Coach Will Muschamp preaches strength to all of his linemen, but with less than a week left in spring practice, there are weaknesses on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
Muschamp had remainders from former coach Urban Meyer’s recruiting classes — Dominique Easley and Sharrif Floyd — anchor the line for a part of his first three seasons, but going into season No. 4, many of the positions of his defensive line are currently undetermined.
“Too much separation right now still on both lines of scrimmage when you talk in terms of when that first group comes out,” Muschamp said at a Tuesday press conference. “We have too much of a separation between the first and second group. I think the talent is there. I think the quality of player is there. It’s just consistency in the performance has got to pick up.”
Muschamp said he would feel comfortable with between eight and 10 players in a defensive-line rotation, but he doesn’t think some of his players have reached the level they are capable of yet.
“Caleb (Brantley) shows flashes, but he’s got to do it all the time,” Muschamp said. “The effort’s not always what it needs to be, quite frankly.”
However, he did praise other young linemen, including Taven Bryan and Joey Ivie.
“[Bryan is] a guy that’s really coming on,” Muschamp said. “He’s only going to continue to get better. He runs extremely well. He’s a good athlete. He’s got really good strength. He’s one of the stronger defensive linemen as far of just hand, hand strength … A tough guy to deal with as far as that’s concerned.”
On the other side of the line, the Gators’ centers are having trouble getting the ball in the hands of their quarterbacks. So far, Florida has been repping Max Garcia, Cameron Dillard and Trip Thurman at the position.
Under new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper, UF is moving to a shotgun-based offense, so the centers’ struggles don’t bode well for the installation of the new game plan.
“If we continue to have those, we need to look in a different direction,” Muschamp said. “We can’t afford to have that anymore.”
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Max Garcia (76) runs at an opposing player during Florida’s 30-10 victory against Arkansas on Oct. 5, 2013, in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Garcia moved from guard to center during spring practice.
