it is a short term injury, but he has spent most of his time not available because of that Achilles injury, and being on a long rehab. He should have the system mentally, but he has very little playing time for being an upperclassman. So far he has just not been available
And it looks like they don’t want to play Simonds. They have to be prepared that in the event, a true freshman that isn’t even at practice is not in any way adequate, they need to have a player ready that can switch to center. That could be our starting guard.
Third and one being an automatic first down when everybody in the stadium knows a run between the tackles is coming is very important.
Coach Sales said that this is the most experience and talented line we have had, which has created a lot competition, and we will find out who are best 5 are and get them on the field regardless if a position change is needed.
Simonds is not playing a meaningful snap at any position. He has been recruited over for 4 years. He is obviously not at Florida for playing time. I hope he is a great coach and mentor to younger players.
Hence why we have to prepare three at center. Two have to play and there needs to be a third in case of injury which usually happens.
They will move over a guard than have Simmonds on the field. Last year they had 5 or 6 OC and OG trained to snap the ball in the fall. They have taken into account injuries at C and will get the best snapper remaining as C.
I'm a fan, since he is a Buford kid. This is his 6th and final year. Sad because he was a road grader in high school.
He had some other road graders beside him at Buford too iirc, so he had some help. To see him stay with the Gators as long as he has is a testament to what kind of guy he is. I don't know if he has a scholarship for next year, but maybe he can be a g.a. if he doesn't.
Simonds played some in 2021. Don’t know why he hasn't played for CBN the last two years. Don’t know if he got hurt or not. From what I understand CBN loves him and is very happy to have him for a 6th season. Although, I'm not 100% sure he'll be here in fall. We'll see how that plays out. Anyway, he’d be fine as OC3 if healthy. If he’s not good enough to play, one of the backup OGs will do. When it comes down to it, any school that’s down to OC3 will have issues.
I kinda posted this somewhere else. It’s perfect for this thread…. In the post I’ll talk about today’s scrimmage setting the depth chart going into fall. So far, the early info from the scrimmage hasn’t produced much info other than the passing game was off to start the scrimmage… Here’s the post:
Today was the day, the most important practice of spring. It’s kinda like how in the NFL the most important preseason game was the 3rd game when there were four preseason games. Spring practice #12 and the 2nd scrimmage. This scrimmage sets the depth chart for the O&B game and the depth chart for the first day of fall practice. This doesn’t include the spring portal, which could be insane. That’s all I want to say about it for now. It starts April 15th, then we’ll see what the roster looks like on May 1st. For now, it’s just the end of spring practice. Next week is O&B week and important; It’s also a show. CBN treated this week like a game week, as much as he could,including a walkthrough yesterday as practice #11. What should we expect from today? This is how I see it. OC is the easiest group to analyze. No changes: 66- Jake Slaughter R-Jr; 71- Roderick Kearney R-Fr; 64-Riley Simonds. Probably the strongest group on the OL… Kearney as a possible RG1 is the storyline to watch. OT, what an enormous upgrade from last year. Last year at this time the staff felt good about one OT and OK about another. One of them dropped out and the other one got hurt. It was a mess. Now, it appears they like four guys and are OK with six. LT: 57-Devon Manuel R-Jr; 68-Fletcher Westphal. RT: 65-Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson R-Sr; 63-Caden Jones R-Fr. Barber will start in the fall. From all reports, Waites improved a lot in S&C and early spring. Those are the top six. Williams looks to redshirt, he appears to be a nice prospect. Don’t know more than that at this point. Want to see how they stack up after today’s scrimmage. If the OTs stay this strong through fall camp, then Barber at RG1 could be in play. OG is two parts. LG1 is a slam dunk: Knijeah Harris So… He’s been a player since he enrolled fifteen months ago. Probably the best player on the OL. Looking to be the next Taylor/Torrence type OG. RG1 is where it gets interesting. Everyone is in play here. Hopefully we get a lot of info from today’s scrimmage. Here’s what we know pre-scrimmage. 70-Damien George R-Jr: Has been RG1 all camp. Has had mixed reviews. On3 hasn’t liked him, but that could be agenda based. We’ll see. 53- Bryce Lovett R-Fr: Has been RG2 all camp. Has received a lot of praise so far. 56- Christian Williams R-So: Has been LG2 all camp, but also in play at RG. 3rd yr player looking to make that jump. We’ll see. 71- Roderick Kearney R-Fr: He’s OC2 and in play as RG1. A lot of people like him. No one has physically matured more in the last six months. Hopefully we have some clarity after today and see it play out in the O&B game. The situation isn’t ideal, but so not worried about it. There are plenty of talented players there to have a ready RG1. I can think of two situations when an unsettled spot turned into a problem on the OL. The well documented OTs of 2023, and LG1 in 2019. I’ll review it. JUCO Noah Banks was brought in 2018. He played in 2018 and was setup to be LG1 in 2019. He has a seizure problem and had to quit football at the start of fall camp in 2019. There was no ready player to take his spot, so RFr Chris Bleich had to start. He was overwhelmed, the OL suffered badly for it. It was so bad he transferred mid-season. Gouraige took over and started the last five or six games. He actually stabilized the line. So, I don’t see how RG1 is anything like last year's OTs or 2019’s LG1. Much more OG depth in place this year. We’ll see how it turns out. Today’s scrimmage should tell us a lot... We'll see.
Sorry to say, but no. We'll have to wait for next Saturday's O&B game to see for ourselves. I get some info from a couple people with subscriptions on other sites. They don't tell me everything, but tell me enough. The only negative comments on the OL have been about George and that was before the first scrimmage.
