GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators will report for fall camp on Tuesday, July 30 with the first day on the grass coming July 31. In preparation for camp opening up, Gators Online reached out to our members to see what they wanted to know heading into the season. With a great response, we had to split up the questions into two parts. This is part one, you can read part two later today.
GatorX2: What unit on each side of the ball do you feel *worst* about; BUT, is that unit better as a whole than it was last year?
Offense: Offensive line.
I’m on the opposite side of the table here based on what program sources are telling us and what the coaching staff is saying publically. Inside the building, the Gators’ coaching staff really believes the offensive line is deeper, more talented, and they’ll keep Graham Mertz upright. I’m skeptical. I think Florida has a very good center in Jake Slaughter and a healthy Austin Barber (which he never was in 2023) can be a solid left tackle. I need to see Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson in action. The fact that we’re being told redshirt freshman Caden Jones is pushing for the starting right tackle job concerns me. BCD is a redshirt senior with thousands of game reps. He should have locked that job up this spring and, apparently, hasn’t. Maybe that shouldn’t be a concern, but if I’m being honest, it does concern me.
On defense, I’m not sure I have an answer. I really like what Florida did in the transfer portal to add experience and quality players through the transfer portal. I think they’ll look much improved this season.
GatorGraunt2020: Who should we expect to take the 1st team reps at safety? With all the new additions in the offseason, it’s a mixed room of youth and experience. I predict Castell and Turner.
It’s going to be Jordan Castell and Asa Turner .
AshvilleGator: What are the indicators you’ll be looking at on D regarding improvement?
Tackling. The Gators missed 116 tackles last season, according to Pro Football Focus. The tackling was atrocious and I think any coach on staff would tell you that. The guys they went and got in the transfer portal are sound tacklers and they were brought it for a reason.
The other two I’m looking at go hand-in-hand and that’s pressure on the quarterback and turnovers. I know he’s not popular in Gator Nation but Princely Umanmielen led Florida in pressure, hurries, tackles for a loss, and sacks in each of the last two seasons. You have to replace that. Getting pressure on the quarterback leads to interceptions. Florida had three interceptions — tied with Temple for dead last in the nation. They only forced seven turnovers, the second-worst number in the country.
GoGators386: How are you expecting reps to be split up with stock piled DL Room and DB room?
I think the defensive line will have a healthy rotation. Florida is really two or three deep at all of those spots along the line. The starters will play more snaps but I really think you’ll see a healthy rotation to keep guys between 20-30 snaps to keep them fresh and effective throughout the course of the game.
In the secondary, there will be some rotation but I think the two starting safeties (Castell and Turner) along with the two starting cornerbacks ( Jason Marshall and Devin Moore ) get the lion’s share of reps there. It will be interesting to see how the reps shake out at Star. Sophomore Sharif Denson , redshirt freshman Aaron Gates and true freshman Josiah Davis are the three guys I’m anticipating seeing out there when fall camp starts but DJ Douglas and Trikweze Bridges can also slide in there.
SouthGators3162: Last year UF averaged top 5 nationally in size on both LOS. With this year being the same how confident are you with the new direction of the strength staff that both sides play up to their size and not get moved around easily at times?
This summer I got the opportunity to go to a couple of workouts, just me, and watch the team go through their offseason workout plan. I also got the chance to sit down with Tyler Miles and Jake Sankal for more than 2 hours to really ask them what they’re doing, how it’s different.
You can check out those stories here
I came away very impressed with the new operation. Tyler Miles earned a degree in construction management but needed only one more credit to make that a civil engineering degree. He’s a numbers and data guy. Everything he does is based on historical data and then tinkered and tweaked as new data comes in. Every rep a football player does is tracked for speed, acceleration, power. Graham Mertz was quoted as saying, “the identity of our team is we squat low and we squat powerful.”
I think this team will look different and play differently based on what I was able to see when I had that exclusive access. There’s a belief in the Miles and Sankal has brought a whole new level of accountability to the program when it comes to their nutrition. I think having the head nutritionist also on the strength and conditioning staff just makes sense and you’ll see more teams copy it in the future.
DBGator1: Do you think this OL is deeper and better than is recent year?
I talked a little bit about this earlier and I do think it’s deeper but a lot of that depth is really young and I don’t know that they’re necessarily ready.
Inside the building I can tell you with 1000 percent certainty that Florida BELIEVES they nailed their offensive line recruiting when it comes to Roderick Kearney , Caden Jones , Bryce Lovett , Knijeah Harris , Fletcher Westphal , Noel Portnjagin , Jason Zandamela , Enoch Wangoy , Marcus Mascoll and Mike Williams . They may have hit on all of those guys like they believe they have but they’re still freshmen and redshirt freshmen, so while there’s depth it’s entirely unproven and inexperienced. I think they have some veterans on the line that can help but they’re going to have to stay healthy and that can be a tough ask in the SEC.
I have been told, and this relates back to the strength and conditioning part, that injuries have been down significantly this offseason (knock on wood).
Maleko83: O/U 9.5 turnovers forced on defense this year.
My first thought is that 9.5 is comically low. 9.5 would still be worth in the SEC, while also being an improvement from last season.
I’ll reset the O/U at 16.5 and take the over.
The post Florida Gators Q&A: What to expect from the Gators in 2024 – Part 1 appeared first on On3 .
Local Gainesville, FL
Most Popular
Comments / 0