GAINESVILLE — Florida’s first football game in the post-McElwain era comes Saturday at Missouri, and it will feature perhaps the most complete test yet for Florida’s young defense.

The Tigers and quarterback Drew Lock, who ranks first in the SEC in passing efficiency, are humming offensively. Mizzou has scored at least 28 points in its last four contests and broke the 50-point barrier twice. Lock and Mizzou are easily the best offense Florida has played statistically, ranking 28th in scoring offense at 35.5 points a game and 16th nationally in S&P+ offensive efficiency, only one spot lower than the best offense Florida faced, Georgia. The Tigers have multiple weapons on the perimeter in Emanuel Hall, who is second in the SEC in yards per catch at 23.4, and J’mon Moore, who co-leads the SEC with seven touchdown receptions. And the other SEC co-leader in TD catches? It’s Missouri tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.

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Needless to say, this will be a tall order for a young Gators defense playing on the road under interim head coach Randy Shannon.

Complicating matters for the Gators is the fact they’ve continued to struggle defending the run this year. UF allowed 292 yards in Saturday’s loss to Georgia and ranks 67th nationally in rushing defense.

Part of the problem for the Gators?

Poor linebacker play, and more specifically, a lack of linebacker depth.

Against Georgia, Florida’s linebackers continually failed to fit run gaps, allowing huge chunks of yardage on fairly simple, low-risk isolation and power plays.

It was reasonable to expect some dropoff at linebacker after Jarrad Davis graduated and Alex Anzalone left early; both were selected in the top three rounds of the NFL Draft. But there’s almost no question the suspensions related to the credit card scandal have hurt Florida at linebacker. There is also little question Florida’s linebackers have underperformed.

According to Pro Football Focus, a team of statistical analysts, film gurus and former scouts who rate weekly on-field performance, no group of Gators players on defense have struggled as much this season as their linebackers. Pro Football focus assigns players a grade from 1-100, with 85 or better rating as NFL-ready, 80-84 very good, 50-70 average to above average, and anything below 50 in the “Red Zone,” which is basically a clever football way of saying “not good.” Florida’s linebackers have performed almost universally poorly in this grading metric.

Big things were expected, for example, from sophomores David Reese and Vosean Joseph, after each turned in promising campaigns as freshmen. But Joseph has been Florida’s worst player with more than 100 snaps in Pro Football Focus rankings, grading out at an abysmal 39.3. Reese has done better, at around 70, but was dreadful Saturday against Georgia, grading out as Florida’s worst player against the ‘Dawgs at 36.9 on 36 snaps. Only one linebacker rates as one of Florida’s best 10 defensive players to have played more than 50 snaps, and it is former walk-on Cristian Garcia at 74.8.

This is where depth comes into play.

The credit card suspensions deprived Florida of two linebackers, Ventrell Miller and James Houston, both freshman that were expected to contribute in 2017. One Gators assistant coach told me late last week Miller in particular would have played a good amount in various defensive personnel packages this season. One way Florida coaxed so much productivity out of Joseph and Reese as freshman, the same assistant said, was by keeping it simple for them and limiting snaps. The plan this season was to help a young linebacker corps by keeping players as fresh as possible, limiting the heightened load of Jeremiah Moon, Reese and Joseph and not overcomplicating things for talented newcomers like Miller.

The suspensions deprived Florida of the chance to do that. Instead, Florida had to rely on linebackers and creative personnel groupings against the run, and the latter was complicated even more when All-SEC safety Marcell Harris, the team’s best run-stopper, was lost for the season in July. The result has been that Florida simply doesn’t have the personnel it needs to consistently fit the isolation, power and counters they see in SEC play.

The linebacker suspensions have also hurt Florida on special teams.

Houston’s or Miller’s speed and tackling would have helped immensely in kick coverage and punt coverage, two areas where the Gators rate near the bottom of the SEC despite having an All-American candidate at punter, Johnny Townsend, who is averaging 49.5 yards a kick. Florida’s inability to simply get downfield cost them the game against Texas A&M, and has consistently hindered Townsend’s value as a weapon. And that’s despite Townsend’s hang-time numbers — at 4.4 seconds a punt, he rates comparably to several NFL punters.

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Ultimately, Florida will get a bit of reprieve from power running attacks Saturday at Mizzou, which is a more zone-read heavy team that ranks only 67th nationally in rushing offense. But if the Gators linebackers can’t tackle better, it could be a long afternoon at Faurot Field.

For a young linebacking corps desperately needing the extra practices a bowl game provides, that’s a scenario the Gators simply can’t afford.