GatorsNow is spanning the internet to see what the reactions were after the Charleston Southern game. The Gators were able to kick their 2009 season off and try and answer some of the questions facing the team.

A lot of them were answered in a short period of time. First the running game is legit, the Gators were able to rush for 369 yard with a lot of big plays from Rainey, Demps, and Moody. The Gators did show some of their quick strike offense after a 68 yard pass to Cooper then a quick snap for a 9 yard TD by Jeff Demps.

Cooper looked great hauling in 5 passes for 105 yards, and at one point catching 3 in a row. Deonte Thompson and Brandon James did drop what would have been 2 TD passes by Tebow. The Gators need the WR to step up and show they are SEC ready.

The Gators defense played a lot of base D and didn’t show a lot of blitzs. At times CSU was able to move the ball with quick passes, and hit a couple deep balls over Wondy Pierre-Louis who was filling in for Janoris Jenkins. Jenkins was sitting from his summer fight and run in with the law. Also Jermaine Cunningham did not play. Coach Meyer would only say, “He wasn’t ready to play.”

ESPN/AP reported:

Although Florida opened its most anticipated season in school history with a near-perfect performance, it came against an overmatched team from the Football Championship Subdivision.

“It’s hard to evaluate that game,” coach Urban Meyer said.

Florida, an overwhelming favorite to repeat as national champs, accomplished everything it wanted to in the opener, though. The Gators unveiled some new wrinkles, won the game in convincing fashion and avoided any major injuries.

Andrea Adelson of the Orlando Sentinel had these nuggets from the game:

On Riley Cooper, who had five catches for 105 yards, “Riley played like he practiced. He’s playing as good as he’s ever played. I know it’s been one game, but the way he practiced, I knew he was ready for a breakout game.”

John Brantley had a solid outing, going 8-of-12 for 67 yards with 2 TDs. He also ran six times for 44 yards. “It was fun watching him and being able to encourage him,” Tebow said.

LG Carl Johnson injured his knee, but Meyer said he was hoping it was just a bruise and listed the player as probable for next week.

Pat Dooley Grades the Gators:

OVERALL: A-

Not much opposition but the usual stars showed their stuff in the blowout victory for the Gators.

Read more for the full box score of the game.

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Over the weekend Mike Gillislee became the first Gator Freshman to lose his stripe. Jonotthan Harrison also lost his stripe and is running with the first team offense since some players are out with injuries.  Gator Freshmen earn their right to be on the team by showing they are ready to play. To signify this Coach Meyer has all Freshmen with a black stripe over their Gator white stripe on their helmet. The last three years we have seen great production out of the players that have lost their stripe first: Jeff Demps, Major Wright, and someone named Percy Harvin.

With only 23 days till the home opener the Gators have now put on the pads and are ready to get down to business. It should be a great fall practice as guys try to crack the starting line-up. On defense there is going to be competition at every position. Defensive Coordinator Charlie Strong summed it up like this at the Gators Media Day:

“What is great is that the players understand that if they don’t prepare well, they don’t practice well, then they aren’t going to play. We have recruited well over the last few years and have managed to get some really good football players. Our staff has done a really good job at developing these players as well. If you look at our team a year ago, we got ridiculed for our game against Michigan. Then, at the start of last year we had Terron Sanders show up, Lawrence Marsh show up and Ahmad Black show up. All of those guys were developed and they became really good football players and key members of our improved defense last season. What we can’t allow happen is to look back to last season and not fully coach up our players just because they have made plays in games in the past. It is our duty as coaches to make sure that each day our players are getting better.”

Debose Working On Ball Security

ESPN.com’s BSC Guru Brad Edwards believes the Gators have schedule advantage in 2009. The Gators have a good looking schedule on paper, but any time you have LSU, UGA, Tennessee, and FSU on your schedule you don’t have any easy road to the BCS game.

University of Florida coach Urban Meyer begins his fifth season in Gainesville with a team constructed entirely of players he recruited. You can tell in recent interviews that Coach Meyer is happy with the state of his team, and proud of the talented staff and players he has around him. If you missed it, here is the must read from Pat Dooley on the comfort level Urban Meyer now has in Gainesville.

As we reported last night Kadron Boone picked Texas Tech over Flordia. “I’ll tell you what,” Trinity head coach John Brantley III said, “I’d be excited if I was a receiver and you’ve got the potential to catch 70 to 100 balls a year. I think that’s what Kadron was looking at.” Yes that is Gators QB John Brantley’s Dad quoted there. Not even having a Gator for a coach in high school was able to swing him to the Gators. Andy Marks gets more in-depth with his interview with Kedron.

Still none of the Freshman players have lost their stripe yet, but Jelani Jenkins, Xavier Nixon,  Mike Gillislee, and Jon Bostic have impressed so far. Also Jordan Reed and Andre Debose are improving over each practice.  The first one to lose their black stripe will join Jeff Demps from last year and Major Wright from the 2007 class as the first to be welcomed to the team.

And just a little something to get you fired up…

The best of the best coming down to Florida. Going to bring home another championship in 2010! Andre Debose, Xavier Nixon, Jon Bostic, Nick Alajajian, Jonotthan Harrison, Nu’Keese Richardson, Gary Brown, Marsalis Teague, Dee Finley & Mike Gillislee gave verbal commits.