2022: KR = Key reserve. CBN is the new HC and he brought some OL talent with him. LT: Richard Gouraige- Last year. Very good college career. LG: Ethan White- Low 3* (85) 2019 recruit. Lowest rated UF signee. OC: Kingsley Equakun- Starting OC in 2022 & 2023 (4 games). RG: O’Cyrus Torrence- Happy dance!... Very low 3* (83) 2019 signee. All American OG. 2nd round draft pick. RT: Michael Tarquin- Started 8 games. RT: Austin Barber- Appeared in 13 games, making five starts. Started 8 games in 2023 at LT and was the full time starter in 2024. KR: Josh Braun- Played in just two games. Primed to take over at RG in 2023. KR: Richie Leonard- Appeared in 11 games, starting 1 game. Starting LG in 2023. KR: Jake Slaughter- Low 3* (85) 2021 recruit. 2nd lowest rated UF signee. Appeared in 13 games. Starting 2023 OC (8 games) & 2024, earning All American honors. Overview: Grade B+! Excellent OL. Have to go back to the CM/Tebow years to find one better than this group. Somewhat inconsistent play at RT kept it from being an A. The greatness starts with All American O’Cyrus Torrence. He joins Trace Armstrong as the best one year wonders in UF history. Honorable mention to Ryan Smith who was the missing piece to complete the 2006/2007 National Champion Gators. Torrence was the best OG in college football in 2022 and is now arguably the best OG/RG in the NFL. He teamed with Ethan White to form the lowest ranked OG recruits starting in a power 5 conference in 2022. Yet, ended the season as the highest ranked starting OGs in the nation. Equakun had his best year at OC. The same is true for Gouraige at LT. Traquin/Barber were OK at RT, especially Barber, but they were the weak link compared to the other four starters. All in all, an excellent 1st season for CBNs OL. He came to UF as a coach with a reputation that can develop OLs and it showed to be true. Can’t wait to see how good the OL is in 2023! (play sad trombone). Six Man Recruiting Class. All Six were 3*. Three HS, One JC and two Transfer Signees. One big hit with a one year wonder and five misses. One year where low HS rankings played out. This was CBNs transition class and the early success of the following classes also contributed to the collapse of the 2022 class. Jalen Farmer OG. Recruiting grade: 87. Christian Williams OG. Recruiting grade: 86. David Conner OT. Recruiting grade: 84. Jordan Herman OT. JC enrollee. O’Cyrus Torrence RG. Recruiting grade: 83. Future All American. Kamryn Waites OG/OT. Recruiting grade: NR. Failed OT; has had some success at OG. Counted as a miss, but his story is not complete.
We have a real good example of both ends of the stick for those that like to debate recruiting stars on the OL. Some like to complain UF doesn’t have enough recruiting stars on the OL- we’ll call them “the complainers”... Some like to say there are other factors qualifing an OL recruit than recruiting stars- we’ll call them the “cool people”... The three man 3* HS class bombed. There were factors other than recruiting stars as pointed out in OP post. Nonetheless all three 3* OL failed at UF… Point for the complainers- boo! On the other end of the stick, UF’s 2022 starting OGs were the lowest HS raked starting OGs in a Power Five conference in 2022- the horror! Those two painfully low rated OGs ended up being the best starting OG combo in college football in 2022… Point for the cool people- yes!
