(upbeat music) ♪ It's the Locked On Podcast Network ♪ ♪ Your team every day ♪ - What will the Florida Gators depth chart look like against the Miami Hurricanes? We'll talk about that now. I'm locked on Gators. (upbeat music) - You are locked on Gators. Your daily podcast on the Florida Gators. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. - Hello and welcome back to another episode of Locked On Gators. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Thanks for making Locked On Gators your first listen of the day. Every day we are available daily and free videos in the podcast and on YouTube. Happy Wednesday. I am Brandon Olson. I'm finally on Twitter at WNS underscore Brandon. Find me this Saturday, 9.30, 10 a.m. at rights union. We will be doing a live show for myself and Alex Dono from Locked On Canes. Gonna be a damn good time down in Gainesville this weekend. Today's episode of Locked On Gators is brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account and you should have locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, download Game Time today. What is it? Game Time. We're not going to go over the entire depth chart right now. Also the official depth chart last year and the year prior came out every Wednesday, afternoon, evening-ish. Expecting that to be the case again this year. Don't know why that would change at all. So expecting that to be the case again, we will go through the entire depth chart when it comes out. So if that's gonna be tonight, then maybe tomorrow. We've also got potentially crossover Thursday and live shows. So yeah, we're doing a lot with Locked On Canes. But running back is obviously something that people are going to go to pretty early on when they look at the depth chart when it's released because mostly they will want to see is Montrol Johnson's name at the top there. Personally, I don't think it will be. That's not me saying anything internally, internally, injuries are very hard to get information on. But it is me saying that I said it when he got hurt that even if we knew he wasn't going to be ready, Florida's probably gonna go, oh yeah, three weeks, four weeks, he might be back for the game just so Miami has to prepare for it, right? And honestly, even if they know he's not playing, wouldn't shock me if he's up there and listed us questionable. Why would you tell them the truth, right? Give them a few days to prepare. Nope, just have them expecting, hey, Montrol might be out there. Then I think it'll be Trey on web, then Jacob Jackson and then both of the freshmen. I'm not sure how deep a rotation's going to be. I'm sure that all five will play. I don't think either of the running backs you're going to red shirt. But is it going to be three carries, 10 plays per game? I'm just curious to see what the splits going to look like between really, again, five running backs that could realistically contribute this season. So just interested to see there, right side of the line, we know left type of left guard and center are pretty much wrapped up. Left tackle and center are returning in Austin Barber and Jake Slaughter, left guard, Nicey Harris. I mean, going into the off season, it was Nicey Harris is going to have the lead and the leg up in this competition. And throughout everything we've heard this camp, that's never changed. He is going to be starting the left guard most likely. And I will say the only other question is, will he be starting at right guard or left guard? That was it. It's going to be left guard. Right guard, I'm torn here. A lot of you know, I want Rod Cairney to be the starting right guard. When he committed and signed and they moved in the center, I hated it 'cause I thought he could be an early player at guard. So I want Rod Cairney at right guard. I am expecting to see Damian George at the top of that list. And again, I've said, you know, I don't know if Damian George is going to play well. I don't think he's going to play well, but I'm fine going into this with a clean slate. He reportedly struggled this camp. That's not surprising. He's supposed to be better at guard. Doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be good. But at least week one, I'm expecting Damian George's name to be at the top of right guard. I want it to be Rod Cairney at right tackle. I think it'll be Brandon Crenshaw, Dixon. I know that Katie Jones is loved in the building and they expect him to be one of those rotational tackles. But I still think Brandon Crenshaw, Dixon, will be the starting right tackle. Again, at least game one of the season. I think that that's the offensive line we're going to see trot out there. No cycle set, big end, that three-tech spot that, you know, Caleb Banks or Joey Slackman have been competing for. I think that this is one of those positions where we see the or there with Caleb Banks or Joey Slackman. I don't think the order matters. I do think that situationally, there might be a preference, but just in terms of a drive-by-drive basis, I honestly think that this coaching staff doesn't have a strong feeling for either one of these over the other. Like, I don't think that the coaching staff split of like, oh no, we got to start Caleb Banks, we got to start Joey Slackman. I think they're pretty confident in both of those guys. I do think situationally though, Slackman might be put in if it's not a left tempo team. Blackman might be put in on the earlier downs where they're more likely to run. I think he's a better run defender. He's really strong, just powerful dude. Like, he watched the spring game and they're doubling him. And even if he's not shedding them and breaking, he ain't moving back. Like, he carries a lot of weight there. So Joey Slackman think he might play in earlier downs if they're not playing up tempo team or in obvious running situations, he might be out there. And then Caleb Banks, your better pass rusher, not even up for debate there of the interior defensive lineman that you've got. I think he plays the bulk of the passing situations, but I think we see an oar there. And a genuinely pretty even split on a neutral down basis. Jack is TJ Searcy. I would have to imagine it seems like it's been TJ Searcy this whole time. I know that there's hype around George Gums, which rightfully so. But yeah, I think it's gonna be TJ Searcy at Jack. Maybe Gums is the first guy to rotate in there. A lot of options there with just the edge room in general. The F spot as well is gonna be an oar. I'm assuming between Tyreksap and Justice Boone. It's a good problem to have the oars where you can go, okay, well kind of confident in these guys and it's not just oars because we're in an ugly spot like Texas A&M's depth chart. Rough thing to see. But I think those were most of the spots that were up in the air. Receiver, I've said, I don't care who's listed what. I think it'll be depending on the personnel they want out there in that situation. If they want Travels in the slot, Elijah Badger, Pula Jackson, out wide. If they want DK in the slot, Travels and either Elijah Badger or Pula Jackson, out wide. I think it's very much situationally, so I don't have a strong feeling I receive her. I don't think Coroner was a real competition. You know, Devin Moore and Jason Marshall always. Safety, Jordan Castell, Ace of Turner, always. Or at least this is how it's felt, at least. Tight end, Hayden Hanson, or the sporting ham starting. Like, those have felt relatively jock-speaking of Hayden Hanson, by the way. He's about to join us, which he will be joining us every single Wednesday throughout the rest of the season. Coming up next on Lockdown Gators. I don't know about you, but I will be in Gainesville this weekend for the Miami Hurricanes at Florida Gators game, and I bought my tickets using Game Time. All right, I'm just saying, it's the only way I even touch tickets now, the views from your seat, beautiful, which it's easy for me, right? Like I said, I bought front row tickets. I'm gonna be right there for it. So the view from the seat, not that important this time around, but very excited to see what we're actually going to witness the Florida Gators do on the field. The all-in pricing, so I'm not getting hit with some blind side feed that I don't even understand how it pops up sometimes. Yeah, it turned on the feature, but it's a brilliant feature. I just didn't honestly, I just don't understand how companies do that. Take the guys we're gonna buy, take the Game Time, download the Game Time app, create the counties could lock down college for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, again, create an account where you could lock on college for $20 off, download Game Time today. Last minute, tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. You've heard us talk a lot about Fandal all summer long, because guess what? It's America's number one sports book. Not up for debate, I've got my Florida bets. I took, let me tell you, the line dropped for Florida State and Boston College. And Florida State were 17 and a half point favorites. I don't think I've ever bet anything so fast. Okay, when I bet Boston College plus 17 and a half, which by the way, the line is now plus 15 and a half. Saying, we have something different for you with Fandal. Right now through September 22nd, all Fandal customers can bet $5 and get a three week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then for the YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season, Sunday afternoon out of market game. All you need to Google account and a current form of payment that you can cancel. At any time, just visit Fandal.com/lockdown to download America's number one sports book. Joining me now for lockdown gators is Hayden Hanson, the Florida Gators starting tight end. He was with us the past two full seasons. And now every single week, Hayden will be back with us on lockdown gators. And I've got to just get right into it right here. Big week, obviously against the Miami Hurricanes, big game this Saturday. I'm curious, why exactly are you guys going to beat the hurricanes this weekend? I think it's just going to come down to execution at the end of the day. I mean, you know, execution is going to breed emotion and emotion is going to breed winning, you know. We've had a long off season, long spring, long fall camp. I think we're ready to go hit somebody else. So. - Yeah. I'm curious just what this game is like internally for you guys because I know that I'm on Twitter a lot. I see Florida fans. I see Miami fans. I get involved with the action. And it's just, it's a really heated game right now, really heat an environment to the point where we're in Twitter spaces and people are just like, honestly, I don't even care about talking about it anymore. Let's just line it up and see what happens. So just what is it like intensity wise for you guys? - I think we approach every game about the same intensity, you know, but obviously in state rivalry game, home opener, we're well aware that Florida hasn't lost the home overs, it's 86, I think, something like that, you know, FSU also just lost. So I mean, you kind of just, you want to go out there and win, you know. I mean, we're not approaching this game any differently. We have tons of respect for Miami. They have a lot of good guys on the side of the ball. And I think that's where a lot of teams lose before I even start, you know, they don't respect their opponent, they come in their big headed and, you know, it hits the fans. - It's, it's an intense environment. I know I've been talking obscene amounts of trash to their fan base. They've been dishing it right back. You guys have a very unique situation this year where you can outright win the state of Florida. You've got Miami, week one, you've got UCF, your fifth game or sixth game, and then you've got Florida State to end the year. What does that mean for you guys where you can, you can outright be state champions undisputed by every stretch of the world? - Yeah. I mean, it's something we don't take lightly. That's for sure. I know an eighth year went out. I'm going to say summertime bought a huge, I don't want to be wrong. I'm not really from Florida, but it's a flag that represents someone taking over Florida. I don't know the exact name, but it's huge. It hangs in the weight room every time we look at it. It's like we need to be the Kings of Florida. It's basically what it represents. I'll have to look it up and figure it out, but that was pretty cool. And just sends a message to us every day. You know, I know Napier takes a lot of pride in it, then we take a lot of pride in that too. - Yeah, I mean, I can only imagine with being able to actually just seal off the state. No one can argue, do you guys just internally pay attention at all to recruiting where we, like I know that on the show I talk about, oh, you know, Florida, like you win the in-state battle with every other school, and that's important for the head-to-head battles where people are constantly like, oh, why would you go to school A, win school B beat, school A and things like that? Do you guys pay attention to that at all? - I mean, coaches wise, yeah, they all do, but player wise, they may be personally, I don't pay an ounce of attention to it. Maybe that differs, maybe. I mean, I know there's a lot of guys that are from this area that are really close with the other Florida recruits and stuff like that, but I have a lot of my play. It's one of the last things I'm worried about. - Yeah, I have to ask for you personally, just what are you looking for this weekend? First time that you said that we get to hit other people this week, so what are you looking for in this game against this scum down there? - I mean, it's just, it's gonna be fun. I mean, you wait, you work so hard for 12 opportunities, basically, is when it comes down to. And, you know, it's not every day, it's not every day to get the good get off of the rivalry game, you know? So, I mean, it's gonna be really fun. I'm ready to showcase what I've been working on. We got, I mean, I go against TJC every day, George Gums every day, those dudes are no joke. So, I'm ready to show the work we've done together, put those reps to the test of a lot of television. - Yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned TJC or C George Gums, because one of the things that, you know, I got to ask you last year and we get to ask again, and it's fun to, I don't even remember what you said last year, but it's fun to compare and contrast there, but who are some guys that in camp kind of popped you, whether it was going up against them running routes or as a blocker? - Yeah, so, Gums for sure comes as he likes to pop you on the line of scrimmage, he's pretty explosive. It would be a good player for us. Try to give you one from about each position. Pub/hour, just want to linebacker, no fear, no fear. Secondary, we actually have a lot of, actually I get to just improve so much on tackling. I mean, Asa Turner's a really good tackler. Try Quiz really impressed me. So, I mean, I'm really excited for our defense and it's definitely not the same defense as last year. - Yeah, how does that feel as a player? 'Cause I know personally I would watch last year and get headaches, watching some of the things. And then now you get to actually see, like I get to talk about it all off season, but when it comes down to it, I've got to go, oh, like I need to see them perform on the field, but you get to see this, you get to see the coaching changes, all the transfer portal, the experienced players that came in, and you get to actually see this defense kind of develop right in front of your eyes. - Yeah, and Napier said it best that they have to practice. This team just has more accountability, more trust. He made it very clear that he trusts a lot more guys in last year. Let's make him excited. He trusts, he will do their job. He doesn't really think twice about it. And that just leads to, like I said, at the beginning, at least execution, then it leads to emotion and it leads to confidence. That's when you have a really good team. - Yeah, what's been the focus for your development this offseason? 'Cause yeah, after your first year here, you had a red shirt and you weren't playing last year. Half time of the first game of the season, you took over as a starter, never let that go. So now you've got a full year's worth of film against other teams where you kind of get to see this is where I need to improve. This is where I was pretty solid. So what's been the area of focus for your development? - Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm always trying to improve blocking. I know that's what's gonna give you to the next level. But I really did a proud emphasis this year in my right running, even when I'm not expecting the ball. I'm making sure my rods are crisp, come out of those angles. We've been working on chest in my hands more for sure. You know, we get into those hot, humid practices. You get really tired of me personally. I like the body catch sometimes. And I try to be like, all right, you get tired, just make yourself use your hands today. I was just a little stuff like that. 'Cause I can game, I never use my body to catch. It's just those little things you try to fix when it's really hard. So when the game is even easier. - And what is it like for you, because I know that one thing that we've talked about a lot this offseason has been, Graham Mertz returning just, you know, your right to refreshment season, or your refreshment season, Anthony Richman was the quarterback last year. You had Graham Mertz. And then you get the benefit that not a lot of people get of having a returning starting quarterback that's in a sixth year in college now. So just, what's that been like this offseason? - Yeah, I mean, it's been the best thing that could happen to his offense, you know? He knows the system, great leader. He's put it on the line last year, they respect him. - Yeah, I mean, cutting a best for a better spot to be in right now with that quarterback. He's a great mentor for DJ. He knows to work really well together. And yeah, I mean, I know it's not just me. I think everyone's expecting a really good season from Graham. - I don't know about you, but just about every single time that I eat lunch, some days I'll skip it, but just about every single time that I eat lunch, I feel like I am just a thousand pounds. I don't know. I feel a thousand pounds, I feel tired. I just wanna nap, whether I had a salad or something heavy. I don't know, burger, I still feel tired. I don't know, just every single time. Research shows that more than 70% of us hit that wall. I don't eat dinner and wanna go to sleep right away, but lunch every time. So, frequently during the day, I let a five hour energy shot help me leap over the wall instead of crashing into it with zero sugar and a convenient, portable size. It'd be perfect to pick me up for getting stuff down the five hour energy website as flavors go lower. There's watermelon, tropical burgers, my personal favorite, grape, try them all. Saying you can build your own 12 pack or 24 pack. If you go to five hour energy, so the number five hour energy.com I get some five hour energy product today. You can use our promo code locked on CFV to receive 20% off your order. Go to five hour energy.com today. Nah, not quite. What's up? Sell my car in Carvana. It's just not quite the right time. Crazy coincidence. I just sold my car to Carvana. What? I told you about it two days ago. When you know, you know. You know? I've even dropping it off at one of those sweet car vending machines and getting paid today. That's a good deal. Oh, great deal. Come on. What's your heart saying? You're right. When you know? You know. Sold. Whether you're looking to sell your car right now or just whenever feels right, go to Carvana.com and sell your car in a convenient way. Terms and conditions apply. Yeah, I have to ask, I'll say with DJ Lagway, what's that been like? Obviously, he's the price dual of that 2024 recruiting class. So there's what's that been like to have DJ Lagway on campus as a true freshman here? Yeah, I mean, it's been pretty cool. He's constantly improving. It's really fun to watch him play and develop. He's going to be a very good player for us. This year even, it'll be fun to watch him play. What's this past offseason been like for you? 'Cause, I mean, Ross Callaway, tight end coach, was given the co-offensive coordinator title. So I don't know if that's changed, how anything's worked in practice, but that's an offseason change. And then of course, complete turnover with the strength and conditioning staff. I mean, twice that the head of it. So just what's this past offseason been like for you guys? Yeah, I mean, it's just been all about the work. I think you're made of emphasis that you wanted it to be hard, wanted it to test our true character, and he wanted to see who the leaders are going to be, who's going to rise to the top. So for the main break, we showed up two weeks earlier, got two weeks of extra stuff. So I mean, it was hard and it's obviously in hopes to have us prepared for this movie right now. So I think that's why we're all excited to finally go out there and hit somebody else, you know? Yeah, and one of the other changes that's past offseason was the addition of Caleb Rillos through the transfer portal from Air Force, veteran Titan that, I don't know if you know this, Air Force runs the damn ball every single time, basically. And you being the blocking Titan, how has Caleb Rillos helped you? Or you helped him or just what that experience been like? Yeah, it's been great. I mean, it's always good to have an older guy in the room with veteran presence with him and Zip. It's good. I mean, you pick his brain, especially because I mean, he's pretty much one dimensional Air Force, so it's pretty cool. And you don't see that offense every day for sure. And it's pretty cool how they made that work every day. What's the Titan room like this year? Now that, you know, it's your third year with the program, you're a starter now. You've been, I mean, you are now one of the most experienced Titans on the roster, just in terms of pure downs played at the college level, which is kind of wild, to think about considering it's your red shirt soft more year, but just what's the Titan room like now where? It's obviously gone through a lot of turnover. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's cool to see how a lot of us have matured and grown into our roles. I know one of the challenges from me from a lot of coaches was to be more of a leader and more vocal this year. And I feel like I've done a decent job with X, at least in the Titan room for sure. I just think we all work well together. I think everyone knows their roles in the offense and we all show up every day and learn from each other. Like I know me and Arles are about the exact opposite as you can get from each other. And we learn from each other every day. Like if he's in and I'm not, I'm like, I'm watching him, watching the run routes, if I'm in it, he's not, he's watching me and my footwork and stuff. So it's just really cool. Yeah, I'm just curious. I have to ask this question. It's obligatory and you should know it by now. Any chance that you're moving to offensive tackle later before before we start getting that one? Oh, no, no, I can't express that enough. I, yeah, no, no shot. Yeah, that's that's the favorite message to see. I've just, oh, he's he's six, seven and three quarters, two, sixty five-ish. And I'm just like, he runs damn near 21. Like, all right, he runs 21. I'm pretty slow. Yeah, it's wild to me there. But I'm also just curious from your side of things, the actual player perspective for you. You've been there since Billy Napier got hired. I mean, you were committed to him with Louisiana, came over on Christmas. He gave you the call and and you ended up becoming a Florida Gator there. How different has this past offseason been from anything else you've done with Billy Napier prior to? And has he changed? I feel like when he goes in front of the media now, I feel like he's he's moving with a kind of confidence that we haven't seen him move with at the University of Florida. So I'm just curious if that's also internally any difference. Yeah, I mean, I think I also just come from him trusting more players and accountability there. It means he says it all the time. He's execution, preparation breeds confidence. And this group, I'm telling you, our group is well prepared, not like in any category there. And yeah, I mean, I'd say the biggest difference this offseason versus the other two is the details. The attention of detail, it's been off the charts. The little things don't really fly anymore. Every single, if it's like if you're running a route and you get a little false step to the left, whole play gets reloaded for one person, you know, it's just little stuff like that that's really helping us. And then I do have to ask you just before I let you go, what's it like, man, I mean, first season opener as a starter. Like, yeah, last year you opened the season at home against McMe State, but going into the year wasn't, you know, this whole offseason. It wasn't this is mine. And now this offseason, you've had that of this starting spots mine going into your first season opener, home opener as a starting time and against an in-state rival. Just I can't only imagine that. I mean, that's what you live for, man, you know, that's the vision I have when I came here. And now that I have it, I work myself every day to make sure I don't lose it because it can be gone in this league. So I'm going to go out there and do my thing and play for my teammates. - I've got to ask, are we seeing the, are we seeing the old, you know, two catches early on? Not anything after that for a little while thing from you this year? Are we expecting more there? - You know, I'm always welcoming that ball coming to me, you know, but regardless, I know my job, I know my job is going to be run heavy, but I feel like we'll see a little more of that. - Hey, hopefully I will be there. Hey, if you happen to score in that end zone, I'll just be there home. So I'm just saying it just if you want to see it. I'll be there right in the front. But thank you so much, Hayden. This is Hayden Hanson, Florida Gators, starting time and catching every week with locked on Gators and every Saturday playing for your Florida Gators. Thanks for making locked on Gators. You were first listened of the day, every day we are available daily and free we've ever seen the podcast. And on YouTube, we will be back tomorrow. Talk more Florida Gators. Talk more of Miami hurricanes. Gonna be a good time. Game day is almost here for locked on Gators. I'm Brandon Olson. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter at WNS underscore Brandon. I know I really work with Giants country. No see you all. Next time. (upbeat music) - A prime member. You can listen to this locked on podcast and free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today. [MUSIC PLAYING]
