Gators Freshman Fenley Graham Should Lead Way in Florida Return Game
While the Florida Gators will have much to consider as far as their depth is concerned for the 2020 season, their return game shouldn't miss a beat after losing wide receiver and punt returner, Freddie Swain. Gators signee and freshman athlete Fenley Graham ought to make sure of that.
Over the past two seasons, the Gators have reaped the benefits from one of the better returners in the SEC, Swain averaged 10.2 yards per punt return in 2018, scoring one touchdown, and while his senior campaign netted just four yards per return (14 attempts) he was still explosive enough of an athlete for teams to fear him. In 2020, Florida will need to find a replacement for such an underrated position.
Graham, an athlete out of Lakeland (Lakeland, Fla.) played multiple positions while in high school, including cornerback, punt/kick returner and wide receiver, truly serving as an all-purpose player for his school. Not only does Graham bring versatility to the Gators, but he will also be able to bring an element the team has not seen out of a return man in quite some time - the ability to score from anywhere.
In his high school career, Graham returned 23 kickoffs for 920 yards (40 yards per return) and three touchdowns, while adding 40 punt returns for 766 yards (19.2 yards per return) and two touchdowns.
Graham originally committed to Florida in January of 2019 and never wavered, finally signing his letter of intent during the early signing period, enrolling in the school officially on July 2 of this year.
Gator Great, former safety Ahmad Black took to Twitter this spring to make sure Graham does stay at the forefront of everyone's mind when it comes to the Gators' return game.
"Don’t let the quarantine distract y’all from knowing who will be returning our kicks and punts in the future (Fenley Graham) @FenleyG11," Black said on Social media
For the Gators under head coach Dan Mullen and special teams coordinator/running backs coach Greg Knox, special teams are extremely important, the team invests a lot of time into it.
Mullen likely obtained this philosophy from a variety of landing spots in his career, but perhaps most importantly from former Gators head coach Urban Meyer who boasted some of the best special teams units, kickers, punters, returners and coverage men in the nation.
“Sometimes after a game, ‘Boy, bad special teams day, we missed a field goal,’ ” Mullen said in 2018 via the Palm Beach Post. “There’s so much more to it than that, or we had a bad punt. You know the (kickers) sometimes get the most attention, but there’s a lot of plays that can be made on special teams with attention to detail on the technique.
“I make sure I’m involved in every aspect of it. Special teams is a huge part of the program. Those guys get special treatment. They eat first at the meals. They’re the ones that are probably the favorites on the team.”
Special teams units are the basis for all teams, win there, and the rest of the team should hold an advantage the entire game. If you lose, you're lagging behind the competition greatly.
Graham will bring an element to the Gators that has never truly been used to its full potential. While Swain was good, there is a chance for Graham to be great. With unique explosiveness, speed and lateral quickness, Graham shows the ability to score from any area of the gridiron.
He's not the only one on the team capable of manning the duties, either. Freshman wide receiver Xzavier Henderson is one of the top athletes entering the 2020 class and has shown plenty of ability to return the football in the past. Senior receivers Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes could also contribute on punt return and kick return duties, respectively.
While the Gators are just now returning back to regular group meetings and workouts in-person, they should take solace in the fact that at least one position on the team ought to be taken care of for the foreseeable future.
