Florida 2023 Spring Camp Notebook: Observations From Day 6

All Gators' notes and observations from day six of Florida Gators' 2023 spring camp.

Photo: Kiyaunta Goodwin and Richie Leonard IV; Credit: Zach Goodall 

Florida is back on the practice field, with 2023 spring camp underway ahead of head coach Billy Napier's second season with the Gators.

All Gators serves up its notes and observations from the sixth day of spring camp below, with our eyes on Florida's offensive line.

Check out our previous 2023 spring camp notebooks: 

• Day 2: Focus on new QB Graham Mertz
• Day 3: Focus on new defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong
• Day 4: Focus on the defensive line 
• Day 5: Focus on new assistant Billy Gonzales and the wide receivers

Focus on the offensive line

Pivoting our attention to the offensive trenches couldn't have happened on a worse day as projected starting linemen, left guard Micah Mazzccua and right tackle Damieon George Jr., weren't observed during the media viewing period of practice. Redshirt freshman Jalen Farmer also continued to be limited as he has been all spring.

It appeared as though redshirt sophomore Jake Slaughter and redshirt freshman Christian Williams rotated reps in place of Mazzccua while sophomore Kentucky transfer Kiyaunta Goodwin manned George's spot at right tackle. Goodwin has split first-team snaps with George throughout spring camp thus far in preparation to man the role of swing tackle in 2023, if not push to start.

The unit was split in two upon the arrival of reporters, with one offensive line assistant Darnell Stapleton overseeing the offensive tackles and the other, Rob Sale, working with the interior linemen. The tight ends and their coach, Russ Callaway, eventually joined the tackles to conduct combo-blocking drills.

When the unit got into two-on-one drills against defensive linemen, the first-team line featured redshirt sophomore left tackle Austin Barber, the duo of Slaughter and Williams at left guard, redshirt junior center Kingsley Eguakun, junior right guard Richie Leonard IV and Goodwin at right tackle.

Three true freshmen — center Roderick Kearney, guard Knijeah Harris and tackle Bryce Lovett — appeared to see their individual drill work increase as a result of Thursday's practice absences.

Participation report

Below are the players that were seen wearing no-contact jerseys throughout the media viewing portion of practice. An asterisk indicates that the player worked off to the side or watched practice instead of being on the field during the media viewing period. Quarterbacks will only be noted if they did not participate in drills, as they wear no-contact jerseys traditionally.

• OL Jalen Farmer
• LB Derek Wingo*
• CB Devin Moore
• CB Ethan Pouncey
• CB Aaron Gates*
• S Kamari Wilson

Additionally, projected starting offensive linemen Micah Mazzccua and Damieon George Jr. were not seen on the practice field during the media viewing portion of practice, marking their first absences of spring camp. 

Clip of the day

Kearney and Harris can be witnessed in our clip of the day below, going through a combo-blocking drill under Sale's supervision. Sale asked Harris to do his rep over again and appeared to focus on power at the point of attack while offering the freshman lineman advice. 

#Gators freshmen OL Roderick Kearney and Knijeah Harris working on a combo-blocking drill, Kearney at C and Harris at RG.

Rob Sale offered Harris some instruction after the rep. pic.twitter.com/aYr0R7oqJo

— Zach Goodall (@zach_goodall) March 23, 2023

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