52° P/CLOUDY, Tailbacks awaiting Meyer's decision
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 12:00 a.m.
With the opener now only five days away, the status of potential starting tailback DeShawn Wynn remains uncertain.
There has been speculation for several weeks that he will be suspended from the game against Wyoming, but UF coach Urban Meyer said that decision hasn't been made yet.
When asked Monday if Wynn and/or other players were suspended for Saturdays' game, Meyer said, "I don't know if suspended is the right word. There are going to be some players not playing because they have not done what they had to do. Is DeShawn one of those? I don't know yet. I'll make that decision on game day. The best players and the invested players will play. We still have another week of practice so there is room for investment."
Whether Wynn is eligible or not, Meyer still hasn't settled on a starting tailback for Saturday night's game.
"I'm waiting for someone to step up and say, 'I'm the tailback at the University of Florida. Give me the ball 25 times and I'll get you a bunch of yards,' " Meyer said. "I have not seen that happen."
Meyer said there's a chance true freshman Kestahn Moore could start Saturday's game.
"He can play," Meyer said. "He might be in there for the first snap. I want to see what that kid looks like (when he runs out of the tunnel before the game). It's a little different than running out at a high school stadium."
Meyer said he will also pay close attention to the pre-game demeanor of true freshman quarterback Josh Portis, who is locked in a battle with junior Gavin Dickey for the No. 2 quarterback role.
"Gavin Dickey is there potentially and so is Josh," Meyer said. "I think there's a chance you'll see Gavin Dickey, Josh Portis and Chris Leak take snaps Saturday. We won't announce the backup because there's no reason to. We don't know who it is yet.
"Josh Portis is going to come out of the tunnel with Coach Meyer for the first time in his career. That's just a touch different than Taft High School in Los Angeles. I want to see his reaction. He might not take a snap until I see him settle down. It's a game-time decision."
Florida senior safety Deshawn Carter, a Hammond, La., native, said he has not heard from his family since Hurricane Katrina made landfall early Monday morning.
Carter said he last spoke to his parents at 5 on Monday morning, before the eye of Katrina smashed into the Louisiana coast about 10 miles east of New Orleans. Hammond is about 35 miles northwest of New Orleans.
"I've been calling all day," Carter said. "I just hope at some point the lines free up so they can give me a call and let me know what's going on."
Katrina, a Category 4 storm with winds up to 145 miles per hour, affected the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle, ripping up part of the roof of the Superdome in the process.
Carter said that his parents chose to stay with his grandmother in Hammond, rather than evacuate, "The last time I talked to them they said a bunch of trees had blown down, but again, that was 5 in the morning," Carter said.
To deal with the anxiety, Carter spent most of the day monitoring the storm while starting his fall internship at the Martin Luther King Center. He estimated he hit the redial button to his grandmother's phone number "about 30 times" but wasn't able to get through.
"I've been watching TV a lot," Carter said. "It appears to me that the storm is mostly tailing up Mississippi, but the outskirts of Louisiana is getting it really bad."
Carter said he's not concerned about property at this point, "I don't care about the house," he said. "As long as the family is OK, that's my main concern."
Meyer said one of the biggest surprises of the preseason has been the dramatic overall improvement junior wide receiver Andre Caldwell has made in his game.
"The guy who has really come on. ... I didn't see this," Meyer said. "He was a nice guy (in the spring). Bubba Caldwell is turning into the deal. He's becoming a wide receiver. Before he was just a fast guy who could catch a couple of passes and run away from people. When he played against a big-time opponent when the guy was just as fast as him, he didn't do very good.
"I called him today out of the blue and told him I'm proud of him. If I showed you tape from March or April to what he's doing now, he's as improved a guy as we have."
Caldwell said he's found the comfort zone in the offense after struggling to adjust in the spring.
"It's getting to the point (where instincts are taking over)," Caldwell said. "I'm real comfortable in this offense. I just go out there and play. I'm not thinking, I'm just out there using my talent and playing a lot faster and making plays. I'm real excited. I'm 100 percent confident in this offense."
Meyer still hasn't decided who his No. 1 punter and place-kicker will be Saturday.
Eric Wilbur, slowed the first two weeks of practice after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, is battling Nick Fleming for the punting job, while Chris Hetland and Eric Nappy are competing for the field-goal kicking duties.
"(Wilbur) is close, but he's not punting like a big-league punter right now," Meyer said. "Those couple of weeks set him back.
"I have not named a kicker yet (either). Hetland and Nappy are ahead of the other two (Jonathan Phillips and Brandon Abbaspour)."
Co-defensive coordinators Charlie Strong and Greg Mattison each will earn $180,000 in 2005, according to contracts released by Florida.
Associate head coach Doc Holliday, who also coaches the safeties, will make $165,000. Holliday also received a $25,000 retention bonus after Marshall showed interest in him replacing coach Bob Pruett this spring. Holliday will get another $15,000 bonus if he remains on staff next August. Holliday's contract is the only two-year deal. The others expire in January.
Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen will get $140,000. Recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach Chuck Heater and offensive line coach John Hevesy will earn $130,000 apiece. Tight ends coach Steve Addazio will make $120,000. Running backs coach Stan Drayton and receivers coach Bill Gonzales are at $110,000 each.
The assistants also receive a company car and $10,000 for the school's apparel contract with Nike.
Meyer signed a seven-year, $14 million contract earlier this year.
Robbie Andreu can be reached at 352-374-5022 or andreur@gvillesun.com. Kevin Brockway contributed to this report.
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