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After what seems like an eternity, we are finally ready to unleash the 2008 college football season and the Gators will do that by hosting Hawaii in their season opener.

Many of the preseason magazines and polls have Florida rated highly and I have the Gators winning the SEC East and making it to the SEC Championship Game. Some even have Florida as national title contenders and that could happen if some things go right for the Gators.

Here are five keys that I believe will be necessary for the Gators to have a successful 2008 season.

** Avoid Injuries to key positions. I know that this is very important for every team in American but for Florida, there can be no more injuries at the tight end position, where it is down to Aaron Hernandez and Tate Casey after the season ending injury to Cornelius Ingram, and at the safety position where because of injury and attrition Florida has had to move two former offensive players in receivers Cade Holliday and Justin Williams to the position to add much needed depth.

** Defensive tackle play must improve. It is no secret that last year the play of the Gators at defensive tackle left a lot to be desired and that play must improve drastically if the defense is to be better. Lawrence Marsh has apparently nailed down the starting spot at nose tackle but his play to date has been spotty and he must become more consistent. The coaches say the other defensive tackle spot is wide open, and I read that to mean no one has stepped up by playing well enough to claim the position. The hope is that a rotation of a lot of available and fresh bodies will make this spot better and more productive. You could also see a 3-3-5 alignment at times too as opposed to the tradtional 4-4 Florida has run in the past.

** Better play at corner. You could not really blame the play of Florida's corners last year because there weren't a lot of bodies there and because a lot of the players were either first year players (Joe Haden) or a player that had not started very much at the position before (Wondy Pierre-Louis). However, both are back and have earned starting spots and a healthy Markihe Anderson to throw in the mix will help too. The hope also is that veteran Jacques Rickerson and newcomers Janoris Jenkins and Jeremy Brown can add quality depth to the rotation.

** Continued excellent special teams play. Florida was very good in this area last year with the electric Brandon James returning kicks and the punt unit allowing only five kicks to be returned by the opponents ALL of last year. Still, the kickoff coverage unit did give up some long returns and the hope is that either strong legged Caleb Sturgis or Jonathan Phillips can be accurate and consistent on field goals.

** Emergence of a running back. I know the Gator offense can function just fine without a true running back especially if you have guys like Percy Harvin and Brandon James you can slip into the backfield from the wide receiver spot to get production. Still, I truly believe the Gator offense will be more dynamic if a tailback, or even a productive group of tailbacks emerges. The move of Kestahn Moore to play fullback could even pay dividends if he can do some of the things Billy Latsko did at the position while he was at Florida. The Gators don't necessarily need a 20 carry back but they do need consistent production from the running back spot.

Well, we'll take a look at these areas at the end of the year and see just how key they were...or weren't...to the success of the Gators in 2008. It should be a fun year and I'm just thankful we can start talking football for real!