Second week of spring practice underway (notes)

With the Florida Gators beginning spring practice for the 2010 season last Wednesday, there is plenty of newsworthy information around the program. Rather than publishing it all in long form, OGGOA thought it would be best to lay it out piece-by-piece. We continue this series with a look at the start of week two.

» Be sure to read over 1,000 words on the return of head coach Urban Meyer and the start of spring practice in OGGOA‘s first post on the subject. Then supplement your reading with more notes from over the weekend!

More notes from Monday 03/22:
» ESPN‘s Ivan Maisel interviews redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley:

» Sitting out: running backs junior Jeff Demps and redshirt junior Chris Rainey, redshirt freshman wide receiver Andre Debose (hamstring) and redshirt seniors guard Carl Johnson and defensive tackles Lawrence Marsh and Terron Sanders
» Absent: redshirt sophomore cornerback Adrian Bushell (academics, disciplinary)
» Injuries: sophomore safety Josh Evans (knee/leg) and redshirt freshmen tight end Desmond Parks (wrist/hand) and guard/center Kyle Koehne (shoulder, 3-6 weeks)

» Senior linebacker Brandon Hicks may have had the play of the day with a one-handed interception on Brantley on an inside route.

» Senior Duke Lemmens is starting at defensive end with the first team. In fact, he is also switching to tight end on some plays, too – we’re guessing mostly so the other DEs have a big body to fight against.

» Both secondary specialists, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and co-defensive coordinator Chuck Heater are splitting the duties in the defensive backfield. Austin is spending much of his time with the cornerbacks, while Heater continues to handle the safeties like he has previously.

» Sophomore RB Mike Gillislee is really impressing coaches and spectators with his play thus far and could be in line to steal some carries away from Demps and redshirt senior Emmanuel Moody. Moody, especially, must be careful as Gillislee is currently out-performing him head-to-head.

More quotes on Urban Meyer‘s return:
» Offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and former interim head coach Steve Addazio: “[Meyer’s] involvement is becoming greater. It’s unscripted, you know what I mean? Ultimately, you’re in uncharted waters. I mean, he’s doing great, so there’s nothing negative or anything like that. He’s doing fantastic. I’m going to help him wherever I can with the workload wherever I need to take it.”

» Heater: “This week, he’s really been back in earnest. How he basically crystallizes what the expectations are, what your role is and having those meetings, communicating those things to me, I was, ‘OK, I’ve heard these things before.’ So his energy was certainly there. He’s excited about being back. That’s the part that’s fun for all of us.”

Check out Florida Gators spring practice videos from March 19-20 after the break!

Spring Practice Videos:

Special thanks to ESPN for the quotes from Addazio and Heater and the Palm Beach Post for a few of the details contained in this report.