Coming into the season, the Gators expected their defensive line to be one of the team’s strengths. The additions of three graduate transfer defensive tackles and getting Zachary Carter back to his more natural strongside end position were supposed to make them stouter against the run and a menace to opposing quarterbacks.
The debut of the reshaped line was a mixed bag in UF’s 35-14 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday night.
On the positive side, they sacked Owls quarterback N’Kosi Perry six times and narrowly missed out on a couple more. They limited FAU to 92 rushing yards and just 2.5 yards per carry. They recovered two fumbles.
However, they also had some inconsistencies. The Owls broke off several explosive runs, and they actually averaged 4.1 yards per carry if you take out the sacks. There were big holes up the middle of the defense at times, and UF didn’t record a single tackle-for-loss on a running play.
Florida Atlantic is a solid rushing team, but they’re obviously not Alabama or Georgia. The Gators need to be more consistent at stuffing the run moving forward.
“I thought solid at times,” Gators coach Dan Mullen said. “I thought we got after the quarterback. I thought they did a good job getting the ball out pretty quick early, and, a lot of times when they got the drop-back pass, we got a bunch of pressure, got some sacks.
“A little bit soft in the run game at times, so you know that I want us to be a little bit stouter on that part of it. It was kind of like either zero or 10 yards, [it] kind of seemed like to me at times. So, we’ve got to be a little bit cleaner that way up front.”
Carter said he was generally pleased with the line’s performance, but the group holds itself to an extremely high standard. He knows that they can be more dominant if they clean up some technique things.
“I’ll say just fitting blocks better, knock back on the line of scrimmage to stop some of those runs from happening,” he said. “They didn’t bust a lot of long runs, but we’re trying to be the best defense in the SEC, and, if we want to do that, we have to correct all the little things, and it starts up front.”
One thing Carter definitely won’t have to correct is his pass-rushing. He made five sacks in 12 games in 2020.
He’s already more than halfway there after one game in 2021. He recorded a career-high three sacks. It was the first time a Gator recorded three sacks in a game since Jonathan Greenard did do against Florida State in 2019. It seemed like Carter beat the tackle around the edge on just about every passing play.
“I’ve got to give credit to my back end,” Carter said. “They did a great job covering tonight, helping me get back there. Especially my guys inside for giving me that push. It was just one of those games. I was feeling it tonight, and I’m excited for this year. I’m planning on having a big year. I’m excited.”
On second-and-4 late in the first quarter, he beat the tackle around the edge and punched the ball away from Perry just as he was about to start his throwing motion. Gervon Dexter fell on the ball for the Gators’ first takeaway of the year.
“I read the tackle’s stance, and I knew it was about to be a pass,” Carter said. “I just got off the ball as fast as I could, and I just so happened to run by him. I’ve been working on stripping the ball, so, when I have my chance, I executed that.”
While Carter couldn’t have played much better, he views himself as one of the leaders of the defense. So, he’s taking it upon himself to help the guys around him play more consistently starting next Saturday at South Florida.
“This is just a sneak peek,” he said. “I know we can do a lot better. We’re just scratching the surface. It’s the first game. We have a lot to correct.
“I’m not disappointed, but I’m just not satisfied because I know what this group is capable of, and we had a solid performance, but I just know that we can take it to another level. So, we’ve just got to continue to keep improving on tonight.”
Mullen is confident that the group will do just that. They’ve got four veterans who have played a bunch of major college football games in Carter, Antonio Valentino, Daquan Newkirk and Tyrone Truesdell. They take pride in playing to the best of their ability, so they’ll push themselves hard to get better.
“I think those guys, especially older guys, they have a pretty high expectation for themselves,” Mullen said. “So, I think they want to get better, and this transition into playing games and how different it is from all the practice stuff – I think we’ll see a big jump this week.”