Often the brunt of jokes, the recipient or ire, and far too often overlooked when things are going well, the job of an offensive lineman can be thankless. When you whiff a block on a defensive tackle everyone will see you bending over to peel your quarterback off the turf but when you open a hole for a running back, all eyes turn to the ball carrier and away from you.
As we said, it can be a thankless position.
For years the Florida Gators’ offensive line would have rather gone under the radar rather than being scrutinized as heavily and harshly as they have been. Last year watched Stone Forsythe and Brett Heggie take huge leaps, while other parts of the offensive line, particularly the right side of the line, struggle. It was a better unit overall than it had been in recent years but still not where fans or the coaching staff want it to be.
As the Gators head toward the midway point of camp the coaching staff continues tinkering with the line to get guys experience. One position, in particular, is center, where Florida is trying to replace Brett Heggie. Ethan White was set to start there in 2020 before a preseason knee injury sidelined him for most of the season but the staff knows what White can do there, so they’re using this time to get other players ready.
“Ethan has played center and not doing much right now and probably the second half of spring we’re gonna put him back in, put him back doing it but again I felt comfortable with him going into last season doing so, and see where he is maturity-wise and understanding things but to be honest I don’t think he needs it,” Hevesy said. “Stewart (Reese) is getting a tremendous amount of reps at center right now. Kingsley’s (Eguakun) getting a tremendous run at center; Richie Leonard’s getting them, Griff McDowell’s getting them, Riley Simond’s getting them, so to me there’s a lot of guys getting those reps to see really go through spring, okay walking out of this, who are the four that I can feel comfortable with going in there. Which to me, I think I could put a lot of guys at guard to suffice and play; tackle you can kind of move around a little bit that position, but if the ball’s not getting to the quarterback we got a problem. So to me that’s a big thing in spring to see who can do it and to feel comfortable and be confident we can go win games with.”
The starting five won’t be decided this spring but it can be telling where guys are lining up and you can begin to piece together the seven to eight guys that Flordia trusts and the linemen you’ll see featured in the fall.
“Interior-wise walking out there if you have Stewart at center, Ethan at guard, and Josh at guard it’s 353, 350, 354 — so pretty big,” Hevesy said. “Which I think is part of the whole deal to running the ball and moving those inside guys to run downhill — inside zone, outside zone stuff. There’s some mass in there to move guys, to learn to be physical all the time. It’s not being nice guys because they’re big guys. It’s using that force and power that you have.”
Florida does have some flexibility with those inside guys. Stewart Reese has played every position along the line during his six-year career and can be a valuable swing piece if injuries start to hit. White has played all three interior guard positions and Braun, well you can just look at the picture to the article to get an idea of the size he brings to the line.
That pretty much leaves right tackle, where Jean Delance returns for his redshirt senior season. Delance struggled in 2020 to keep the quarterback clean but has been running with the first team at right tackle again. Hevesy insists that the sixth-year senior is making strides, but with practices being closed and limited viewing options on social media we’re left to take his word for it.
“Just confidence in what he was doing and understanding the why’s of the offense. Two years ago playing I think he was still looking around and saying ‘Am I right?’ Last year what you saw, and he still can improve on it, you saw a lot more of it last year,” Hevesy said of Delance. “Like anybody, they have their little moments where it’s ‘OK, I’m not sure of this,’ but I think he improved drastically. And now he needs to improve more, to where you can be physical in your sets and not worry about little things you do have worry about.”
Right tackle will remain a question mark, but with an unwillingness to try someone like Braun there, the options are thin at the position.
There’s still a long way to go before the Gators will take the field this fall but the line is making strides to be an improved unit in 2021.
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