Increased dedication gave immediate results for Damieon George

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Damieon George played in all 12 games for the Florida Gators in 2023 including 11 starts. The transfer from Alabama played both left and right tackle but struggled at times throughout the season allowing 24 quarterback hurries, four sacks and drew nine penalties. George actually approached offensive line coach Rob Sale after the season and asked about changing his position.

It wasn’t just the position. Last season George wasn’t in the shape he wanted to be in. He caused him to feel fatigued as the game went on and made it harder to recover. He set out to change that.

“The biggest challenge for me last year I felt was my weight. I felt like I played too heavy and ultimately played a big role in some of my play late in games,” George said during spring camp. “So just being able to finish out the games with the same intensity I started with was a big emphasis for me.”

With a clear goal in mind, George has taken this offseason seriously and has dedicated and held himself accountable.

“Damieon is a guy that wants to get better and wants to improve. It’s just been a matter of being the people to hold him accountable to that,” Director of Football Nutrition Jake Sankal told Gators Online this week. “It’s been great. He comes in, does extra work every single day.”

That extra work paid off. George noticed that his jersey started fitting looser during spring camp. He was able to move around better and was less fatigued throughout practice sessions. In three months of following Sankal’s nutrition plan and putting in extra work after practice, George saw incredible results. The redshirt junior lost nearly 18 pounds of fat while adding 17.5 pounds of lean mass in just over three months. George still weighs around 350 pounds — the weight he played at last season — but the composition of that 350 pounds has changed drastically in just three months.

“He’s done an incredible job. It’s been awesome seeing the consistency of work he’s put in. When the workout ends he’s not done. He stays extra and does extra,” Sankal said. “He comes back later in the day and does more. It’s just, for him, we’ve held him accountable and set the standard of what we expect it to be and it’s been on him.”

Tyler Miles and Damieon George targeting specific areas of improvement

Sankal has held George accountable with his nutrition plan while Director of Football Strength & Conditioning Tyler Miles has developed a plan specifically to help George as he transitions inside to guard.

“For him, going up against defensive tackles, let’s look specifically at his shoulder strength and see where he’s at,” Miles told Gators Online. “So we test that and we see, hey, Damieon Georgia is in the 40th percentile for shoulder testing — I’m not saying he is just using it as an example — and we know he’s going to be engaging with 300-pound d-tackles, we’ve gotta get his shoulders strength into the 75th percentile. We’ll attack it like that.”

George played with the first team offensive line at right guard this spring. He’s penciled in as the starter there but he’s not going to coast into the fall as if his work is done.

“Every day I have to hold myself accountable,” George told Gators Online. “Once you see good changes and good gains, I feel like my max lifts all went up. Just to see a change like that makes you want to do the same thing over and over.”

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