Florida Gators' Brett Heggie Talks Return to Center, SEC OL of the Week
Photo credit: University of Florida athletic association
After a couple of years playing guard for the Florida Gators, redshirt senior Brett Heggie entered the 2020 season preparing to move across the interior offensive line.
The 6-foot-5, 321-pound lineman, Florida's most experienced returning starter this season, spent his offseason preparing to play both guard spots, and center, for John Hevesy's unit in his final year of eligibility. Following the graduation of former starting center Nick Buchanan, Heggie knew there was a leadership role up for grabs, and he prepared for the season as if the responsibilities of that role had become his.
“I didn’t know where I was going to be, so throughout quarantine I prepared for all three interior positions," Heggie told the media on Monday night, via Zoom. "I was just always prepared because you never know what is going to happen in this game, you just better be prepared."
Heggie certainly was prepared. He began camp primarily working at guard while sophomore Ethan White took center reps with the first-team. White suffered a knee injury in the team's second scrimmage, however, which officially slid Heggie into the middle, a position he had played in high school and during his first season at Florida in 2016.
Less than three weeks later, Heggie was named the SEC's week one offensive lineman of the week. Florida's offensive line as a whole performed well against Ole Miss and looked improved from last season, Heggie himself having a clean game as seen on tape. He had no issues with snap accuracy, created a highlight run block, and gave up just one quarterback pressure.
"It's definitely a big honor," Heggie said of the award, before acknowledging a group effort. "I think a lot of the credit should go to the other four guys. Just being able to communicate and put me in good spots to execute and pick up blocks throughout the game."
An advantage in Heggie's first game back at center, he said, was the lack of crowd noise. An "oddly quiet" Vaught Hemingway Stadium allowed Heggie to communicate clearly between his teammates and fellow linemen.
Head coach Dan Mullen said that Heggie is well-deserving of the award after making the switch to center, but like Heggie, he credited the entire unit for bringing home Heggie's honor.
"A lot of times that almost ends up being a team award. I know it goes to the individual, and I give Brett a lot of credit," Mullen said on Monday.
"You look, there weren’t a lot of mistakes up front," he continued. "As the game went on, I think we made some good adjustments to what they were doing to run the ball even more efficiently than we did early in the game, and a lot of that goes on the center. But overall, I thought the offensive line played well, and he is the center of that line and the focal and the apex of that line. I’m glad he was able to get the recognition for that.”
Florida ended the day against Ole Miss rushing for 196 yards on 6.8 yards per attempt, and of course, the passing game exploded behind a 416-yard, six-touchdown day from quarterback Kyle Trask.
It was certainly quite a start for Heggie, back at a position he hadn't played in four years. It remains to be seen how the line will shape out when White returns to action, but Florida can feel confident it has at least one starting-caliber center in Heggie moving forward.
"I think with me, the experience and being around for a while, I kind of got the fundamentals down for all three spots," said Heggie. "The biggest thing is just knowing what you’re doing out there and being able to see different things so that you can pick up blocks.”
