GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida's rushing offense had one of its most productive games against South Carolina last weekend.
The Gators rushed for 154 yards, which is the most yards against an FBS opponent this season.
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"I think we've been progressing from week to week," said quarterback Kyle Trask. "This past time I think we did a really great job of communicating, another hostile environment in South Carolina and I think that just shows how much our team is gelling together."
"It's execution," said offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator John Hevesy. "The biggest thing you see in the run game is sometimes it's five, sometimes it's six, it's seven, it's eight guys that are involved in the run game. Seven guys gotta do a great job. One guy is off the wrong way with the wrong leverage on a defender, it's two yards. So that's the biggest thing in the run game is the cohesiveness of five linemen and one or two tight ends all being on the same page. One guy can't screw up."
Florida, along with Memphis, are the only teams in the country with three runs of 70 plus yards this season.
Although the improvement is a team effort, the offensive line has showed steady progress through the last eight games; the unit having its best outing last weekend.
“We got better in a lot of things like understanding the game," said Hevesy. "I still think there’s a lot of improvements we need to make, but I think as a unit, as a group together we’ve improved each week, which we’ve got to keep doing.”
Florida did make a change for its game against the Gamecocks. According to Hevesy, Chris Bleich had a "foot problem" that kept him from practicing Wednesday and Thursday leading to the game.
"If I needed him he could have gone in but he was still kind of limping around Saturday morning," explained Hevesy. "So I said if we had to use him he would have played, but of we didn’t have to use him I wanted to save his feet.”
Instead of Bleich, the Gators went with Richard Gouraige. Gouraige spent most of his time at left guard, which allowed Brett Heggie slide to right guard.
“Richard’s learned both guard and tackle. So that’s why to me if we can get him in the game and the flow of the games," said Hevesy. "But to me getting Richard the start and let him go see what he can do in a starting position. To me he was able to break his nerve, because he was a nervous wreck Friday night and Saturday getting ready to play. To me he just had to go play and be the guy and it was good for him.”
Although the lineup change seemed effective against South Carolina, Hevesy points to another reason why this group is beginning to find its way.
"I think it's just the cohesiveness of playing in the run game and six or seven guys working together," explained Hevesy. "I told the guys, 'You're winning your one-on-one pass pros. The difference in the run game is you two are working together or you three are working together. All three gotta be on the right page. If two guys are doing well and one is kind of off, the whole thing looks like crap. So that's what you see is them starting to understand the scheme and they're all working together."
The Gators still control their own destiny. With four regular season games remaining, having your offensive line on the right path certainly eases some minds.
"It's always encouraging,"said Hevesy. "You see that they're getting it. I think that's the biggest thing. They're starting to understand the little things. We still gotta get better at those things, but they're starting to understand what it's going to take to be successful."
