It\u2019s no secret that offensive line play is critical to success at the collegiate level. Teams that make deep playoff runs are almost always dominant in the trenches. For Florida, that\u2019s one of the biggest question marks entering Jon Sumrall\u2019s first season as head coach.\n<\/p>\n
The Gators lost three starting offensive linemen, including All-American center Jake Slaughter, who\u2019s projected as a top 100 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. It\u2019s already a rebuild from that standpoint, but Florida still has a way to go in terms of physicality to field an offensive line that can truly dominate on Saturdays.\n<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no clear-cut starting five through the first five practices of spring camp, but Sumrall is pleased with the depth of the unit and the competition that\u2019s emerging.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I like is we have competitive depth,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of guys playing good football. But I think the depth of that group is the strength of it right now. We need to see who\u2019s gonna rise, who\u2019s gonna elevate.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Florida returns two-year starter Knijeah Harris, along with a pair of redshirt juniors in Caden Jones and Bryce Lovett, who split time at right tackle last season. But one theme that\u2019s remained consistent across the staff is that it\u2019s a clean slate for everyone. No one is guaranteed a starting spot under offensive line coach Phil Trautwein.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has to be a competition,\u201d Trautwein said. \u201cWe need guys to step up. And just because they were a starter last year does not mean they\u2019re a starter this year. That\u2019s kind of my mindset.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Redshirt freshman TJ Dice Jr. is someone who\u2019s making noise in his second year in Gainesville. He played guard last season but has been getting reps at right tackle early in spring camp.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHis athleticism. Dice is athletic. He has the length,\u201d Trautwein said on why Dice Jr. is playing tackle. \u201cDice needs to gain a little bit of weight. He\u2019s probably holding around 290, 295, so he has to get up there. But he\u2019s athletic enough to play out in space. That\u2019s the big thing. Can you block the speed rush and you block the edges? Inside, you have to be powerful. You have to be able to move the big D-tackles. So for me, he\u2019s a tackle because of his athleticism and his length.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Another tackle in the mix is Stanford transfer Emeka Ugorji, who started eight games as a true freshman last season. He primarily played guard, allowing seven sacks.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was 17 years old last year. He\u2019s 18 now. He\u2019s a great kid,\u201d Trautwein said on Ugorji. \u201cHe had a lot of struggles last year as a true freshman playing, but he grew from it every single game. And I think that\u2019s why he wanted to go and he wanted to go somewhere to compete, and he wanted to do the SEC to do that. So, I\u2019m excited to have him. He\u2019s gonna, he\u2019s gonna play for us. You\u2019ll see him on the field. Don\u2019t know when, don\u2019t know where, but I know that he will because of his mentality and his mindset. And he\u2019s helping me build the culture. He\u2019s every day attacking and doing everything we do to get on the field.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The competition at center will be worth monitoring throughout spring camp. Florida added Georgia Tech transfer Harrison Moore, who started nine games last season at both guard and center.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing good. He\u2019s competing,\u201d Trautwein said on Moore. \u201cHe knows the offense probably better than guys, but guys are really working to know it. He was with Coach Faulkner at Georgia Tech, but my technique is a little bit different in what I teach him. But he\u2019s doing well. He\u2019s doing good. You know, he\u2019ll be on the field. I don\u2019t know who\u2019s the starting center, again, but he\u2019s competing for it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Redshirt sophomore Jason Zandamela is also in contention for a starting spot at center. The former five-star prospect has continued to develop and is pushing for significant playing time this spring.\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s doing a heck of a job. I\u2019m really excited about him. He\u2019s going to be a future center,\u201d Trautwein said on Zandamela. \u201cI think he has and I feel like he has the ability to play in the NFL one day. He just has to keep grinding, keep working. But he has the tools, and I really like who he is, and I\u2019m excited about being able to coach him, and happy he\u2019s here. Right now, he\u2019s doing everything he can to take that starting spot.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0There\u2019s competition across the offensive line. At tackle, you have Caden Jones, TJ Dice Jr., Emeka Ugorji, and Eagan Boyer, along with Fletcher Westphal, who is currently out with a wrist injury. At guard, the group includes TJ Shanahan Jr., Knijeah Harris, Roderick Kearney, and Bryce Lovett. And that\u2019s without even mentioning nine other offensive linemen on the roster.\n<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s offensive line will play a major role in determining the team\u2019s offensive success in 2026. While the personnel is still very much in question, you have to trust that Trautwein\u2019s experience as a recruiter and developer will pay off. It certainly helps that he\u2019s a former Gator who knows what it takes to succeed at this level.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna do everything I can for the University of Florida and to build this offensive line,\u201d Trautwein said. \u201cEveryone wants to be dominant, and we have to be dominant every single day of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s no secret that offensive line play is critical to success at the collegiate level. Teams that make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-198870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}