Wednesday afternoon, Florida offensive line coach Mike Summers met with reporters for about 20 minutes. Here are some of the highlights from his press conference.
Q: What have been the biggest challenges with such a young group along the offensive line?
Summers: “Every day there’s challenges of just trying to work from a perspective of their vision about what we’re doing is really broad. I’m supposed to block this guy on this play, this is a zone play, this is a power play. We’ve been trying to each week and each day dial that vision down into a real narrow, specific, attention to detail effort so that it’s not just about learning the plays, but it’s about how to run the plays. The younger you are, the less experience you have, the less of those details you pay attention to. You’re more concerned about OK, I’ve got this guy, but at this level, just knowing who you have doesn’t mean you’re going to get them blocked. Footwork, landmarks and all those things are constantly preached since we’ve started. I’ve been really pleased with the progress we’ve made so far.
“There’s so much that happens in such a small space, such a faster amount of time. They’re dealing with so much information input. So much of this is about what information you gain before the ball gets snapped, as to having an understanding of what’s going to happen after it gets snapped. If you don’t know what you’re looking at and all of these indicators don’t make sense to you, then when you snap the ball, guys move and you’re not prepared for it. The number of reps that you get of understanding this is how fast the game is, this alignment means we’re going to get this slant, it means we’re going to get this kind of blitz. All of that preparation stuff is slow to come if you haven’t had experience at it. There's a pattern of playing offensive line. A guy moves across your face it means someone else is coming from outside. If a linebacker moves from inside to outside, that means the guy over you is going to move a certain direction. So just understanding what that is takes an awful lot of time and a lot of preparation. And so that's why you don't see very many young linemen across the country that are very successful, because it just takes time to learn those patterns."
Q: What’s your evaluation of five-star freshman left tackle Martez Ivey’s debut performance versus Kentucky coming back after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery?
Summers: "Well, he did really good. I was really encouraged with him. He's got such a spirit for playing football. He's a guy that loves to be in the game, loves to be at practice, loves to prepare himself to be ready to play. And so from that standpoint I'm just so excited about him. ... He was such a successful high school player on a successful high school program. He got tremendous coaching in high school, especially in the run game. He had a real solid background in run blocking when he came in here and an understanding about football. He had been taught a lot of those things that you have to know to be able to be successful. So I think he did have a little bit of an advantage based on that background. But his advantage is in his heart. It’s in his brain. He’s a football player, and so he brings that every day. It’s exciting to be around those guys, especially to be around him."
“I think we spent a lot of time on his run game fundamentals and understanding was really strong when he came in. We spent an awful lot of time in the pass game, just understanding body position, understanding about protections and the number of protections and the complexity of what we do is certainly well above what they were doing. They were a very effective run game in high school, a team that had a good running game. We spent our time in the pass game there. Really, I’ve seen tremendous improvement. It’s such a shame that he got hurt when he did because he was on such a fast pace to capture a lot of the things that we had been teaching him going into that first game. I was so impressed with where he was. Then to have a three-week setback was difficult for him and for all of us. But he really responded well. He worked hard in his rehab. He came right back in, got into practice last week and really got a lot more snaps Saturday than I thought he’d be able to take and be effective at it. I was really pleased with what he did.”
Q: What are you thoughts on freshman right tackle Fred Johnson?
Summers: "He's such an amazing surprise. His background in high school was not very extensive. I think he was a one-year starter in high school. His knowledge about football is way behind guys that have played and have more experience. But every day he comes over here he's got a smile on his face. It's a new day for him. He's excited to be there, and I'm excited to coach him. We work through the goods and the bads and somewhere in between we're seeing a guy really develop into a good offensive lineman."
Q: Could we see Ivey or Johnson at guard at any point?
Summers: “Well, I think it’s really difficult from a technical standpoint to bounce from tackle to guard. It’s completely different in terms of stance even and movement skills and all that stuff. If we’re pressed into some situations where guys have to cover and we can get our best five out there and that proves to be that, that would be an option. But those two younger tackles are doing a really good job developing at that position. So for the time being, we’ll probably keep that going.”
Q: What about Mason Halter potentially playing some guard now with four offensive tackles in the rotation?
Summers: “We’ve done some of that. We’ve worked them in a number of different combinations. Everybody up there’s fair game to play any place. We’re searching and trying the best guys that we can.
“I’m really glad he’s a Florida Gator. He is a very smart football player. I feel like I can play him at all four positions, tackles and guards on both sides. He’s a real comforting player to have there with that group because he does have some experience, he does have some age, he understands how to prepare and maybe in the midst of our Romper Room sessions he’s kind of another hand I can say, hey go take care of these guys and get them in right spot. He’s done a great job of transitioning in there for us.”
Q: Freshman Tyler Jordan has played a bunch at right guard these past two games. How would you evaluate how he's done at that position?
Summers: “I’ve been so impressed with his focus and his willingness to play a couple different positions. He plays center for us and has done a really good job there. Has not been a center before he got here and has worked hard to try and make himself into a really good center and then we’ve been able to get us snaps at guard as well. He’s worked hard to make himself a really good center, and we’re getting him snaps at guard, as well. He’s become a really valuable player for us because of that. I see nothing but great things for him in the future, he’s got such a willingness for him to learn and has talent to play in there.”
Q: McElwain mentioned Florida's offensive line eventually facing "glass-eaters and fire-breathers” on opposing SEC teams' defensive lines. What's your take on that?
Summers: “That was what I said earlier. Even though you can stand here and say I feel like we’re progressing, I still have been doing this long enough to know we have a long way to go, and that’s certainly going to be evident as we get into tougher competition. These defensive lines we play in this league are so good they’re going to expose our inexperience. They’re going to expose our lack of depth. They’re going to expose certain areas of what we do. We know that’s going to happen. We’re just trying to prepare ourselves for it as we go forward and do the best we can. That’s where we are right now. We’ve prepared as best we can and they’ve made progress and we’ll handle every challenge that comes to us. Some we’ll handle better than others.”
