Haden a corner stone

Florida cornerback Joe Haden hopes to have an impact Saturday afternoon against Georgia in Jacksonville.

Topping last year, however, will be next to impossible.

The Bulldogs were trailing 14-3 in last season's matchup when they took their opening possession of the second half from their 2-yard line to the Florida 30. Bulldogs quarterback Matthew Stafford looked to continue the impressive march with a sideline pass to A.J. Green, but Haden stepped in front of Green at the 11 and took the interception 88 yards to the Georgia 1.

Gators quarterback Tim Tebow scored on the next play, and the 49-10 rout was on.

"That's my biggest play since I've been playing football," Haden said. "It's my favorite because they were driving it down there and it's the Florida-Georgia game, which has the craziest atmosphere that you can play in. That's a play Coach (Urban) Meyer puts on all the highlight tapes. It was a game-changing play."

Haden may not provide another momentum shift of that magnitude again, but he enters this week more productive than ever. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound junior from Maryland has 39 tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks and two interceptions for the 7-0 and top-ranked Gators.

Saturday will be his 34th career start out of 35 opportunities. He missed last year's game against Florida State because of an ankle injury.

"I think Joe Haden is one of the best players in college football," Meyer said. "I kind of thought that at the end of last year. His special-teams performances, energy at practice, leadership and obviously his play have been tremendous, and it's the same thing on the other side with Janoris Jenkins.

"If I had to draft two corners, I know who I would pick for my team, and we've got them."

Rivals.com rated Haden the No. 3 athlete in the 2007 signing class behind LSU safety Chad Jones and Texas receiver John Chiles. He was a quarterback in high school who set the Maryland public high school record with 7,371 career passing yards, and he made five catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns in one quarter as a receiver during his senior season.

Haden enrolled at Florida in January 2007 and found the quarterback position occupied by Tebow and the receiver spot stacked with Andre Caldwell, Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy. There were no roadblocks at cornerback following the departures of Ryan Smith and Reggie Lewis from the '06 national champions, so he switched to defense and earned a starting job.

After amassing 63 tackles and an interception as a freshman, Haden had 87 tackles and three interceptions last season. He led the Gators with 10 tackles and two pass deflections in the 24-14 win over Oklahoma in the BCS championship game but doesn't believe that magic has been recaptured so far this season.

"I don't think we're as good as we were last year," Haden said. "Everybody is not playing up to their potential. I think there have been some games where we've taken plays off a little bit and missed assignments. It's not like we're trying to mess up. It just seems like some times we're in the wrong spot."

Said Meyer: "There are only a couple of ways to analyze it. Are you winning games, and are you statistically doing a good job? I think we're No. 1 in most defensive categories in the conference, so I think they're doing great."

Florida leads the nation in total defense (229.57 yards allowed per game) and ranks second in scoring defense (10.14). The Gators would top the scoring category were it not for a pair of Tebow interceptions that were returned for touchdowns in last Saturday's 29-19 win at Mississippi State.

Yet the 23-20 win over Arkansas on Oct. 17, when the Razorbacks totaled 357 yards and had a 75-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Mallett to Greg Childs, remains a sore subject. Meyer said his defenders were "crushed" after that victory, and Haden vows that performance will be an aberration.

"They were running up and down the field on us some, and we were messing up coverages," Haden said. "It was just not us. We were happy we won the game, but we just knew we could play so much better than that.

"In fact, this was the point last year when our defense got way better. We're going to get back to that level."