GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Last season sophomore Gators defensive linemen Elijah Conliffe and T.J. Slaton entered with a lot of buzz after impressive springs and fall camps. They were among the starters in game one, but couldn’t quite generate the production and live up to those expectations throughout the season.
Eventually they were shuffled into backup roles as part of the rotation toward the middle and end of the season. Now they are looking to see how they can improve and take their game to the next level and possibly regain those starting roles or at the very least provide high quality depth to the unit.
“We’ll see,” Dan Mullen said. “Obviously you’re looking at guys like a T.J. Slaton and an Elijah Conliffe, gotta pick up their performance to create that depth on the team.
“We need those guys to come in and be dependable players, to come in and be able to play 30 to 40 plays in a game and have the trust that they’re gonna be able to go in and do that and perform at a high level.
“That’s important as you try to build that depth because the more depth you have, the less guys have to play. The less guys have to play, to be honest with you, the more plays they make because they’re healthy, faster and more physical.”
Conliffe and Slaton combined for 34 tackles, one tackle for loss and two fumble recoveries. Now in year two under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s system they know they need to up their game.
"We see where we can be as a team,” Conliffe said of where they are this spring compared to last. “We want to get better. So just working harder, more focused in practice. Little stuff like that is going to help us be great."
The entire defensive line group will also be focusing in on new directions under new DL coach David Turner in 2019 after Sal Sunseri elected to join the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. So far the transition has gone over well.
"It's been a pretty smooth transition for all of us,” Conliffe said. “He yells at you but he yells at you in a way that he’s telling you what to do, what you're doing wrong, how to fix it. And I think as a group, we can all respect that it makes us want to go harder for him."
“He’s really drilling the technique. We always going through one step bounces. He’s bringing in new terminology for us and it’s helping us out.”
Both Conliffe and Slaton stood out last spring, but they left something to be desired from the fall. Both are working to improve and up their game to be able to become standouts during the season, but that process doesn’t start on the field.
"I think in the meeting room that's where it starts off at,” Conliffe said. “We really got to pay attention to what coach says because coach breaks it down step-by-step, the plays, what we should be doing, our assignments, where we should be. He gets on us if we do it wrong, but that's a good thing for us as a group."
The duo has the potential to be standouts this fall and are working toward that. Strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage has been a big help and so has Grantham, but the biggest thing for them now is simply the mental side of things and understanding what they have to do on the field.
“With them, they became a lot more coachable,” fellow defensive lineman Kyree Campbell said. “Elijah and T.J. they some big boys. When they get in there, the offensive line is going to have a problem, You feeling me? It’s just them learning what they’re supposed to do and them being coachable. That’s the next step.”
