Time after time Luke Del Rio was helped off the turf on Saturday night. The Florida Gators offensive line struggled against an undersized UMass Minutemen defensive line and Del Rio was left running for his life much of the night. McElwain was pleased with his quarterback’s play in the season opener, but knows that his quarterback can’t keep taking the kind of hits he did last Saturday.
“We’ve got to clean that piece up and make sure we keep the chief clean,” he said. “You know, we’ve got to make sure we secure the pocket, because even in their five-man pressure stuff when we had it picked up, I mean, Luke was at a 78-percent clip. So what that tells you is, you know, (with) a pretty clean pocket he’s going to get his feet set and get it to where it needs to go.”
Offensive linemen will get beat; it’s going to happen occasionally. More concerning to McElwain was the effort, or perceived lack thereof, from his offensive linemen. Immediately following the game McElwain mentioned that he didn’t like the way his linemen broke the huddle and got back to the line of scrimmage. With two days to review the film and reassess, McElwain still labored on the point Monday afternoon.
“I think the most concerning thing was that the effort wasn’t there. I mean, we played hard, but how quickly we did it I didn’t like,” said McElwain. “And, you know, we were on edge a little bit, like I said in protections, which we knew we were going to get line movement, so why be surprised by it? It’s not like you haven’t seen it a couple thousand times in practice or whatever.”
McElwain challenged the offensive line in the first half. Florida’s offense stalled down in the redzone, sending Eddy Pineiro and the field goal unit out on to the field. Pineiro connected on the first field goal of his career but UMass was offsides. McElwain was faced with a choice: decline the penalty and take the three points or accept the penalty and send his offense back out for a 4th and 1. McElwain sent the offense back out with defensive lineman Bryan Cox Jr. at full back and a 240 pound bulldozer in Mark Thompson in the backfield. Nothing. No gain. No points. McElwain wasn’t wrong to play the odds, he would make the same decision again, the offensive line just failed to get a push.
Despite the performance, it was just one week and McElwain isn’t ready to make any significant changes. The Gators rotated seven offensive linemen against UMass and McElwain hopes to make that eight by getting Richerd Desir-Jones into the mix this Saturday against Kentucky.
The Wildcats will bring a bigger, literally and figuratively, to Gainesville this weekend. Anchored by 360-pound nose tackle Matt Elam, the Wildcats defensive line averages over 300 pounds, 35 pounds heavier than the Minutemen brought.
“We’ve got to challenge our guys up front, control the line of scrimmage a little bit,” McElwain said Monday. “My challenge to the guys up front is not only do your job and do you assignment, but let’s do it at a high tempo and an energy to create some spark offensively.”
Hate to say it, but this is a make-or-break year for Mike Summers. Maybe with the line needs is someone that’s not laid back, but someone that will get up in there ass.
Is it lack of effort or lack of athleticism? Hard to believe afterall the hard work, those guys weren’t jacked to be hitting someone else for a change! Anyone got some insight?