Opportunity Presents Challenge for Gators LBs Scooby Williams, Shemar James
Photos: Jeremiah 'Scooby' Williams and Shemar James; Credit: Alex Shepherd
The Florida Gators will be without the "heart" of their defense against the USF Bulls on Saturday, if not longer, as starting linebacker Ventrell Miller was ruled out of the contest on Wednesday. Miller went down in Week 2 against the Kentucky Wildcats with what head coach Billy Napier described as a "lower leg" injury and did not return to the contest.
Miller's absence leaves the Gators without, as defensive end Gervon Dexter describes him, a "quarterback on defense" against the Bulls, given Miller's role as the lead communicator for the unit.
If there is a silver lining, however, it's that Florida utilized the first two weeks of the season to prepare for a scenario like Miller's injury. It'll be redshirt freshman Jeremiah 'Scooby' Williams who fills in at starting linebacker next to Amari Burney this week, with true freshman Shemar James expected to frequently rotate into UF's defense.
"It’s a great opportunity," Napier said of Williams and James on Wednesday. "Those guys have been working.
"In that [linebacker] room, you’ve got some veteran players — Ventrell and Amari. Then you’ve got some guys that haven’t played a ton of football. That doesn’t mean they haven't been working and preparing for this opportunity. The benefit of how we practice is those guys get the same amount of reps. They’ve been able to learn and process and improve fundamentally."
In addition to their practice efforts, the duo combined for 46 snaps against the Wildcats in Week 2, according to Pro Football Focus. Most of Williams' 10 snaps came after Miller exited the game and he flashed within the limited showing, posting an assisted tackle and a quarterback pressure.
James, someone Dexter calls a "very mature" player for his age, has been notably deployed over the first two weeks of the season: He's been on the field for the first defensive snap against Utah and Kentucky and has tallied 66 total snaps (per PFF), accumulating 11 tackles and two quarterback pressures in that stretch.
"Shemar is gonna be a crazy good player, defensive end Justus Boone said on Wednesday. "He's already crazy good now, just coming up from the high school standpoint and being able to just to adapt to the college level. I feel like the sky is just the limit for him."
Although the two have been able to produce, handling Miller's responsibilities will be a challenge for the youthful linebackers. They'll be tasked with leading communication across the entire defense, the skill that Dexter commended Miller for on Saturday night.
"The big challenge here ... the ability to process quickly and communicate. When I think about replacing Ventrell, I’m immediately thinking about replacing the communicator," Napier noted. "The ability to process quickly and communicate.
"We talk about communication. We want to do it early, loud, and often. We want to do it clearly, concisely, and with confidence. that’s the big challenge for those linebackers is to be as good of a communicator as Ventrell was. There’s a component to that position that affects that entire group."
While the linebackers handle defensive signal-calling and adjusting the lineup on the field, Boone mentioned that the entire unit will be there to help Williams and James with their communication as a token of player accountability.
"Collectively as a team, we all have player accountability. We all depend on each other to communicate with each other," Boone stated. "Like you said, Ventrell is one of the leaders on our defense and it will be a little setback with not having him. But like I also said, collectively as a team we all have player accountability, so we're gonna communicate and watch each other."
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