Florida's QB competition may overshadow bigger concerns on offense

The Florida Gators have enough talent on offense to make some noise in the SEC during Jon Sumrall's first year, but there are some concerns to fix before the start of the season.

Most fans would point to the quarterback position where Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. will resume the competition that started in the spring. Once that gets settled, there's plenty of talent at the skill positions to work with. Jadan Baugh will be one of the best running backs in the country and the top four receivers — Dallas Wilson, Vernell Brown III, Eric Singleton and Micah Mays Jr. — should be anywhere from good to great. That's nice, but the thing that will keep Sumrall up at night is figuring out who will block for them. 

READ MORE: Jon Sumrall didn’t hide concern over one area Florida still struggles in

Jon Sumrall has to find his starting five on the offensive line

"I think Florida, at the quarterback position, will be OK. My bigger question is what do we have on the offensive line, and I don't like that in the SEC," said On3 analyst JD PicKell. "I've got a question about my offensive line when I got to Texas, when we play Georgia, when I've got to play Oklahoma. I don't like the way that all lines up."

Yeah, that's a fair way to put it. There's a good chance the Gators are going to be facing at least one difficult pass rusher, if not multiple guys that can blow up the backfield, each week in the SEC. And Sumrall knows that if the offensive tackles are up to the challenge, it doesn't matter how good the running backs and wide receivers are. 

"Those guys have to have a freaking great summer or we got no chance, 
like, no chance," Sumrall said about the offensive line after the spring game."I think we have a chance. We got guys in that room that can do it, but there's gotta be a lot of growth that continues to happen. 
And they will. It's gonna happen. But we're nowhere near settled in that room."

The loss of center Jake Slaughter and tackle Austin Barber to the NFL means the Gators have to replace over near appearances in games and over 70 starts. Sophomore tackle Fletcher Westphal is a player that the staff is very high on, but he missed the spring and will have to get up to speed in training camp. Junior tackle Caden Jones is another in-house player that has a great chance to hold down a tackle spot. Another experienced tackle, Eagan Boyer,transferred from Penn State and has familiarity with what offensive line coach Phil Trautwein wants to do up front. 

All in all, the Gators will have at least three new starters on the line, maybe as many as four, and it's up to Trautwein and Sumrall to figure out the best combination of five along with the players that will present primary depth. Having offensive line questions is no way to live in the SEC, so expect the coaching staff to look for answers during training camp. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow