Florida Missing… Newton?

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Things have a funny way of shaking out in this life.  Take Florida’s quarterback situation, for example.


First, some background:

* Cameron Newton is Tim Tebow’s heir apparent in Gainesville.

* Newton gets into trouble over a stolen laptop, heads to a junior college and eventually lands at Auburn.

* John Brantley becomes Tebow’s understudy.

* Brantley is hailed by CBS’ Gary Danielson as one of the SEC’s top five quarterbacks before he ever starts a game.

* Florida players say this summer that they’re glad to have fewer “rock stars” and “prima donnas” in the Gator lockerroom.


Fast forward to the present day:

* Newton blew up in his Auburn debut and earned offensive player of the week honors in the SEC.

* Brantley and the Gator offense struggled mightily against a weak Miami (Ohio) team.

* Now some in the Sunshine State are already saying, “… it certainly would have helped to have Newton around (on Saturday) just in case.”


Observations:

* Newton went off against Arkansas State.  No one’s sure how we’ll perform long-term (though I’m guessing pretty well).  No doubt his running skills could have been useful in Gainesville as the Gator offense bumbled and fumbled its ways through Saturday’s opener.

* But I’m not sure that Newton could have grabbed poor snaps any better than Brantley did.  Not only was his center struggling, but Brantley’s skill position teammates were AWOL for most of the game, too.  Deonte Thompson dropped a well thrown touchdown pass.  Jeff Demps had one long run and little else.

* Before anyone starts suggesting that Florida would be better off with Newton than Brantley, it might be wise to shine the spotlight on the folks lined up around Brantley.

One game into the season, it appears that the Gators could have used some of the “rock stars” and “prima donnas” that they were so glad to be rid of.