TWO BITS: Brantley happy to wait, Rainey at WR

By Adam Silverstein
March 20, 2010

1 » In our effort to bring you as many “it’s his team now” news bits concerning Florida Gators redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley as possible – we present another. Brantley, who waited patiently (like he had a choice) behind Tim Tebow, told ESPN that doing so helped him improve as a player. “When you look back, it seems like it’s been a while,” Brantley said. “But in a lot of ways, it’s also gone by pretty fast. […] You learn so much by sitting back and watching and learning the game. As a freshman, I didn’t know what was going on. The game was way too fast for me. Now that I’ve been around and gone through the springs and participated with the first team, it doesn’t seem nearly as fast. I know I’m ready to go in and play right now. I wouldn’t have been as a freshman.”

2 » Covering Florida practice this week, Ivan Maisel of ESPN had posted an article declaring that the Gators would be moving junior running back Jeff Demps to wide receiver. Many fans started getting concerned by this news, considering reports had already come out about redshirt junior Chris Rainey doing exactly that. As OGGOA explained this via Twitter, this was a simple mistake on Maisel’s part, and his story has been edited accordingly. Even so, Rainey is indeed switching positions, something he spoke to Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel about Friday.

Saying “I feel like I’m back in high school,” Rainey said playing receiver is “fun, it’s tougher, it’s a lot of running.” Noticing that Minnesota Vikings WR Percy Harvin had success at the position gave Rainey the motivation he needed to switch. His decision not only provides him with more of an opportunity to make an impact, it frees up carries for redshirt senior RB Emmanuel Moody, too.

Photo Credit: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

One Comment

  1. ReptilesRule says:

    Everythings going according to plan. Brantley seems to be at ease dealing with the media, hopefully he will continue to be so during the season. My only concern with him is that he starts to feel the heat. Hopefully his experience and personality will minimize that.

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