Brian Poole gets highest rating among recent local football grads

Bucs new running back Doug Martin

Friday's column in the Bradenton Herald sports section referenced Phil Steele's college preview publication and how he evaluated Tampa Bay Bucs first round draft pick and running back Doug Martin when he came out of high school five years ago.

Here is a look at how he rated some local products to come out of Manatee County the  last couple of years.

His highest rating went to 2012 Southeast graduate and University of Florida bound Brian Poole, who is ranked the #7 best defensive back in the country by Steele.

Some other familiar names that received a high rating from Steele in the class of 2011 include Manatee High running back Mike Blakely (#11 ) and Punta Gorda Charlotte standout Mike Bellamy (#5). In the Class of 2010, Steele had Southeast defensive back Jon Dowling at #19.

 

Ironically none of the last three are at the college they attended out of high school. Dowling went from Florida to Western Kentucky, Blakely from Florida to Auburn and after a season at Clemson, Bellamy became an academic casualty and is in junior college.

Does Florida have its priorities right? Some question dumping an entire department for athletics

We always knew football has reigned supreme at the University of Florida, but has the school gone too far in wiping out an entire science department so athletics (mainly football, who are we kidding) can continue to remain elitist.

Forbes Magazine reported last week that in a cost cutting move the University of Florida was elimnating its computer science department to save about $1.7 million while adding $2 million to its athletic budget that now hovers around $99 million.

Even at Florida where athletics is considered the straw that stirs the drink this isn't being taken lightly. Some students have organized a website to stage their  protest and several distinquihsed computer scientists are backing their cause.

Money is tight as we all know. But do coaches have to be earning multi- million dollar contracts at the expense of academics, particularly in the midst of a technological revolution.

Lets be honest you could see this happening at Alabama or Auburn and no one would rasie a stir, but this is Florida. The school does have some academic prestige sort of a long the lines of Vanderbilt.

It is also a school that enabled former coach Urban Meyer to become a millionaire albeit while Tim Tebow was broke. The most famous Florida quarterback writes in his book he had to clean chicken coops for his mother one Christmas because he didn't have the money to buy her a present.

Some people are blaming the Florida legislature for making some huge cuts in the Florida's budget, about 30 percent according to Forbes.

But it begs the question; do we need to be paying some of these coaches exhorbitant salaries. Maybe the football program could donate $1.7 million to keep the computer science department alive.

Manatee's Mike Blakely tops Auburn running backs in spring game

Mike Blakely couldn't have picked a better time to have his best day of spring football at Auburn. The only question is whether the former Manatee High star can build on in.

Blakely, who sat out last season after transferring from Florida, led all Auburn running backs in the Tigers annual spring game Saturday.

He ran for 65 yards on only five carries (13 per yd avg) that included a 25 yard TD run and a 27 yard scamper that was the longest of the day.

On his TD run, Blakely showed some of what won him acclaim at Manatee when he was stopped at the line of scrimmage, then busted a few tackles and ran to daylight.


Blakely went into the game thought to be at least behind running backs Corey Grant and Onterio McCalebb and perhaps Tre' Mason. Grant was the most productive in that trio and he gained only 23 yards on 7 carries in the game.

Auburn head coach Gene Chizik wasn't ready to anoint anyone the starter and said Blakely has a long way to go. The sophomore did miss some time during spring practice because of the birth of his son, which set him back.

Chizik said Blakely needed to work on every aspect of his game, including pass protection, pass catching and everything else a good running back is expected to so.

"Inconsistent. Very inconsistent. I think he did some nice things today, but overall very inconsistent in what he does" Chizik said. "Today he had a couple of nice runs in there and that was good to see, but overall for him, very inconsistent through 14 days now."

The coach described the team's running game overall as fairly productive, but again cited inconsistency.

"I think probably each guy had one or two decent runs, but again, we have some competition building at that position, and I think they're all aware of that," Chizik said. "It's good to have different guys to potentially choose from, so they just have to keep working and staying on track.

"We have not arrived at that position at all. We have to find somebody who will take the ball and run it north and south and do it physical. We're still looking at inconsistency in that regard."

"Inconsistent. Very inconsistent. I think he did some nice things today, but overall very inconsistent what he does" Chizik said. "Again, today he had a couple of nice runs in there and that was good to see, but overall for him, very inconsistent through 14 days now."

Jacoby Brissett gets start over Jeff Driskel for Gators against Auburn

The Florida quarterback controversy has officially begun.

It was launched Friday morning when Gators head coach Will Muschamp announced Jacoby Brissett (left #17) would start Saturday at Auburn.

Jeff Driskel, the heir apparent to John Brantley and anyone else, is said to be healthy after sitting out last week’s loss to LSU with an ankle injury.

It’s still too early to anoint anyone a permanent starter and incumbent John Brantley could be back for the Georgia game on October 29^th after the Gators bye week.

Brissett completed 8 of 14 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown against LSU, which was considered impressive because he was for all and intents and purposes going to redshirt this season.

There were little details about why Brissett will start and there could be several reasons, including Driskel’s ankle not being one-hundred percent, thought the coaches said he was fine.

It gives credence to the argument that Florida offensive coordinator Charlie Weis really liked the 6-3, 239 Brissett and recruited him hard even though Driskel was committed and considered by many to be the front runner for the job in 2012 if not before.

Weis said Driskel was fine this week and shared snaps with Brissett. For the season, Driskel is 7 for 16 for 73 yards and has thrown two interceptions without a touchdown.

AJ Love catches passes from Cam Newton

A.J. Love has not played in a football game since 2009, but that doesn’t mean the USF receiver isn’t getting his name out to the right people.

Thanks to Jon Gruden’s ESPN “QB Camp” workouts that are being held on USF’s new practice fields and Love has had a chance to catch passes from some of the NFL’s top quarterback prospects.

Recently the Southeast High product caught passes from Auburn’s Cam Newton, who might be the first pick in Thursday night’s NFL draft. Love looked good and his former teammate at Southeast, , also going into his final season at USF, got into some of action.

The 6-2, 205 pound Love looks as if he has fully recovered from his ACL surgery that forced him to sit out last season. In fact, USF head coach Skip Holtz says it’s just a matter of the receiver getting his confidence back and he doesn’t expect that to be a problem.

Gruden put in a plug for Love and the others telling the media and that USF has a good looking bunch of receivers. The former Bucs head coach who spoke at Holtz’s coaching clinic last month, got to spend time with Southeast head coach Paul Maechtle.

Holtz has told Paul Maecthle that the coaching staff is counting on Love and expects big things from him in 2011. They love Love’s size, soft hands, athleticism and perhaps most of his leadership skills.