GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- As we finish of our spring position outlooks, we saved the best for last: the specialists.
Special teams success have become a major staple under Dan Mullen over the years and he brought that with him in his first season back in Gainesville.
The Gators blocked three kicks, returned a punt for an 85-yard touchdown, hit nearly all field goals and pinned opponents back on a regular basis last season.
Freshman kicker Evan McPherson flourished in his freshman year, converting 17 of 19 field goals on the season with a long of 48 and Tommy Townsend showcased his leg, finishing ninth in the country in punt average at 45.4 yards a punt.
Those two return to anchor down an important specialists unit, but the group is going to be without one key piece, the air-guitar legend Ryan Farr at long snapper.
Replacing him won’t be an easy task, but the Gators have a few guys that could jump into that slot. Brett DioGuardi, Jacob Tilgham and Marco Ortiz all return and will battle it out to see who jumps into Farr’s shoes.
The Gators did not welcome in any specialists in the 2019 class so we won’t be seeing any new faces this spring, but figuring out who replaces Farr will be a big question for this group as will solidifying the guys behind McPherson and Townsend.
Jorge Powel and Jacob Finn are the guys, but lets see if they can close the gap on two very talented legs because it only takes one play to sustain an injury in this game and these two guys will be called upon if one of them went down.
Both are solid backups already, but further development never hurts. The same goes for the starters as well. Outside of the main specialists, there are some more spots that we could possibly see new faces at.
Last season Freddie Swain and Kadarius Toney held it down at both returner spots throughout the season. Van Jefferson also saw some time at punt returner as well.
Toney has shown how electric he can be on the field, but struggled going north and south at times and Swain struggled a bit later in the season catching punts.
One name that’s been thrown out a lot as another possible returner is receiver Jacob Copeland. His speed and quickness make for a good return man, and if Mullen wants to let a receiver that sees more reps on offense not take on the added job of returning kicks Copeland would make the most sense to fill that role.
Overall the specialists are solid already and we most likely won’t be seeing any new faces this spring and upcoming season outside of long snapper, but it is always important to continue to improve.
Specialists are never the most popular guys on the team, but they serve a very important role. Without solid ones the field position battle and the kicking game would be in shambles.
