Going into the third year for the Florida Gators under head coach Billy Napier, the program is looking to take a leap forward. A key piece of that leap forward is going to be finding a way to improve Florida’s offensive line play.
Now, a key piece of that offensive line appears to be transfer tackle Brandon Crednshaw-Dickson. He’s someone who Andy Staples brought up with Nick de la Torre from Gators Online during an episode of Andy Staples On3, discussing how he can elevate the entire Florida offensive line.
“Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, the transfer tackle from San Diego State,” Andy Staples said. “I feel like they think he is kind of the key linchpin in making this offensive line better, which is something they really needed.”
In 2023, Florida was 115th in the country in sacks allowed, giving up 3.25 sacks per game. On top of that, the Gators were just 78th in rushing offense, with 149.83 yards per game.
With that, Billy Napier went about finding a way to fix the offensive line this offseason, and Nick de la Torre believes that the unit is ready to take a step forward. Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson taking over at right tackle should be the key piece of that unit.
“Yeah, Damieon George struggled mightily at right tackle. I remember, I think it was at South Carolina, before Graham Mertz‘s postgame press conference saying to [Mertz], ‘Man, you are one tough S.O.B. and I wish your offensive line didn’t make you show it every week.’ Permanent grass stains on his jersey. I wonder if they’ll have them out before Florida plays Miami,” de la Torre said.
“But, I think the offensive line is they feel like they’re two-deep pretty much at every position. Get Austin Barber back. He’s healthy. In Jake Slaughter they found something in him, a guy who had kind of just been around and been a background piece. Really stepped up when he needed to when Kingsley Eguakun went down. So, Florida feels good about the offensive line.”
Overall, Nick de la Torre believes Florida is a much-improved team. However, the problem is that the schedule is difficult and that’s going to make improvement harder to see.
“I like the addition of Elijhah Badger, obviously with Tre Wilson. The running back room…then the defense was a complete overhaul. I think this is Billy Napier’s best roster since he’s been here. It’s also his toughest schedule and the SEC kicked the scheduling can down the street another year, so they’re just running it back in 2025. So, this schedule that you’re looking at right now, just flip Miami to an away game add one out-of-conference opponent and that’s the schedule next year as well.”
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