Gators May Be Broke Sans Game Breakers

With two announcements last week, Florida became vulnerable in the SEC East. The decisions by juniors Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony to leave the Gators for the NFL will leave Florida with only four returning starters on offense. Wide receivers coach Dwayne Dixon professed little surprise that his game breakers chose to get out of Gainesville.

“If you’re going to be a first-rounder, I can’t see myself saying, ‘Hey, pass it up,’ Dixon said before the pair announced their decisions. “If they hear they will be in the lower half of the second round, they will probably prefer to come back.”

Hilliard said last week the NFL advisory board told him he would be drafted somewhere from late in the first round to midway through the second. Anthony, Hilliard said, would go before him. With no Danny Wuerffel to throw them the ball, the pair’s productivity probably would not have increased next season.

Anthony caught 72 passes for 1,293 yards and 18 touchdowns. Hilliard made 47 catches for 900 yards and 10 touchdowns, although he’s coming off a three-touchdown showing in the Sugar Bowl.

“Ike tends to be more physical off the ball. He’ll try to lean on you and push off,” Florida safety Anthone Lott says. “Reidel is more of a finesse receiver. He can get away from you.”

The arrival this season of aggressive defenses, with their emphasis on man-to-man coverage, played an important role in the development of both receivers, according to their position coach. “Jack Jackson wishes he had that other year of maturing,” says Dixon, referring to the Gator who left after his junior year in 1994 and was last seen on the Chicago Bears’ bench. “Jack never got that because he saw more zone without having to worry about avoiding people. He was the fastest guy. All he did was use his speed. He’s just learning what these guys know. They can do what Terry Glenn can do right now. That’s the type of player they are capable of being.”

Without them, Florida is left with one proven game breaker, Jacquez Green. Freshman Jamie Richardson has yet to live up to his recruiting press. Suffice it to say, Steve Spurrier, Dixon and the other Florida recruiters suddenly had a new priority last week, but they reportedly have most of the state’s top wideout prospects -- several of whom will have to play in 1997 -- in line to sign this February.

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OHIO STATE offensive tackle Orlando Pace came out early, as expected, which showed his Heisman night outburst stating he would stay in school to be disingenuous at best, immature at worst. But let me be the first to say, “Welcome to New York.”

One surprise is that Florida State defensive end Peter Boulware decided to leave. Boulware is quicker than nearly every collegiate offensive tackle, but there is some question whether he has NFL strength. Another year in school would have taken care of that.

Alabama linebacker Dwayne Rudd, the MVP of the Citrus Bowl, announced he wouldn’t stay to help new Coach Mike Dubose. The former defensive coordinator got some help from defensive tackle Michael Myers, the junior college transfer who started the season unknown and ended it as a Sporting News All-American.

The biggest decision to make among SEC juniors, however, won’t be made for a while. Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning is taking advantage of a little-known clause in the rules of the NFL draft that will allow him to delay his decision as late as April 4, 15 days before the draft.

“He wants to explore it,” Archie Manning says of his son. “He knows what Tennessee is, what it is to stay, what kind of team he’ll have. I’ve done a little work. I’ll share it with him. If I know Peyton, once it’s OK for him to be aggressive about it, he’ll go about it like he does everything else: 100 miles an hour.”

If Florida is vulnerable, would that sway Peyton’s decision? The Volunteers’ schedule is somewhat tougher next season, but Manning will work behind a line that returns every starter. He also will have offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who got a big raise to stay in Knoxville after flirting with jobs at Kentucky and Alabama.