Florida offensive line coach Mike Summers met with the media on Wednesday and discussed a number of topics regarding his current group:
How do you get the offensive line to respond to you?
"I think that's just a part of the natural transition of what happens as you start a season. Those guys get out and play a game at full speed and find out what that tempo is all about and understand that things happen faster at game time than they do in practice. Understand the combination work together and the pass-pro work together, and I that's a natural progression from Game 1 to Game 2.
"I did think that they really came together well this past week and I was encouraged with how well all five of them played as a unit. It really got me excited to see that they understood the things that needed to improve from Week 1 to Week 2 and kind of looked that dead in the face and took on that challenge and really went out and did that. They played a more complete game I thought against Kentucky and really showed that with what we were able to do in terms of production."
How do you feel about the development of the offensive line over the past couple years?
“It’s been a long climb. A long, hard climb. Losing all those guys that we lost in ‘14, juniors in that group as well. There were a string of medical redshirts that came through here my first year and the year before, and it just left us so short. Numbers were just in really bad shape. And so we’re gradually building our way back to where we’ve at least got depth. Certainly we need every year to improve our talent level as we go forward, but we’re in that road, that climb back now, and I think we do have some bodies to work with and some guys that are in there developing right now as we go forward. Certainly most of those guys that we’ve had in the last year, year and a half, those guys are really young and really inexperienced. And so we’re having to deal with that as a depth issue right now, but we’re a lot better off right now than we were when I first came in.”
How motivated were your guys against Kentucky?
"I hope they're motivated every week when we get ready to go play. Certainly there are good weeks and bad weeks, and when you don't play as well as you'd like to you kind of rededicate and re-motivate and come back and try to do better the next week. But they certainly were motivated for Kentucky, our first SEC team opener. It was a big ball game and they responded well to it."
What has freshman right tackle Jawaan Taylor’s transformation been like since you first saw him to now?
“Absolutely amazing. He’s a guy we were really familiar with because he had been at camp for two years, and was extremely overweight. Through the last camp he was here in summertime a year ago, when he left here we basically told him it was going to be hard to recruit him because of his size and is movement skills. There needed to be a commitment toward what he was going to do to put himself in a position to be a Division I college football player. Absolutely amazingly, the kid goes out and loses somewhere up to 40 pounds through the summer and the fall. Has a really great fall campaign and does a good job in video and is knocking guys on the ground. He put himself in a position to be recruited. That got him here.
"His willingness to commit to all of the things he had to do to lose the weight and put himself in that position. Since he’s been here he’s just been an absolute joy to coach. He is a sponge for information and knowledge. He’s worked really hard on his technique and has the physical gifts and strengths that allow him to go out and execute and do a good job. I can’t tell you how elated I was at how he played on Saturday. He got in there early, played most of the game, and really handled himself like a veteran. I was so excited about what he did. To know what he brings to our offensive line in terms of strength and toughness and just a real focused effort. And that’s what we got from him Saturday.
"He's got a sense of focus that this is the goal in front of me and this is what I want to get accomplished, and so he did that with his weight and his physical tools to come in here. He's also done that just learning the offense because that's also a separating factor for freshmen that come in. There's so many things that happen to them in there, so many different looks that they haven't seen yet. We experienced that last year with all the new guys that played last year. He's come in with a real focus and a real presence, a demeanor that's allowed him to be able to handle things where he doesn't really what to do but he understands the concept that we're running and so it allows him to adjust on the run. So that focus and that maturity, if that's what it is, is giving him the chance to play early."
What's his punch like?
“A common term we use is call heavy hands. Some guys put their hands on you and you don’t really notice it. He strikes his hands and you can kind of feel it in your teeth. It kind of rattles them when he puts his hands on you. He does a really good job with that. He disarms defenders with his ability to punch. That’s what has put him in a position to play because most freshmen aren’t physically able to do that. So, I’m excited for what he can be and what he’s done so far.”
Will Taylor have a chance to push for a starting job?
“Absolutely, absolutely will. He’s a guy that has put himself in that position. By what he did on Saturday, he’s put himself right there where I’m confident he can go out and play for us right now. You’ll see him out there.”
Is Taylor starting on Saturday?
"We're working that direction right now. He'll play a bunch this week. We haven't set our starting lineup yet, but he's a guy that's competing for that right now."
Does he remind you of any past offensive linemen?
"He's got his own unique gifts that he brings to what we do and I'm excited for what he brings. Certainly by him having this early playing time and being able to perform so well just makes you kind of think, 'OK, what's it going to be as he develops and grows.' The future seems very bright, and that's something that gets me real excited about him."
With a freshman like Taylor emerging, can you tell recruits that they can come in and play right away?
"I think there's, with recruiting right now, the players that we're on and the players that we're recruiting with, all those guys got talent to come in and compete for positions, and they know that. Our players here know that. And so they have to always perform. This is a competition-driven business and you have to show up everyday and compete and I think the recruits that see what we've done here, and we're not saying, 'hey, if you're a freshman, when you come in here, you're gonna have to redshirt on the offensive line'. You have an opportunity to compete for a position and as long as coach Mac is here and as long as I'm here, the best five guys are gonna go out there and play. And it doesn't matter if you're a freshman or a senior, we're gonna put the best five guys out there. So, certainly, young players have shown that they can come in and have an impact in our offense."
What's the current status of right guard Tyler Jordan, who's dealing with injury?
“Yeah, we’re trying to evaluate where he’s at right now. I know Coach Mac will get into some of those things a little bit later on. But we’re just trying to see where that’s at right now with everything.”
What's your evaluation of Martez Ivey’s performance during the first two weeks of the season?
“He’s had an interesting set of circumstances to deal with, having not played all spring and really been limited in ability to do a lot of training in the offseason. To get back out and start into game action has been really beneficial to him. There’s been some rustiness there that I think from from Week 1 to Week 2 got a lot better. And I was excited to see his progress from Week 1 to Week 2, but when you start talking about some of the things that you guys addressed about, A, the performance against Kentucky being a little bit better. Certainly ‘Tez that was his first game action in six months really. So there were lot of factors that went into that performance being a little bit better than the first week, and certainly that was true for ‘Tez. He got out there, he got a chance to play again, got the chance to get involved with game speed, and that’ll just continue to grow and get better. But I was encouraged, really encouraged with what he was able to do against Kentucky.”
