Elite OL and DL win championships, Nick Saban and Alabama went on a 10 year run proving that having NFL caliber lineman on both sides of the ball will have you playing for NCs year in and year out. elite talent alone does not automatically get you 10 win seasons and NC appearances, combine that with excellent strength and conditioning programs, high caliber coaching and development and you have a recipe for success. See Georgia, Texas, Ohio St, Michigan as other examples of teams that consistently bring in and land high end OL/DL talent. Someone in another thread posted a stat that said the last time we landed a top 100 OL was 9 years ago!! 9 years ago was the last time we had an elite top 100 OL. That can not and should not happen at UF. Apparently we are top 10 in NIL at the moment. Why are we rolling out guys like Barber who is arguably our best OL, sadly he wouldn't crack the starting lineups at Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Harris looks to be a good solid player once he gets more experience under his belt, Jake Slaughter also wouldn't start at those programs either. George, Waits, BCD/Manuell wouldn't start at Kentucky. why are we still trying to get by with Hevesy/Sale specials and expecting different results? Mertz nearly got killed and was running for his life most of the game, he ends up in the concussion protocol bc of the right side of the line. DL is the same story...SLackman im sure was a great player and teamate at Upenn, Cam Jackson, Banks, and Dez are all plan B type guys. We were told that George Gumbs was the DE replacement for Princely, we didn't need a rush edge, Cam Ward didn't have one grass stain on his jersey and had all day to throw. if we want to give the next staff a fair shot at getting us back to championship caliber football, it has to start with the trenches, we need to stop pursuing everyone's rejects and guys that get recruited over, the trenches are what is going to get us back and back faster than anything else. The new staff and regime deserve this, Gator nation deserves it.
