OFFENSIVE LINE: Two Coaches, Five Players, One Offensive Line

Rob Sale comes from the highest level and hopes to develop an NFL-like line. (UAA Photo)

Like Sale, Stapleton is a tough guy but that’s the kind of coach Billy Napier requires. Tough guys who know their craft yet know how to communicate it well enough that 19-22-year-olds can grasp the concepts easily and quickly.

By FRANZ BEARD

GatorBaitMedia.com Senior Columnist

Rob Sale has a pretty simple answer to the question why do the Florida Gators have two offensive line coaches. It’s a concept that worked well for five of the six years when Urban Meyer was the head coach – the Gators won national championships in 2006 and 2008 with Steve Addazio and John Hevesy splitting the duties – but in the years before and the years since Meyer left, it’s been one O-line, one coach.

“It’s the way they do it in the National Football League so that’s the way we do it here,” Sale said after one of Florida’s early spring practices. Sale played for Nick Saban on LSU’s 2003 national championship team. Last year he was the O-line coach for the New York Giants. He’s back to the college game, working with head coach Billy Napier for the fourth year. They were together a year at Arizona State when Napier was the offensive coordinator and three years at Louisiana when Napier landed his first head coaching gig.

Now they’re back together and they’re joined by Darnell Stapleton, who started on the offensive line for the Pittsburgh Steelers when they won the 2008 Super Bowl. Like Sale, Stapleton is a tough guy but that’s the kind of coach Billy Napier requires. Tough guys who know their craft yet know how to communicate it well enough that 19-22-year-olds can grasp the concepts easily and quickly.

Sale and Stapleton have taken over a Florida offensive line that has had some tough guy moments in the past – the Alabama game last year, for example when the Gators bullied the Crimson Tide for three quarters – and some like the loss to Missouri when the Gators ran the ball 38 times and managed only 93 net yards. If there is one area on the offensive side of the ball that has to get better for there to be any measure of success in 2022, it has to be in the trenches where the two coaches have to get a unit that is viewed largely as underachieving to improve dramatically.

Stapleton says improvement begins with communication.

“We keep it real,” he says. “We don’t sugar coat it. We’re not going to tell you something is going to be easy because that would be a lie. College football in general is hard. Playing in the SEC is even harder. You might as well think of this as the NFL with academics. If we sit there and sugar coat it and tell young men that hey everything is going to be flowers, cupcakes and cotton candy, then we’re lying to them.”

Two coaches. One offensive line. Five players trying to play as a true unit, cohesive and always in synch with each other. On one play they have to do their best impersonations of ballerinas, feet dancing as they slide left or right in pass protection, arms punching to get at the chest of the incoming rusher. On the next play they want to go beast mode as they try to impose their will physically on the guys across the line.

Then there is the matter of discipline. The Gators ranked 119 in penalties last season. False starts were a problem as was holding. Those are the kind of penalties that Napier believes are controllable and must be eliminated. Eliminating discipline penalties like false starts begins with focusing on the small things. Small things, when practiced enough become routine and routine, if done the right way, becomes a big thing.

“Coach Sale, Coach Stape, those guys are preaching to us keep working on the little things – work on your hands, work on your feet, work on anything that you’ve been struggling with,” says Richard Gouraige, a fixture as the starter at left tackle. “If we do that as a team and communicate and play hard, there is no doubt that we can be successful next year.”

What spring practice has told the two O-line coaches and Napier is there is no shortage of willingness to do whatever it takes to get better. Everybody is happy with the attitude but beyond a handful of players who have actually started multiple games, experience is in short supply and that is a concern.

“Yeah, you know I think it's a position where we've got a handful of players that can play, you know?” Napier said. “And then, I think every team, I mean every position on our team, we need more players, right? We need more depth. I think the offensive line is a reflection of the entire team. I mean, we have a pretty good first group we can put out there, and if you really evaluated the team relative to experience, this is a very inexperienced team. After the first team if you look at the experience, the number of plays that a lot of these guys have played, they haven't played any. So we have a lot of work to do to develop that second and third group.”

If you go by experience, then Florida’s first unit offensive line will probably look something like this at Thursday night’s Orange and Blue Game:

LT Richard Gouraige; LG Ethan White; C Kingsley Eguakun; RG O’Cyrus Torrence; RT Michael Tarquin

Between those five are 86 career starts, but 64 of the starts belong to Gouraige (29) and Louisiana transfer Torrence (35). The other 22 starts belong to White (7), Eguakun (13) and Tarquin (2). Beyond those five, the most experienced offensive lineman is Josh Braun, who has seven career starts but has played in 24 games, and Richie Leonard, who has one start and eight games. Riley Simonds and Will Harrod have been around for three years, but they’ve pretty much played only on field goals and extra points. Special teams for an offensive lineman is nice since it gets you on the field, but it’s not the same kind of blocking. Field goals and extra points is about holding off whoever is in front and being quick enough to slide over to prevent someone coming through a gap. So there is reason for Napier to be concerned with the kind of experience that translates into starts or a chance to be in the regular rotation.

All told there are 13 scholarship linemen including five redshirt freshmen who have gone through Camp Napier. One of the redshirt freshmen is Louisiana transfer Kamryn Waites, the largest Gator at 6-8, 358.

“I never felt so small around another person,” is how Gouraige puts it.

Sale says, “If you had to cut one [offensive lineman] out of a cardboard box, that’s the way you would want him to look.”

Two walk-on linemen are likely to be among the five who get scholarships after spring practice finishes. There are two signed incoming freshmen. That’s 17 bodies altogether. For now. The question is how many will still be here when the May 1 deadline arrives for players to be in the transfer portal, ensuring they don’t have to go through the waiver process for immediate eligibility? Some of these linemen who have been here for two or more years and who have yet to challenge for a job will possibly think they’d rather get a fresh start somewhere else than spend another year in obscurity, so the portal will be their escape hatch.

Of course the transfer portal doors swing both ways. It gives and it takes away. Napier’s buddy Mel Tucker, a friend since they were on Nick Saban’s Alabama staff together, turned Michigan State into a national power when he dipped into the portal for 21 players including a starting left tackle from the Sun Belt Conference, the place where Napier spent the last four years becoming a winning head coach. Napier has already made it clear the Gators will be open for business and active in the portal, perhaps following the Tucker blueprint.

“We took over a program, we've had a number of things that have caused attrition on our team,” Napier said after Florida’s first scrimmage. “I mean, we're literally going to give five walk-ons scholarships this spring, so we have spots available. So, the University of Florida, you can anticipate us being very aggressive in the portal this spring. We need players.

“Now, I think the approach is going to be, you know, acquire as many good players as we can at any position, right? So, you know, we're thin and we need help in a lot of different spots. So, I think we have, we're approaching double digits if that makes sense. So, you know, I think it's fortunate that we have that opportunity, right? It's something I'm very thankful for, you know? Can't imagine not having that opportunity at this point. So, that window of time is coming. We anticipate doing a lot of business and we're looking forward to it."

With so few experienced linemen at his disposal, Napier will be looking for plug and play types that can immediately step into the rotation. To make it through a season in the Southeastern Conference, it’s essential to have 10 linemen ready to go with the rest either picking up reps on special teams or taking a redshirt while they grow their bodies into SEC ready. The Gators have six who have started multiple games and one other who has a start. What that should tell us is that of the 10 or more new faces that Napier expects to bring in through the transfer portal, we can expect at least four will be offensive linemen with actual game experience, preferably as starters.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (17) Richard Gouraige (6-5, 310, RSR): He is a mainstay at left tackle. He has played in 38 games with 29 starts – 12 at left tackle, 12 at right tackle and five at right guard). He’s a solid run blocker and proven pass protector.

O’Cyrus Torrence (6-6, 335, SR): He is a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference performer at Louisiana, an absolute road grader type on the inside but quick enough that he could slide out to right tackle. He comes to Florida with 35 games of starting experience.

Ethan White (6-5, 334, SR): He started seven games at left guard last year and played in one other game. He’s played in 18 games but has to stay healthy. If he can stay healthy he can be a real beast.

Kingsley Eguakun (6-4, 305, RJR): He started all 13 games at center last year and is expected to be the starter in the fall. He has 27 games of experience and is versatile enough to slide over to guard.

Josh Braun (6-6, 357, JR): He will be in the rotation in the fall, perhaps as the third guard since he played in all 13 games at both left and right guard with seven starts. Because he was recruited as a right tackle out of Suwannee County, there is some speculation that he could slide over to the outside in the fall. He has 24 games of experience. Michael Tarquin (6-5, 301, RJR): He is expected to emerge as the starter at right tackle. Played in 12 games in 2021 at both left and right tackle. Got two starts. He has played in 25 games in his career. Riley Simonds (6-3, 301, RJR): This is probably a make or break spring. Simonds played in 10 games last year, mostly on special teams. He’s played in 15 games in three years since choosing the Gators over Alabama and LSU out of high school in Georgia.

Will Harrod (6-5, 333, RJR): This is an important spring for Harrod, who has played in 18 games in three years, nearly all of them on special teams. He came to Florida as a tackle, but is he quick enough?

Kaleb Boateng (6-4, 287, RJR): A Clemson transfer and former 3-star recruit out of St. Thomas Aquinas, Boateng was not on scholarship in 2021. He is expected to be on scholarship starting in May. Richie Leonard (6-2, 315, RSO): He played in eight games last year and got one start. He played guard and was the backup center to Kingsley Eguakun. He is the likely second team center this year. Austin Barber (6-6, 311, RFR): He will be a backup tackle. As a true freshman last year he played in three games including Florida’s Gasparilla Bowl game with UCF. Yousef Mugharbil (6-4, 311, RFR): He didn’t play in a single game last year and redshirted. He was a tackle in high school, but his size would seem to indicate that he will move inside to guard. Jake Slaughter (6-5, 302, RFR): He was recruited out of Trinity Catholic as a center. He played in one game last year and redshirted. Very bright guy who has the intelligence needed to make all the line calls.

Mark Pitts (6-6, 322, RFR): He’s a walk-on who probably will get a scholarship. A local product out of Buchholz, Pitts got a redshirt last year although he did play in four games, all of them on special teams. He’s got the kind of size to play on the outside.

Kamryn Waites (6-8, 358, RFR): Waites transferred in from Louisiana and has been impressive. He will figure in the rotation. He is a late bloomer, a basketball player who didn’t take up football until late in life. Signed (2): David Conner (6-5, 295); Christian Williams (6-4, 319)