RB Brown, QB Murphy ready to step up for Gators

Florida Gators’ 2013 Media Day: Story: Injured Matt Jones, Jon Halapio, others join Jeff Driskel on sidelines | Story: Appendectomy just a bump in the road for confident Driskel | News, Notes & Quotes – Will Muschamp breaks down the 2013 Gators | Story: It’s now or never for Florida WR Andre Debose

Redshirt junior running back Mack Brown has scratched and clawed for playing time during his first three seasons with the Florida Gators. His efforts began to show dividends last season when he got 25 touches and averaged 4.1 yards per carry.

Classmate and quarterback Tyler Murphy has worked just as hard as Brown, but he has seen even less action, never taking a meaningful snap behind center during his three years in Gainesville, FL.

As luck – or lack thereof – would have it, both Brown and Murphy will get an opportunity to make an early impact for the Gators – at least on the practice fields – in 2013.

On Thursday, head coach Will Muschamp announced that sophomore RB Matt Jones, in line to start the season as Florida’s primary back, would join junior starting quarterback Jeff Driskel (appendectomy) on the sidelines to start fall camp after coming down with a serious viral infection.

Jones’s head coach at Seffner Armwood High School, Sean Callahan, provided a bit more information in a conversation with the Tampa Bay Times on Friday.

“It came on fast and it was vicious. It really roughed him up. We were all really scared,” he said of Jones’s infection. “But he’s out of the hospital now and it’s just a matter of him recovering.”

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Brown and Murphy moved up to the Gators’ first team when practice opened on Friday. Both expressed during Florida’s media day on Thursday how prepared they are for the opportunity.

“I want to be productive, help my team out more. The last couple of years I felt like I could have made more plays, but I really didn’t do as good as I should of,” Brown told Scott Carter of the Gators’ school website.

“I feel like I’m ready,” Murphy told The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway. “I’ve worked very hard on and off the field, in the film room. I feel like a lot of my teammates have confidence in me. I feel like my coaches have confidence in me and it’s my job to continue to build that confidence within my team and coaches.”

Muschamp on Thursday declared Murphy the “clear-cut back-up” to Driskel, and the starter said he was impressed with how hard Murphy has worked throughout the three years they have competed for playing time in Gainesville.

“He’s always gone in with the [thought] that he’s one play or one injury away from being the starter,” Driskel said. “He’s really attacked the offseason like he should. He’s definitely going to get more reps than he thought here to start camp. He’s going to have to make plays, and I believe that he can.”

While Driskel’s medical issue keeping him out for an extended period of time would be the bigger loss for Florida, Jones’s potential production is not easy to replace either.

Muschamp, however, conveyed his certainty that the Gators’ stable of running backs, starting with Brown, would be able to fill in for Jones until he can get back on the field.

“I have confidence in Mack Brown, and I think we’ve recruited well at that position,” he said. “You’re not going to make it through the season with one back in our league. That’s not going to happen. You need to have multiple guys that have similar skill sets so you don’t have to change your offense every time somebody comes out of the game. But I’ve got a lot of confidence in Mack.

“When he had his opportunities last year, he played really well and he ran the ball really well. He had a good spring, and he improved on the things he needed to as far as protection and in the passing game running the football, which we’re going to ask our backs to do a lot of. … It’s a huge opportunity for him to step in and get more touches and more carries and more opportunities which, in that situation, you’ve got to be productive, and I think he will [be].”

Muschamp’s “man down, man up” philosophy, which has become one of Florida’s mantras, is already being tested on the very first day of fall practice.