Opinion: Florida's Hope Lies in it's Wide Receivers

The Florida Gators are now 2 time defending SEC East Champions, and have been demolished by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game for the past 2 years now as well. With  that being said, last season was a lucky one for the Gators. After loosing to the Volunteers early in the season, the favorites to win the East at the time, Florida battled the odds to comeback and clinch the East division in their 16-10 win over LSU after some help from South Carolina.

It was a 9-4 season, with losses to the Volunteers, Arkansas, Florida State and Alabama in the Championship game. The incumbent starting quarterback, Luke Del Rio, competes with 3 other quarterbacks for the starting job this season, and he isn't the favorite to win.

Feleipe Franks, a redshirt freshman and Florida's prized recruit in the class of 2016, is the favorite to win the starting job. Standing at 6'6" and almost 220 lbs, Franks has very nice size and deep ball accuracy to compliment his very strong arm. He struggles with consistency, touch, and his footwork looks lazy to say the least.

In all honesty, it doesn't matter who starts for Florida this season. The overwhelming majority of their hope this season lies in the talent found in a quadruplet of wide receivers.

Let's start with Junior Wide Receiver Antonio Callaway. Callaway is a big play threat lining up at wide receiver. He's a little undersized, 5'11" and 195 lbs, and his speed probably lies somewhere in the 4.40 40 yard dash score. He has the quicks and the route running skills on top of that too. Oh, to top it all, he's a threat as an all purpose returner.

Callaway missed a game last season serving a suspension week 1. This spring was actually the first time he has participated in spring practice since coming to Florida, and has faced no off of the field distractions. In 26 career games at Florida, he's logged 89 receptions, 1450 scrimmage yards and a total of 11 touchdowns. His dynamics are very impressive to see on the field.

Next up is the senior slot man Brandon Powell. Powell was recruited as a running back, but moved to the slot after his freshman season and has never looked back. At 5'9" and 185 lbs, Powell is another undersized option deep down the field. So Powell doesn't ever go downfield. He earns his starting spot in the yards after catch department. He has the moves and the field vision of a quick running back, and has been effective thus far in his career.

In his 2 seasons as a slot receiver, Powell has caught 74 passes for 777 yards and 5 touchdowns. He contributed as a kick returner his sophomore year but now plays a limited special teams role. Powell has the upside to have a really great final season in this offense.

Don't forget about redshirt Junior Dre Massey. A heralded JUCO recruit in the class of 2016, Massey played exactly one play in his first season at Florida last season - The opening kickoff of the season. Massey tore his ACL on a 21 yard return in the season opener against UMass. He showed a ton of potential in last season's spring and pre season practices with his speed and explosion, and is still being counted on to have a fantastic season if he can stay healthy this season.

Last but not least, we have the 6'1" Sophomore Josh Hammond. The tallest out of the group, Hammond appeared in 7 games in his rookie season, catching 14 passes for 177 yards. He showed a lot of potential this spring, and caught Frank's game opening 46 yard catch on the sideline. In otherwords, he shows the potential to be the next deep threat Florida has.

The running backs aren't a topic of issue, as Jordan Scarlett, Lamical Perine and Mark Thompson all return in high regards as veteran running backs. The trio ran for 1609 yards and 9 TD's last season, and all of them looks stronger this season.

No, ladies and gentlemen, the hope for Florida this season lies completely on the receiving bunch. Last season, Del Rio and Austin Appleby dealt with a lot of dropped passes and receivers misreading opposing coverage. Despite these issues, Florida 2785 yards and 18 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions to couple that. If the Gators want to keep in the race this season in the East, they need to see vast improvement in their receivers hands.

In the Spring Game, we really didn't see that. Hammond dropped a few balls, and some of the deeper talent had trouble coralling the ball in. Massey didn't line up as a receiver, and just caught kicks to simulate kickoff coverages.

Still, with a strong defense and ground attack, Florida is poised to make 2017 the 3rd consecutive season to go home with the SEC East crown, and is more then ready to pull off the run. Florida can just make a run on the National Title with a steady receiving unit.