The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
McElwain touts O-line as asset
Offensive linemen say they’ve bonded for breakout season.
GAINESVILLE, FLA. — Florida coach Jim McElwain started saying it in the spring, that he felt the Gators’ often-maligned offensive line could be a “true strength” of the team in 2017.
And he hasn’t backed down.
“I’ve got to tell you, the offensive line is dramatically improved, and I am so excited about that,” McElwain said recently.
Gators center T.J. McCoy hasn’t taken McElwain’s continued preseason praise necessarily as a compliment, though.
“I took it as a challenge,” McCoy said. “That’s one thing I know I did. When he said at SEC Media Days that we’re the strength of this team, I took it as a challenge, and we all did. We’ve just been working hard this whole summer just to get tighter and closer. We’ve been doing a lot of things after workouts, working on calls, working on footwork, just working overall just to be closer as a unit. We did a lot of team-bonding activities, and I took it as a challenge, and we’re ready for the challenge.”
Ask the Florida offensive linemen why exactly they believe they’re ready for a breakout season, and they’ll toss around words such as “experience” and “chemistry” — often overstated or cliché terms spouted by teams and players across the country at this time of the year.
Ultimately, the Gators will have to prove their growth on the field, but to those points ...
The experience factor is real. Junior left tackle Martez Ivey has two years of starting experience and moves back to his natural position after playing mostly guard. Sophomore right tackle Jawaan Taylor and McCoy, a redshirt sophomore, are seasoned after taking on larger roles than expected a year ago. Juniors Fred Johnson and Tyler Jordan have gained considerable experience the last two years with 20 combined starts between them. And the one newcomer competing for a starting job, redshirt freshman guard Brett Heggie drew rave reviews in the spring.
The chemistry factor, albeit intangible and hard to both measure or project, is interesting, too.
McCoy says the linemen would routinely stay after the players’ voluntary workouts this summer to get in extra time with the quarterbacks and work on mastering assignments and communications. More so than before.
But the real group-bonding came off the field.
“We did a lot of outings this year,” McCoy said. “We went to Yamato. That’s a great place if you all know about Yamato, great place. We had some hibachi. We went to Outback; we ordered (some) wings and cheese fries. We went fishing, catfish fishing, went to a couple of ponds in Gainesville. That was pretty fun to do.”
Picture three tables’ worth of Florida offensive linemen filling up an Outback Steakhouse. McCoy didn’t reveal how many wings were consumed, but he noted he purchased three orders of cheese fries for the group.
“We’re big guys. We like to eat,” he said.
As for the fishing excursions, those were the idea of Jordan and Taylor. They came away with the biggest hauls.
“I’m a big fisherman, I caught a couple, but I didn’t catch (anything) near as big as they did. Then we went back and just fried them up that night, so we got to have fun and fish and eat,” McCoy said.
He said the plan is to get the entire offensive line and the quarterbacks to go out to dinner together every Thursday night during the season.
“I feel like it’s just (about) trusting each other. You know your brother’s got your back. I would say it’s just trusting each other, and you know, it’s not all about football,” McCoy said.
McElwain often recalls having only four scholarship offensive linemen when he arrived before the 2015 season and how much the group has progressed since then. Florida ranked last among FBS teams that season, giving up 46 sacks. Florida allowed 28 sacks last season, finishing tied for 68th nationally.