Photo by: UPI/Mark Wallheiser

After the Georgia game,  Riley Cooper was on ESPN’s First Take to talk about the unbelievable one-handed catch he had for a touchdown. In the interview,  he was asked about his baseball career and signing with the Texas Rangers. As he was telling about the the signing process, Cooper said the three weeks he had to wait to hear that he could play this year were the longest 3 weeks of his life.

As soon as those words came out of his mouth,  I became a much bigger Texas Rangers fan. If Cooper’s contract  had not allowed him to come back and play, the Gators’ passing game would be  exclusively Aaron Hernandez. After the Vandy game the Cooper/Hernandez combo has accounted for 54% of all Gator receptions. Cooper has 38% off all catches by Gators Wide Receivers this year (counting Brandon James as a WR).

I’ve heard from fans this year that there is always a Gator waiting to step up and fill a role as it opens up, and most of the time I would agree. However if there were no Riley Cooper this year,  I don’t see anyone ready to set up. There is still plenty of room for another wide out to step-up to replace the production lost by Murphy and Harvin.

At the beginning of the season,  I did not see Riley Cooper having this type of year. As a matter of fact,  I had all but given up on Cooper and felt Deonte Thompson would be the go-to wide out for Tebow.  I’ll eat my crow, and say thank you Mr. Cooper for proving me wrong. Even Coach Meyer has come right out and said, “Riley Cooper is our guy right now.”

Cooper has shown that he is not just a one dimensional receiver that runs a go route. He has made the flashy plays this year, but he has also come up with some huge drive-extending 3rd down receptions. There also could be a highlight reel of Cooper’s blocks this season. Cooper takes pride in his blocking.

Stephen Kerkhof spoke with Cooper on his blocking, “Having the receivers block well is very important to the offense,” Cooper said. “We have great running backs who can create big plays every time they touch the ball. So having that perimeter blocking covered, that’s real big for our scheme this year.”

In a year that the Gators’ offense has been less explosive that in years past, it is hard to fathom where they would be if Cooper had not came back to finish his senior season. Teams have been loading the box to stop the rushing attack, and Cooper has been the only consistent deep threat Florida has been able to run out on the field.

So this summer when the college football news is hard to find, turn on a Rangers game and cheer for them a little. Who knows, but they may have saved the season for the Gators, and of couse Verne Lundquist now gets to tell us week after week that CBS has a Gators game that Riley Cooper and Tim Tebow are roommates.

Here is the news all Gators fans were wanting to hear–Chris Rainey has put on 12 pounds, is learning the offense better, and teammates are beginning to see him becoming a more complete Running Back. In my opinion, Rainey has the best chance of any player on the team to fill the “Percy Position.” He has the same quick step with more top end speed but won’t be able to run between the tackles like Percy could. Gator fans everywphere hope he keeps developing and is  a full time contributor on this year’s team instead of a role player.

Randy Shannon spins to da U of Coral Gables when going after new recruits. I like how he just uses the stats for Coral Gables, a town about 4 times smaller than Gainesville, for his crime rates. If you use the same site Shannon used for his reports for the Miami area you get these numbers: Murders: 70,Rapes: 432, Robberies: 2341, Assaults: 6420, Burglaries: 9381, Thefts: 33802, and Auto thefts: 7025. As a friend told me “Anyone who’d fall for this is too stupid to be admitted to UF anyway.”

There is a Battle at Safety everyday at practice. Coach Meyer breaks it down like this, “The safeties battle is pretty tight right now because we have four guys who can play like starters here.” Will Hill say his goal is to start this season. “If I want to get that job, then I have to be better than the next guy in every little last thing.”

Florida coach Urban Meyer admits he’ll take No. 1 any time. Us Gator Fans will take the #1 ranking anytime as long as the Gators are in the same spot at the end of the season.

“Someone asked me that question and I heard someone say I hope we’re never ranked No. 1,” Meyer said. “I hope we’re ranked No. 1 every year for the next 10. I’ll take it right now. That means we’re really good and we’ve got really good players. That’s obviously not going to happen because of recruiting and who’s going to leave early and all that. We don’t really pay much attention to it, but if someone asks me would you rather be 114 or No. 1, I’ll take No. 1 because that means you have really, really  good players.”

In his blog Pat Dooley wonders about Sitting Tebow. With all the talk about Joe Haden playing QB, and John Brantley getting more snaps what is Tebow going to do? Last year all we heard were questions of  Tebow’s ability to make tit hrough a season without getting hurt. This yearthe question has become one of his  getting enough snaps to put up the stats to be in the running for a second Heisman?

Tim Tebow, Gators welcomes the “haters” - “There are going to be haters, but you know what?” Tebow said. “I don’t really care.” Tim, we don’t either. Nobody hates on you unless you are on the top.