Florida Gators Focus: Offensive Line

Unlike the skill positions, Florida's offensive line has practically no experience. How quickly can coach John Hevesy get this unit playing at an elite level?

Quick amnesia. 

Coach John Hevesy says it often. However, his group in 2019 will in all likelihood need to put it into practice much more often in 2019 than 2018, as his offensive line only returns one starter.

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Nick Buchanan. That's it. 

The redshirt senior is the only starter you will see in 2019 on Florida's offensive line that you saw start in 2018 as well. The only other lineman with adequate experience is redshirt junior Brett Heggie. Let's look at those two and then address the newbies. 

Buchanan's first year of legitimate action was last season.  He stepped into his new role as starting center as well as anyone could imagine. The offensive line was one of the nation's best in 2018 and the guy in the middle was an integral part. 

As a leader, Buchanan understands that the details matter. 

"We worry about the little things, the technique, the fundamentals."

Perhaps more important than his on-field ability, this guy is an excellent human being. He excels in the classroom, is great in interviews and helped a dominant offensive line in 2018 gel. 

His leadership is crucial to this group. A young corps  bound to make early mistakes could not have a better leader to rely on.

Hevesy sees the inevitability of mistakes from his group headed into the season, and wants them to practice his motto heading into week 0 against Miami.

"You're going to do something wrong. That's going to happen. Play the next play," Hevesy said. "Whatever happens, have quick amnesia." 

The next guy to lead the young guys through those mistakes is Brett Heggie. Heggie has fought through injuries throughout his time at UF, but he stayed much healthier last season, playing in nine games. Two things standout when it comes to Heggie: versatility and force. 

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He plays both guard positions extremely well. With all the other lineman not playing center having no experience, his ability to be tossed to either side will help the development of this group. Rarely do offensive lines have a good backup at every position, so having guys that can move around to different positions is key.

More importantly, Brett Heggie just moves bodies. His tape, albeit limited, is ridiculously impressive. He moves bodies like Gator fans have not seen since the Pouncey twins suited up. 

Now, the young guys: Stone Forsythe, Chris Bleich and Jean Delance. 

Forsythe will start at left tackle while Delance starts on the right side against Miami. Forsythe has been at UF as long as Brett Heggie, but has seen almost no big-time action, playing behind four-year starter and current New England Patriot Martez Izey.

He was not highly recruited in 2016, but he is experienced at least within the program and has the practice reps. Redshirt freshman Richard Gourlage has been excellent in camp and could come for his spot at some point. 

Delance saw action four times last season sparingly. Like Forsythe, he has sat behind a long-time starter, current Jacksonville Jaguar Jawaan Taylor. Delance transferred to UF from Texas after the 2016 season and did not play in 2017 due to transfer rules. 

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Chris Bleich redshirted last year and saw very limited action. The three star recruit from Pennsylvania is largely an unknown as well. 

This group is perhaps the biggest hit-or-miss group on this team. At first glance it appears to be Buchanan, Heggie and a bunch of low-level recruits. However, Hevesy has an excellent track record and gives Florida fans reason for optimism. 

In 2018, Florida gave up 19 less sacks (18) than it did in 2017 (37). That was with the exact same starting group outside of Buchanan. Obviously, this is a different group with different players, growth like that is not guaranteed or even expected. 

That does not mean a group with question marks cannot become a group of strength, as Hevesy has already shown he can do.