By: David Wunderlich -- August 20, 2024 A new Florida head football coach inherited a team with a veteran offensive line. The line performed well, if not best-in-the-conference well, but then four of the five players on it left. The following season’s line was a dramatic drop off from its predecessor, and the offense suffered some for it. The line was noticeably better, if still not perfect, the next season, which allowed the offense to really take off. A lack of names in that paragraph tells you I’m probably doing one of those blind-item comparison things, and indeed I am. That description, at least until the final sentence, could apply to either one of Florida’s past two head coaches. History may be repeating with Florida’s offensive line | GatorCountry.com
I'm beginning to wonder if the O-line isn't all that bad, but that it's the D-line that got that much better in the off season. I know we have a solid left side of an O-line and Center shored up with slaughter, but it's the right side that seems to be the problem. Could our D-line just be that much better... and they make the new guys on the right side of the O-line look far worse than they really are? The depth is also not what I expected either. I felt lie we had a solid 8 or more O-lineman that could play as backups. That seems to NOT be the case now. I guess the D-line really did get that much better than the other side. That's how I'm going to think about it for now until we see them play on game day.
Yeah, this gets talked about every year... if the D looks good, the naysayers will say that our O stinks and vice versa. We'll know after a few games. It will kind of be the same after our week 1 game with the Canes. If we win by a touchdown (we better!), pretty much everyone will be high on the Gators. But we won't really know what it means until the season plays out. It will look a lot different if the Canes are 6-6 at the end of the season as opposed to 10-2. The season can't get here fast enough!!! 9 more days!
I see a new face or two making waves. Lets be realistic, O-Lineman get banged up. Hoping guys like Waites and Caden Jones step up, among others of course.
I think it's the depth we're more worried about not the starters. But yeah, depth on the O-line matters.
You sort of wonder who these sources are who broadcast this stuff, eh? Another possibility is that the backups are competing for the starting job. That is not a reflection on the starter (necessarily) but how the backup is playing. Anyway, we shall see.
I have to agree, It seems that Napier along with most good coaches want a two deep o-line to feel good about their upcoming season and if they don't have 10 O-lineman ready then these coaches feel like they have a deficiency of depth on the O-line. I finally read an article that said the O-line starters are doing fine, but that the best side is the left side of the line, as it should be with a right-handed QB. You want your QB's blind side well protected by your best OT and even the best guard to some degree. This is why the Left Tackles make more money than the other O-line positions in the NFL... if your QB is right-handed. Some of those other articles might be conflating Napier's concern about him not being overly happy with the depth, and that may not be about the starters. That's what I suspect, and you know how these sports stories get copied and regurgitated over and over, again and again, by other sites. One erroneous story get multiplied into several other articles and the mistake is repeated. I think that's the case with our O-line. But we do need depth, and that still could be a real concern. So I hope that gets sorted out... asap.
