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Jesse's team Spurrier favors Palmer in deep QB pool
Posted: Saturday April 08, 2000 11:14 PM
By Stewart Mandel, CNNSI.com GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- On a Saturday night last December, Jesse Palmer sat in a daze outside the Georgia Dome locker room rehashing Florida's nightmarish 114-yard performance against Alabama in the SEC title game. The Gators were in the midst of an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak to end the '99 season, and with a frustrated Steve Spurrier flipping his quarterbacks like hamburgers, Palmer had no way of knowing whether each play would be his last. But on Saturday, Palmer exuded confidence while speaking with reporters after Florida's Orange and Blue spring game, which is not to say he was glowing from his 3-for-8 day. Heck, many of the estimated 22,500 at the The Swamp outwardly hoped wonderboy freshman Brock Berlin would steal the show -- and Palmer's job. Berlin did finish 8-of-12 for 130 yards, but Palmer, with 20 career touchdown passes, is currently Spurrier's chosen one. "[Redshirt freshman] Rex Grossman [9-of-14, 142] pitched it around pretty well today; Brock and Jesse did well also," said Spurrier. "Those three are in the mix. But we're going into the summer with Jesse as our No. 1 guy." Having the head man's backing is by no means a sign of permanence, but it has certainly been a factor in Palmer's off-season preparations. He says the memory of last season's collapse weighs heavily in his evolving leadership efforts. "It's tough to pinpoint what happened, but one thing is overall team attitude," he said. "From a leadership standpoint, that has to come from myself and the other captains. The season is mentally exhausting, day in and day out, and eventually you come to that bump in the road where team morale becomes critical." For Palmer, a quick start to the season will be crucial to solidifying his status, because the Berlin bandwagon won't go away quietly.
The Shreveport, La., prodigy who went 45-0 as a starter in high school brought on much curiosity by enrolling at Florida early. And he'll be back for a session this summer, working out all the while with partner and mentor Palmer. Inevitably, considering how Florida ended the season, Berlin's arrival has taken on savior status in Gainesville. "I've heard all that, but I try not to listen," said Berlin. "I don't consider myself a savior, but I know I carry that around wherever I go." In truth, Palmer's status at quarterback gives the position more certainty than most on the offense. Injuries racked the offensive line so heavily this spring that Spurrier resorted to a 9-on-9 format for the spring game. And receiver is such a question mark after Travis Taylor and Darrell Jackson's defections to the NFL that the second-most productive pass-catcher Saturday won't even be around come fall (see insert). But Palmer is not worried. He's been around Gainesville long enough to know that problems seemingly catastrophic to most schools have a way of working themselves out at Florida. "It reminds me of my sophomore year, when Jaquez Green left, we didn't know who would step up," recalls Palmer. "We thought maybe it would be Nafis Karim, but then [fifth-year senior] Travis McGriff went out and set the SEC record for yards for a season." Spurrier's Fun 'n' Gun program has always attracted top receivers, which is why senior Alex Willis -- the best bet to be this year's McGriff -- didn't even earn a scholarship till last fall. At Saturday's abbreviated, 9-on-9 style spring game, the newly elected co-captain made several impressive long catches to finish with 99 yards on 5 receptions. "This was real important for me," said Willis, who gained 322 yards last year. "I just wanted to show people I can be a good receiver. I know I can be." After Willis and Reche Caldwell, who started two games last season but missed most of the spring with an ankle injury, there's a laundry list of names at receiver with better chance of disappearing than emerging come fall. Good thing for that top-ranked recruiting class, which includes touted receivers Reggie Vickers, Carlos Perez and Kelvin Kight. "We're gonna be dependent on a lot of freshmen, especially at receiver and maybe at backup offensive line," said Spurrier. "I'm convinced that by fall, with guys getting healthy and with 25 freshmen arriving, that we'll be able to play a full game." Assuming Spurrier can find a couple capable receivers, the offense could rekindle some of its glory with a more confident Palmer at the helm, and with proven tailbacks Robert Gillespie, Bo Carroll and Earnest Graham returning. Kirk Wells gives the Gators a solid, pass-catching tight end. Spurrier even brought back a little razzle-dazzle Saturday with a screen-and-pitch to Gillespie that went for 37 yards as well as several long outlet bombs.
"It only took about eight hours after last season ended -- I woke up the next morning ready to go," said Palmer. "If you were out there with us this spring, you saw a bunch of guys working their tails off. We're not going to let a season be denied like it was last year."
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