GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida's offensive line is a hot topic.

You have heard it before: the Gators lose four of its five starters from 2018. However, Dan Mullen is not too nervous about the next men up. In fact it seems like he is confident in his first team line.

"I'm not as uncertain," said Gators head coach about the line on Monday. "My uncertainty on the offensive line is depth. 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."

That uncertainty is understandable because the second team line does include a few true freshmen.

"They are all going better," said offensive lineman Brett Heggie. "The freshmen are locked in and they realize this is college now and you got to do things a certain way. I am excited to see how much they grow in camp. These next couple of weeks. I think they are go got be ready to go."

Florida was lucky to have four of their offensive line signees enroll early. Ethan White, Michael Tarquin, Kingsley Eguakun and William Harrod have all benefitted from arriving on campus early.

“They’re all standing out to me," said center Nick Buchanan about the freshman. "I say, they’re all busting their butts. To be 18, some of them 17 out here pulling against… our first three deep defensive line is really all veteran players, so they’re busting their butts every day. They spend time in the playbook and stuff like that, so I have to give kudos t all of them.”

"Kingsley Eguakun works super hard in the weight room," said Heggie. "Nick Buchanan always works hard, Chris Bleich always works super hard. all of our guys. You can’t go in there an not work hard. We all take it seriously. We are just ready."

According to offensive line coach John Hevesy, it's making sure the youngsters take the next step in their development.

“It’s more of when you start getting the obscure things," said Hevesy. "You know, base defense you see kinda the same thing as the obscure stuff. And really when you get to the third down stuff, the third down pressures, that’s when the young guys just, that’s where they get behind."

Thats where reps come in.

Mullen and Hevesy make sure the linemen see plenty of time in various positions.

"One of the things how we set up training camp, a lot of guys get a lot of reps, I think one thing John always does is move guys around, so that you get used to playing with different guys," explained Mullen. "Some days this guy will be with the ones, this guy with the twos, mix and match,.

"We got of the guys getting used to playing with different groups and different combinations on the line and that gets experience."

The coaches can only do so much, however. The staff have to rely on the veteran players to step up in the offseason. Hevesy is lucky on that front.

“The first five are always good leaders," said Hevesy. "You see that from them. But yeah, like I said earlier, they came in and Nick, Stone [Forsythe], and Brett have done a very good job with that. To me they continue to do what they’re expected to do, so as camp goes on they gotta keep all those guys behind them. They’re responsible and accountable for what they gotta do.”

“I felt like me and a couple of the guys really tried to push some of these younger guys and even some of the starters and myself," said Heggie on why he has become more vocal this year. "Talking to these guys and working as hard as they can because things happen. They could need to go into a game and play....I’ve been trying to push them so that they learn as much as they can about the playbook and physically.”

Buchanan has also made it a point to interact with the younger players and help them take the next step.

"We walked out of meetings the other day and the time limits that we have, we walked out of meetings after 45 minutes, and then we had to go up to a staff meeting," recounted Hevesy. "I came back down, I think it was probably 45 minutes later, they're all walking out of the meeting room.

"My first question was, what are you guys doing? Nick was like, oh, a couple of the younger guys wanted to go through the installation, get ready for camp, so we just stayed in there. And he probably kind of gave them their terms."

“The biggest thing a leader should do is first of all set an example," said Buchanan. "Do everything right, because if you don’t do things right, you can’t expect others to do things right. And then just being available if they have questions, helping them extra in the playbook. If they need to stay after practice to get a couple of extra reps and work on technique or something like that. That’s basically what it is. Just set an example. Try and set a great example for them.”

"He's my quarterback, he's going to, again, he's the center of the whole thing so has to, he's going to direct both sides," said Hevesy. "I think that Nick's a very bright kid and he picked it up extremely well last year which put him in that position of picking up the offense, picking up the terminology, accepting what I challenged him to do and he did it. I think that's helping these kids obviously through the spring and he's done a great job in the off-season.

"Watching that leadership role of really him, Brett and Stone are the three that to me have really done a great job of helping those young kids," added Hevesy. "Because there's a lot of them. There's eight of them that are running around that don't have a lot of playing experience."

This group is often seen together: whether it be in the film room, on the practice field or just at each other's houses for a pool part or barbecue.

The chemistry and the bond the line has built in the offseason will play dividends in the fall.

"I would say we are all very close" said Heggie. "I think we work very well together and we communicate well up front. People are going to say we don’t have a lot of experience and things like that but I don’t think that matter really. Guys are going to have to play on Saturdays and they will get used to it after two or three plays after playing in front of a crowd.