Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Gators Stock Report: Stiner Shines, Delance Continues to Disappoint, and More!
The Gators took care of business this past Saturday, as they beat SEC East foe Vanderbilt in a rare occurring conference shutout, 56-0.
Florida came to play, and Vanderbilt fell victim of a lashing out after the Gators’ close loss to Georgia the week before. Now, let’s hop into whose stock is up and whose fell this past weekend.
STOCK UP
Donovan Stiner: I’ve been very critical of Stiner’s play lately, but he showed why he continues to get reps at the safety position. Stiner had three tackles and two interceptions against an awful Vanderbilt offense, who was starting its third string quarterback.
Regardless, Stiner made plays in both run support and in coverage and racked up 31 yards on the returns of his two interceptions. The junior from Texas now leads the SEC in interceptions at four, tied four ways between Nigel Warrior, Israel Mukuamu, and Derek Stingley Jr. Stiner will have to continue to play well, as Brad Stewart suffered an injury that forced his exit from the game.
Based on his two picks this past weekend, Stiner should be in a good spot to win SEC defensive player of the week.
Emory Jones: This should come as no surprise, but the redshirt freshman showed why he needs to get significant reps moving forward in Dan Mullen’s dual-threat friendly offense.
Jones only threw for three passes but completed two for 47 yards, including a beautiful 37-yard pass to Jacob Copeland to put the Gators in the red zone. Although Jones has yet to throw the ball for many attempts, his presence has been felt in the run game, as he ran for 34 yards on five rushes, scoring on three of them this past weekend.
Jones is an electric quarterback, and Mullen decided to pair him in the backfield with Kadarius Toney on multiple occasions, resulting in some big gains within the run game.
Ethan White and Richard Gouraige: White and Gouraige both recorded their first starts as freshmen this past weekend, while Brett Heggie was concussed and Christopher Bleich left the team earlier last week due to family issues.
Both freshmen stepped into their roles and played well, helping the Gators offense accumulate 560 yards - albeit against one of the worst defenses in the entire SEC. White only allowed one pressure on 46 pass attempts, which is incredible for a freshman who has been tossed into action with virtually no experience.
Gouraige has rotated at left guard for most of the season, and he held up just as well as White. There is a solid nucleus for this young offensive line at the two guard spots, as John Hevesy is continuing to build his unit upfront.
Freshmen defenders: First, let's look at the obvious: BUCK pass rusher Mohamoud Diabate enjoyed a breakout performance, leading Florida with three sacks, and created a strip-sack that Jonathan Greenard returned for a touchdown - preventing Vanderbilt from breaking the shutout.
Kaiir Elam, Chester Kimbrough, and Jaydon Hill have all played well within defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s scheme, as he called more man to man coverage this week to allow his young guys to get valuable reps against a backup QB.
Elam started at the second boundary corner spot, opposite of C.J. Henderson as Trey Dean III was benched for Marco Wilson at STAR. Elam has quietly had a solid freshman season, as he had another deflection against Vanderbilt. He has two interceptions and three defended passes on the year.
Kimbrough and Hill rotated throughout the game, and both were on lockdown. As a team, the Gators only allowed 77 passing yards on eight completions and grabbed two interceptions thanks to Stiner.
James Houston IV: The sophomore from Fort Lauderdale has seen the field often this season and he did a phenomenal job stepping in for the injured Amari Burney this past weekend. Houston was all over the field against the Commodores, and led the team with eight total tackles, added a QB hurry, and racked up 1.5 tackles for loss to add to his impressive stat line.
STOCK DOWN
Jean Delance: There wasn’t much bad play from the Vanderbilt game, but Delance is still showing why he won’t hold his spot much longer as he continually gets beat by some of the worst competition on Florida’s schedule. Delance struggles to stay with people at the tackle spot, and if he doesn’t tighten up his starting spot will be gone expeditiously.
The Gators have two tackles from last year who have been waiting for an opportunity and are on track to sign four-star commit Issiah Walker in December. Delance has been bullied by everyone and can’t stay with people off the edge, which has led to a large number of sacks this season.
Team Health: Florida has had an unfortunate amount of injuries, as they lost multiple contributors to the injury bug recently in Jeremiah Moon, Burney, and Stewart.
Jabari Zuniga still is recovering from a recurring ankle injury, Brett Heggie is concussed, and Amari Burney is still out with a knee injury. Stewart went down with a knee injury a few snaps after being checked on, but luckily "checked out clear" according to head coach Dan Mullen during his Monday press conference. The Gators are nearing the end of their regular season schedule, with two games remaining against Missouri and Florida State.
SEC East Chances: Georgia shutout Missouri this past weekend, so the Bulldogs must drop their next two games against Auburn and Texas A&M to have Florida win the SEC East. There is a slight chance it still happens, but it is highly unlikely that Florida will represent the SEC East this season in Atlanta.
