Photo: Richard Gouraige; 1 credit
After taking the day off Wednesday, the Florida Gators returned to the training grounds Thursday for day seven of head coach Billy Napier’s first fall camp in Gainesville.
You can find AllGators‘ Observations from the media portion of the practice below, along with our notebooks for each day of camp so far this year. Since day three, we’ve covered positions individually to maximize the viewing window, with Thursday’s focus shifting to the Gators offensive line.
Focus on the offensive line
The offensive line worked on run blocking throughout the open practice period, with a few individual/pair practices as well as a couple sets of setups featuring the team first and second lines thrown into their entirety.
These lines were made up of the following players, from left tackle to right tackle.
Projected first team: Richard Gouraige, Ethan White, Kingsley Eguakun, O’Cyrus Torrence, Michael Tarquin
Projected second team: Jordan Hermann, Richie Leonard IV, Jake Slaughter, Josh Brown, austin barber
In some cases, a “jumbo” sixth offensive lineman broke the first-team rotation. In one instance, Barber lined up as a giant blocker on the left side, and in another, Braun was seen on the first team’s right side, although our angle wasn’t clear enough to determine if he was. or Tarquin were the giant blocker.
Six sets of offensive lines may not be part of Florida’s offense, but Napier used that staff at times during his tenure at Louisiana. Expect the occasional six-man forfeit in power-rushing patterns, especially near the goal line or perhaps the win line.
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Gouraige worked with the unit in a standard jersey Thursday, marking his first non-contact jersey practice of the fall.
There might be some rust to remove as a result, and it’s worth noting that we haven’t seen it in any team drills, but we thought Gouraige looked good in the media viewing window, all things Considered. He showed solid pop against the bag in the five-man setup and his conditioning appears to be in great shape, likely thanks to the fieldwork he put in over the first six days of camp.
There were no surprises in the first team, but the second team seems to have been fine-tuned since the spring. Herman, an off-season JUCO transfer, led the left tackle with the second team against Barber, who had played on the left side in the spring game.
Leonard played center for most of his Florida career but was seen lining up at left guard Thursday, while Slaughter made the second-team rotation as a snapper.
Participation report
Below are the players who were seen wearing non-contact shirts throughout the media portion of training. An asterisk indicates that the player worked from the side or watched training instead of being on the pitch. This list does not include quarterbacks as they are required to wear non-contact jerseys at all times.
- WR Ricky Pearsall*
- KG Amari Burney*
- BC Jason Marshall*
As previously reported, Pearsall is considered “hand to mouth” due to a foot injury sustained in training on Tuesday. Burney and Marshall’s status is unknown at this time.
As noted above, Gouraige competed in a standard jersey for the first time this fall. So, too, did the tight end Jonathan Odome, who was active in the drills despite wearing a non-contact jersey throughout the fall. Offensive tackle David Conner and defensive tackle Desmond Watson also wore standard jerseys after wearing non-contact jerseys on Tuesday.
Thursday marked the third consecutive day AllGators didn’t see the quarterback Jalen Kitna at the practice center.
Clip(s) of the day
Our Clips of the Day from Thursday may not be the most exciting, but they paint a solid picture of what Florida’s projected first- and second-team offensive lines look like with just over three weeks to go. the opening of the 2022 season.
Stay tuned AllGators for ongoing coverage of Florida Gators football, basketball and recruiting. Follow us on social media at @SI_AllGators on Twitter and Florida Gators on Sports Illustrated on Facebook.
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