By: David Wunderlich -- August 21, 2023 If you see a new coach have a depth problem, it’s probably traceable to recruiting missteps by the previous regime. Especially so if, as was the case for Billy Napier, there was not an immediate transfer portal exodus upon the new guy’s arrival. Florida will reap rewards of interior defensive line depth in 2023 | GatorCountry.com
This is the reason for my optimism for the '23 season. I'm hoping there will be games where the Gators are underdogs but opposing offenses are overwhelmed by the Gator's front six, especially the depth of the front three. They come up short on third down, get forced out of their usual offensive rhythm and start making mistakes giving up field position. I don't expect an explosive Gator offense but I can see this team scoring enough points to win low scoring games, especially if the Gators limit their own mistakes.
And all of that was on Grantham... and Mullen. We all know that the SEC is a line of scrimmage league, and Mullen? Grantham sucked at it. They did well with other coach's players but never really tried to restock the D-line with SEC talent. And two consecutive 6-6 seasons was the result. I hope we continue to recruit Big-Nasties and Big-Uglies on the line so that we can look and play like the Gator football teams of the past. They competed well in the SEC... we need to get back there. We're killing it at LB recruiting, and next year should be another great haul... DBs and Safeties will be much improved. I hope two deep with some young talent in the third level are enough to beat the teams we normally beat. I'm so sick of the Grantham stench... I'm so happy Napier got at least two immediate D-lineman to plug and play for the D-line this year. We're very close to where we need to be position wise... depth wise. One more good/great year recruiting and we're just upgrading... then in 2025 reloading. Can't wait to see this team play, especially the D-line.
