What is Going On with Florida's Offensive Line?

The Florida Gators' offensive line was touted as one of the best in the SEC entering 2025. It had two experienced, redshirt seniors who projected as NFL draft picks in 2026 while returning four of the five starters from a year ago.

Many expected the trenches to be a staple of the Gators offense.

Instead, the Gators' offensive line has arguably been one of its weakest links through the first nine games, showing its fragility once again against Kentucky on Saturday.

Florida’s offense struggled to generate many positive runs against Kentucky. It rushed the ball 32 times for just 104 yards, averaging 3.3 yards per rush. Compare that to Kentucky’s rushing offense, which ran the ball 44 times for 233 yards. Florida ball carriers also logged five rushes that went for negative yards.

"I feel like myself personally, guys in my position group, we didn’t handle the defensive front movement, we didn’t handle the backer play as well as we needed to early on and ultimately we didn’t take care of the football," center Jake Slaughter said. "That’s a holistic problem, that’s protection, that’s chasing the ball, that’s everything. It’s not one part of the, it’s everybody, everybody is involved in ball security. It’s something we need to improve on.”

Additionally, it is the fifth time this season that the Gators have averaged less than 4.0 yards per rush. There have been two instances where they have been below 3.0 yards per rush, as well.

That is the result, though, when players are not playing up to standard. Only three of the eight offensive linemen graded above 60 on run blocking by PFF versus Kentucky. Everyone else was sub-60, according to PFF.

None of this makes an offense productive. Florida needs both its rushing offense and passing offense to be on the same page and working in unison, as any team would.

The unfortunate thing for the team is that this has been a recurring outcome for several weeks this year. PFF has handed Florida a run blocking grade below 60 five times this season.

That includes the loss against the Miami Hurricanes, where the PFF run blocking grade was south of 60 and the pass blocking grade was below 20. In this contest, Florida averaged 2.8 yards per carry on 29 attempts. The offense also averaged 2.7 yards per pass, surrendered 16 quarterback hurries and 19 quarterback pressures, according to PFF.

Another problem for the Gators has been the constant rotation along the offensive line. Rather than having a set five to depend on every game, the coaches have routinely mixed and matched throughout each game. Eight linemen have recorded 100 or more snaps, according to PFF. Six have less than a 70 overall offensive grade, and two of those six have less than a 50

So, while the quarterback play in the Florida offense has been poor in almost every game, the offensive line play has been just as bad, or maybe worse, considering the experience.

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