As summer drags on, college football season slowly inches closer and closer. In early July, there are a lot more questions than answers about how any team’s season will shake out. In this series, Gator Country will highlight the biggest questions for every Florida Gators position group and the affects the answers will have on this season.

Last time, we looked at Florida’s looming questions at the wide receiver position. With quarterback, running back, offensive line and wide receiver already covered, tight ends are the final piece to fill in as we close out the offense.

Tight Ends

Prior to coming to Florida, head coach Jim McElwain and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier developed a reputation for effectively incorporating tight ends in their offenses. With the ever-changing quarterback situation over the last two seasons along with inconsistency at the position, it just has not translated since they arrived in Gainesville. This is another of several positions in need of some revamping in 2017.

Will DeAndre Goolsby finally have his breakout season?

Goolsby enters his senior season still looking to breakout. Statistically, he had a decent junior season, ranking third among Florida’s other receivers with 342 yards on 38 receptions.

While the numbers weren’t necessarily bad, the season overall was underwhelming for Goolsby, who was expected to breakout after posting 17 receptions for 277 yards and a touchdown in his sophomore season. He had his moments in 2016, but was unable to put together a complete season of strong play.

A sprained finger is to blame for some of his struggles, but inconsistency proved to be the biggest weakness in Goolsby’s game. He averaged more than 35 receiving yards per game over the first six games, earning him a spot on the John Mackey Award Midseason Watch List, before catching just four passes for nine yards over the final five games of the regular season.

He came on to have an outstanding performance in the SEC Championship Game with seven receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown against Alabama and had two catches for 27 yards and a score in the Outback Bowl against Iowa. He tied Antonio Callaway to lead the team with three touchdowns on the season, but two of those were in the final games of the season, a blowout loss and a blowout win, so neither affected the outcomes.

Along with inconsistency holding him back, he is just not a very good blocker. At times, Goolsby simply looks lazy when he is asked to block. This is something that is more mental than physical, and something he needs to improve on as a senior. A good tight end at Florida cannot be a liability as a blocker.

For the most part, Goolsby makes up for his shortcomings as a blocker with his skillset as a receiver. He brings back the lowest drop rate of any returning tight end in the country and has even been referred to as the best tight end in the SEC entering 2017. That may very well be the case if he finds consistency this season.

Again, last season’s injury gives him a crutch for that poor stretch, but barring another injury, there is no reason he should not produce game in and game out with the upside he brings to the table.

Another factor that will weigh in on his potential to be the top tight end in the SEC this season will be how Florida’s coaching staff chooses to use him. Goolsby has the ability to get downfield for longer passing plays, but wasn’t given many of those opportunities a year ago, as most of his looks were on screens. Some of that could also be attributed to the lack of confidence in the quarterbacks, so it will be interesting to see if Goolsby is given more attempts at longer plays with a more serviceable passer.

With the clock on his college career ticking, Goolsby not only needs a great season for the sake of his team’s success, but also to improve his draft stock. It’s now or never for the senior.

Will Kemore Gamble be a difference-maker as a freshman?

This is the question so many have been asking since he arrived on campus in January. Gamble brings the Gators a lot to be excited about. While he’s still young and learning the offense, he provides the best attributes of Goolsby and redshirt junior C’yontai Lewis in one package.

Florida’s top tight ends have opposite strengths and weaknesses, as Goolsby finds his bread and butter in receiving, but not so much in blocking, while Lewis can be trusted to block all day long, but struggles with drops. Then there’s Gamble, who has great size (6-3, 241 pounds), route running and receiving skills and he can block, too.

Coaches raved about him in the spring and it’s going to be hard for the veterans to keep him off the field this season. Whether Gamble makes a huge impact as a freshman or not, which he almost absolutely will, he and redshirt junior Moral Stephens, who also had a great spring, are providing something there wasn’t much of at the position last season: competition.

If they weren’t already feeling the pressure to perform enough, some serious competition for playing time should do the trick.

Up Next: Linebacker/Defensive Line