Bryce Lovett at LT might be the missing link on Florida's offensive line

Bryce Lovett (53) seems to have found a home at left tackle (Photo by Chris Spears)

There was a moment Saturday night in The Swamp that Jon Sumrall had one of those lights just went on experiences that only coaches can have. An offensive line and in particular the tackle positions that had been the source of way too much stress put together an opening drive just like it had been scripted on the scrimmage playsheet. Jadan Baugh, the stud running back that seems to be a big play waiting to happen every time he steps on the field, was running over, under, around and through as the offense took it to the defense. Baugh tends to do that even when he doesn’t have great blocking, which has been the story of his Florida football career.

But this was different. This was Baugh running behind a reshuffled offensive line that saw Bryce Lovett take over at left tackle, flopping Emeka Ugorji over to the right side. The guys in the middle – left guard Knijeah Harris, center Harrison Moore and right guard TJ Shanahan – were their usual steady selves but combined with the play at the tackles Sumrall began seeing what he had been envisioning.

Best of all, it didn’t come to a halt with that first drive. By the time the final whistle was blown, Sumrall had seen the consistent play up and down his O-line for which he had been waiting.

“I've had more concern up until this past week on the O-line,” Sumrall said at his Monday press conference. “The O-line played their best scrimmage, their best football Saturday night since I've been here. I was freaking jacked! I was excited!”

The centerpiece of the excitement was Lovett, the 4^th-year junior from Rockledge. An enormous talent, consistency has always been an issue. He played in all 13 games and got three starts at right guard as a redshirt freshman in 2024. Last season he played in all 12 games, earning two starts at right tackle.

Athletic enough that he is capable of playing all five positions on the offensive line, Lovett spent the offseason replacing fat with lean muscle. He’s a svelte 305 now, both looking and playing like a man on a mission. A week ago Sumrall said, “You know, Bryce Lovett's unbelievably talented. Unbelievably talented. We just gotta get him to keep going all the time, but he's got giftedness.”

That giftedness showed immediately in scrimmage number two Saturday night.   

“Bryce Lovett, man, y'all asked about him a week ago,” Sumrall said. “I've challenged him, our staff's challenged him, he’s responded. I think he has really elevated at tackle. He's played a lot of guard. He's played some tackle, but the first play of the scrimmage the other night, I'm not going to give every detail, but the first drive, the best player on the first drive of the scrimmage the other night was either Jadan Ball or Bryce Lovett, one of the two.”

With Lovett at left tackle and Ugorji seemingly at home on the right side, Florida’s offensive line jelled and the running game produced in a big way. Duke Clark scored one rushing touchdown while Baugh had one and Evan Pryor had another. London Montgomery and Byron Louis also had productive nights although they didn’t get into the end zone.

Lovett on the left side was somewhat of a surprise. That Ugorji played well at right tackle not so much. As a true freshman last year at Stanford, Ugorji started eight games at right tackle, so perhaps he’s back at his natural position.

With a first five set of Lovett, Harris, Moore, Shanahan and Ugorji, the Gators still have to find quality depth.

“You're seeing other guys,” Sumrall said. “I think (TJ) Dice at tackle, I think Eagan Boyer at tackle, and Caden Jones at tackle are all still very much alive, and I would probably predict in the first couple games you're still going to see us play a decent number of guys to work through it and see what gives us our best long-term group but that's where we are today. In the interior we've got several other guys … I think Rod Kearney's had a really good training camp. He’s kind of elevated interior as a guard that I think we can play with and win and so just kind of working through it but that's where we are right now.

“You know, we worked most of the week with that first five together. So you're starting to create cohesion and them have confidence in each other and how they're working combination blocks.”

We tend to associate brute force with play along the offensive line and while strength is a necessity, it is only one element in the success equation. It takes five guys with good footwork and quick hands plus the intelligence to adjust on the fly to ever-changing defensive fronts and blitzes.

Getting five guys to understand individual assignments while playing in synch with each other is a monumental task. The quarterbacks and skill people get all the glory and recognition, but they can’t do their job if the offensive line isn’t functioning as a unit.

“I feel like, you know, sometimes people don't understand how hard it is for that group to play as one, how challenging it is,” Sumrall said. “Targeting things in the run game or the pass pro, having things up the right way is harder than people realize, especially when you're playing our defense and we're doing 9,000 things up front, and you're like, there's a lot of moving parts. But I think they're gaining confidence.

“Phil's [Trautwein] done a really great job coaching them. and they're starting to find their competitive edge and just how they have to play the game the right way. The O-line's got to play with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, a little bit of a swagger, and a little bit of, like, bravado. Like, you've got to bring it. You started to feel that last week. So I'm like, okay, these guys are getting some pride in who they are. And so that's been a big part of it.”

Sumrall on Cormani McClain and consistency

“His best is unbelievably good. His consistency has to elevate. So, you look at, you know, he's had a couple of picks in our scrimmages. He's had a couple of missed picks, too. He hasn't – the first scrimmage I was disappointed with his tackling. Like, in full disclosure, like, the first scrimmage, I mean, you guys were, that one, I didn't like the way he tackled on a couple of perimeter plays. And I've seen him do it. I saw him do it well at other times. So, like, it's not can he? It's just do it all the time. He's got all the ability in the world. He's improved a ton I think, just how he's carried himself around the building and away from the building. I still think he's got to strain to be consistent all the time. And when he does, look out. Like, kind of like I talked about Bryce Lovett last week. I said, Bryce Lovett can be as good as he wants to be, and good as he chooses to be, Cormani McClain. How good does he choose to be? That's how good he'll be. It's up to him. That's a decision between him and him. I want it for him really, really bad. I want to see him be a great player. He's got to want it all the time for himself.”

Sumrall on TJ Abrams saying 4-8 is no longer acceptable

"I think they understand that. I mean, 4-8 is not ever acceptable. It's not just it's no longer. It's never acceptable. Anybody that's comfortably in 4-8, I would absolutely run them the hell out of this building. I mean, if I was comfortable with that, I'd want y'all to run me the hell out of here. So, 4-8's not, I don't worry about our record though right now. I worry about getting better. Like, I'm so worried about just us getting better every day, and then when we get to next week, we'll focus on trying to be 1-0 next week.”

Sumrall on injuries

“The only person that's really withheld from the scrimmage that was new Saturday was Dallas Wilson, but it was just because of a little bit of a head cold, fever-type thing. Nothing major. He was back at practice today. Jeramiah McCloud missed practice today with the same symptoms, so maybe a little bit of a return-to-school sinus infection going on, but we're fairly healthy right now as a football team.


“[Evan] Chieca was back at practice today. He was no contact, but he was back. [Jason] Zandamela was back today. He's been kind of back and forth, but he's been around, but did not participate Saturday night. And then all of the soft tissue guys, pretty much all practiced today. So, really, the only two guys that had significant limitations from practice were DK Kalu, still coming off a little bit of an ankle boo-boo. Nothing major, he's gonna be fine, and then Jeramiah McCloud.”