Gator fans have vivid memories of former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith and running back Antonio Pittman getting hammered repeatedly by UF's defense in the BCS Championship game two seasons ago.
Last season was a different story as the Gators allowed 25.5 points per contest and were dead last in the Southeastern Conference in pass defense.
The youth and inexperience of UF's secondary was compounded by the inability of the Gators defensive tackles to get a push and pressure opposing quarterbacks.
"If that position doesn't play well then they're just going to drop back and throw it," defensive coordinator Charlie Strong said. "You can't just say 'hey, you guys can't cover anybody.' But we didn't get a pass rush either, so that goes hand in hand.
"The tackle position is really critical. You need a guy who can hold a position and hold a body."
Freshman Omar Hunter has received praise since last season as a potential solution, and there will be a great deal of pressure on the young man to bring strength up the middle. And the Georgia native certainly isn't backing away from it.
"I like those situations, where you have to come in and you being the guy everybody's looking forward to playing, and helping out the defense," Hunter said. "That's what I want to do."
Though optimism is high entering a new season the Gators will still be dependent on a number of players who may just be breaking in their first sets of Gillette Mach3's with Hunter and sophomore Carlos Dunlap expected to play prominent roles this season. The Gators are hopeful that last season's horrors will breed this season's highlights.
"A lot of our problem last year was experience," sophomore defensive tackle Terron Sanders said. "We had a lot of guys who did not have a lot of game experience. This year, our main focus is keeping our hands moving, keeping our feet moving.
"Get to the quarterback at all cost. Don't stop. We saw it way too many times last year. We'd get a rush going and then after more than two seconds we'd just put our hands up hoping to block the pass."
After suffering his third ACL injury last October redshirt senior Javier Estopinan is hoping his career can end on a high note after four years of adversity and realizes that his fate lies largely in the hands of his more inexperienced teammates.
"They know what to expect now," he said. "They know how to play the game now. The guys who have made the biggest jumps are the guys who played last year. Terron Sanders, Lawrence Marsh and Carlos Dunlap didn't have much experience last year, but now they already know what to expect and what's going to come down."
Strong is hoping that the current group follows the same path as their ring-clad predecessors.
"I always think back to guys like Ray McDonald and when Jarvis Moss was an unknown and all of a sudden they developed," Strong said. "That's what we need to happen now. We need a guy like Terron Sanders to develop; it's time for Lawrence Marsh to develop."
