Is Florida’s offensive line really a weak spot for 2019?

Offensive line doesn’t usually get a lot of publicity.

But for the 2019 Florida Gators, the biggest question coming into the season is how will the offensive line play? With high level contributors back all over the offense, fans understand that the offensive line is going to be critical to the overall success of the offense.

Gone are long-time starters Martez Ivey, Tyler Jordan, Fred Johnson and Jawaan Taylor. In step guys like Stone Forsythe, Jean Delance and Richard Gouraige.

Will they be able to hold up well enough to allow the offense to thrive?

Mullen/Hevesy Track Record

It’s interesting to me that everyone is so focused on who Florida is losing on the offensive line. After all, the line wasn’t very good with almost the exact same players the year before. In fact, the Gators offensive line wasn’t very good under the McElwain/Nussmeier regime regardless of the year.

Football Outsiders tracks offensive line statistics both on the ground and through the air. The difference one year can make under Dan Mullen’s staff is striking.

The above chart shows the rankings for Florida from 2015-2017 and in 2018. You can go to the Football Outsiders page for definitions of each of metric and determine for yourself how it applies, but the story is pretty clear. On the ground, Florida got way better offensive line play under Mullen across the board.

The same story is true in the passing game.

On the surface, we knew this was true because Florida only gave up 18 sacks in 2018 after giving up 37 in 2017. But even I didn’t expect this big of a difference. The sack rate on passing downs improved almost 105 spots to the best in the country.

If you want to point to one reason that Feleipe Franks improved in 2018, likely it’s because he rarely was under pressure even when forced to pass.

But the Florida offensive line was in complete disarray under McElwain. Surely some of this improvement was just due to having a competent coach, right?

Well, what if we looked at Mississippi State? The Bulldogs brought back four of its five starters in 2018 as well as QB Nick Fitzgerald. Yes, Joe Moorhead installed his own offense, but if Mississippi State was able to maintain its play on the offensive line, that would indicate that maybe the improvement that Florida saw as low-hanging fruit.

Well, if we just look at the running game, the stats are sort of a mixed bag. There was improvement overall and when running on passing downs, but a decrease in effectiveness in short-yardage situations. This doesn’t really give us the ability to draw conclusions one way or another.

But what about the passing game?

Well, that’s interesting. Mississippi State’s offensive line went from one of the best in the country to one of the worst with most of its 2017 line in-tact and the same QB.

The same trend applies if you look at a larger sample size for Mullen’s offense at Mississippi State. His teams averaged a sack rate ranking of 33rd from 2014-2017, significantly better than year one under Moorhead.

Taken as a whole, I think this data is inconclusive whether Mullen and Hevesy make a huge difference in how the offensive line plays in the run game. But I also think it strongly suggests that there is something those two are doing that is significantly impacting the ability of their players to block successfully when they call a pass.

2018  Offensive Line Success

But why was the offensive line successful in 2018? Well, there were both schematic and technique reasons.

The first thing you see when comparing early season vs. late season play is that there was a definite improvement in communication and knowing responsibilites between the offensive linemen as the season progressed.

On this play, Kentucky linebacker Jordan Jones (#34) comes on a blitz. Notice how he starts towards the right side of the offensive line and then stunts back towards Florida left guard Tyler Jordan (#64). Also notice how at the snap, nose tackle Quinton Bohanna (#95) shoots towards his left. Jordan is late recognizing that Jones is his man and is unable to slow him up, forcing Franks out of the pocket.

Compare that to the game against Michigan.

On this play, linebacker Chase Winovich (#15) and defensive lineman Michael Dwumfour (#50) stunt to their right while defensive lineman Carlo Kemp (#2) stunts the other direction. The Florida offensive line handles this in textbook fashion.

Right tackle Jawaan Taylor (#65) squeezes until he identifies Kemp as his man and squares him up without holding. Left guard Tyler Jordan (#64) helps Martez Ivey (#73) with the defensive end until Dwumfour comes around the edge, at which point he switches onto him. Center Nick Buchanan (#66) recognizes Kemp stunting to his right and instead of leaning that direction (as Jordan did in the earlier GIF), he locates Winovich and stones him.

The result is that Franks has plenty of time to scan downfield and make an explosive play (even if he threw into double coverage). More importantly, Franks didn’t have anyone within 4 yards of him when he delivered the pass and was able to step into the throw.

This is purely technique and knowing the offense and so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Florida struggle early in 2019 with these types of things (just like they did in 2018). However, it does mean that Hevesy was getting them to progress throughout the year.

And none of that addresses the way Mullen can scheme around a suspect offensive line.

On this play, Florida runs an option to the strong side of the formation (the side with the two receivers and tight end). The result is that Kentucky safety Mike Edwards (#7) is on that side reading whether to support against the run or drop into coverage. He reads run and goes straight to Perine, forcing Franks to cut the run back into the middle of the field.

Mullen fixed that a couple of weeks later against Mississippi State.

This time, Mullen runs the play to the weakside (away from the tight end and receivers). Note how Ivey (#73) ignores Mississippi State defensive end Chauncey Rivers (#5). But since Rivers is slower than Edwards and positioned further inside, he commits to Franks which allows the pitch out to Perine for the big gain.

This wasn’t an isolated incident either. The Gators ran this exact same play to the weak side repeatedly against LSU to great success.

When it came to the pass game, the simplest way to describe the adjustments made after the Kentucky game were that Florida took what the defense gave them.

It was pretty obvious that Florida was scared of Mississippi State’s defensive line in this game. Partly that had to do with how the line had played thus far, but also it was also because of being on the road with all of those cowbells. So how do you help the offensive line?

In this formation, Mississippi State has seven men in the box and nobody lines up across from Josh Hammond (#10). That means that Hammond is being guarded by a safety, but there isn’t a safety in the picture at the snap. It’s an easy pitch and catch and a first down if WR Tyrie Cleveland (#81) can get his hands on the corner.

This play required zero offensive line play whatsoever and resulted in a first down. By going to the screen game so much versus Mississippi State (13 throws behind the line of scrimmage), Mullen took the pressure off of his guys up front.

But of course, if you keep throwing screens over and over, eventually the defense starts to creep up.

On this play, the design implies that this is a quick throw to tight end Moral Stephens (#82), who is in the slot the same way Hammond was in the earlier play. The reason I say it implies the play is to Stephens is because Hammond (#10) blocks Mississippi State linebacker Mark McLaurin (#41) to the outside, towards where the throw is actually going.

McLaurin races towards Stephens rather than to Trevon Grimes (#9). That means Grimes now has a 1-on-1 battle with Cam Dantzler (#3) with space to pick up speed. Grimes is going to win that battle every time. Martez Ivey (#73) actually completely misses his block and Stephens gets drilled by linebacker Erroll Thompson (#40), but since the play wasn’t designed for him, it doesn’t matter.

But Mullen’s play design didn’t just impact screens.

On this play, right guard Fred Johnson (#74) pulls to the left. But notice how he doesn’t fire forward once he gets past the center. Also notice how none of the receivers are blocking. This was a pass play from the start, and the pulling guard was designed to trick the linebackers.

And it did trick the linebackers. They immediately fire forward, leaving Van Jefferson (#12) in one-on-one coverage versus the corner. This again is a play where the scheme dictated the ball got out quickly in a situation where Florida’s receiver had the advantage.

But perhaps the biggest help to the offensive line is that Feleipe Franks got more comfortable running some of his read-option concepts as the season progressed.

On this play, Franks hands the ball off to Jordan Scarlett (#25) for a slight loss. No big deal, right? Except  the defensive end slants to his right, opening up a huge running lane for Franks on the edge. He needed to keep this ball and run it. Even if it only ended up a four yard gain, that sets up second-and-6 and would open up the running game later.

As the season progressed though, Franks became more comfortable running the ball. He showed that against Florida State and again against Michigan.

Here, Michigan linebacker Devin Gil (#36) crashes to tackle the running back. Franks keeps the ball and runs right around him. Not only does this convert a second-and-2 easily, but it sets up action off of it later in the game.

This is perhaps the most important play of the game against Michigan. It’s a beautiful play design because by moving Perine out wide they get him matched up on a safety. But the thing I didn’t notice until looking at the offensive line specifically is that Michigan has linebacker Josh Ross (#12) spying Franks.

If you’re not afraid of the QB run, Ross rushes the passer here and the offensive line is at a numbers disadvantage. Instead, it is 5-on-5 with Franks occupying the sixth rusher and the scheme (along with Franks’ willingness to run) helps the offensive line.

Takeaway

I came into this article thinking that Florida will be in trouble this season – especially early – on the offensive line just because of its youth and inexperience.

I leave this article really encouraged that Mullen and Hevesy are going to get the most out of the line and be able to scheme around each players’ weaknesses. I am also encouraged that the players are going to get significantly better throughout the season, particularly with multiple bye weeks.

It would be easy to cherry pick examples of any coach’s scheme to point out where he did something that put his players in an advantageous situation. Indeed, that’s really the coach’s job, so any successful team should have multiple examples to pick from.

But what you can’t do is hide whether a unit improves overall compared to a previous regime or whether it regresses when the previous regime leaves over the course of an entire season. Mullen checks the boxes on both counts, as the Florida offensive line – made up of the same players – improved dramatically while the Mississippi State offensive line – made up of the same players – regressed.

There are still a bunch of questions going into the 2019 season. Can Feleipe Franks take the next step? Will Lamical Perine be able to handle the load that will be asked of him? Can the talented tight ends replace the blocking supplies by Moral Stephens and C’yontai Lewis?

Surprisingly, I’m not sure that the offensive line is one of them.

Featured image used via Creative Commons license courtesy Photo-Gator