August 28, 2007
Adam Gorney
GatorBait.net Assistant Editor
Florida freshman Cameron Newton won the backup quarterback job in preseason camp. It wasn't easy. After being considered the odds-on favorite after a strong showing in spring practice, Newton missed the first week of fall drills because of academic issues.
Newton won the backup job in preseason camp.
Fellow freshman John Brantley entered fall camp and performed well. He pushed Newton, who was named the backup to sophomore Tim Tebow late last week. Coach Urban Meyer said he wants to play two quarterbacks this season. It will be Tebow and Newton taking the snaps.
"Cameron Newton's not a good person, he's a great person," Meyer said at Monday's news conference. "He comes from a great family and he has a very similar game plan as Tim. That came into the decision-making process. If we are putting together an offense, you don't want drastic (differences between the two quarterbacks). Chris Leak ran a little different offense than we're going to run this year.
"Johnny Brantley is going to be a great quarterback, so we're developing him. Those quarterbacks should be starters at Florida. They are both very talented guys. You don't want to just waste a year, but you have to have two on call and really a third one on call as well…(Newton) went through spring practice, so he as a little more knowledge of the offense. He's a little more mature physically than Johnny. Johnny's still growing up. I hope Cameron doesn't grow much more or he'll be playing defensive tackle. The real reason was he's been through spring practice and the game plan won't have to change drastically."
Newton, listed at 6-foot-5 and 243 pounds, does not provide much of a changeup to Florida's offense like Tebow did last season when he spelled Leak. It's probably not what the Gators were looking for anyway with two young quarterbacks. Stability will be a focus for Newton and Tebow. Meyer said Newton will play Saturday against Western Kentucky in the season opener but that his maturation process is ongoing.
"He's a phenomenal person," Meyer said. "Not a great leader yet. He's still young. He needs to show up on hard days, and that's the major concern. He's a great person, but he's not a great leader. He's not what Tim was at this time of the year, but Tim, when he was in sixth grade he could have gone and led. Cameron's come a long way and he's got still a good ways to go.
"Mental toughness and maturity. That's got to happen real fast. Obviously he'll play Saturday. How much, that depends on his week of practice. We have a hard day (Monday) and a hard day (Tuesday) and then we'll back off. He's got to have a really good two days, and that will determine it."
Brantley's progression has been reassuring this preseason. Although he did not win the backup job he proved he has a chance to be a stud quarterback. In his final two seasons at Ocala Trinity Catholic, Brantley threw 41 touchdowns each season. He has the pedigree – family members have played at Florida – and the tools to compete for the starting job in the future.
Meyer said Florida is going to keep working Brantley to prepare him to be a starter instead of tagging him with a redshirt year now and backing off his development. It is likely Brantley will redshirt if injuries don't force him to play. It is not guaranteed he won't see the field this season. Junior college transfer Bryan Waggener is out at least a few more weeks with a meniscus injury. Newton has dealt with back injury issues.
The chemistry between the quarterbacks has been good this preseason, Tebow said. It's a different environment with Tebow, Waggener and the freshmen than it was with Leak and Tebow last season. Not better, just different.
"It's a different guy, different time, different player, different attributes, so the relationship is different," Tebow said. "Cam and I have a little bit more in common than Chris and I did. Cam has a totally different personality than Chris. Chris was more of the silent type. You learned from watching. Cam is definitely a talker. We'll get a few more laughs out of Cam in the meeting room.
"It wasn't really awkward with Chris and it's not awkward now. It's just different. It's different styles. This year with the quarterbacks there's probably more laughter and giggling (with) the younger guys. You (have) John Brantley and Cam in there, two younger guys and you're always getting questions and you're always laughing with some of the answers. Might not want to use (giggling)."
second in charge - cam newton
second in charge - cam newton
Oh man I can't wait until it starts! I am starting to get really upset that I won't get to see the first game live.
I won't be able to watch it until Monday. Oh Lordy, what am I going to do? Go crazy? Probably.
I won't be able to watch it until Monday. Oh Lordy, what am I going to do? Go crazy? Probably.
