Well, this Ian Boyd piece got my attention in the second paragraph:
At times the Gators seem like one of the most controversial teams in college football for the upcoming season. There are those that think they’re wildly overrated with little chance of showing up, and then there are those that expect that they could be “back.”
The post explores what he calls “Florida’s big strategic challenge”, and I have to admit it surprised me to learn what he pointed out. Take a look at this chart:
For some reason, the state doesn’t produce quality offensive linemen in the numbers you might expect. From the Gators’ perspective, that problem is only made worse by the number of schools fighting over the talent pool.
Compare those numbers to Georgia’s.
Georgia has half the population of Florida, yet is producing quality offensive linemen on roughly the same level. And Kirby Smart hasn’t had to share with two in state P5 programs, either.
Boyd concludes that Dan Mullen is playing the hand he’s been dealt with this “challenge”.
For now the interesting factor is that the 2020 Gators don’t need to be a dominant run blocking offensive line. It’s more important that they’re reliable in pass protection.
For years, championship Gator lines were built around making the most of Floridian skill talent in power running schemes. Despite serving as an architect for those championship Gator units of years past, Dan Mullen now has Florida on a path to win by unleashing Floridian skill talent with the passing game.
Will that work? Stay tuned.