John Hevesy has a lot of coaching experience in the SEC. He was on Florida’s staff from 2005-08, then went to Mississippi State from 2009-17. Last year, he returned to the Gators as co-offensive coordinator.

Hevesy has seen a lot of players come through the conference, and his opinions carry a lot of weight. So when he told the media on Tuesday that Auburn’s defensive line is one of the best he’s seen, he’s likely right.

“It’s probably one of the best ones in the 15 years I’ve been in this league,” Hevesy said. “That’s one of the best ones that I’ve seen, just as a group of four, even some of the backups or twos that go in there, there’s not really much of a letdown. There’s about eight guys that go play and we’ve got to be ready for all of them.”

Florida will have to try to stop that powerful unit when it hosts Auburn on Saturday afternoon. It should be an exciting matchup of top-10 teams, as the Tigers are ranked No. 7 in the country and the Gators are No. 10.

Auburn’s defense has been strong this season, not allowing more than 23 points in any of its first five games. And that includes victories over Oregon and Texas A&M.

If Florida is going to topple Auburn, then it will likely need a strong performance from its offensive line to limit the impact made by the Tigers’ defensive line.

Florida and Auburn are set to kick off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.