Listed as a starter at guard, but no love for Knijeah Harris. I think he will be our best offensive lineman next year Knijeah Harris - Football - Florida Gators
The story gave two examples if what the starting line could look like and both examples have Harris as the starting RG... So, there's that. Marcinko mostly broke-down the OTs in the article, which I thought was an excellent brake-down, that's why Harris wasn't specifically talked about.
Barber & Harris at OG could be a good pair. Have a few choices at OT and good size Hope Manuel and the Other tranfer start at OT. Just might have Napier best OL yet.
Good post. Slaughter's good. I have him as a clear starter. For the OGs, I like Harris starting at one spot. The other one I think is up for grabs with four or more legit possibilities. Spring is gonna be fun watching what happens here. Absolutley like your three guys at OT. Big upgrade going into spring from last year. Really want to see how Jones looks, too. He didn't play this year, but there were good reports on him.
Yeah, but that's the thing about Oline, every player at those positions can be good but they may not play well TOGETHER. It's probably the only unit on the field that has to be on the same page every play and know what each other are going to do. Will have to get in some actual games to see what's what.
The entire unit- all 16 schollarsip players and 3-5 walkons- will be here for winter S&C, spring and fall. So, I don't don't see how this is an issue.
I just want to see people stop using the word Room to describe position groups. What is wrong with just saying "UF has great running backs" instead of "UF has a great running back room?" Why not just speak plainly? Everyone is in a damn room nowadays. End of stupid rant. No offense to the OP.
Because once the actual games start and opposing defensive coordinators start throwing stuff at them, how well they communicate under fire in a split second will determine if all their individual talent stands up to working as a cohesive unit. This is why a senior laden Oline that has been together for a couple seasons will perform better than younger players.
I agree with you. The UF offensive line was not a very good line but it was at the best serviceable. One of the assets this O-line had was an ample number of players who had one or two seasons together as a unit. This past season, UF's offensive line was a patch work of just a few players that had one or two season together. The rest of that line up had one season elsewhere or were incoming Freshmen. The Florida Gator 2022 roster had: 20 O-linemen, 5 were true Freshmen, 6 were Redshirt Freshmen, 2 were Sophomores, 4 were Redshirt Sophomores, 2 were Juniors, 1 Redshirt Junior, 0 Seniors, and 0 Redshirt Seniors. Of these 20 O-linemen. 1 came in on the Portal. Thus, the Gator O-line had a total of 15 O-linemen who had at least one season together as a unit. The Florida Gator 2023 roster had: 19 O-linemen, 5 were true Freshmen, 2 were Redshirt Freshmen, 0 Sophomores, 8, were Redshirt Sophomores, 2 were Juniors, 2 were Redshirt Juniors, 0 Seniors. Of these 19, 4 came in on the Portal. Thus, the Gator O-line had a total of 8 O-linemen who had a least one season together as a unit. If you noticed, the experienced 2022 Gator O-linemen with at least one season together went from 15 O-linemen down to 8 O-linemen in the 2023 season. This is a pretty significant drop off.
This is just common football 101 stuff. You're leaving out many other points of emphasis starting with talent. As I've been stating, the entire OL room will be on campus tomorrow to create a well running OL for Miami on August 31st. To be dismisve of this is based on agenda, not reality. And, if you think the 2024 OL wont have stuff throw at them until August 31, then you didn't see last years spring game.
This is just not accurate. This narrative is being put in a vacuum without context or consideration for many other factors. Here's an example. In 2022 when R-Fr Slaughter played OC, first year Gator Torrence played RG and R-Fr Barber played RT, they had absoutely zero experience playing together. Slaughter and Barber had almost no experience at all and Torrence was brand new to the SEC. So, according to your analysis, that group should have been a disaster on the right side of the OL- right? Miraculously, they were not a disaster. A black swan event, if you will... Oddly, they were actually good- almost a white swan event. How was that possible- was it a miracle? No it wasn't. It was just college footbal 101.
It is possible that the three players you referred are most likely the exception and not the rule. To be honest with you, we should expect this to happen more often with players who have multiple recruiting stars on their resumes. On the other hand your example is leaking some water. Here is some info on these three Gators and that leaking water: Austin Barber had his 2021 Freshman year redshirted after appearing in 3 games. At the least he got some game time experience in. Also, It appears that he made the most of his practice time as a Freshman. However, at the beginning of 2022, he was still a rooky. Jack Slaughter had his 2021 Freshman year redshirted. Floridagators.com states that his primary game experience in 2022 was on special teams. Please note that a season of special teams is not like a season of pass and run blocking on offensive drives. O'cyrus Torrence was new to the SEC in 2022 but he was not new to the war in the trenches. Having Torrence playing between Slaughter and Barber was probably a blessing for those two guys. What I am saying here is that he was a veteran player with just one rooky at right side on offensive drives. I would say that your example would hold some water had all three players been playing together on offensive drives for the 2022 season.
It’s kind of like everyone has skills but refers to them as a skill set..it just sounds more coach speak to include part two of it.
And didn't Torrence come from Billy's system at UL? If so, that would have given him a head start on the terminology and such.
