As the five core members of Florida’s defensive line leaned over microphones in front of a sea of reporters at media day, they joked about their potential nicknames and junior Omar Hunter’s Chick-fil-A-induced love handles.
For a moment, it was evident just how far the group has come over the past 12 months.
Last year, similar quips from then-freshmen Ronald Powell, Dominique Easley and Sharrif Floyd lent more credence to the theory that the highly-touted trio came in with an undeserved sense of entitlement and lacked a strong work ethic.
Instead, after a year of maturation, the playful banter is viewed as a fun diversion for the hard-working group; an outlet off the field to display their fun-loving nature.
But in practice?
“Once we get on the field, we know the joking ends,” senior defensive tackle Jaye Howard said.
Adds defensive end William Green: “It’s a lot more serious. When it’s time to work, they work.”
This wasn’t always the case. Last season, Easley and Powell once skipped a practice and reportedly threatened to transfer. Easley was dogged by transfer rumors all year, and was even left off UF’s travel roster against Vanderbilt on Nov. 6.
But in drudging through their struggles and enduring spring practices and summer workouts, the three sophomore defensive linemen have shown growth.
“They’ve all humbled themselves,” Green said. “They’ve learned how to really work, and I think they’re all going to have great seasons.”
Said Easley: “We just became wiser in the game and understood why we’re doing certain things.”
Powell also emphasized his understanding of scheme and philosophy grew immensely as he adjusted to the fast-paced college game.
Under new coach Will Muschamp and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Powell is being asked to switch his position to the Buck — a hybrid of defensive end and linebacker. Here he will have to pressure the quarterback, play the run and drop into coverage as an integral piece of Muschamp’s new defense, which features both 3-4 and 4-3 principles.
“I feel it’s a better fit for me, personally,” Powell said. “We’re really hype. It’s really been a stressful thing for us to go through in spring together.”
A consensus among the players was that the adversity of the switch brought the group closer together.
Junior Lerentee McCray noted that shared mealtimes, frequent player-to-player playbook quizzes and teamwork drills galvanized the defensive line into a unit. He said these things, coupled with improved leadership, have alleviated any attitude problems like the ones that hampered Easley, Floyd and Powell a season ago.
“Our team wasn’t very close. We didn’t really get it,” McCray said. “The older guys didn’t really get the younger guys and take them under their wing. They weren’t really like a close bunch.”
This isn’t the case in 2011. After a year of work and an offseason filled with the challenge of change, the defensive line is a tight-knit unit. Powell jokingly calls Howard his idol, while Floyd and Easley are roommates. It can only bode well for the Gators that the group of defensive linemen Hunter calls “the most talent I’ve been a part of in years” is also perhaps the closest group he’s been in.
