Mullen Appreciates Depth Being Built on Gators Offensive Line

Think back to the Florida Gators' Orange Bowl-winning 2019 season for a second.

What was one of the worries across the roster? Which unit had fans, analysts, and coaches all expressing concern throughout the entire year?

Florida's offensive line struggled in 2019. While pass protection was solid as quarterback Kyle Trask only took 23 sacks in 12 appearances and had ample time to throw, the offensive line was young and simply not ready to establish a presence in the run game.

Last year, offensive line coach John Hevesy was tasked with replacing four starters across the line - two of which found a way to stick around in the NFL, while the other now plays in the new XFL. There was a lot of talent walking out the door.

Entering the 2020 season, it's essentially the opposite. Now, Florida's current starters didn't play like future NFL linemen in 2019, but this time, the Gators are returning, not losing, four starters across the line. Redshirt seniors Stone Forsythe, Brett Heggie, and Jean Delance, and redshirt sophomore Richard Gouraige, return as current incumbent starters.

On top of that, five offensive linemen from the 2019 signing class are entering their second season in the system. And, the Gators signed another four linemen in the recent 2020 haul.

The bottom line is, depth is finally being created in the offensive trenches for Florida. And that has head coach Dan Mullen excited.

“I think, one, it allows you to practice a certain way, the right way, to finally have a little bit of depth at the position," Mullen said during his spring press conference on Monday.

"It’s hard to practice if you don’t have any offensive linemen. And put people in. You can’t just, like, throw somebody in there, you know what I mean?

Mullen thrives on competition. That much is known - and he reiterated that on Monday. He wouldn't name Kyle Trask, the quarterback who saved Florida's 2019 season after starter Feleipe Franks suffered a season-ending injury, the starter. Other than the kicker position, where Mullen acknowledged his comfort in Evan McPherson, he wouldn't name a starter anywhere on the team.

"Every position’s open," Mullen exclaimed. "There’s not a position on our team that’s not that way."

Now, with both experience and enough bodies along the offensive line entering Mullen's third year as Florida's head coach, he can finally start to see some real competition in the trenches. Guys such as sophomore Ethan White, who started against Vanderbilt in place of Heggie, redshirt freshman Michael Tarquin - Florida's highest-rated 2019 OL signing - and others will now be expected to step up and compete after a year of development.

And perhaps we'll even see some true freshmen fight for snaps. Three 2020 signees - Joshua Braun, Issiah Walker, and Richie Leonard IV, all enrolled in January and will participate in spring camp.

"It’s good to have that depth, to be able to practice the right way, get the right repetitions for us," Mullen continued.

"And that’s the important part. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to be successful along both lines of scrimmage, offensive and defensive. To do that, you’ve got to have depth. So it’s good that we’re starting to create depth on the lines of scrimmage.”