The Gators held their first scrimmage of the spring on Thursday inside the indoor practice facility. This scrimmage provided the first opportunity for coach Billy Napier to evaluate his team in a game-like setting.
Unfortunately, the scrimmage reminded Napier of the sobering reality that they’re facing right now.
Transfers, NFL Draft declarations, graduation and a smaller than normal recruiting class left the Gators short on overall depth to begin with. Add in some attrition through the first two weeks of spring practice, and they have some massive holes at certain positions.
Napier said that they had to cut the scrimmage about 25-30 plays short because of their lack of depth, and, if they lose a few more players, they may have to alter the way that they practice.
“We’ve got a first and second group,” Napier said. “It basically eliminated the third group. We’ve got a lot of players who are taking advantage of opportunities. With challenges comes opportunity. You can sit around and complain about those things, but, to me, I see opportunity. That’s the approach we’re going to take.”
No position has been more decimated than tight end. Gage Wilcox is out with what Napier described as a “career-ending injury.” Jonathan Odom and Nick Elksnis haven’t practiced in a while. Odom tweeted that he underwent a successful surgery last week.
Those absences have left them with one scholarship tight end – Keon Zipperer. To fill out the depth chart, they’ve moved former-tight-end-turned-defensive-end Dante Zanders back to tight end as well as former offensive and defensive lineman Griffin McDowell and an unnamed long-snapper. Both McDowell and the long-snapper caught a pass during the scrimmage.
Napier has been impressed with the way that Zanders has handled his transition back to the position.
“There’s no question in my mind that, not only is he going to be able to play, but he’s going to be able to do his job,” he said. “He has been a godsend to some degree, relative to his ability. He’s really bright. He’s picked it up quickly. He’s able to go out there and execute.”
The offensive line has the exact opposite problem. They have 13 scholarship players at the position, and they’ve stayed fairly healthy so far. However, only seven of those 13 players have received extensive playing time in games. So, the quality of play goes way down once you get into the second unit.
“Every position on our team, we need more players,” Napier said. “We need more depth. I think the offensive line is a reflection of the entire team. We have a pretty good first group we can put out there, and, if you really evaluated the team relative to experience, this is a very inexperienced team. After the first team, if you look at the experience, the number of plays that a lot of these guys have played, they haven’t played any. So, we have a lot of work to do to develop that second and third group.”
The wide receiving corps lacks depth and doesn’t have that blazing speed that you’d expect from a team located in such a talent-rich state like Florida.
They don’t have any experience at strongside defensive end behind Princely Umanmielen. Safety and nickelback have become a bit thin due to some players being unavailable this spring.
Heck, even the kicking position is in a rough spot right now. Chris Howard, the only returner who’s kicked in a college game, has walked out of the facility during the early stages of every practice.
This roster is light on quality and quantity right now. They’re going to award scholarships to five walk-ons this spring just because they have open slots. To address the depth issue, Napier said that you can expect them to be very aggressive during what he refers to as the “spring portal period.”
“We need players,” he said. “Now, I think the approach is going to be ‘Acquire as many good players as we can at any position.’ So, we’re thin, and we need help in a lot of different spots.
“I think it’s fortunate that we have that opportunity. It’s something I’m very thankful for. Can’t imagine not having that opportunity at this point. So, that window of time is coming. We anticipate doing a lot of business, and we’re looking forward to it.”
In the meantime, the Gators are going to make the best out of the hand that they’ve been dealt. Like it or not, these are the players that they have right now, and they’re going to have to do a lot of development between now and September if they’re going to have a successful season.
“We’re a work in progress,” Napier said. “We’re a year one football outfit right now. There’s a lot of learning going on. We’re installing systems. We just need repetitions. We’ve gotten a lot so far. We need more. I don’t think I’d ever stand up here and say that’s not the case. This is college football. It’s a developmental game, and you’ve got a new team every year. We’re going to work on ways to solve the problems that we do have and make the best of each situation and go play a brand of football that fits this team and the dynamics within this team.
“Every team’s got its problems. You do your best with it. No complaining. Just make the best of your situation. There’s lots of answers to that problem.”