Breaking down the Florida Gators linebacker room / projected depth chart

With the 2022 college football season now being less than 4 weeks away, Gator Country gives you an in-depth breakdown of the current linebacker room as well as a projected depth chart.

Linebackers

Compared to teams of the past, you could say Florida’s linebacker room hasn’t performed up to par the last few years. That all looks to change this 2022 football season with Senior Linebacker Ventrell Miller coming back for another run. Coach Toney, Coach Peterson, and Coach Bateman, are looking to bring a new heartbeat to this group.

Ventrell Miller

The redshirt senior linebacker is one of many few players that returned for their senior season at Florida. Miller looks to make a big statement heading into his final season for all the NFL teams that’ll be watching. Throughout the course of his career, Miller has been a highly productive linebacker who’s managed to rack up 164 total tackles, 5 passes defended, 7 and a half sacks, and 1 interception ran back for a touchdown. Ventrell Miller doesn’t look to be someone who will have an off year, he came back for a reason. I’d Look for Miller to continue right where he left off leading this linebacker group in his final run as a Gator.

Amari Burney

The Gators also have Senior Linebacker Amari Burney who is coming back for his senior season. Burney, who was originally a 4-star Safety coming out of high school before switching to linebacker a couple season back, managed to get 145 total tackles, 8 passes defended, 3 sacks, and 2 interceptions in his career so far at Florida. I think Burney will perform a lot better under new defensive coordinator Patrick Toney in a system that better suits his strengths.

David Reese

Many may not know that we’ve had another David Reese in our room for about 4-5 years now. Which is probably because Reese has missed a huge amount of time recovering from a torn Achilles the past couple years. The big bodied linebacker weighs in at a sustainable 238 pound’s, standing at 6’1”. The Junior has managed to tally up 13 total tackles in his limited time in a gator uniform, who looks to be a lot more productive this season.

Shemar James

If you don’t know the name now, well, you will shortly. Freshman Linebacker Shemar James is someone Florida Fans are currently gushing over. The 6’1”, 230-pound linebacker was a 4-star prospect out of Mobile, Alabama who Coach Patrick Toney managed to take from right out underneath Nick Saban’s feet after de-committing from Florida. This was shortly after the firing of ex head coach Dan Mullen. I’d look for James to get significant reps this year at Inside linebacker with many other young linebackers looking to do the same.

Chief Borders

The 6’4” 242-pound linebacker who chose the Gators over Stanford just a couple years back looks to be another young linebacker who makes a lot of noise this fall. In his freshman season at Florida, Borders managed to get his first career tackle against UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl while seeing limited action in only 4 games and redshirting. Seniority doesn’t seem to be a huge thing here anymore at Florida. I think the highly rated 4-star prospect will get his chance to shine very early on.

Derek Wingo

With a huge body transformation this spring weighing in at 226 pounds, Sophomore linebacker Derek Wingo is determined to have a breakout year. Wingo appeared in all 13 games last season, where he made his first start against UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl and had a career-high six tackles. Wingo ended up finishing the year with 17 total tackles, and 1 pass defended. His freshman season he appeared in 9 games where he registered 2 tackles. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Derek Wingo ends up helping Ventrell Miller get some breathers this season. Keep in mind, the current class is listed as players taking covid years for all that may be confused.

Jeremiah “Scooby” Williams

2 years ago, Dan Mullen somehow caught a big fish in Scooby Williams and stole the 4-star recruit right out of Birmingham, Alabama. Since then, he saw very limited action his freshman season where he registered 3 total tackles in the 4 games he appeared in. The 4th best player in Alabama in 2020 finished the season notching a career high 2 tackles against UCF. Williams is another player I could see get playing time very early on this year.

Diwun Black

Diwun Black, a name I think many gator fans respect given his hard-earned journey to become a gator, will finally get his opportunity to show out this season. The #1 rated juco prospect in 2021 who was a prior UF commit before enrolling at Mississippi Gulf Coast recorded 46 tackles, 5 PBU’s, and 1 interception in 11 games prior to Florida. When arriving at Florida, Black was another who saw limited playing time but saw action in 10 games. In his Gators debut Black racked up 2 solo tackles, and one more against Alabama.

Projected 2022 LB depth chart:

1st team:

MLB: Ventrell Miller 

ILB: Amari Burney

(OLB will be listed with edge rushers)

2nd team: 

MLB: Derek Wingo or David Reese 

ILB: Chief Borders or Scooby Williams 

(OLB will be listed with edge rushers)

The following players may very easily end up running with the Second team and contribute early on: 

Diwun Black (ILB)

Shemar James (MLB)

If there’s one position I’m not worried about, it’s the linebacker position. Napier and this staff inherit tons of young talent at every linebacker position. There will be many different names and numbers rotating throughout that position all year and gator fans should be excited about that.