Florida Gators won’t lack a pass rush in 2016

With the Orange and Blue Debut in the rearview, the Florida Gators football team enters the doldrums of the offseason. The team will workout together through the offseason with the strength and conditioning staff but Jim McElwain and his coaching staff are solely focused on recruiting with the spring evaluation period beginning.

With that in mind Gator Country will go over where the current roster stands, what the depth chart looks like, and how the 13 incoming freshmen will fit in at their positions when they arrive on campus in June.

After opening with the quarterbacks now we’ll shift focus to the defense, taking a look at the Gators’ defensive ends.

Players
RS Senior — Bryan Cox Jr.
RS Junior — Jordan Sherit
RS Sophomore — Justus Reed
Sophomore — CeCe Jefferson
Sophomore — Keivonnis Davis
RS Freshman — Luke Ancrum
RS Freshman — Jabari Zuniga
Freshman — Jordan Smith

Incoming freshmen
Antonneous Clayton
Jachai Polite

 

Questions heading into the spring

The obvious question here was how would Florida replace Alex McCalister. When healthy, McCalister was a nightmare for opposing offensive linemen and quarterbacks — totaling 6.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for a loss in just nine games last season.

The Gators have a lot of talented players at defensive end, but outside of a couple, most are untested and we can only speak of their potential.

What we learned

Florida is going to be able to get to the quarterback. The first thing we noticed was CeCe Jefferson moving inside to tackle. Unfortunately Jefferson dealt with several nagging injuries this spring that kept him out for extended periods. At this point it’s too early to tell if Jefferson’s move will be permanent, or if Florida will look to use him at both end and tackle this season.

The biggest standout his spring may have been Bryan Cox Jr. The redshirt senior has been in Gainesville for a long time and has watched some talented pass rushers come through and play before him. Heading into his last season Cox was unstoppable coming off the edge this spring. Another veteran, Jordan Sherit, had a very good spring as well.

Outside of the two veterans Jabari Zuniga also showed promise after his redshirt season. Zuniga has added a lot of size to his long, lean frame and his technique has come a long way. Both Zuniga and sophomore Keivonnis Davis played with great pad level and leverage.

Luke Ancrum and Justus Reed give the Gators some depth, while early enrollee Jordan Smith will likely need to redshirt in 2016.

Florida fans should also be excited about what Florida is still waiting on to come in. Right now the coaching staff thinks that Antonneous Clayton could be ready to contribute early. Florida did a great job evaluating Clayton early in the recruiting process before he blew up and earned his fifth star after a great performance at the Under Armour All-American game.

Florida will also bring in Jachai Polite, but he will likely redshirt his first year on campus.

Moving forward

This group may not have the headliner that it has in the past with players like Ronald Powell, Dante Fowler and Alex McCalister but there is solid depth and a lot of talent. The Gators should be able to rotate four or five guys throughout the game, keeping all of the guys fresh.

The mix of youth and experience should play nicely and the Gators shouldn’t have any drop-off at defensive end, in fact, the position is deeper and better than it was last year.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC