It’s taken a while, but the Gators are finally involving slot receiver Dre Massey in the offense. He’s made plays in back-to-back games, and the plan is to keep feeding him the ball.
“It was good for him and good for this football team, the opportunity for a guy that has playmaking ability with the ball in his hands to make plays,” UF interim head coach Randy Shannon said of Massey’s two-reception performance at Missouri, including a 38-yard pass play. “Like anything else, once a guy shows he can do it you have to find ways to get the ball back in his hands. We’re finding ways to get the ball in his hands so he can make plays for us.”
Massey would like to have another good game Saturday, especially with so many family members and friends in the stands. He is from Greenville, S.C., and was once a Gamecock commitment.
“It’s a big game for me,” he said. “I’ve got like 50-plus people coming. It’s going to be a big, big deal.”
Massey said Shannon is the reason he ended up at Florida instead going to USC.
“Coach Shannon,” he said. “He recruited me pretty hard. I was with him the whole way, honestly. I was recruited by (Steve) Spurrier when he was at South Carolina before he was leaving. He told me he was leaving and I was like, ‘Yeah I’m going to go to Florida.’ ”
Nuss still calling plays
Shannon was asked Monday if he is considering having someone other than offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier call plays this week.
“No. No. Not at all,” he said. “We moved the ball more than other times (this season). We just have to get in the red zone and score points. And that’s the thing, we have to score touchdowns.”
Paying for penalties
Shannon pulled his starting offensive tackles — Martez Ivey and Jawaan Taylor — on separate occasions after each was called for a procedure penalty in the red zone against Missouri.
“Just took them out. That’s unacceptable when you have an opportunity to score points and you get negative plays,” Shannon said. “You’re in the red zone and those things happen, that’s on you. Listen, in football, if you physically get beat, all right, if you’re not fast enough or athletically you’re just not good enough, OK, we can accept those things. That’s called recruiting, getting strong in the weight room and building your speed.
“But if it’s the mental part of the game, that’s unacceptable. Me concentrating on the snap count or me concentrating looking at the ball and seeing where it’s snapped, those mental reps. Those are things you can not afford.”
“Nuss still calling plays”
SHM. What is the definition of insanity? Continually doing the same thing and expecting a different result?
No need to change much since the season is history and a bowl game is improbable. Nuss is the first to go and he needs to show that he can call plays that not every one in the stadium can predict.
I’m surprised he can’t get off the pro style crap and do something that would be to our QB’s strengths?. Maybe it’s too late for any spread but just be unpredictable.
Gators are finally involving slot receiver Dre Massey in the offense.
Dre has 1 rush for 3 yards and 6 receptions for 98 yards for the entire season. But I guess in the MacNuss offense, that is involved.
Massey is one of the great mysteries of the MAC era. He was billed as an all world superstar, performed like one in spring, was offered as an excuse for last year’s offensive woes, and was taken out of the offense in this, his first year of play. All without a bit of explanation. I chalk it up to more of the round the clock bs and double talk we got from MAC for three years. ON TO THE FUTURE!!
Gator Steve. And what about the freshman tight end that McElwain raved about all spring and played well in the spring game. Never seen or heard from again when the season began. Another perplexing McElwain cool mystery piece.
I’m still loooking for the dog that excels at QB in his offense. Aghhhh. The rhetoric.
First four play calls for the South Carolina game by Nussmeier:
1. A bubble screen pass for a loss of two yards.
2. A run up the middle on second down for three yards.
3. On third and nine, Nussmeier will call a five yard out pass (although nine yards are needed for a first down) that will be covered by all five defensive backs because all other receivers are held in to block, and Zaire will be sacked because he has been told not to run the ball, ever.
4. A punt, the Gators most explosive offensive play call, which Nussmeier notes to Shannon shortly thereafter that the defense is now in good field position.
Nussmeier spends the entire halftime break, with the Gatos down 24 to 0, wondering what went wrong during the first half and determines he needs to eliminate the one 5 yard “down the field” pass and replace it with another run up the middle play call on third down every time. At the end of the game, Nussmeier is perplexed why his game plan did not work and Florida loses the game 48 to 2. But he is happy with the two points the Gators scored via a safety and tells Shannon that indicates offensive progress for the future.
Rick …you nailed it…If I never see another bubble screen pass, by UF, it will be too soon !!!! it works maybe 1 out of every 100 plays…and it certainly hasn’t been kind to Florida…especially when everyone in the stadium and every DC in college football and every TV analysts knows that it’s coming…I don’t know what Nuss is thinking…I must say…I am very disappointed in Shannon’s statement about Nuss… Shannon needs to wake up about Nuss and at least reach out to Spurrier and ask him if he would interested in calling the plays for the last 2 games…for old time sake…why would any OC call a pitch play on the one yard line…rather than run the ball straight forward with Perine or Thompson…it’s plain and simple…with a pitch play …you have more negatives than positives…a 4 or 5 yard tackle for a loss, which is exactly what happened or a bad pitch and fumble for either a turnover or lost yardage… the only positive would be a touchdown…really, really a DUMB call….and why? after all… how many pitch plays have we seen from the gators, this year… I think every pass play to the RW’s should be no less than the first down marker with the receiver running and not stopped with his back to the goal post…….better known as a downfield passing attack….I can’t think of a single good or great offensive team…that relies on a horizontal passing attack, consisting of bubble screens, 0r 3-5 yard crossing patterns…this is exactly what we have gotten under Muschamp / Mac and Nuss… Zaire made some nice downfield passes against UM … let’s hope he continues to throw the ball downfield…it doesn’t have to be a 30-40 pass…just hit the receiver at or beyond the first down marker while running … It’s a formula for winning.