Kingsley Eguakun – Page 3 – Syndication Server

2023 Florida Football Position Preview: Offensive Line (Guards/Centers)

The interior of Florida’s offensive line will feature a ton of new faces in 2023, but Kingsley Eguakun is still there holding things down in the center.

The lone returning starter on the offensive line at Florida this season will be center Kingsley Eguakun. However, Billy Napier still has to replace both starting guards in 2023 after losing O’Cyrus Torrence to the NFL and Ethan White to the transfer portal.

Naturally, Billy Napier hit the portal himself to find some experienced talent to fill out the interior of his offensive line. There’s bound to be some dropoff from last year’s line that only allowed 13 sacks during the regular season and helped rushers average 5.8 yards per carry, though.

Napier will also use some of the team’s homegrown talent, and some freshmen are also starting to make a name for themselves. Of course, it takes more than five linemen to get through a game, so plenty of the backups should see action.

Here’s a look at every center and guard on Florida’s 2023 fall roster.

Florida football’s starting center sustains a lower-body injury

Hopefully it is as minor as it sounds, but you never want your starting center to miss out on reps.

Florida football’s redshirt junior center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag] is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury he sustained in practice on Wednesday, All Gators’ Zach Goodall reports. It is unclear the exact nature of the injury but given his current status, the issue is very unlikely to prevent him from starting at his position to open the season.

The fifth-year offensive lineman was named to the Rimington Trophy Watchlist at the beginning of the month. The Rimington Trophy is given to the most outstanding college football center, with just one Gator earning the prestigious award: Maurkice Pouncey in 2009.

The Jacksonville, Florida, native has never allowed a sack in 40 games played and has only allowed three quarterback hits in his 26 straight starts at center since the beginning of the 2021 campaign, according to PFF. Eguakun leads the current team in total career offensive snaps with 1,747 and is expected to be the cornerstone of a revamped O-line in the Swamp this season.

The Gators opened camp Sunday, July 30, and the team held its first practice of the 2023 season on Monday, July 31. Florida opens its 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT.

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Florida’s starting center named to Rimington Trophy Watchlist

Yet another Florida Gator earns a mention on a prestigious preseason watch list.

Florida football’s redshirt junior center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag] earned a mention on the Rimington Trophy Watchlist, the trophy committee announced on Friday.

This year, the committee worked with Pro Football Focus to narrow down its list to the top 40 centers. PFF grades every player on every play of every game on how well they execute their given assignment and that play-by-play grading allowed the Trophy committee to create a watchlist based both on nominations from the schools and data provided. Once the season begins, schools will be able to nominate their centers for late addition based on in-season merit.

The Jacksonville, Florida, native has never allowed a sack in 40 games played and has only allowed three quarterback hits in 26 straight starts at center, according to PFF.

Florida has produced one winner of the award: Maurkice Pouncey in 2009. Mike Degory was a finalist in 2005.

Dave Rimington, the award’s namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy’s only two-time winner as the nation’s finest college interior lineman.

The trophy will be presented on Jan. 14, 2023, at The Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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Florida football announces 2023 SEC Media Days representatives

This trio of Gators will join Billy Napier in Nashville for this summer’s SEC Media Days.

Florida football players [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag], [autotag]Jason Marshall Jr[/autotag]. and [autotag]Ricky Pearsall[/autotag] will represent the Gators alongside Billy Napier this year at the SEC Media Days in Nashville, Tennessee, the league announced on Monday.

The four-day event, which kicks off on July 17 inside the Nashville Grand Hyatt, features all 14 conference head coaches along with three players per team representing their respective programs.

Florida makes its appearance at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, July 19, coinciding with the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks and Kentucky Wildcats on the same day. The rest of the conference’s daily schedule and coaches can be found below.

Monday, July 17

LSU – Brian Kelly
Missouri – Eli Drinkwitz
Texas A&M – Jimbo Fisher

Tuesday, July 18

Auburn – Hugh Freeze
Georgia – Kirby Smart
Mississippi State – Zach Arnett
Vanderbilt – Clark Lea

Wednesday, July 19

Alabama – Nick Saban
Arkansas – Sam Pittman
Florida – Billy Napier
Kentucky – Mark Stoops

Thursday, July 20

Ole Miss – Lane Kiffin
South Carolina – Shane Beamer
Tennessee – Josh Heupel

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Florida’s offensive line a key focus for ESPN heading into 2023

Florida’s offensive line was a major reason the team wasn’t a complete disaster in 2022, and now the Gators have to replace four starters in the trenches.

Florida’s offensive line was among the best in the SEC and college football a season ago. Unfortunately, the Gators are replacing four starters on the offensive line after losing a pair of seniors to the NFL draft and two more to Southern California via the transfer portal.

UF will have center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag] returning, but gone are left tackle [autotag]Richard Gouraige[/autotag], left guard [autotag]Ethan White[/autotag], right guard [autotag]O’Cyrus Torrence[/autotag] and right tackle [autotag]Michael Tarquin[/autotag]. Replacing those four is the top storyline of Florida’s spring, according to ESPN’s Chris Low and Hary Lyles Jr., who dove into each SEC program at the start of spring ball.

The Gators brought in three transfers on the offensive line over the offseason. Alabama‘s [autotag]Damieon George Jr[/autotag]. and former five-star Kentucky signee [autotag]Kiyaunta Goodwin[/autotag] should get a shot to play tackle for Florida along with a returning [autotag]Austin Barber[/autotag], and Baylor transfers [autotag]Micah Mazzccua[/autotag] should step immediately into one of the vacant starting guard spots.

While it is almost a complete turnover in the trenches, Florida fans should still feel confident, according to Low and Lyles.

“The Gator faithful should feel confident in the abilities of offensive coordinator [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag] and offensive line coach [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag] to get this group together, given their track record with [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s great offensive lines at Louisiana, which produced multiple NFL draft picks,” the ESPN story read.

Low and Lyles also pointed a newcomer on the team to watch and chose to pick a player that will be behind the offensive line transfers mentioned above. Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] will be competing with [autotag]Jack Miller III[/autotag] for the starting quarterback job, and his experience in the Big Ten might give him the upper leg. Both he and the offensive line need to excel for Florida to have a bounce-back year.

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Former Kentucky offensive lineman transferring to Florida

Florida lost four-fifths of its offensive line at the beginning of the offseason, but a third addition from the transfer portal has the position room restocked and ready to go.

Florida landed former Kentucky offensive lineman [autotag]Kiyaunta Goodwin[/autotag] from the transfer portal on Tuesday.

Goodwin recently took a multi-day trip to the Swamp and quickly made his decision to join the Gators after spending just a year in Lexington. He’ll have three years of eligibility remaining in Gainesville after spending most of his freshman year as a special teams blocker for Kentucky.

Goodwin checks in at 6-foot-8-inches and 351 pounds, so he’s got the size to develop into one of the dominant bodies in the SEC trenches. Florida presents plenty of opportunity for him with four of five spots on the line being up for grabs.

Be like Kiyaunta.

Welcome to The Swamp, @K_Goodwin2022! #GoGators | #D23AMTEAM pic.twitter.com/n9Sw9pPeUD

— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) January 25, 2023

Coming out of high school, Goodwin was a five-star prospect and ranked the No. 33 overall recruit in the 2022 class by 247Sports. Scouts have said that he has first-round potential, but he still has plenty of developing to do before he reaches that point.

Goodwin is the third offensive lineman to transfer to Florida this offseason along with former Alabama tackle [autotag]Damieon George[/autotag] and Baylor guard [autotag]Micah Mazzccua[/autotag]. Only center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag] returns as a starter on the line, and tackle [autotag]Austin Barber[/autotag] has some significant playing time too, so there’s plenty of room for all three transfers to find significant roles in the offense.

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Florida OL Kamryn Waites seriously injured during workouts

The Gators need to replace four of five starters along the offensive line before the 2023 season starts, and that job just got tougher thanks to a devastating injury.

Florida’s issues on the offensive line just got worse.

Over the offseason, the Gators lost four of five starting offensive linemen to the NFL draft and the transfer portal, putting the team in dire need of some more depth in the trenches. That need grew stronger on Friday when redshirt freshman lineman [autotag]Kamryn Waites[/autotag] went down with an Achilles injury, according to 247Sports.

An anonymous source said that the injury came during a non-contact workout and that Waites’ tore it while doing an agility drill. Many expected Billy Napier to hit the transfer portal hard, and he has, but now he needs to add at least one more offensive lineman than he expected.

Waites joined the team ahead of last season via the transfer portal, following his former coach to the Swamp. He saw action in all 13 games for Florida, getting his first start in the Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon State. Although nothing was set in stone for 2023, the expectation was that Waites would compete for a starting job.

Now, the Gators will have to lean on returning center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag], tackle [autotag]Austin Barber[/autotag] and transfers [autotag]Damieon George[/autotag] (Alabama) and [autotag]Micah Mazzccua[/autotag] (Baylor). Waites should be out for 6-9 months, according to UF Health‘s guidelines for an Achilles repair.

Perhaps Waites will be available toward the end of the season, but Florida will have to plan to be without him for most of the season following the devastating injury.

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Gators land commitment from priority OL target during All-American Bowl

The Gators earned another commitment from the recruiting class of 2023. Offensive tackle Caden Jones is headed to Florida.

The Florida Gators earned a commitment from De La Salle (Louisiana) offensive tackle [autotag]Caden Jones[/autotag] on Saturday during the All-American Bowl broadcast.

Jones had reportedly locked in his decision ahead of time, but he made things official to the public during a planned announcement stating that he could “see the vision Coach Napier has for the future.” He is the fourth offensive line commit/signee in the 2023 class, joining [autotag]Roderick Kearney[/autotag], [autotag]Knijeah Harris[/autotag] and [autotag]Bryce Lovett[/autotag]. Greyshirt freshman Tony Livingston is joining the team as an offensive tackle too, so he should be Jones’ primary competition.

2023 New Orleans (La.) De La Salle offensive tackle Caden Jones has committed to Florida #GoGators. pic.twitter.com/ihygMBwFBQ

— Max Torres (@mtorressports) January 7, 2023

Of course, Florida is in dire need of offensive line depth. The team is returning just one starter, center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag], and [autotag]Austin Barber[/autotag] has some starting experience at either tackle spot. Aside from any transfer portal additions, Florida will rely on first-time starters at the other three spots. [autotag]Richie Leonard[/autotag] is a candidate to earn time at either guard spot, and [autotag]Kamryn Waites[/autotag] played in the bowl game.

Jones won’t be the starting left tackle when September comes around, but he could be in a solid reserve spot after developing a bit over the summer.

The 247Sports composite gives him a three-star grade and ranks Jones No. 293 overall in the class of 2023 and No. 36 among offensive linemen. On3 is a bit more bullish on him, giving Jones the four-star nod and ranking him at No. 27 among those at his position.

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Another Florida offensive lineman will enter the transfer portal

Florida is now losing four of its five starting linemen to the NFL draft or transfer portal.

On Saturday, Florida left guard [autotag]Ethan White[/autotag] announced his intention to enter the transfer portal, meaning the Gators will return just one starter to the offensive line next season.

White’s announcement comes just a day after right tackle [autotag]Michael Tarquin[/autotag] moved on from the program, and only center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag] will return in 2023. White started all 13 games this season for Florida and was a major part of the team’s elite offensive line. He was expected to start again next year after an All-SEC year in 2022.

“I want to thank Coach Mullen and Coach Hevesy for giving me the opportunity to represent my home state and The University of Florida for 4 years, as well as Coach Napier and his staff for continuing my development over the past year,” White wrote in a Twitter post. “I will be entering the transfer portal.”

I want to thank Coach Mullen and Coach Hevesy for giving me the opportunity to represent my home state and The University of Florida for 4 years, as well as Coach Napier and his staff for continuing my development over the past year. I will be entering the transfer portal.

— Ethan White (@ethanwhite79) December 24, 2022

White joined the team in 2019 as a three-star recruit and saw early action, playing in six games his freshman year. An injury ended his 2020 season early and once again battled health issues in 2021 but started seven of the eight games he appeared in. 2022 was his first full season and he shined.

Replacing White won’t be easy. The Gators have four offensive linemen joining the program this year: [autotag]Knijeah Harris[/autotag], [autotag]Roderick Kearney[/autotag], [autotag]Bryce Lovett[/autotag] and [autotag]Tony Livingston[/autotag] (a class of 2022 commit who gray-shirted and signed in December).

Of course, none of those players have taken a college snap yet, so Billy Napier might need to dip into the transfer portal himself to restock the line.

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2022 Florida Football Season Preview: Offensive Line

Florida’s offensive line was fairly strong in 2021. Returning three starters and adding a preseason AP All-American should help the unit build on what it accomplished last year.

The last group on offense left to go through in Gators Wire’s position-by-position breakdown of the 2022 Florida football roster is the offensive line.

Twenty-two players deep, the offensive line is the biggest group on the list, but [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] has recently said that the team only has around eight players in the position room ready for gameday action. The starting unit seems fairly well-defined as fall camp comes to a close, and there are a few rotational pieces that should lighten the load on those starters.

Guard [autotag]O’Cyrus Torrence[/autotag] was the big addition to the room via the transfer portal, and UF is returning three starters to the line. Last year’s unit was quite strong, allowing just 14 sacks, finishing seventh in college football in average sacks allowed per game and finishing 23rd in team rushing yards per game. If the returning players can build on the SEC experience they’ve gained over the years, and Torrence can live up to his preseason All-American status, then Florida should be in for another strong year up front.

Here’s a look at all 22 offensive linemen on the Gators’ 2022 fall football roster.