Chris Dufresne’s college football top-25 countdown: No. 6 Florida

The Times’ Chris Dufresne unveils his preseason college football top 25, one day (and team) at a time.

No. 6 Florida

Some thought this day would never arrive, but Florida finally starts a quarterback who is going to impress scouts at the NFL combine.

No more questions about throwing motion, taking snaps under center or whether the Denver Broncos blew a perfectly good first-round draft pick.

Tim Tebow, the Gator in the china shop, is gone.

John Brantley, the new guy, is 6 feet 3 with a beautiful release on his passes.

So why is everyone, including the coach, fighting back tears?

Because, unlike the NFL, the college game is still more about “the spread” than the spreadsheet. It’s about innovation and inspiration and not putting cookie-cutter parts into a machine.

Tebow may or may not make it in the NFL. He might not be Steve Young, but he left Gainesville with one Heisman Trophy, two national championship rings and a postgame speech for the ages, and was an inspiration to kids and many grownups.

The thought of losing Tebow made Coach Urban Meyer sick. That had to be the source of an ailment that forced Meyer to resign the day after Christmas, only to change his mind the next day.

Right?

Doctors finally found the source of Meyer’s pain — esophageal spasms.

Months later, the shock of Post-Tebow Syndrome appears to be waning. After a short sabbatical, Meyer is back, well-rested, chewing out reporters, eating more than one granola bar a day and ready to go nuts with Brantley.

“Last season, I walked in with my third year of dealing with some pain that was undiagnosed,” Meyer reflected in July. “It’s been diagnosed.”

And now it’s on with the rest of their lives. It wasn’t enough that Tebow left; he also took his three top receivers — Aaron Hernandez, Riley Cooper and David Nelson.

Carlos Dunlap, the cat-quick pass rusher? He’s gone too, along with defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, the new head coach at Louisville.

Meyer, though, didn’t get to 57-10 at Florida by flunking intelligence tests, and most in Gainesville are confident Brantley will do a reasonable job replacing King Gator.

“We have a real clear understanding of what John Brantley can do,” Meyer said. “It’s the guys around him. We have a lot of talent.”

Start with the speed combo of juniors Jeffery Demps and Chris Rainey. Demps has averaged 7.6 yards per carry in his career and Rainey averaged 7.5 last year. Emmanuel Moody, the former USC tailback, has not developed into a superstar but has contributed 795 yards and four touchdowns in two seasons.

The schedule is typical Florida: the Gators don’t leave the state for nonconference play. They open with home games against Miami of Ohio (Sept. 4) and South Florida before a key SEC opener at Tennessee, not nearly as interesting now with lightning rod Lane Kiffin having moved on to USC.

What, no parting reaction to Kiffin’s new team being placed on probation?

“I’ll let the commissioner handle that one,” Meyer quipped. “No comment. Sorry.”

chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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