Brett Heggie Looks to Lock Up a Starting Spot

Florida Gators offensive guard Brett Heggie injured his knee late last season that knocked out the rest of his season. Now, he’s looking to find his way back on to the first-team offense.

One note that should be plaguing Florida fans is where Brett Heggie is on the field. Or rather, why isn’t he on it more?

Injury Bug

Fans, writers and analysts alike are still trying to figure out why Heggie hasn’t cracked the starting lineup yet, even though he clearly is one of the top two linemen on the team.

The most telling reason behind Heggie’s absence is the knee injury he suffered toward the end of last fall.

The Gators are being extremely cautious with the guard, as the team is clearly better with him on the field. He played sparingly against Charleston Southern and Colorado State. Against the latter, Heggie opened up a hole that set up running back Dameon Pierce’s 68-yard touchdown scamper.

But against Kentucky, head coach Dan Mullen and offensive line coach John Hevesy elected to hold him out. The decision renders as interesting because of UF’s complete inability to control the trenches against the Wildcats.

Hevesy says the team is bringing Heggie back a little bit at a time.

Florida could really use Heggie on the line, as it has been a clear weak spot on the team thus far.

Hevesy is confident though. Depth is a clear issue with the rotation, and the, albeit slow, addition of Heggie will help that. The O-Line coach says he wants to play the guard at least one drive every game, if not more. He goes on to talk about how, as long as Heggie continues to work hard in practice, he’ll continue to see the field.

The Gators could use a boost this week, as they take on the Tennessee Volunteers Saturday at 7 p.m.