Florida held its first of two split-squad practices on Thursday afternoon, with the veterans going in the early session. GatorBait.net breaks down some of the highlights from the open periods of media viewing at the beginning of the practice.

The passing game looked crisp in its debut

It's hard to read a ton into the first practice in shorts and helmets, but there's little doubt the passing game at Florida is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was at this time a year ago. The Gators know the spots they're supposed to be hitting.

The Gators didn't show a ton of routes in the first practice -- it was primarily digs, slants and the occasional drag or seam route -- and will add more as they build on each practice. That said, it was an encouraging first outing for the offense.

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Quarterback Luke Del Rio was crisp in the fastball portion of the practice, which features four plays run at a quick tempo. He completed a short dump-off pass over the middle on the second play after Jordan Cronkrite led off the drill with a run to the left that was swarmed quickly by the defense.

Then Del Rio hooked up with DeAndre Goolsby twice, with Goolsby making a nice snag over the middle with Marcus Maye quickly closing in. The final play of the drill was a beautiful short floater down the seam to Goolsby, lofted perfectly by Del Rio over linebacker Daniel McMillian in coverage.

In routes on air work, the quarterbacks were mostly sharp, though Del Rio missed Chris Thompson once behind him on a slant and the receivers had a few drops in the drill.

In pass skeleton work, both Austin Appleby and Del Rio had some nice throws. Appleby very nearly connected with Brandon Powell on the play of the day in the periods open to the media as Powell blew by three defenders down the seam, but the throw was just a hair long and Powell couldn't quite make a one-handed snag.

Regardless, it was clear that Florida's passing game likely won't take quite as long to get in sync as it did a year ago.

The defensive stars shined on Day 1

The defense is almost always supposed to be ahead of the offense early in practice, especially when your defense is as good as Florida's is. And that was certainly the case on Day 1.

Defensive tackle Caleb Brantley was eerily reminiscent of guys like Dominique Easley and Dante Fowler in terms of his burst off the line and the ease with which he was routinely beating offensive linemen in the first practice. He absolutely blew by Tyler Jordan to the inside on his first rep of half-line drills.

Later, Brantley repeatedly clowned a handful of others.

Meanwhile, Jarrad Davis was excellent in pass skeleton work from his middle linebacker spot (Alex Anzalone is lining up on the weak side now), breaking up a handful of short checkdowns by the quarterbacks. Those checkdowns rarely get broken up, so Davis was either trying very hard or simply has incredible awareness. Probably a little of both.

Florida certainly doesn't lack elite talent on defense. It was on full display today.

The Starting Lineups

Here were the starting units on the first day in fastball work:

OFFENSE

QB: Luke Del Rio

RB: Jordan Cronkrite

WR(X): C.J. Worton

WR(Z): Ahmad Fulwood

WR(Y): Brandon Powell

TE: DeAndre Goolsby

LT: David Sharpe

LG: Antonio Riles

C: Cameron Dillard

RG: Tyler Jordan

RT: Fredrick Johnson

DEFENSE

WDE: Jordan Sherit

DT: Caleb Brantley

NT: Joey Ivie

SDE: Bryan Cox Jr.

WLB: Alex Anzalone

MLB: Jarrad Davis

SLB: Daniel McMillian

CB: Jalen Tabor

SS: Marcus Maye

FS: Nick Washington

CB: Quincy Wilson

Odds & Ends

-- With the veterans practicing in the first session, quarterback Kyle Trask and Feleipe Franks were held for the second session.

-- Appleby had one of the better performances we've seen from him in his time at Florida, routinely on the mark and fitting a few nice passes in. He probably had the upper hand on Del Rio in the limited reps the media saw, though Del Rio was working against the starters in fastball work and was impressive.

-- The slot receivers struggled with some drops early on. Dre Massey dropped a slant that hit him in the hands in routes on air, then Brandon Powell dropped a pass on a deep corner that would have been a tough catch but did hit him near the hips.

-- Tight end DeAndre Goolsby was among the most impressive performers on Day 1. His route-running ability was excellent, but he also made at least three contested catches in traffic.

-- Right tackle Fredrick Johnson received quite a bit of one-on-one coaching from offensive line coach Mike Summers in half-line drills, with Summers focusing on his stance and his technique and footwork coming out of the stance to block edge rushers.

-- The interior of the offensive line had one or two nice reps with the starting unit, but the second-teamers really struggled. Andrew Mike and Kavaris Harkless were beaten repeatedly off the edge. It's not hard to wonder just how long it will take before Martez Ivey begins working at tackle.

-- Defensive end Jordan Sherit looked a step quicker off the edge than he has been in the past. He was very impressive in half-line drills.

-- There wasn't a whole lot to see in the secondary, with reasonably good coverage for most of fastball and pass skeleton work that we could see. Most of the throws the quarterbacks completed were either to tight ends in mismatches on linebackers or a throw-and-catch made in traffic.

GatorBait.net will have more live updates from the second practice and will have a full post-viewing recap.

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