Dante’s Inferno: Fowler Profile Part 1

As former Florida Gators defensive lineman Dante Fowler prepares for the NFL Draft, we here at GatorCountry take a comprehensive look at the young man and explore just what kind of person and player a NFL team will be getting in the Gator alum.

This two part series will look at both sides individually, with Part 1 taking the helmet off the player to see the person underneath it.

In 14th century Italy, Dante Alighieri set down and penned what is widely considered one of the greatest works of literature ever written, The Divine Comedy. It took him 12 years total, during which time he wrote three parts to his epic poem. While all are equal in his final work, one has stood the test of time, keeping pace with the likes of Homer, The Canterbury Tales, William Shakespeare and the Bible.

Dante’s Inferno and the nine levels within it has become the window through which many view the levels of suffering.

In 1994, Dante Fowler Jr. was born to Lanora and Dante Fowler Sr., growing up in St. Petersburg, FL. It was there over the past two decades, his mother says Fowler has created his own version of Dante’s Inferno, becoming a sign of suffering to so many opposing offensive players on his own battle field.

In an ode to the example set before us, we look at nine different characteristics of Dante Fowler Jr., breaking down what kind of person and player one NFL team will be getting in the former Florida Gators defensive lineman.

Infectious

A wise man once said, “If you’re on fire, people will come just to see what’s making you burn.”

That would explain the horde of people that seem to follow around Dante Fowler Jr. wherever he goes. Like moths to a flame, fans flock close just to be in his presence. And while that may seem like nothing more than a tired cliché, it’s still an example that’s proven true whenever Fowler steps out in public, especially in Gainesville. Even during this interview, held in a thinly populated area, there were three different instances of fans just wanting to be close. There was the young lady in the Ben Hill-Griffin Stadium bleachers, hovering just on the precipice of his company, wanting to join but too nervous to risk it. When these moments occur, he’ll flash a wide smile that says he knows why they’re there, and they are welcome to come closer. In it there is a confident aura, with just enough cockiness to give him the necessary defensive star player swag.

There was the young boy who came across him on the sidewalk and was so flustered that it took three tries to get out one sentence. This time the smile from Dante was gentle, as if to say, ‘I’ll wait here to talk to you as long as it takes.’

Then there were the two grown men who ran faster than they probably had since high school football practice, just to get across the parking lot in time to catch Fowler before he got in his car. This was the smile that said ‘I know you just sprinted 100 yards to get to me’ and with it comes all of the personality he possess, happy to be the player they want to identify with.

For his mother Lanora, seeing countless others simply want to be around her son makes her beam in a way only a mother can.

Dante Fowler Jr. and Ronald Powell jump into the stands to celebrate with fans. Florida vs Arkansas Oct. 2013/Gator Country photo by David Bowie

“We were passing after [one] game, we were passing some girls and they had a big ole Fowler face and I was like wow, and then there was another girl, she had made a towel and I thought that was really nice…I did go on YouTube and saw [him dancing at a basketball game] and I was like oh my God, it was hilarious. It just seemed like everyone that was around him wanted to be in it and wanted that one moment.”

Wanted that one moment indeed.

No matter the fan or the situation, Dante seems to seamlessly glide into any group with a blaring neon sign of confidence. Don’t let it fool you though. He can back it up on the field for starters, but we’ll get to more of that later. The real reason he can pull it off is by coupling it with a humbleness that lets him put any person he comes in contact with at ease. And there’s also the assurance he carries with him; the assurance that he’s earned the right to call himself the best and not just taken it slyly.

It’s that assurance which gave him the confidence to say on his UF Pro Day “I’m the best player in the draft.” Yes, even a draft that features Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota.

Fowler knows the need for quarterbacks in the first two picks though, so he’s content with going at number 3 overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The biggest reason? Gus Bradley.

In his only visit thus far, Fowler found Gus Bradley, head coach of the Jaguars. He says he’d love to return to Everbank Field, the sight of his favorite game each year, the Florida-Georgia rivalry. But the bigger reason is the kindred spirit he’s found in another infectious personality.

“I got to talk to coach Gus Bradley and we walked around the facility and visit Jacksonville and see the environment and atmosphere and how it was out there”, Fowler says.

“He’s so energetic, he like gives you life. He keeps you going and he always stays positive and he’s just a great young coach that has the right mindset and that’s going to very good in the future. “

Protective

Through every trait Dante possesses, a common vein connects them all; the name Dante Fowler.

Whether it be Dante Fowler Sr. (his father) or Dante Fowler Jr. or Dante Fowler III (his son), that name is what motivates and inspires and is the reason behind so much of the man who stood on Florida Field for the past three years.

When discussing this family, Fowler morphs from the lovable teddy bear Gators fans have come to know off the field, into a brick wall and a force to be reckoned with.

First team All-SEC, second team All-American, Gators defensive MVP and team captain; those are all second to Fowler’s self-imposed label of protective father.

You see him struggle to explain the emotional conundrum he’s found himself in with his three year old son (he calls him DJ, the same moniker by which his mother refers to him), working to provide for his son in the best way he possibly can, but knowing that means being physically absent at times. He was able to levy that some in college, by switching from FSU to Florida, a decision he relates solely to being two hours closer to his son.

To add some more comfort room, he’s chosen to keep the microscope that social media places on his life away from DJ, only posting a few pictures here and there; enough to show off his pride and joy, but never enough to bring unwanted attention where he can’t eradicate it.

“It’s just how I want my family to be,” he explains with a look that’s usually only seen under a helmet when rushing a quarterback.

“There can be some sick people out here now days and I know he’s not with me 24-7 and that thought is always running through my mind and I just like to keep him safe until…I’m able to be there and protect him like that.

This seems to set Dante on a tangent, the passion of which can never be mirrored on the football field and only in another parent.

“I know a lot of people be like going off and wondering why Kayne West and Jay-Z and them hide their babies, but it’s like, it’s a lot of sick people, like we have people that don’t like us, we have people that’s kind of crazy about us and they’ll do anything in their powers to get to us, and sometimes that might just be your kids or they might not even like you and just do something mean to your kids to provoke us for doing something bad. So [I’m just keeping] him under the shadow until it’s time to grow.”

But that time may be here soon, as the father is about to have a football player on his hands.

At three, he’s starting to tackle people in football, the same age that Dante Jr. did, and Fowler has come to the conclusion that it’s time to start him in the game. If he’s anything like his father, he’ll be making waves in his grandparent’s backyard before long.  

Inventive 

That backyard was the sight of many Dante “triumphs” and a level of Dante’s Inferno that his brothers and cousins had to learn to deal with.

Dante Fowler Jr. in youth football as a young boy/Courtesy Lanora Fowler
Dante Fowler Jr. in youth football as a young boy/Courtesy Lanora Fowler

“Dante would make the rules up as he goes,” his mother laughingly recalls.

“He just made things up. If it was his favorite, it was ok. I’d go outside and the score was like 43-8.”

While she continues to laugh at the memories, Dante’s 19 year old little brother Donterio (Terio for short) chimes in.

“As [our] rule we just started beating him. Me, [little brother] Cam’ron and my cousin Ryan [Davis], we started playing against him and it was like 3 on 1. Then we just started beating him and that’s when he started coming up with his own rules.”

Lanora speaks back up, saying, “When they were smaller they’d come in and tell me and I’d have to say ‘ok Dante stop cheating’.”

But with “nothing else to do” the game continued. Always 3-on-1, never 2-on-2.

His mothers explains that as Dante just being “really good. They couldn’t handle it.”

Terio though, ever the competitor, negates that quickly, saying the Florida pass rusher has always been a one man band on the field.

“No it wasn’t [him being too good]. He didn’t want any body on his team; he just wanted to play against us.”

Perhaps the reason Dante wanted to be a one-man team is because he knew he’d one day need to do it all.

Granted, he may not be his own quarterback/running back/entire defense now, but as the premier BUCK (hybrid linebacker) in Will Muschamps dominant defense in Gainesville, Fowler has essentially had to do it all in his position.

It’s his ability to stop the run paired with his innateness at setting the edge that has placed Fowler as a potential Top 10 pick in the 2015 draft. 

Dreamer

It’s that potential that has always been the dream. It’s why Fowler says he spent all those hours and days in the backyard, running plays with his dad, running over his little brothers and running past everyone in whatever league he was placed in.

And it’s that dream which is finally starting to become more and more real. It’s losing the haziness that for so long has shrouded it in blinding light and just out of reach. But with time ticking down for the first team to be placed on the clock, the dream has become more and more clear for all who wish to see it.

“I think about it every morning,” says the soft-spoken Dante Sr.

This is a subject that can put a little pep in a mans voice.

“Every morning when I’m driving to work, I’m listening to my gospel music, I think about it every day. It’s gonna be a surreal moment… a lot of tears. I know already, I’m gonna be crying. You can mark that down.”

Noted.

The only thing that’s not quite clear yet is what jersey Dante will be holding up with Commissioner Roger Goodell on the stage of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

Florida Gator defensive lineman Dante Fowler celebrates with the fans. Florida vs Arkansas/GatorCountry photo by David Bowie

Whatever jersey it is though, Fowler Sr. has already been assured that his coworkers will be purchasing their own for their collection.

A detention deputy at the Hillsboro County Sheriff’s Department, he’s surrounded by Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans, but that won’t matter.

“Whatever team he goes to, they’re going to get the jersey. That just makes you proud as a parent.”

It was the jersey that also first made it apparent to the Fowler family that this dream could actually happen.

Lenora remembers, “when he first got on the field his freshman year and I looked around and saw all these thousands of fans to watch the game and then look on the field and my son was amongst one of them, that’s when it go so exciting.

That’s when I was like wow.”

Leaving the stadium just a year later, his parents began to notice people wearing number 6 Fowler jerseys, and they weren’t just family members.

“It was good to see people like that,” Dante Sr. says.

“That’s what we dreamed of, and talked about.”

While Dante Fowler Jr. prepares to make the dream come true, he keeps DJ in mind, knowing that his dream now includes a small tyke watching from the stands.

In between plays, Dante scans the stands, and always finds his mother sitting there with DJ in her lap.

Seeing him there “gives you some motivation and gives you an extra energy boost and makes you want to go.

He’s also old enough to begin taking part in Daddy’s dream, albeit somewhat confusingly.

“He can watch my highlights and know who I am but he can’t just watch a game. If somebody scores or tackles somebody, he thinks it’s me every time. But my highlights, he knows it’s me.”

The dancing is probably a good identifier. 

Dancer 

Nine can’t be split evenly with whole numbers, and there was question as to which side to overload with a trait; the person or the player? Then it became obvious. This fifth aspect of Dante, this dancer, is one that crosses into both. It encapsulates all he is as both a person and as a player, serving as a bridge between the two.

Dante Fowler, Jr. celebrates and dances with his teammates following the win over Eastern Michigan/Gator Country photo by David Bowie.

The dancing has become synonymous with Fowler. Make a good play, give a shimmy; timeout and the stadium DJ is rocking out, so go with the beat. Its every bit of that infectious dreamer all coming out in the player.

At first it would seem to Florida Gators fans that this was something passed onto Dante by his predecessor Dominique Easley, much like the much beloved Chucky doll was.

His parents have their own theories as well.

Mom says, “I think dad [gave his dance moves] because I’m not much of a dancer. Dad thinks he can dance

“Yea I can dance now,” Dante Sr. replies.

But mom isn’t done.

“(Older sister) Shaquala can dance, and Terio. Now this is the dancer. I think if anything, Dante got his skills from Terio.

And as the reigning best dancer in his family, Terio can’t help it when he’s watching Dante dance on the field; “I’m just laughing, just laughing at him.”

Florida Gators fans weren’t laughing though.

When Dante Fowler Jr. was on the field dancing, they got a glimpse of that person who was endearing himself to them all. And they knew all of that energy was about to come out in Dante the player.

Dante Fowler, Jr. dancing in the endzone during the fourth quarter versus UGA, Nov. 2015/Gator Country photo by David Bowie.

We will continue our look at Dante Fowler’s traits for a NFL team with Part 2 of Dante’s Inferno coming soon.

Kassidy Hill
Born into a large family of sports fanatics and wordsmiths alike, sports journalism came natural to Kassidy. It’s more than a passion; it’s simply a part of who she is. Hailing from Alabama in the midst of typical Iron Bowl family, she learned very quickly just how deep ties in the SEC could run. She came to Gainesville after college to pursue a degree as television sports reporter but quickly realized she missed writing. She’s excited to now marry the two aspects for Gator fans. She loves Jesus, her daddy and football; wants to be Billy Donovan’s best friend and firmly believes that offensive lineman are the best people on earth. Follow her on Twitter @KassidyGHill

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