Florida Football's Run Game Is in Bad Shape Approaching the 2020 Season
The wild recruitment of five-star running back Zach Evans finally reached a fittingly wild conclusion this week as the Lone Star State standout elected to play his college ball at TCU.
At one point he was all Texas. At one point he was all Texas A&M. At one point he was all Georgia. At one point he was all Florida. Past a certain point, it was all confusing.
One of the last FBS prospects to sign his letter of intent and certainly the highest-profile, the Houston-based Evans himself probably heard rumors swirling that he was trending toward moving to Gainesville, Florida to play for Dan Mullen's Gators, who needed a huge win following an off-season plagued with attrition.
Not even considering their losses to the transfer portal, including a promising early enrollee in offensive tackle Issiah Walker (who transferred to Miami after just one semester at Florida), the Gators return little experience in the offensive backfield and have lost their greatest recent contributor, La'Mical Perine, to the NFL Draft.
Perine's shoes are especially difficult to fill primarily due to his success in pass protection and receiving out of the backfield. He caught 40 passes in 2019; only tight end Kyle Pitts and wide receiver Van Jefferson hauled in more passes than Perine a year ago.
The Gators finished the 2020 recruiting cycle having signed zero (0) of their targeted tailback prospects (aside from one incoming transfer, but we'll get to that later). Mullen and company whiffed on every single one. With another scholarship offer available, they might even have to look in to the transfer portal again.
They have added a potential 2020 featured tailback in Miami transfer Lorenzo Lingard, who has applied for a waiver for immediate eligibility, but that decision is up to the NCAA and up in the air at this juncture. The former Hurricane suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2018 and saw very limited field action in 2019 before announcing his decision to transfer.
If Lingard sits out in 2020, that leaves Florida with two 2019 contributors in rising junior Dameon Pierce and rising senior Malik Davis.
Last year, Pierce ran for 305 yards and four touchdowns on 54 attempts and will be the featured back in a pass-first offense that limited the talented Perine to 676 rushing yards and six touchdowns in his senior season.
Davis accumulated a mere 86 yards and one touchdown on 34 carries. Neither excels in pass protection the way Perine did.
In what is expected to be a two-team battle for SEC East champion, Florida's ground game isn't near as potent as division favorite Georgia, whose historically run-heavy offense will likely see a slight increase in passing plays under first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken's spread offense. Despite losing two tailbacks to the NFL (D'Andre Swift, Brian Herrien), the Bulldogs return three rushers who eclipsed 170 yards in 2019 in backup roles in Zamir White, James Cook, and Kenny McIntosh.
RB, La'Mical Perine
For Florida, the primary concern in running the ball at the Bulldogs on Halloween is having to do it against a defense that returns eight starters and every single defensive coach from 2019. The Junkyard Dawgs are coming off a season in which they led the nation in nearly every team category related to rushing defense.
The last Gator tailback to run for a touchdown against Georgia was Mark Thompson, who in 2017 saved Florida from being shut out in garbage time against the Bulldogs in a 42-7 loss.
Florida's perennially formidable defense may have to further tread water under supposed quarterback guru and recruiting master Dan Mullen if the offense can't stay balanced. For SEC rivals, it seems as if there's little to fear when lining up against Florida's projected 2020 offense. For Florida, the playbook may need to get creative before the swamp water turns into hot water for Mullen.
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