Florida’s offensive schemes will remain a bit of a mystery until the season gets underway this weekend, but count left guard Carl Johnson among those who want to see a bruising running game.
“That’s every hog’s dream, to play in the mud,” the 355-pounder said.
And with the amount of talent on the offensive line, letting Johnson & Co. get their hands dirty would be a smart move.
The Gators’ expected line of Marcus Gilbert, Johnson, Mike Pouncey, James Wilson and Maurice Hurt (from left to right) is UF’s most grizzled offensive unit with a combined 81 career starts.
Gilbert, Johnson and Pouncey started all 14 games in 2009, anchoring the nation’s 10th-best rushing attack and sixth-best total offense, and Johnson has little doubt they can repeat the feat this season — even without playmakers Tim Tebow, Aaron Hernandez and Riley Cooper.
“It’s a team effort and a joint effort, and we’re just going to prove everybody wrong,” Johnson said. “People are thinking we don’t have [Tebow] and we don’t have that will, but the offensive line is the strength of any team no matter who the quarterback is.
“And I feel like we have the best offensive line in the nation, hands down.”
Quarterback John Brantley will pose a different challenge for the line as far as protection.
Without the inside running or scrambling skills Tebow leaned on, Brantley will spend more time in the pocket and less dodging defenders.
That’s not necessarily a drawback, but it is a change of pace, and Brantley is making sure he’s on the same page with his linemen.
“I was texting [Pouncey] last night, and we want to get together once a week and sit down with the entire offensive line and watch tape with them,” Brantley said. “We’re just trying to figure out a time where we can sit down once a week and just watch film of the opponent and spend some time together.”
He may want to get especially close with Gilbert, who’ll be manning his blindside in the season opener against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.
A right tackle last season, Gilbert flipped sides because of injuries to sophomore Xavier Nixon (knee) and redshirt sophomore Matt Patchan (wrist), both of whom will miss at least the first game, UF coach Urban Meyer said.
Gilbert said he hasn’t felt much of a difference since the switch, but Johnson, a former left tackle, pointed out that Gilbert’s opposition will be tougher than on the right side.
“Those ends are ridiculous on the left side,” Johnson said. “It’s the [Southeastern Conference], and it’s as close as you can get to NFL football. [Gilbert is] a great athlete, and the whole left side is going to be veteran with me, Mike and Marcus.”
But there’s one big piece missing from the middle of the line.
Maurkice Pouncey, a first-team All-American in 2009, is now with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, and Mike Pouncey will have to fill his shoes while adjusting to his first football season without his twin as a teammate.
Mike will replace Maurkice at center, and he’s already found a new partner for the pregame ritual he used to share with his brother.
Instead of having his twin strap on his shoulder pads for him, Mike Pouncey said he’d have Gilbert do it.
“It is different, but we have become accustomed to it knowing that someday we would have to part ways in life,” Mike Pouncey said. “All of the other offensive linemen are like my brothers, and we are here to do one thing: make it to [the SEC Championship].”
