College football

Leak biggest mystery for struggling UF

What is causing the quarterback's decline? Theories abound.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published October 29, 2005

What's wrong with Chris Leak?

In the midst of Florida's season-long offensive slump, the most obvious struggle is that of the Gators' starting junior quarterback.

Two years ago he was setting school and SEC records as a freshman and talk was of his unlimited potential. Today, he is topic No.1 in the ongoing debate about what ails the Florida offense and questions about whether he is capable of running Urban Meyer's spread offense continue.

Three games into the season, Leak had just over a 70 percent completion rate and hadn't thrown an interception. In the past three games against Alabama, Mississippi State and LSU, he has completed 35 percent of his passes and averaged 179.3 passing yards per game. He also has just one touchdown, but four interceptions.

Still, he won't call it a slump.

"Not at all," he said. "All the guys know what we have to improve on."

Call it what you want, but Leak is not playing well.

His problems are a microcosm of the Gators' offensive woes, CBS analyst Todd Blackledge said.

"This is his third offensive coordinator in three years and that's very difficult," said Blackledge, a former college quarterback. "And in this particular offense adapting is even tougher because of the option part of it, which you just don't pick up in a few games. It certainly takes time.

"The bottom line is that in order for this offense to really be effective it has to execute at a premium and operate at full speed. They are still feeling their way. Chris' decision-making is still not where it needs to be and consequently (the offense) is not as fast as it needs to be. This is an outstanding year for defenses in the SEC and this offense isn't up to speed. It's not any one thing or any one player."

Leak is playing behind an injury-plagued offensive line and has been sacked 21 times, most coming from blitzes or straight up the middle. Guard Tavares Washington has missed nearly two games, Jim Tartt has been injury-plagued, Drew Miller is inexperienced and Steve Rissler is really a center playing at guard.

At LSU, the Tigers blitzed seven when the Gators lined up five wide, leaving at least one man uncovered. The Gators are without their fastest receiver, Andre Caldwell, and receiver Jemalle Cornelius is playing with an ankle injury, which has allowed defenses to double receiver Chad Jackson while others struggle to get open.

And as for the option, Leak isn't wowing opponents with his rushing ability. He has 62 carries for minus-16 yards.

"He's not going to be the running quarterback that will threaten defenses on the perimeter," Blackledge said. "So he has to make decisions in the run game and option quicker."

Those are some of the reasons Meyer deflects blame from Leak.

"Everybody wants to put everything on Chris and surely he has got to improve," Meyer said. "But we have to block people better for him and we have got to get people open."

For at least the past two weeks, Leak has suffered from a shoulder injury, but he and the coaching staff insist the arm is not the problem.

Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen acknowledged last week that Leak has struggled with his mechanics, particularly in the Gators' last game at LSU.

"There's just a little bit of confusion, or his timing being off," Mullen said. "The mechanics have everything to do with timing, footwork and balance. It's all lower body, getting his feet underneath him, planting and throwing the ball. There were a couple of times (at LSU) when he was aiming the ball. When you watch tape you can really see his motion kind of slow down and him try to aim it in there." Today would be a nice time to fix that.

The Gators (5-2, 3-2 SEC) play No.4 Georgia (7-0, 5-0) in the 83rd meeting of the storied rivalry. Florida has lost two of its past three and is in a must-win situation to keep its slim SEC championship hopes alive. Leak is coming off a game with his lowest passing yardage since he became a starter, an 11-of-30 for 107 yards effort in a four-point loss to LSU.

So the Gators spent their bye week changing the offense.

"If you run simply the spread offense and nothing else, especially where we're at, you're going to have trouble," Meyer said. "You're going to have to do a more expanded role of offense to get the players comfortable with it. ... It's the responsibility of the coaching staff to build the offense around your personnel and we have not done a very good job of that. We have a very good quarterback in Chris Leak who has had success in the SEC. We've got to do the right things to let him be successful. It's hard to add plays (now), we've just changed how we do them."

Georgia coach Mark Richt doesn't anticipate any major changes, and expects to see much of what he's seen on film this week.

"I think they'll have a few things new in there, maybe things they haven't shown this year, but I would be very surprised to see any kind of wholesale change. It'll be very difficult to change what you're doing in a two-week period."

Blackledge, who has broadcast three UF games this season, is expecting more from the Gators today than they've shown recently.

"I'm very anxious to see what they look like this week," he said. "They had (last) week off to hone the offense and work on some things. I am anticipating they will look much better offensively."

[Last modified October 29, 2005, 01:45:21]