GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Spring football is just a little over a month away and the Gators defensive line is under new management.

Dan Mullen brought in David Turner to replace Sal Sunseri, who left for Alabama in January.

"You look at David Turner, a guy that has tremendous experience in the Southeastern Conference," the Gators head coach said about his new assistant. "The great thing with David Turner is I know I've had him on my staff before. I know his ability to go out and recruit top talent. I know his ability to develop that and coach it."

According to Mullen, Turner is not only good at developing talent but he is also good at finding a talent he can mould into being an elite defender, referring to Chris Jones as an example.

"When he [Jones] finished his high school football, I think he was a zero star, but he did end up being a five star before signing day," recounted Mullen. "But, so but you take a guy that really wasn't a big name guy and all of a sudden right before signing became it and develop him to really one of the top players in the NFL and he coached him and Fletcher Cox the same way, as well as a bunch of other guys that have played for us. But I think that and his development goes beyond."

"I’ve seen some guys and I won’t know fully until we get through spring practice who can do what," Turner said about his group. "It’s my job to get them all ready to play, to help those guys develop. I think that’s the biggest thing. One of the key things in Dan’s program is developing guys."

Turner will have a tough job as soon as he steps into his role. The Gators assistant will need to find ways to fill in the holes that were left by CeCe Jefferson and Jachai Polite.

Those two combined for 23.5 tackles for a loss and 12.0 sacks. It will not be so easy to replace.

Although those two are obviously the biggest losses within the unit, the group also lost two more bodies, with redshirt freshman Nick Smith, forced to end his career due to a neck injury, and Khairi Clark graduating.

The good news is that the Gators have already started to reinforce this group.

Not only have Florida signed a very talented group in 2019: Mohamoud Diabate, Lloyd Summerall, Khris Bogle (seen more as an outside backer by staff at the moment), and Jaelin Humphries, they have also brought on Louisville graduate transfer Jon Greenard.

"I think it's huge when you look at your roster and you look at CeCe, who goes on and he's graduating and going to the NFL.. and Jachai makes a decision to declare for the draft and leave early, kind of leaves a big gap at that spot," said Mullen about Greenard. "With Jonathan coming in that has that experience, that has played at an extremely high level, that has been productive, and can make an immediate impact."

Greenard is listed as a redshirt senior, however, the NCAA grant a sixth year eligibility since he missed 2018 with season-long injury.

"You look at some of our young guys that have the potential to do that with a Mohamoud [Diabate] that's on campus, Khris Bogle who we signed today, Lloyd Summerall is a pass rusher coming off the edge. We think those guys are going to have bright futures," added the Gators head coach. "But they haven't been through it at this level and hopefully they are going to be able to make an immediate impact with us when they get here. But you're talking about a guy that has shown that he can do it at this level and is going to be ready to go play when we kick off the season next year. That's really an important addition for us."

Greenard is expected to take on a big role this year, however, senior Jabari Zuniga will also need to become an every-down player.

"You expect them to lead and be a leader," Turner said about both Greenard and Zuniga. "That's what we need out of the group; we need kind of an alpha dog to take over and lead the group and lead in the right way...I think those two guys'll be guys that hopefully will lead the front and lead them in the right direction.”

What does the group look like?

Here is our projected spring depth chart:

Rush End: Jonathan Greenard, Jeremiah Moon, Andrew Chatfield, Mohamoud Diabate

**Lloyd Summerall is enrolling in the fall. I expect him to redshirt.

*** I can also see Chatfield moving up on the depth chart this spring. Watch out for him.

Three-Technique Tackle: Adam Shuler, Marlon Dunlap, Luke Ancrum

Nose Tackle: Kyree Campbell, Tedarrell Slaton OR Elijah Conliffe,

** Jaelin Humphries will arrive on campus in the summer. I also expect him to red-shirt.**

Strong-Side DE: Jabari Zuniga, Zach Carter, Malik Langham OR Antonneous Clayton

The Gators will have some work to do on the trail in 2020. As we broke down in our "Scholarship Breakdown," Florida will need to reinforce the defensive line this cycle since six of their defensive tackles are upperclassmen.

"That's going to be a focus for us is, is guys that, especially position flexibility," said Mullen. "Not just the big guys inside, but the guys that can play end or tackle, a little bit bigger bodies, is going to be a huge part of this upcoming recruiting class for us in 2020."

"Obviously, you're looking for athletes," Turner said of who he will be looking for on the trail. "You're looking for guys that can run. That's why when you look nationally and you have defensive linemen that are very highly ranked coming out of high school, everybody in the country is recruiting them because it's hard to find big, athletic guys, guys who can run, guys who like contact, guys who play with relentless effort. We're all looking for the same thing: big, athletic guys. In this league, I think the difference is up front in the SEC, the offensive and defensive lines. You have to have some grown men up front to be able to hold up week in and week out."