Gators Defensive Line Continues to Gel Ahead of Marquee Matchup vs. Alabama
A fight up front.
The Florida Gators' retooled defensive line is ready to take on the challenge of Alabama in week three of the college football season.
Last year, when the Crimson Tide and Gators faced off in the SEC Championship Game, head coach Dan Mullen noted postgame that the gap between the two teams rested in the trenches, with the Tide winning the battle upfront on both sides of the ball.
Attempting to address that gap in the offseason, the Gators went to a plentiful well to acquire experienced talent to replenish a dry spout. Striking gold in landing Antonio Valentino, Daquan Newkirk and recently-added Tyrone Truesdell via the transfer portal, Florida bulked up the interior to reconcile their missteps in recruiting and will now look for them to contend with the five-star offensive line of the Tide.
“I think it will be a good test for both teams up there,” Mullen said on Monday. “I think we’ve played solid up front defensively. I think our front seven has been solid defensively through the first two games.”
Adding the three new pieces to the position group to join second-year contributors Gervon Dexter and Jalen Lee — as well as the monstrous freshman Desmond Watson who has been used sparingly so far this season — the unit immediately went from one of the biggest weaknesses on the team to an undenied strength.
Operating against less-talented opponents in the first two weeks of the season, the Gators defensive line had the luxury to work through its inevitable growing pains, learning the intricacies of the scheme and how to operate alongside the unfamiliar faces.
In that time, Florida has shown the capability to improve when they made mistakes early on, something defensive coordinator Todd Grantham likes to call “working the game.”
Taking promising strides from their home opener against FAU to their road trip to Tampa for USF, Grantham highlighted specific areas David Turner’s unit became more efficient in during week two.
“I thought our guys played much better in the second game than the first game. I thought we had our hands on guys better. I thought we pressed blocks better, a little more disruptive,” Grantham said.
Disruptive is a fitting adjective to describe the defensive line so far this season.
Accumulating seven tackles for loss and one sack in Raymond James Stadium, the starting unit wreaked havoc on the Bulls' backfield, adding to their already impressive totals from week one to record seven sacks — ranking top 20 in the NCAA — and 13 tackles for loss through two games.
Showcasing their abundance of talent, questions still swirl around the group. Those uncertainties are set to be answered on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Namely, can the Gators find success in the trenches when it counts?
“It starts with us,” Newkirk — the Gators starting three-technique — said in his media session on Monday. “We’re not a stat stuffer position, we’re more of a do your job type of position. So we got to focus on doing us first and then we’ll make plays.”
Hosting arguably the biggest contest in The Swamp since the Mullen era began in 2018 — contending with LSU in 2018 and Auburn in 2019 — the No. 11 Gators attempt to take down the top-ranked Crimson Tide on Saturday.
As a result, the new-look D-line gets an opportunity to test their ability against Bama’s front five, hoping the reconstruction efforts and two-week gel period pays dividends.
In the eyes of Newkirk — someone who knows a lot about Alabama coming over from in-state rival Auburn — it comes down to week-to-week improvements.
“Each and every week we improve. Like I said last week about the USF game, I see huge improvement, even with myself, because you know the first game I can say certain keys I missed on and second game I was more so on target with all my keys and doing my job the correct way.
“Hopefully, we can keep that going.”
A part of the 2019 Auburn team that handed Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide their most recent loss to this point, 48-45, Newkirk has seen what it takes to take down the perennial powerhouse in the NCAA over the past decade. The Gators line will lean on Newkirk for some guidance as they look to replicate that recipe for success to assert themselves into playoff contention.
It’s important that the Gators find ways to create pressure on redshirt freshman quarterback Bryce Young in his first true road start — rattling the youngster in a similar fashion to what the Gators did to Newkirk’s former teammate Bo Nix in 2019 — forcing uncharacteristic mistakes that bode in UF’s favor.
Execution on every play will be the focal point to accomplish that goal.
“You gotta come with your A-game just like they do all the time."
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