Film session was a sobering experience for Jon Halapio just days after Florida took on Miami (Ohio) in the season opener.
The redshirt freshman guard was routinely beat and looked lost at times against what should have been an overmatched RedHawks defensive line.
“After the first game I was horrible. I was disgusted with myself,” Halapio said. “I can’t believe I was on the field playing like that. I promised myself that it wouldn’t happen again.”
Halapio graded out a 55 percent by his coaches — using a formula no one outside of the UF football team is familiar with, but it’s safe to say a 55 is a failing grade whether he was being graded on pass blocking or chemistry.
A rash of injuries to the offensive line kept Halapio in the rotation, regardless of his struggles, and he vowed to put that performance behind him.
Eight weeks later, Halapio is garnering praise from both head coach Urban Meyer and offensive line coach Steve Addazio for his contributions to the team.
“Remember that name,” Meyer said after Halapio graded out a champion this week against Georgia.
Halapio worked on cleaning up his technique, and the game started to become less of a foreign language to him as he got more and more snaps under his belt.
In film sessions, he sits behind senior Mike Pouncey, who earned All-American honors at Halapio’s right guard position last season, and picks the senior’s brain on how to improve his game.
“I try to watch Mike Pouncey on every single play because he’s just a natural baller,” Halapio said. “I love watching him and I want to follow his footsteps and I want to be just like him because he practices hard and he plays hard.”
Halapio said one of the toughest parts of college football for him has been playing through injuries, something he wasn’t able to do against Mississippi State. He was held out of the loss to the Bulldogs after undergoing surgery on a finger on his right hand, which sustained a break the previous week against LSU.
“I almost passed out when I looked at it because my bone was sticking out,” Halapio said. “It’s probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”
But Halapio will gladly take a few more bumps and bruises as long as he doesn’t have to endure the pain of watching another performance like Week 1 on video.
McCarney hasn’t heard from Minnesota: UF defensive line coach Dan McCarney, who was the head coach at Iowa State from 1995-2006, has been rumored as a candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Minnesota. But McCarney said Tuesday that he hasn’t had any contact with the program.
“No communication. None whatsoever,” McCarney said.
