Gavin Dickey on the Move Again for Gators

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Posted 5:59PM on Friday, August 12, 2005

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Gavin Dickey has spent his entire Florida career bouncing around, so this is nothing new. The junior from Tallahassee has played quarterback, running back and receiver for the Gators. He also has split time between the football and baseball programs, even starting 59 games in the outfield last season. Now, Florida's new coaching staff has him on the move again, working primarily at receiver during fall practice. This time, though, the change might be permanent. "Honestly, I'm more comfortable at quarterback because I've done it my whole life," Dickey said Thursday. "But receiver is fun. I'm up for the challenge and anywhere I can help the team out, I'm willing to do it." Coach Urban Meyer made the move primarily because he needed more receivers to effectively run the spread offense. Chad Jackson, Andre Caldwell, Dallas Baker and Jemalle Cornelius are the team's only experienced receivers, although tight end Tate Casey also is being used in spread formations. "We have a real problem at receiver," Meyer said. "We have four that can play. I'm not a math major, but when you're playing five wide sometimes, you're going to have a little void there. Gavin Dickey's the next best athlete and he's a guy that handles the ball well." Dickey handled the ball plenty during his first two seasons, although most of it came in practice and in blowouts. He played in four games in 2003, completing 6 of 8 passes for 71 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He even started one game at receiver, but didn't have a catch. His lone reception came last season, when he caught a 4-yard pass against Georgia late in the year. He played in six games and was 5-of-7 passing for 56 yards. He also lined up in the backfield against South Carolina and ran once for 3 yards. Nonetheless, Dickey's primary position has always been quarterback. He hasn't thrown enough passes to qualify for the record books, but his pass efficiency rating (165.8) and his completion percentage (73.3) are higher than the school records held by Danny Wuerffel (163.6) and Wayne Peace (61.6). The coaching staff hopes he can be equally effective at receiver. "He has a good feel for the game," offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Dan Mullen said. "By playing the quarterback position, he understands coverages and where people are going to be on the defensive side of the ball. "What he has to get used to is the fundamentals of it: how to get in and out of routes, how to turn around, how to catch the ball, focus, the eyes. I don't think he has an issue of what to do. It's just how to do it. That's the part that's going to take time for him at the receiver position." Dickey still could move back to quarterback, but it likely will depend on the progress of freshmen Josh Portis and Cornelius Ingram. Portis had a solid spring behind starter Chris Leak, and Ingram came on strong after giving up basketball to concentrate solely on football. Dickey also considered giving up his second sport to focus on football. But the 5-foot-11, 205-pound athlete opted to play a second season with the Florida baseball team. "He would be in our meetings, then run out to take batting practice," Mullen said. "Even if he couldn't go out on the (football) field, he would try to come see us and he would come in on his own time and study film." Dickey hit .292 with 20 RBIs, nine doubles and three home runs. He also stole eight bases and helped the Gators advance to the College World Series championship against Texas. He said he doesn't regret missing parts of spring practice to play baseball, even if it meant moving to receiver. "The baseball team, we had a tremendous run," he said. "I wouldn't trade that for anything." © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.