After struggling with run blocking over the past couple of years, UF’s offensive line was a pleasant surprise through the first four weeks of this season.
They led the nation in rushing at one point and currently rank third. They’ve only given up three sacks. They bullied big, bad Alabama to the tune of 246 rushing yards and 5.7 yards per carry. Even though their opponents knew that they were about to run the ball, they couldn’t stop it.
And then they threw away all of that progress last Saturday at Kentucky. The Gators rushed for 176 yards at just 4.4 yards per carry, with both marks being by far their lowest of the season. More significantly, the group committed a majority of the team’s eight false start penalties, with all five starters committing at least one. Those fouls hampered the Gators’ ability to establish any sort of rhythm.
They’ll look to regain their form of the first four weeks on Saturday against Vanderbilt.
“I’m sure they’re excited to get back out there,” head coach Dan Mullen said. “I look at the praise early in the season for what it is. You just see it’s a long season. You’ve got to play, you’ve got to perform for 12 weeks in the regular season. So, I don’t give too much; I’ll give praise after the season if we do really well with somebody, good and bad, in how we handle it.”
Right guard Stewart Reese said that he feels like they were prepared to handle the crowd noise at a sold-out Kroger Field but that they didn’t handle the environment as well as they should have when the lights came on.
“I feel like we were ready,” Reese said. “I feel like, once the bullets started flying, some people got kind of flustered. That’s just part of the game. We have a lot of young guys and stuff like that. It’s just part of the experience for them being able to learn and move forward from this game we played this past Saturday and learn what they needed to learn.
“Once you get in situations like that, you really have to learn to focus in because any small thing could throw you off if you’re not focused.”
While they wouldn’t directly throw him under the bus, Reese and Mullen both insinuated that center Kingsley Eguakun was to blame for several of the penalties. There were several false starts where everybody moved except for Eguakun, and Mullen was seen talking with him rather passionately on several occasions throughout the game.
“It’s no surprise what happened,” Reese said. “Like I said, it’s things everybody could have done. Like I said, everybody could see what was going on. But from my standpoint, there were things outside of that that could have been done to help despite what was going on all game. So, yeah, we addressed the problem, and we’re moving forward from it.”
Reese pointed out that rough games like that do occasionally happen to young players such as Eguakun, who is a redshirt sophomore. Reese committed about five false start penalties in his first career road start at Auburn in 2017 while he played for Mullen and offensive line coach John Hevesy at Mississippi State. Sometimes, the only way to learn is by making mistakes in big games.
“I took one look up in the crowd, and I don’t know why I did that,” Reese said. “It can be very daunting to go out on a field in the middle of so many people and have that pressure of having to perform at such a high level. But that’s one of the best things about playing in this league; you have the opportunity to get a lot of experience playing in that stuff.
“I think it’s just part of the experience [of] learning. Once you go into a hostile environment, you have to be ready and prepare to roll with the punches and adjust wherever you need to adjust. I think moving forward it’s just a matter of being able to mentally focus and stay focused in those type of situations and be able to push through and continue to play at a high level.”
Mullen and Hevesy have been criticized by fans for failing to switch to a silent count during the Kentucky game.
However, Mullen said that they used the same snap count that they always use against Kentucky, so he doesn’t think the snap count was the primary issue. Still, they’re evaluating all of their options, and they’ll make adjustments with the snap count if needed.
Reese said that they prepare for possible in-game adjustments throughout the offseason, so he’s confident that they’ll be able to transition to a different snap count if they’re asked to.
“It’s easy to say we’re going to go prepare in practice, but, once you step out on the field, it’s a completely different atmosphere of just being able to go in and change a scheme or something,” he said. “We’re pretty prepared for everything as far as snap counts. Going into that situation was a little tough, but I think we’ll be ready next time.”
Injuries have also played a factor up front over the past couple of weeks. Reese and right tackle Jean Delance have been in and out of the lineup with lower-body injuries since the Alabama game, while Eguakun left the Tennessee game twice with an apparent leg injury. Mullen said that they had “a bunch of guys” miss time in practice last week.
Then left tackle Richard Gouraige went down with an injury against Kentucky, though he returned to the game.
But the Gators aren’t interested in using those injuries as an excuse. This is the SEC. Everybody is banged up after a few games, and they’ve just got to battle through it better than their competition does.
“It’s really just about toughness at this point,” Reese said. “We came into the season aware of the possibility of stuff like that happening. So, I feel like we’re prepared for it. Of course, when it happens, it’s hard to kind of finagle your way through it. Just tough it out. That’s just a part of the game. You’re going to get nicked up and bumped up. We’ve been doing our treatment and stuff. Just got to get ready for next week.”
Josh Braun has filled in for Reese, Richie Leonard has filled in for Eguakun and Michael Tarquin has filled in for Delance and Gouraige.
Quarterback Emory Jones said that he’s comfortable with whatever combination of linemen is out there but added that he’s looking forward to hopefully getting the starting line healthy again over the next couple of weeks.
“I practice with these guys all week, and I trust all my guys coming into the game, and I trust them to do their job, and they trust me,” Jones said. “So, it doesn’t really change anything for me. I just know who’s in the game, how to operate, communicate with that person differently than I would anybody else. That’s the only thing that probably changes for me.
“We want all our guys healthy, but we’re in the SEC. We play tough games every week, so it’s going to happen. Every guy that’s banged up, they’re getting treatment all the time [and] trying to get back on the field, and that’s what matters. But to get all those guys back would definitely be helpful.”
Whatever the starting lineup looks like against Vanderbilt, their level of play needs to return to its early-season form.