WATCH: OC Rob Sale breaks down Gators' retooled offensive line

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators offensive coordinator Rob Sale is working with a lot of new pieces this spring, both on his side of the ball and at his position group.

He lost four of his five starters along the offensive line, including Consensus First-Team All-American O’Cyrus Torrence, but center Kingsley Eguakun returns along with tackle Austin Barber, who made five starts in 2022.

Sale and offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton reloaded at the position with transfers Micah Mazzccua, Damieon George and Kiyaunta Goodwin and early enrollees Roderick Kearney, Knijeah Harris and Bryce Lovett.

The Gators also have a quarterback competition between Graham Mertz and Jack Miller to replace starter Anthony Richardson, is being projected as a top-10 draft pick following his record-setting NFL Combine performance.

In the video below, Rob Sale discusses the start of spring ball, his offensive line group, the new additions at the position and more.

Rob Sale quotes

On what he’s see so far in practice from the offensive line:

Rob Sale: “I’m very pleased so far, you know. It’s only the second day, the variables have not increased yet, but, you know, there’s a lot of young guys, lot of new faces, but very, very, very pleased. I think overall across the board the discipline, attention to detail, is where you want it. Are we perfect right now? No, but got a long way before the game, but very happy so far.”

On the challenge of developing new starters:

Sale: “I mean, that’s the beautiful thing about offensive line, right? We say five equals one. You can’t just have one good player, it takes five of us, right, playing together as a unit, and then you need more than five really, it’s just kind of a little saying there. But yeah, I like the challenge, you know. ‘22 offensive line was ‘22 – this year is gonna be a different group, right? We got 15 opportunities, now 13 going into the summer, in our development, but I’m satisfied with what we got and what we’re able to work with, so we’ll be good.”

On any characteristics of the line that have changed with the movement:

Sale: “Not really. I mean, they’re all gonna be very good players, the guys that we’ve brought in so far, right? We got one that’s still in high school waiting to get here this summer, we feel confident about him. All these guys have passed their evaluation, right, and we signed off on them, so, but yeah very pleased of who they are, their character, their discipline, how they come in this building every day, how they attack. I can’t put a price on when we say how a guy’s wired and how they think, how the everyday process is important to them, and I’m very pleased with those guys in that standpoint. 

On the differences between Micah and O’Cyrus?

Sale: “Micah is very, kind of like Cybo when it comes to you can teach a concept one time and he has it. Some guys got to take notes, write it down, do a walkthrough. Micah kinda just looks at you and goes ‘Alright’, you think ‘do you got it or not’, you know, he’s like ‘I got it’ and sure enough, he gets it, so. Football comes easy to him like O’Cyrus, but they’re different in their movement skills and so that’s different, but he’s a good football player to do that everyday right now too.”

On how much more is on Barber’s plate making the leap to starting left tackle:

Sale: “You know, this time, being in spring, you know, he’d get beat, head down, body language, ‘get up, head up, eyes up, go the next play’. So, him as a person and as a football player has gotten so much better. But he is night and day from where he was this time last year I would say. You sign a bunch of Austin Barber’s around here, you’re going to have a good football program.”

On whether Damieon George is playing inside or outside? 

Sale: “He’ll stay outside for us. We’ve got inside guys, but right now obviously we’ve signed him for a tackle, and we need depth there also as well, so he’ll stay out there. But we’ve got some really, really good young inside guys we’re really happy with.”

On guards he’s looking at other than Micah?

Sale: “Richie Leonard right now is obviously going with the ones. He’s very good football player, instinctive. You got Knijeah Harris at right guard with the twos right now, currently and you got Christian Williams, you got Jalen Farmer, who’s currently out doing endo, he’ll be back at the end of spring. Who else am I missing? I don’t want to miss anybody. You know, you got Roderick that also can move to either guard position. You got Jake Slaughter, who’s doing a great job. I would have no problem rolling out their Jake at any time. Who am I missing, did I miss anybody? I hate missing people. But we got a bunch of good guys that we’re very pleased with.”