GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Gators offensive line has been here before.

Prior to the 2018 season, the unit was called out as one of the weak links in the Florida offense. History is repeating itself this offseason.

“You can’t listen to that kind of stuff, we just have to get better every day," said offensive lineman Griffin McDowell. "We don’t have to listen to what the media says or anything like that, we just have to get better everyday and find different things to improve on, and hopefully be that stronger unit that will help this team.”

There is a reason why people are asking questions about Florida's offenisve line.

The group lost 80 percent of its starters, and this particular group has not played together on game day. However, the offensive linemen have taken a number of practice reps and have worked on building that chemistry and bond over the summer.

“It’s definitely way easier because last year for example, I was just trying to learn the plays," said redshirt freshman Chris Bleich. "Now, you have the basis, the foundation to know what’s going on. Now, you know how to understand the defense and stuff and what to do when it happens.”

Actually, if you ask Florida head coach Dan Mullen, he is not as concerned about his first team line.

""My uncertainty on the offensive line is depth," said Mullen. "If we can stay healthy, I'm OK. And it's just how fast we can accelerate some of the really young guys to get going."

The Gators are indeed very young in the trenches.

During Florida's latest open practice session, Richard Gouraige, Ethan White, Kingsley Eguakun, Noah Banks, and Michael Tarquin all lined up with the second team - with Tanner Rowell coming in for reps for Eguakun and TJ Moore alternating a few reps with Tarquin.

That means Florida has true freshmen rotating at some point in the two deep.

“With any freshmen, being young, it’s going to be hard," said offensive lineman Jean Delance. "You’re waking up early mornings, going to sleep late nights. So, it’s all a mentality. If you process that and, you know what I’m saying, ‘I got to get this job done, it’s not for long, it’s getting me better, it’s getting us better as a team, as just being a young guy,’ you’re going to see success. You can’t think of, ‘Ah, I’m waking up, I’m tired, I got to go to practice.’ You got to be, ‘I’m waking up, I’m getting ready to practice and I got to have a good day.’

William Harrod, White, Eguakun and Tarquin all enrolled early, going through winter and summer workouts with Nick Savage and one spring.

They have all bought in.

"As spring ball came, they were still high school players really," said McDowell. "To take reps at second and even first-string, it was really impressive watching them step up.”

“They are all leaps and bounds ahead of where typical freshmen coming in would be," said center Nick Buchanan. "They go out there and compete every day in practice. They are watching film, learning playbooks...They are actually learning football, learning offense, learning the scheme. So, have to give kudos to all of them.”

"“I think they’re all moving along right now pretty well," added Brett Heggie. "High school and college, the speed of the game is completely different. They gotta learn the playbook, with me talking to them is just trying to tell them to get better every day.”

How bought in is this group?

One look at White's transformation and weight loss in his first eight months at Florida, one can see the level of buy in the younger group came in with.

“It was really crazy, to see how much harder he had to work at losing weight and getting to be an SEC offensive lineman," McDowell said abut White. "It was really tough and I was impressed he was able to do that.”

Having those freshmen on campus for the last eight months can only help a group that needs good quality depth.

"You want guys to come in and play and get experience because it’s anywhere you go across the country, you have to get guys prepared for the next year," Delance said. "You may have three guys that get injured, forbidden that happen to us, but you have to have guys ready to go. It don’t matter if you’re a one, two or three, you’ve got to know what you’re doing, you’ve got to know how to do it and be physical when you’re doing it.”

John Hevesy's men worked together on and off the field in preparation for the season. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

"You know we're getting better,"defensive lineman TJ Slaton said about the offensive line's progress. "I especially give props to like Nick Buchanan and Brett Heggie. Those are the guys that's gonna really get our offensive line really going. And then Tanner, who's coming off a shoulder injury, working with 3rd and 2nd team but really strong guy, has a really good grip."

The offensive line has taken a few steps forward since the spring, now it's about continuing that progress.

"We have to really dial in to all our plays and stuff like that and really come as a unit and really communicate," said Richard Gouraige. "That was really key for being we’re so young, but I feel like we’re doing a good job of taking the coaching and just communicating very well.”