The time is now for Florida's young wide receivers

At Sunday night's practice, Billy Gonzales was down six scholarship receivers. The last time the Florida wide receiver corps was in this kind of shape, the Gators' spread offense sputtered and stalled. That was midway through the 2005 season.

"Four years ago that offense was in reverse," UF coach Urban Meyer said.

The 2009 offense isn't in reverse, not yet. But it's slowing down. The hits UF has taken at wide receiver have taken a toll — and taken some of the big-play spark out of the offense.

"We've just got to figure out what we want to do," said Gonzales, the wide receivers coach. "It just comes down to putting playmakers in the right spots to make plays."

Back in 2005, when wide receivers Andre Caldwell, Dallas Baker and Jemalle Cornelius were sidelined by injuries, the Gators did not have much in the way of options. In a loss at LSU, fullback Billy Latsko and walk-on Kyle Morgan were lining up at wide receiver.

"I'll take Billy right now," Gonzales said. "Now you're bringing back memories."

Eventually, Meyer and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen revamped the offense and went with a more traditional two-back set, a move that helped turn the season around.

The difference now is the Gators still have enough wide receivers to keep the spread intact. It's just a matter of getting some of the young guys up to speed and ready to play.

"Omarius Hines, T.J. Lawrence and Frankie Hammond are guys that are trying to get on the field," quarterback Tim Tebow said. "They're working. They have to take that one more step of understanding the offense every snap and knowing what they're doing and executing.

"They're really close to getting on the field."

But they're not there yet.

"I think it's a little too soon right now," said senior wide receiver David Nelson, who is helping mentor the young guys. "It's a week-by-week basis. If they have great practices this week, they will be in for sure.

"It's tough to say right now. We'll see how they do on Tuesday and Wednesday."

The Gators need some help from at least one of those redshirt freshmen. Maybe as soon as Saturday at Kentucky.

UF is down three of its top wide receivers — Deonte Thompson, Carl Moore and Andre Debose.

Thompson missed the Tennessee game last Saturday with a hamstring injury. Moore is out indefinitely with an injured back, while Debose is sidelined for the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn hamstring tendon.

With those three out, UF's three remaining experienced receivers — Nelson, Riley Cooper and Brandon James — basically went the distance in the 23-13 victory over UT.

Although the three seniors graded out as champions, they did not produce any big plays. The longest reception by a wide receiver was for 14 yards by Nelson.

With the receivers bottled up most of the day, the Gators relied on Tebow and the tailbacks to win the game.

"They graded out champions for me this week, so I'm proud of those guys," Gonzales said. "They did their job. Obviously, we want to make big plays. We didn't get into the end zone and we always talk about the big plays. We didn't have any as a group."

Thompson, UF's best deep threat, is probable for Saturday's game. If he can't go, the Gators need someone to step up.

Hines, Hammond and Lawrence took most of the reps in Sunday's practice. Meyer called it a development day for them.

"They've all got talent," Meyer said. "It's time to go play. One of those guys we have to throw out there this week. We're going with the idea Deonte is going to play, but we've got to get that next guy ready."

Meyer said Sunday there is a sense or urgency to get the young receivers ready.

But they will have to perform in practice before they earn the opportunity to play.

"We just need these young guys to keep pushing and developing," Gonzales said. "The only way you get better and play at Florida, and it's never changed, is you've got to make plays in practice. The word 'gamer,' we don't believe in that here.

"You've got to make the plays over and over in practice. Our upperclassmen right now are doing that. The younger guys need to do that."

Gonzales said he's confident that his receivers, however many are ready to play Saturday, will be in a position to make plays.

"Coach Meyer and the offensive staff will sit down and put players in position to make plays, and they need to go make those plays," Gonzales said. "We've got to coach up the ones we've got and get them to play extremely fast, extremely hard, and go play football."

Contact Robbie Andreu at 352-374-5022 or at dooleyp@gvillesun.com.