Ivey returns to help O-line ‘get it right’
GAINESVILLE — As reporters surrounded the Florida Gators’ two young quarterbacks amid a steady rain, senior left tackle Martez Ivey began to make a beeline for the welcoming tunnel in the Swamp.
Ivey understandably was more interested in a hot shower than waiting around to discuss cold realities about the team’s continued offensive struggles and the unit most responsible for them.
Friday’s scrimmage began as another example of the lack of intensity and improvement of the Gators’ beleaguered offensive line. But as the day unfolded, UF’s running game found its footing and the quarterbacks received enough time to close with touchdown passes of 80 and 50 yards.
Coaxed back to the scrum by the school’s media relations staff, Ivey effectively shouldered the blame for yet another sluggish start on offense.
“They go as we go,” Ivey said. “So if we come out slow, the whole offense is going to come out slow. We have the most guys on the field. We got five guys out there, so if we don’t got no energy nobody else is going to have no energy around us.
“It starts with us, so up front it’s our job to get everything going.”
The Gators have been unable to get much of anything going on offense since Ivey arrived from Apopka High School in 2015, culminating with last season’s 4-7 finish and head coach Jim McElwain’s ouster.
Now, Ivey and a veteran O-line are running out of time.
“Our last chance to get it right,” he said. “Last chance to, you know, do what we came here to do. We didn’t come here to go 4-7. We came here to compete for championships and win a championship.
“I mean, that’s my mindset, that’s their mindset, it should be everybody’s mindset around here.”
Ivey came back for one more season at UF to lead the way.
Once the nation’s toprated high school lineman, Ivey turns 23 on July 25 and could have been in an NFL training camp by then. Instead, he knew he had unfinished business at UF.
He’s not the only Gator looking for another more chance to get it right up front. Ivey is among five returning starters, including fellow seniors Fred Johnson and Tyler Jordan and redshirt junior T.J. McCoy, from a unit that was pushed around a season ago.
UF’s well-documented quarterback issues aside, the Gators’ failures on offense have started in the trenches.
Last season was the low point. After McElwain spent the offseason touting the team’s O-line as a strength, the unit imploded during a season-opening beatdown by Michigan that commenced the Gators’ freefall.
“We needed what happened to us last year,” McCoy says now. “We thought it was gonna be our year last year and it wasn’t. I believe everybody on this team, especially on the offensive line, we have a bad taste in our mouth and we’re just ready to prove everybody wrong and to prove that we can be the strength of the team.”
New head coach Dan Mullen is counting on line coach John Hevesy and strength coach Nick Savage’s offseason program to ensure Ivey and Co. finally reach their potential.
Jordan said he has lost 10 pounds and significant body fat in Savage’s grueling program while also increasing his vertical leap, broad jump and bench press numbers.
Mullen was hired away from Mississippi State to fix the Gators’ offense.
It will begin up front. That was clear on Friday when coaches called an intermission and let the unit know it had underperformed.
“Coach Mullen was talking to us and said this is The Swamp, that is not our standard,” Jordan recalled. “We gotta show more effort and energy. We got that juice on the sideline and we started getting explosive plays.”