Florida Gators depth issues already shaping spring practice

The Florida Gators are paper thin heading into spring practice and the depth concerns on both sides of the ball will greatly affect how the new coaching staff is able to structure practice to get their team through spring football.

“They’ve got a deep and talented roster, so don’t let that new guy tell you he ain’t got any players, “Will Muschamp said during the press conference following the announcement that he would not return to Florida. “I can tell you that right now. There are some good football players in that locker room.”

Jim McElwain does not dispute this at all, he sees talented players on the roster.

“Just from a depth standpoint, we’ve got good players,” he said. “I’m not saying anything about players; I’m just talking about structurally about how you practice to get the most out of it. It will be a little different.”

On Tuesday, McElwain announced that presumed starters Trip Thurman and Antonio Morrison will both be out this spring with injuries. Morrison injured his knee during the Birmingham Bowl, while Thurman has a lingering shoulder injury and the staff would like for him to have an eight month “off cycle” to give him time to heal.

The loss of Thurman for spring practices leaves the Gators with seven scholarship offensive linemen and a zero percent chance that Florida can run typical practices or hold a traditional spring game. McElwain and the coaching staff will have to get creative trying to find new ways to implement schemes and run 15 practices with barely enough linemen to run a play.

“Cry,” McElwain joked when asked how he plans on making due with just a handful of offensive linemen. “It’s been a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how we’re gonna practice from a standpoint of trying to make sure we don’t lose some other groups because of the one group and yet putting so much work on them sometimes you get caught up in that.”

So, yes, Muschamp left Florida with some talented players. Nobody is disputing that. It’s a fact that Florida returns All-American and All-SEC type of players; there just aren’t enough bodies.

“Obviously our numbers from a roster numbers standpoint are nowhere near where we need to be. We’re thin at linebacker, very, very thin at offensive line, to the point that – we all knew this was coming, so it’s not a shock – but we’re going to have to adjust how we practice, the amount of reps we get and the different ways in which we do things from a practice structure.

Joining Thurman and Morrison on the sidelines will be Jarrad Davis. Davis tore his meniscus against South Carolina last season and spent the rest of the year on crutches. Senior tight end Jake McGee was granted a sixth year of eligibility but won’t partake in any contact drills this spring.

“Obviously our numbers from a roster numbers standpoint are nowhere near where we need to be,” McElwain said. “We’re thin at linebacker, very, very thin at offensive line, to the point that – we all knew this was coming, so it’s not a shock – but we’re going to have to adjust how we practice, the amount of reps we get and the different ways in which we do things from a practice structure.”

Gator fans are familiar with the disappointment of having a non-traditional spring game. The 2013 spring game was turned into a live practice that was not well received by fans. McElwain knows that he has momentum right now, he’s got juice as the new guy coming in to fix the fiasco that the old guy created. The spring game will be the first time the fan base sees what he’s done and the direction of the team. He’ll learn from the staff members of what not to do and he even has some crazy ideas of his own on how to make what will be a glorified practice into something worth watching.

“We’re gonna retrofit the O’Dome and have an Arena League game,” McElwain joked. “Don’t you think that’d be cool? We’d play off the nets, music, it should be fun. Energy. I think that’s a great idea. That might be the direction we’re headed in.”

An arena game won’t fly but maybe Florida can split up the eight offensive linemen into four teams and have them draft a 7-on-7 roster. Florida has plenty of talent at skill positions and 7-on-7 tournaments are picking up steam and are exciting to watch.

The fact of the matter is that the spring game, Orange and Blue Debut, or whatever you want to call it, is for the fans. You’ll get a glimpse of some of the new things this coaching staff will do and it’s fun to see football again but with numbers the way they are, we’re not going to learn a whole lot from the game. The mistake that the previous staff made was to alienate fans by putting a bad product on the field. McElwain understands that the final practice of spring needs to keep the momentum he has rolling and he’s going to do what he can to get the team ready this spring as well as put on a good show for the fans on April 11.

“We’ll probably look at having a more traditional offensive and defensive scoring system and obviously within that some pure red area completion, overtime competition, coming out competition; you know that kind of thing between the units,” McElwain said. “But I really don’t have that answer now until we see where we are 15 practices now.”