Changes Within Gators Offense Generates Excitement Along Offensive Line
Photo: O'Cyrus Torrence; Credit: Zach Goodall
The Florida Gators have officially reported for fall camp, the start of their first season under head coach Billy Napier and a new generation of UF football.
With a new start and a new season set to take place, there will also be plenty of changes made both institutionally and schematically within all areas of Florida's system. For the team's offense, specifically, that will undoubtedly be an area of dramatic change.
Over the past couple of years under then-head coach Dan Mullen, the Gators have operated in a pass-heavy spread offense, with the run game seemingly an afterthought.
In Napier's offense, it appears to be heading in the opposite direction, with the run game utilized to set up the pass, the sort of philosophical change that gets offensive linemen chomping at the bit to get after it, an ability to "impose your will" on the opposing defense.
"Power and, like, plays that you can kind of impose your will of the offensive line on the defense, and kind of tire them out," Florida offensive lineman O'Cyrus Torrence said on Monday at UF's media day. "And then as you install, just open the playbook up for real [and] like start going over their heads. So, it's going to be exciting."
Though Florida will undoubtedly use the ground attack more with Napier in charge, Torrence wouldn't go as far as to say the scheme will be "run-heavy." Still, the team is "definitely" going to run the ball in an effort to set up the pass and the future of the offense throughout any given game.
"We're definitely going to run the ball, but there's going to be a lot of depth with play action and then downfield plays, I feel like. And then with the staff and the people we have on the team, from the quarterback to the backfield, even the receivers, I feel like we can do honestly everything," Torrence added.
Running the football, across-the-field passes, and dictating tempo within the game can take the team to a different level even as the season progresses.
That sort of mentality was what excited fellow starting offensive lineman Ethan White during the spring. Though the team did plenty of installation between zone and gap-scheme running, naturally, offensive linemen lean toward the gap scheme and have an ability to impose their will on the opposing defense.
"I think as a unit, we like the gap schemes. Not that we like it more than anything else, but when we do it, you know, I feel like it works pretty well, so you know, I like it," White said in April.
Offensive coordinator and co-offensive line coach Rob Sale echoed the sentiments given by Torrence on Tuesday and White back in April. The offense will want to determine its own style of play, setting up play action and getting the defense to adjust to tempo, not the other way around.
"We want to be able to dictate our style of play. We want to be able to run the ball, play action. We want to be able to create different tempos to put pressure on the defense," Sale said.
"We want them to play the width of the field and the length of the field. We can win the game in many different ways if we need to throw it, we can throw it. If we need to run it more, run it more."
The Gators relied heavily on their passing game for the majority of Mullen's tenure, but that reliance will change with Napier and his new staff leading the way.
A brand-new era of Florida football is set to kick off, and the philosophies on either side of the ball will be something to watch unfold as we get closer to Sept. 3 when they face off against Utah on opening day.
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