If there’s one play that really sticks out from the 2019 season that Florida would like to have back, I think it’s this one.
It was the right decision for Mullen to go for it on fourth down here. And I don’t even mind throwing here, especially if it’s to Kyle Pitts in one-on-one coverage.
The decision of graduate transfer offensive lineman Stewart Reese from Mississippi State to Florida is a step in the direction of that never being the case again. Reese is huge, at 6’5” and right around 350 pounds. He’s also familiar with Dan Mullen’s offense, having committed to Mullen and played for him in 2017.
And he brings a tenacity that was all-too-often missing on the Gators offensive line in 2019.
Dan Mullen’s Offense
If you look at Dan Mullen’s offense, it is predicated on getting the defense into single-high safety looks by running the ball effectively and then taking shots once the defense brings a safety up to help with the run.
At no point last season did any defense have to do that. It’s actually amazing how effective Kyle Trask – and Feleipe Franks in limited time – was able to be through the air considering that defenses really didn’t have to honor the running game.
That was not the case in 2018 with an experienced offensive line.
On this play, right tackle Fred Johnson (#74) does a great job taking on lineman Devin Gill (#36) with center Nick Buchanan (#66) and then getting to the second level to engage linebacker Josh Ross (#12). This is a great play by Johnson, but note Van Jefferson (#12) blocking downfield giving Perine even more yardage.
Or how about this play. Look at Johnson (#74) pulling around the end and essentially acting as the lead blocker for Jordan Scarlett. He doesn’t even really make that effective of a block on this play, but just being out there aggressively downfield makes the defense backpedal before making the tackle.
And again, Florida has a wide receiver laying the wood in the running game. That’s Kadarius Toney (#4) with the pancake block on the South Carolina linebacker that really springs the run.
Compare that to 2019.
On this play, tight end Lucas Krull (#7) and right tackle Jean Delance (#56) engage the Towson defensive end. Not only do they not get any push, but Delance is unable to come off of that block to pick up the linebacker shooting the gap. That forces Perine to cut to his left, where another Towson linebacker had beaten center Nick Buchanan (#66) and helps make the tackle.
On this play, Chris Bleich (#67) releases freely to take on the linebacker and just completely whiffs. In fact, he looks like he’s in the right position, but then linebacker Christian Dixon (#55) just runs right by him to make the tackle.
This was a consistent theme in 2019. The offensive line – particularly the right hand side – didn’t execute its assignments consistently. But even when it did, they weren’t physical enough at the point of attack to allow the Gators running backs the space to get going.
This was perhaps most obvious in Lamical Perine’s statistics. After averaging 6.2 yards per rush on 134 carries in 2018, Perine’s average dropped to 5.1 on a similar number of carries (132). And if we look at the breakdown of where Florida’s running backs were effective, it becomes pretty obvious where the problem area was.
Rushing stats for Florida during the 2019 season. (compiled from www.statcat.com)
These numbers are courtesy SEC Stat Cat. They define explosive plays as 10+ yards (while I normally categorize them as 20+ yards) but I actually think categorizing it by 10+ drives home the point here.
It’s pretty obvious that Florida was far more effective running the ball to the left side of the line. The Gators ran for more total yards, more yards per rush and significantly more explosive plays (34 to 17).
Interestingly though, Florida only ran to the left on 50.3 percent of its attempts compared to 49.7 to the right. That’s one of the things about Mullen’s offense. The defense dictates what the QB does.
If the running back is lined up to the QB’s left and the offense has an advantage to the right, the QB hands off to the running back to go that way. If the offense has an advantage to the left, the QB keeps the ball and runs left. If there is no advantage either way, but the defense is playing a 2-deep zone, the QB fakes the run and pulls it for a quick slant to a wide receiver or tight end. If the defense brings a safety up to take away the run and the slant, the QB goes over the top.
Theoretically, there is an answer for anything that a defense will do so long as the offense can execute. Because of the struggles on the offensive line last year, Mullen couldn’t rely on that unit to execute and so there were large swaths of the season where he just had to let things ride on Trask’s arm, whether it was dictated by the defense or not.
Enter Stewart Reese
So if the right side of the offensive line is a problem area for Florida, Stewart Reese could be a considerable answer.
Not only is big, but he has played right tackle in Dan Mullen and Joe Moorhead’s offense and was versatile enough to move to right guard last season in the second year of Moorhead’s tenure at Mississippi State.
I actually think there’s quite a bit of evidence that Reese should be considered for right tackle with the Gators. Consider the difference in the statistics I showed above for Mississippi State in 2018 (with Reese at tackle) and 2019 (with Reese at guard).
Rushing statistics for Mississippi State in 2018 and 2019. (compiled from www.statcat.com)
Look at the left side/right side splits in 2018 with Reese at tackle. Clearly Mississippi State could run right. With Reese sliding inside, these numbers evened out considerably in 2019. Of course, the right guard has a lot to do with being able to run left as well, as often he is pulling to the left hand side so Reese likely contributed there as well.
You can see why when you look at Reese on tape.
This seems like a pretty straightforward QB power for a touchdown. But I want you to notice two things. First, Reese (#51) ends the play three-yards deep into the end zone, absolutely pancaking the defensive tackle (#18). Second, this isn’t the minor leagues of the SEC I’m showing here. This was a redshirt freshman left tackle absolutely demolishing one of the powers of the SEC West.
There was considerable promise looking at how Reese performed in the passing game as well.
This seems like a pretty non-descript play. Nick Fitzgerald takes a deep shot into double coverage and misses. But notice that both the right tackle (Reese) and right guard are in one-on-one matchups. Reese absolutely stones the LSU defensive end (Arden Key, #49) and then communicates well with the right guard to switch men once Key redirects inside.
When watching this play, all I could think of was the play that Delance got criticized for from the Orange Bowl.
I do think Delance is likely responsible for getting a harder jam on linebacker Charles Snowden (#11). But I’m not entirely sure that he isn’t supposed to redirect Snowden to the right guard and take the blitzing corner.
Regardless, it’s a problem not only because it results in a sack but because it should have been an easy completion to Van Jefferson who didn’t have anybody underneath to prevent him from getting a first down. By the 13th game of the season, these kinds of things should be taken care of.
Takeaway
I can’t say that I’m an expert on Stewart Reese’s abilities.
But what I can say is that he’s shown some things on the film I’ve watched from 2017 under Mullen that I’m getting excited about what he can contribute to the 2020 Gators.
As I mentioned in my article on Georgia QB Jamie Newman, sometimes the stats and numbers don’t necessarily match up and just watching a couple of plays doesn’t really tell you the whole story. But in Reese’s case, the numbers actually say that he was a huge contributor to the success of the Mississippi State offensive line.
That offensive line was excellent in 2017 under Mullen with Reese at right tackle. According to Football Outsiders NCAA offensive line stats, that 2017 line ranked 6th in the country at opportunity rate, which measures how often the line did its job on running plays. That line also ranked seventh in adjusted sack rate, indicating it was able to get the job done both in the running game and pass protection.
By 2019, the Mississippi State offensive line had fallen to 27th in opportunity rate but to 119th in adjusted sack rate.
In our season previews two years ago on Gators Breakdown, I was dubious of Joe Moorhead being able to duplicate the success of Dan Mullen in Starkville, and considering that he’s gone now, I think you’d have to say I was right. The fact that he moved Reese in to guard is fairly perplexing to me.
But regardless of whether Mullen plans to install Reese at right tackle or right guard, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Florida just got an upgrade. Not only does he have three years starting in the SEC West, but he’s also familiar with Dan Mullen, and perhaps just as importantly, Dan Mullen is familiar with him. There’s no doubt, the Florida running game just got a lot better.
And with Kyle Trask coming back to build on his 2019 campaign where he played really well with no running game to speak of, that should be a scary proposition for the rest of the SEC.
Amelia’s Book
For a while she was the #2 children’s sports book new release on Amazon, and I wish each and every one of you who supported her could have seen her face when I told her that.
I hope you’ll humor me as I push again for you to consider buying her book if you haven’t yet. I’ve included a preview here below so you can see whether it’s appropriate for your kids or grandkids.
If you have bought the book, thank you. If you wouldn’t mind supporting her further by writing a review on Amazon, we would really appreciate it. We may live in Philadelphia now, but she is already learning about the power and loyalty in the Gator Nation!