Upon Billy Napier's arrival in Gainesville nearly four years ago, the program's desire to prioritize the development and coaching of the team's offensive line was evident. Napier hired a pair of offensive line coaches as two of his 10 assistants, a setup which has remained consistent throughout the head coach's time thus far at Florida.
Given the importance of the position and the enormity of the task when it comes to fine-tuning the necessary techniques up front, it was pertinent the Gators had the personnel in place to ensure the offensive line was as prepared as possible.
"In my opinion, it's the most developmental position on the field," Napier said Monday. "I think it's the position that needs to be coached the most upon arrival and oftentimes the guy's not ready to play early."
With the NCAA enabling off-field assistants to provide instruction during practice settings and in-game situations, there are effectively no limits regarding how many assistants a program may employ at any one time. The Gators now have 13 assistant coaches in essence, along with the program's director of strength and conditioning, Tyler Miles, along with a multitude of analysts on both sides of the ball, including along the offensive line.
Immediately following the conclusion of spring camp in Gainesville, Napier sought to hire two additional analysts to work with the team's offensive line, bringing in Roy Istvan, who had spent the previous six seasons in the NFL, along with former first round NFL Draft pick James Carpenter, although the latter is now no longer in Gainesville. In addition, the Gators have Kaleb Johnson returning for his third season as a quality control coach working with the offensive line, giving the Gators another developer with NFL experience.
Even with multiple key returning starters along the offensive line – the Gators returned more than 3,000 snaps along the offensive line from last season alone – there's still room for improvement, hence the new arrivals at Florida who come with experience at the professional level.
"He's coached in the league a long time, he has all these cut ups saved from over the years," center Jake Slaughter said. "It's just interesting to see different perspectives here and there. That's one thing about offensive line play: it's not this is the one right way to do it, and there is no right, no wrong. There's a million ways to skin a cat, but you've got to figure out the one that works for you and your guys."
Throughout the start of fall camp, Istvan's energy in particular has been noticeable. Unafraid to point out when a practice repetition could be improved, he's been a vocal presence throughout the first half of the preseason, though his personality has the respect of the players, according to Slaughter.
"He gets fired up," Slaughter said. "It's funny, he's a lot like Coach Napier that way, where he stays pretty calm, cool and collected, but at some point you're gonna find the line and he's gonna let you know about it."
And, while Carpenter's time in Gainesville was brief, it was impactful, too.
"It helped a lot. Coach Carpenter, through the summer, it was great having him around," Slaughter continued. "He would teach you about what he knew, his technique, technical stuff. It was great having Coach Carpenter around.
"He had played at Alabama, played for Coach (Rob) Sale at Alabama. You know, anytime you have someone with that much football experience around, it just makes everybody better."
In the interim, Johnson gained valuable experience in the NFL before making his return to UF midway through fall camp.
While Florida's offensive line is expected to once again be one of the more impressive units on the team, there's room for refinement and improvement, and the presence of a handful of assistants with various NFL experience can only benefit the Gators, both now and throughout the upcoming 2025 season.
"Kaleb Johnson and Roy Istvan are here this year, and I think that we benefit from their experience. Kaleb just got back from doing an internship with the New England Patriots. Today was his first day back. And Roy, obviously, is a seasoned college and NFL coach. He worked with (longtime Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach) Jeff Stoutland and then obviously he's worked in other organizations," Napier said. "I think we're always looking to get better and having more eyes, more hands. The rules that we have now, where everyone can coach and give instruction, I think it'd be smart for us to take advantage of that. And certainly these guys allow for us to do that."