As CBN closes out portal additions for the spring roster, I thought having one spot to discuss the DL and OL would be good. The DB room is still gonna be pretty active with the portal, so I want to wait until we have a better idea of what the final spring roster will be before analyzing them. I must admit, I'm liking the DL/Edge room. Need 1 or 2 more edge guys and I’m liking what we’re seeing based on planned visits as of 12/30. I’ll make a final breakdown after Jan 18th when we’ll know the spring roster. DL/Edge is so tricky now. Ten years ago teams ran 4-3 or 3-4 defenses with NTs, DTs, DEs and OLBs. Now with multifaceted schemes, we have 1s (NT), 3s (DT), 5s (DE) and Edge (can be an OLB or hybrid DE/OLB). For now I’m gonna list the players and their position. Besides Watson, they all have at least two positions. The players: Watson 1 Jackson 1-3 Lyons 1-3 Banks 1-3 Boireau 1-3 Slackman 3-5 Taylor 3-5 Sapp 3-5-Edge Collins 5-Edge James 5-edge Searcy 5-Edge Hill 5-Edge Boone 5-Edge Ivory 5-edge McCray 5-Edge Pyburn- Edge I’m gonna wait until after Jan 18th to evaluate and estimate the depth chart. The one spot we can look at today is 1 (NT) spot: 1- 1st Jackson, 2nd Banks, 3rd Lyons (projected starter at 3), 4th Watson, 5th Boireau and some decent PWOs here, too… Really like this group. I don’t see how there can be complaints here. 1/6 Update: The OL is simpler. Still have OCs, OGs and OTs. Like the 16 in place now. What’s really good is the ENTIRE OL, all 16, are here for spring- just awesome. Also have a good set of walkons here as well. Looking to have a 20-man (16 scollarship) OL for spring... Back in the day spring practices and the spring game had issues because there weren't enough OL. SOS ran a spring game with 9-man (3 OL) teams. The portal additions of OTs BCD and Manuel coupled with the OG departures of Mazz and Leonard has evenened out the OL structure: 7-OGs, 6-OTs, 2- OT/OG swing and 1-OC. There will be a lot of cross training at OC this spring. It's been reported Simonds was kepts around to be OC2. Could make a pretty good WAG at the depth chart, but I’ll wait until Jan 18th when the spring roster will be set: Slaughter OC Williams OG Harris OG Kearney OG Lovett OG Simonds OG Masdoll OG Portnjagin OG George OG/OT Waites OG/OT Barber OT BCD OT Manuel OT Jones OT Westphal OT Williams OT We’ll know a lot more about the structure and depth after spring. Marcinko's article is a good read. What to make of Florida’s offensive line room | GatorCountry.com
The defensive front has a lot of snaps under their belt. The new Dline coach has a lot of talent to work with. They look very good on paper and should help the other 2 levels.
So far I like Jackson, Lyons and Slackman getting the most reps at the 1 & 3. I like Banks for 8-12 sanps a game as the back-up 1. We'll see who else earns PT as a back-up 3. Myself, I'm over watching Watson chug around at over 400lbs. If he's over 395lbs, I wouldn't play him.
Suspect the new strength guy will make or break Des. Despite his FSU gaffe I thought Lyons was our second best DT last third of the season
Quality depth is a must. An injury or lack of conditioning and we are back to playing tweener DE at DT and wonder why they are failing. It has been the way for too long.
The key on offensive line is Are we going to see real development and improvement in the guys we have. We have the bodies but nobody seems to get better.
At least one of the true freshman last year has to start in year 2 and would expect several to now be in the 2 deep. Spring enrollees that year will now have second Spring and Summer if S&C. Have to be much improved and ready after finishing 2 years in our program. If not, we will have probs in future
Updated the 1st post to reflect the OL portal changes. Marcinko's new OL article is a good read. Interesting thinking of Barber at OG with the idea of getting the five best linemen on the field. What to make of Florida’s offensive line room | GatorCountry.com
We've come a long way from not being able to field a complete Oline to real competition at each spot.
