They could be the Golden Bulls, about as much as our offensive coordinator is a guy named Adagio, or Mike Pouncey's brother is Maurice. Nice editing work. Ken K MNGator
_____ From: gatortalk@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatort...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of oli...@bobparks.com Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 6:12 AM To: Gator Talk Subject: [gatortalk] Fw: [gatornews] Mike Pouncey looking for a good night's sleep So, this is where Franz Beard ended up? Where is he? Can't tell from the article. And, are they the Golden Bulls? I thought just the Bulls. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry _____ From: Jerry Belloit <bell...@clarion.edu> Sender: gatorn...@googlegroups.com Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:43:34 -0400 To: <gatorn...@googlegroups.com> ReplyTo: gatornews+own...@googlegroups.com Subject: [gatornews] Mike Pouncey looking for a good night's sleep Mike Pouncey looking for a good night's sleep Franz Beard Senior Writer 2 hours ago . <http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fflorida.247sports.com%2FA rticle%2FMike-Pouncey-looking-for-a-good-nights-sleep-370&t=Mike%20Pouncey%2 0looking%20for%20a%20good%20night's%20sleep&src=sp> Share1 . . <http://florida.247sports.com/Article/Mike-Pouncey-looking-for-a-good-nights -sleep-370#comments> Comments0 . <http://florida.247sports.com/Article/Mike-Pouncey-looking-for-a-good-nights -sleep-370#comments> Add a comment <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Mike-Pouncey-4863> Mike Pouncey needs for Saturday to get here quickly. After a nightmare game against Miami (OH) last weekend that left him feeling truly embarrassed and the subject of national ridicule, he needs to play well against USF when the Golden Bulls come to town (12:21 p.m.; Ben Hill Griffin Stadium; SEC Network). He needs to redeem himself. Then and only then will he get a good night's rest. Several bad snaps by Pouncey set the tone for an effort so uninspiring that the Florida Gators fell from third in the coaches poll to sixth in the most recent rankings. Although the Gators finished off Miami to the tune of 34-12, their miserable offensive output (212 total yards), the lingering memory of Florida's opening game win of the 2010 season is a mistake-filled effort for which <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Mike-Pouncey-4863> Mike Pouncey has asked to shoulder all the blame. He feels his poor effort reflected poorly on his teammates and that is a burden that he's been carrying for the past three days. "I'm the leader of the offense and when the leader is messing it up, it makes everybody look bad," Pouncey said early Tuesday afternoon. "It's just not expected out of me. I've been busting my tail. I haven't been able to sleep all week ever since the game, trying to get it right and it's going to be right this weekend." If there is a word that probably best describes Mike, the half of the Pouncey twins who stayed for his senior year (Maurice left early, was selected by Pittsburgh in the first round of the NFL Draft and earned the starting center job for the Steelers over veteran Justin Hart wig) it is pride. He's proud to be a Gator and proud to be the team leader. He expects to play well every time out. A second-team All-American at right guard last year, Mike came back to play center, the position where Maurice earned the Remington Award as the nation's best last year. When you've invested so much into a new position and earning a chance to better yourself in the next NFL Draft --- as a guard Mike would project late second or early third round at best but as a center late first or early second --- a game like the one <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Mike-Pouncey-4863> Mike Pouncey had Saturday is the worst possible nightmare. He's been called out on ESPN by Mark May and is the star of a bloopers compilation on You Tube. The snap issues were brand new for Mike and nothing he had experienced before either in practice or in games. He was the backup center last year and even played half of the Sugar Bowl victory over Cincinnati at center without a single snap incident. When his third snap of the game went bouncing past quarterback Johnny Brantley it was a surprise, but he didn't think it would happen again. It did. He bounced two more past Brantley during the game and was off target on at least seven other snaps. After the game, <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Mike-Pouncey-4863> Mike Pouncey stood before the media and accepted the blame for the way the entire team played, knowing as he spoke that he was going to have to atone for his bad game and atonement started with figuring out what went wrong, then doing something about it. "I grew up where if you're doing something wrong you change it," Mike said. "I was doing something wrong so I don't want to stay the same. If I stay the same we'll be back in here asking about the same thing [Saturday]." There are theories about what went wrong --- nerves, not locking his wrist, too anxious to block instead of first focusing on getting the snap right, sweaty palms. The list goes on and on. By now, Mike has heard them all. Sunday morning when he and Brantley worked a long time to correct the snap issues, Mike changed his grip on the ball. He was holding it closer to the middle of the ball last weekend. Sunday morning he found he was comfortable gripping near the nose of the ball and at Sunday night's practice, the new grip produced good results once again. Just to be sure he was doing the right thing, Mike called Maurice to talk about snap mechanics. "Everybody holds the ball different," Mike said. "I was trying to hold it a certain way that was comfortable for me and I asked him [Maurice] when I changed it. I said I moved my hand all the way up to the top of the ball, how do you hold it? He was like, 'I don't hold it like that.' He was like, 'I've got to hold it how I'm comfortable holding it.' " And, it's not like Maurice didn't struggle when he first took over as Florida's center in 2008. Maurice Pouncey started at right guard as a freshman at UF in 2007 while Mike was starting at nose tackle to help out the defense. In the spring of 2008, Maurice moved over to center and Mike found a home at right guard where he started 28 straight games. Those first practices in the spring of 2008 were a bit adventurous for Maurice, who offered Mike a bit of solace Saturday. "He told me that when he first started at center two years ago he had the same thing," Mike said. "His wasn't as bad but he had high snaps that went everywhere." During the game Saturday, Mike also drew strength from teammates who never once lost faith in him. They knew he was struggling with the snaps. That was obvious. The whole world saw it. But none of them felt compelled to get on his case or call him out. "All those guys respect me so much," Mike said. "Even when I was messing the snaps up Saturday, they didn't say anything to me because they know I'm going to get it right. I respect the guys for that. I love my teammates because none of them turned their back on me. We're just moving forward. This made us a stronger team and we needed it." Pouncey says he's put last Saturday's game behind him. He's confident that the snap issues are a thing of the past and he's ready to concentrate his efforts on helping the Gators play very well against USF. He thinks that having a couple of familiar faces back on the offensive line will help matters considerably. Against Miami, the Gators played with <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Marcus-Gilbert-4815> Marcus Gilbert at left tackle, <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/James-Wilson-4889> James Wilson at left guard, <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Mike-Pouncey-4863> Mike Pouncey at center, <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Jon-Halapio-4822> Jon Halation at right guard and Mo Hurt at right tackle. Everyone but Wilson was making his first collegiate start at their position. "We get <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Carl-Johnson-4838> Carl Johnson (left guard) back this week and we get <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Xavier-Nixon-4855> Xavier Nixon (left tackle) so we'll be a much stronger unit," Pouncey said. Johnson had 24 consecutive starts on the offensive line before missing the Miami game for disciplinary reasons. Nixon, who had arthroscopic surgery on his knee a couple of weeks ago, is hopeful he will play, which will allow Gilbert to move back to right tackle where he started all 14 games last season. No matter who starts where on the offensive line, Pouncey is convinced the Gators will play much better when they've got the football against USF. During the past three days, there has been plenty of criticism leveled at offensive coordinator <http://247Sports.com/Coach/Steve-Addazio-148> Steve Adagio for Florida's poor offensive showing in game one, but Pouncey thinks the criticism is wrongly directed and he thinks the Gators will prove it Saturday. "We trust in Coach Adagio," Pouncey said. "He made great calls on Saturday but we didn't execute the calls. Our offense could have been explosive last Saturday. I feel like if we don't [execute], I'm going to have to delete my Face book account. They're killing me." That's not the only thing that's killing him. A good night of rest would be a good thing for <http://247Sports.com/Recruit/Mike-Pouncey-4863> Mike Pouncey, but that won't come until Saturday night and it will happen only if the Gators have played well, beaten USF and if he executes all the center snaps properly. -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
