because I I told you in our first episode I typically watch the quarterback's eyes and just see what they're doing I mean I thought it was a busted play I didn't even see myel out of the corner of my eye my favorite part of this image is Albert covering his eyes behind like I think that was all of us for for you know a few moments uh in the game you know just scared about you know what was going to happen but I mean he put it right on the money the defender I didn't catch it in the image uh actually or in of the ones I posted but um the defender actually got a hand on the ball and grazed his fingers so it was very close to not being completed but fortunately myel was locked in uh brought it down and uh got his first career touchdown as well so very exciting for a lot of gators yeah as we said um and just I mean the just explosiveness not not just getting new guys involved but getting new guys involved in a big way uh you know wasn't just dinking dunk it wasn't um you know conservative call it was just like hey if your if your name's going to be called on the receiving end of a play is probably going to be a big play so that was the uh I think something I I liked about it too um going on and I'm GNA try and get to the images here do you have a story about lague and the and the offensive lineman asking him up to to sing at the alma Mo I thought I thought that was the the story that I heard too was like hey they brought him up there to to get that done oh yeah I think that they knew exactly what they were doing um you know for whatever reason it may be I think they wanted him front row because you know he deserved the credit um you know he was very humble in Victory you know saying it was you know his receivers and his lineman but the lineman they they know what the crowd wants they they they know that everyone's cheering his name they want to see him and then on top of that I was actually one of the last photographers to make it to uh make it to the front and I actually I I had seen him toward the back originally and so I was looking down the lines of guys with their arms around going where the heck is he and then I took a peek around the front I saw you know 50 photographers crunched up there I was like ah I I guarantee you he's up there um and so I came around the front and fortunately a spot opened up and sure enough he was up there swaying around and then uh as you can see I mean everyone was just really happy he was happy um and then after we sang the Alam Mater and the fight song uh Austin Barber covered him up as well as all I think two or three other offensive lineman like Jake Slaughter surrounded him like all right no more pictures no more pictures everyone step back step back like Mr President please um so it was cool to see that camaraderie with him and his uh his teammates yeah so do eventually have another game to be played are you Gator fan Alex Shephard in you ready to turn to Paige to DJ lagway beat the starting quarterback against Texas A&M I'm I might surprise some people but no um okay you know I think he's got immense talent I just you know I think that Merz earned the starting job for a reason he has you know done a good job leading this team and I think that we need to see a healthy mix of both I don't think that we need to just say oh well Merz you know thanks see you later um you know appreciate what you done but uh lagway had a good game against an FCS team and we need to put him out there um you know Merz has the experience he he's played against SEC teams um and I think what you need to do if it were me I mean yeah it'd be nice to throw lague out there and say you know go get him kid and your second career start against an SEC opponent and maybe it goes really well but if it were me and I were the coach I would be putting Merz out there as the starter and then I would have multiple packages for lague whether it's every drive or um like every other Drive I would not do a split series type of deal where you have Merz in one and then lague another I think it just makes sense to have Merz out there and then bring lague in for a lot of packages and have him very involved so I would personally not start him I I mean I get that people want that given what's happened and that he's obviously immensely talented if if Merz doesn't come out of protocol I think that you know uh it'll certainly present more of a challenge than Samford did but uh yeah if it were me I'm starting Merz bringing lague in a lot of packages and having them evolved would your lease for Merz be shorter of course yeah I I don't think that you can go into that game and say you know regardless of how the game's going I'm Gonna Keep Merz in the game um Graham has been an outstanding leader for this team uh both on and off the field uh I think that that deserves uh some you know credit and uh that he deserves to be the starter if he's ready um but if we're getting into this game we're down you know 14 to zero and he's not completing passes like he should um you know I think that that that gives you reason to say well let's see what DJ's got but you know obviously I think that we did something similar with like Felipe Franks I'm trying to think back on when we did this but you know we had a highly touted freshman and we were like everyone wanted him in the game and they get in the game and you know they're not they're not killing it they're not doing as any better than the previous quarterback and I I you also don't want to spoil um you know a season where Merz could have been performing better but you just wanted to go behind the hype train of lagway because the fans wanted it so um I don't know a nicer way to say that but no no it it is a tricky situation because I mean say you do start merch and it doesn't go and you do replace him like you said and then like way does show out and you lose lose by a touchdown you're like well if you would have started him then maybe it wouldn't have been that way or you know you throw lague out there and it doesn't go that way but does that is that a buffer for Billy Napier saying well you know we decided to turn the page to the true freshman there's going to be some bumps in the road playing a true freshman so um that kind of does you know take us to this Saturday starting starting or not who who M doesn't matter who starts at quarterback I mean almost a must-win this agie game because of what happened a couple weeks ago against Miami yeah I mean looking forward I think this is one of the more winnable games um Texas A&M is not a great throwing team they like to run the ball uh Connor wigman against Notre Dame I can't remember off the top of my head was something like 12 of 30 passing uh with two interceptions um I he get a lot he gets a lot of hype too yeah he does yeah we haven't seen it like I bought I bought into Aggie's hype not necessarily wigman hype I bought into agie hype into the season but yeah he was always just under the radar watch out you know watch out for this guy type of quarterback yeah and you know obviously they played uh MCN State I believe this last weekend and and it was an easier opponent for them as well and he did a lot better as you would expect him to um but this could present a challenge this will be an away game this is their first of the season um you know I think that we'll have another good crowd on Saturday and hopefully we can make some kind of difference uh you know for him and maybe he'll put on another performance like you know a 12 and 30 for 112 yard performance um you know he has talent there's no doubt about that kind of similar to cam moard like when I had spoken about cam Ward on the first podcast that his worst game was against UCLA and on the you know a bigger stage and then obviously he came in here and uh did a better job I think that cam W's a better quarterback but ultimately uh we need to affect the quarterback the defensive line needs to start showing up I don't think I don't think that they have really shown their true potential yet they haven't really been able to affect the quarterback um did they I don't know if maybe they got like one Sack or two sacks something like that if did they get one I can't recall my head yeah they did uh heck I think it was three or four if I remember head so see this is where my like my my brain is trying to remember but uh against Miami I'm not sure that they got no no no sorry I should have I should have specified oh my bad my bad okay I thought you were talking about okay they haven't really shown up in this in the big games as they should they haven't been able to create that pressure and obviously Texas A&M is gonna have a similar not as good but a similar uh offensive line defensive line combo uh as Miami did because you know they they have recruited better than we have in the trenches in my opinion so look that goes to the storyline I was going ask you before we do wrap up here that that kind of goes to the quarterback story line Texas stm's defensive Line's really good and I mean really good and we've seen this Florida offensive line especially against Miami a couple weeks ago I mean does that play into the factor of hey pup hey pup I got my two pups with me in here yeah um does that play into the factor of rolling with a DJ lagway just knowing you know the ineffectiveness of this for offensive line so far oh man I I think so um you know we've obviously seen that Merz um you know has a tendency to to be under pressure and uh obviously has less escapability than someone like lague does lague can make moves outside the pocket and get away um so I think that that helps him but at the same time you also want to protect you know your your your true freshman quarterback and I think that that's why it makes sense to play them both to to have lague come in and you know they don't know if he's going to throw or if he's going to run uh a lot like 2006 Florida when you had Chris leak and Tim TBO um you know Chris leak was the prolific passer and TBO could pass but also was a great Runner I think lague uh is a great passer as well um but you're going to see a lot more pressure from uh the Texas A&M front seven and especially their defensive line than you would from a Samford and so so um you know I think that that's going to be a tough challenge for Florida's offensive line I think that they really need to uh continue progressing upward I think that Austin Barber has played great um but the rest with the limit of snaps he's been out there yeah when they yeah when he's actually out there um but you know it remains to be seen this is going to be Florida's first SEC challenge will they be able to step up uh come out of there two and one um I think that if they do I think you see a lot of uh Florida fans more hopeful for the season um you know I'll definitely have to update my Outlook if we can win that game um you know but right now I I'm I'm hesitant just because I feel like the sample size is not yet large enough to make a full determination absolutely hard to get a feel you know need a lot more uh data points for lack of a better term I guess uh with these games coming up so all right Alex I know you got a busy week be back in town Florida Texas A&M um what you got uh I guess you know coming up everybody knows about getting those photos done showed the great photos you got there Saturday night in the swamp uh anything going on crazy in the real estate World here in Northeast Florida oh I mean right now uh the Market's actually seeing a little bit of a shift uh favoring buyers which is a a great thing because for the last I don't know two years it's been uh focused on the seller side of things so a lot of first- time home buyers coming into the market interest rates are starting to trickle down um which is always a good sign for for the Home Market um so if anyone's looking to move to Jacksonville come hang out with us Dave over here in uh the Bold new city of the South we'd love to have him over here absolutely absolutely so photos if you're looking to move to Jacksonville all that stuff right here in this area make sure contact Alex Shepard this has been another addition of focused on the Gators with Alex Shepard all right good stuff from Alex and of course good stuff earlier from Robert giving us a preview of Texas A&M that would do it for this episode of Gator breakdown I am your host David Waters you can find me on social media at Gator Dave guys and girls out there thank you for listening to this episode of Gator's breakdown