GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As Florida guard Richie Leonard prepared for an interview, Gators offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton lobbed a potential question: Ask him about his nickname.

The nickname in question? “Little Richie.”

This isn’t the forced irony of choosing to call the biggest guy in the room “Tiny.” At 6 foot 2, Leonard is Florida’s shortest offensive lineman. At 317 pounds, he’s just below the midline of the players who likely will see significant snaps on the line. So, as long as it’s uttered in a room of giant offensive linemen, the name fits. Even if Leonard doesn’t love it.

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“It’s a little chip on the shoulder thing,” Leonard said. “I might be the shortest guy in there, but it doesn’t matter when we put those pads on. I can get after it just like anybody.”

Leonard will have to prove that this season. He’s one of several Gators thrust into different roles following the departures of two presumed starters to USC. After going 6-7 in coach Billy Napier’s first season and losing starting quarterback Anthony Richardson to the NFL, the offensive line was supposed to be the steadying force around which everything else would coalesce.

Michael Tarquin, who started eight games last season, would play one tackle spot. Austin Barber, who started five games and played in all 13 while spelling Tarquin and senior Richard Gouraige, would man the other tackle spot. Kingsley Eguakun, who started 26 games at center the past two seasons, would man the middle. Ethan White, who started 20 games at guard the past two seasons, would man the left side. Meanwhile, either Leonard or someone else — possibly Baylor transfer Micah Mazzccua — could fill the role vacated by likely first-rounder O’Cyrus Torrence.

Yet when spring practice began, Tarquin was in Los Angeles wearing father-in-law Tony Boselli’s old Trojans number and talking about blocking for reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. “Caleb is great. Great dude,” Tarquin told reporters. “There aren’t too many times you see many quarterbacks in the country hang out as much with their O-linemen. You saw him bring his whole line to the Heisman ceremony. I thought it was great.” Not long after Tarquin announced his transfer in December, White announced his intention to join Tarquin at USC this summer. They’ll be chasing a Pac-12 title and trying to get Williams back to New York. Meanwhile, their former teammates (and some new additions) will try to build a line that can match what the Gators had hoped they’d have when last season ended.

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That hope took a blow last month when Florida’s medical staff discovered an undetected previous injury to Mazzccua that would require surgery. As Mazzccua dealt with the shock of a medical setback that could keep him out until preseason camp or longer, he tweeted that he intended to transfer from Florida. He has since taken down that tweet and told coaches he intends to stay, but it remains unclear how much he’ll be able to help this season until his return date comes into focus.

What seemed like a pretty sure thing on a team lacking in such luxuries now is a work in progress. But given the situation, the coaching staff is glad that it’s year two and not year one.

Napier has compared this spring to an elementary school class that moves with its teacher to the next grade. “You had them in third grade, and then you get to teach them again in fourth grade. You’re teaching the same material,” Napier said. “They’re a little bit more mature. They’re a little bit more aware. You know them as people.”

Stapleton and fellow offensive line coach Rob Sale can teach concepts and the offense more easily to players who have a year in it. But Stapleton, a former Pittsburgh Steeler who learned as much or more from his teammates than his coaches in the NFL, is most thrilled that there are more linemen who understand the offense well enough to help their younger teammates learn. Last year, Torrence — who followed Napier and Stapleton from Louisiana to Florida — was the only lineman with significant experience in the offense. This spring, Eguakun, Barber and Leonard can rely on their game reps from 2022 to help younger players such as freshman early enrollee Knijeah Harris — who is working at guard and center — and transfers such as tackles Damieon George (Alabama) and Kiyaunta Goodwin (Kentucky) as they try to learn the offense.

Leonard thinks back to players like former Gator Brett Heggie, who helped teach Leonard the offense run by former Florida coach Dan Mullen when Leonard was new. He enjoys paying that kindness forward now. “I had older guys doing it for me, so it’s only right,” he said. “We’ve got a lot going on at practice. A coach might not always see that you took a 12-inch step instead of a 6-inch step. But if I’m sitting there watching, I can correct it. Because I know how it should be done.”

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Stapleton appreciates that more than Leonard realizes. Because the lesson offered by Leonard, Eguakun or Barber likely has a better chance to stick. “When your teammate checks you on the field or in the locker room, it’s different than when a coach checks you,” Stapleton said. “Let’s be honest, players tune out coaches sometimes. But if the guy next to you in the trench says, ‘Hey, pick it up, let’s go, this is what we’ve got to do,’ that means a little more.”

One of the players who did that for Stapleton as a rookie on the Steelers team that won Super Bowl XLIII was former Gator Max Starks, who started at left tackle. Stapleton loved the meals after games and the Thursday-night get-togethers with his fellow linemen to watch third-down pass rush video. “You play harder for somebody when you know them inside and out,” Stapleton said. “When you genuinely love them, it’s harder to let them down. It’s harder to be late for something or fail at a block or not compete to your highest ability because you actually care for the person next to you. We’re trying to build that culture.”

They’ll have to build it fast. The line will need to help backs Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne, who should be the strength of the offense. Napier has always favored a run-heavy scheme, and the ability to control the game on the ground could help as Florida breaks in a new starting quarterback — possibly Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz — and tries to find young playmakers at receiver to give senior Ricky Pearsall some help.

This offensive line group isn’t the known commodity the Gators were expecting. So it will be up to the most experienced players in the unit to help bring everyone else along. That includes Little Richie, the new contributor who almost overnight turned into an old head. And now that he’s earned his coach’s respect with his leadership, Leonard is comfortable pointing out that while he isn’t taller than any of his offensive line teammates, he’s still taller than Stapleton.

“He played in the league,” Leonard said. “And I might have a quarter-inch on him.”

(Photo: Peter Joneleit / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)