By: Zach Goodall -- October 11, 2022 Five equals one, unless six or seven equals one. While the equation may not indicate that Florida assistants Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton majored in mathematical studies, the Gators' unique duo of offensive line coaches' formula is working in their approach to developing UF's trenches. And, in football terms, the blueprint makes a lot of sense. Think of a chain being as strong as its weakest link — one quality offensive line is made of five quality contributors. But in Florida's case, that number extends to seven. "We've got a saying in the O-line room, five equals one," interior lineman Richie Leonard IV said after Florida's win over Eastern Washington. "And our coaches preach to us, coach Sale and coach Stapleton, you know, if six equals one, six are going to play. If seven equals one, seven are going to play." 7=1? Gators Detail OL Growth; Richie Leonard, Austin Barber's Emergence
Ethan White talks about this in Monday’s presser as well. Very impressive performance by our O line so far!
Now, to move on to two defensive line coaches! These coaches, and the players themselves have really stepped up to the plate big-time. It's refreshing. I hate to say it out loud, but are these guys as good as the line from Meyer's era? Perhaps. Others that know the trenches are better equipped to comment. Looking forward, I think this bodes well for our future. No one can tell with any certainty what tomorrow will bring. But when you see positive change, it certainly makes you wonder-the biggest obstacle being time itself. This year has been a mixed bag. AR has been great and he's had his struggles. Often times we've been a defensive stop or two from having more in the win column, even with our periodic offensive droughts. This LSU game should be good. We're about due to take them to the woodshed. Right now, that would be winning by one point. Ha! Go Gators.
Will someone splain something to me? I'll admit that I'm not an X's and O's guy, but the eye test just doesn't cut the mustard to be able to say that this OL is much better than average. The low sack count is likely due to AR being extremely difficult to sack, so toss out that stat. The rushing yardage has a lot to do with AR taking off and the chunk runs by the backs (and long run by WR). If we have a good OL, we should be a lot more consistent, not the pedestrian carries of most of the season (especially 1st half against Mizzu and whole USF games). They opened holes that I could have ran thru against Mizzu in the 2nd half. What happened? OL adjustments, Mizzu get tired, OL step up and do their job???
