Blogging The Boys
Every week here at Blogging the Boys, we’ll spotlight the biggest college matchups and the players who could soon wear the Star. If you want to get a jump on who might help America’s Team in the years to come, this is your weekly college football guide.
There’s college football, and then there’s college football at night in Baton Rouge. The lights, the band, and the air that tastes like jambalaya and danger. This Week 3 matchup drops the Florida Gators into LSU’s Death Valley, where visiting dreams go to die. Both sides have game-breakers, wide receivers who can teleport after the catch, backs who cut once and vanish. One slip, six points.
This isn’t just plays, it’s posture. Florida wants to plant a flag on the road and say, “give us attention.” LSU on the other hand wants to slam the door and say, “not this time.” Scripted openers matter, but so do mid-game answers when things get tough for either team.
Florida:
Jake Slaughter, OC
Jake Slaughter is the kind of center who stabilizes an offensive line, he’s the steady voice in a room full of noise. He brings intelligence, technique, and consistency. If he continues polishing his lower-body strength and refining his nuanced technique (especially hand work and anchor), he projects as a Day 1 starter in pro systems that value communication and positional discipline. There’s a chance he could be the first center off the board next year.
Tyreak Sapp, DE
Sapp plays like a lever, he pries open edges with power and then snaps through with a compact burst. He’s not a pure speed merchant, his calling card is sturdy, assignment-sound edge defense with enough pop and counters to finish. Keep the pad level cleaner and the counter move on a shorter trigger, and you’re looking at a dependable three-down end who can moonlight inside on money downs and grind out production without needing schematic gimmicks.
Caleb Banks, DT
Banks is a space-eater with pass-rush teeth, think pocket-denter first, block-shedding run plug second. If he strings together lower pad level with earlier, firmer hand fits, he projects as a scheme-flex interior lineman who can live on early downs and stay on the field for money downs to collapse launch points.
Eugene Wilson III, WR
Wilson is Florida’s ignition switch, run him to the perimeter and the offense hums. He wins by getting open instantly and staying slippery after the catch, and the Gators are leaning into that with a heavy quick-game to let him do damage in space. If the staff sprinkles in more intermediate shots to keep safeties honest, his volume-plus-YAC profile...
