Going into his 5th and final season, Dante Zanders is back playing tight end again. After gaining plenty of experience and knowledge on the defense side of the ball the past two seasons, Zanders is ready to finally showcase his true talents on offense where he belongs.
“I want to say it feels good but also feels like homesick because I miss defense too sometimes,” said Zanders. “Being there the last 2 1/2 years with Gervon and Princely and all of them but coming here and switching roles and just being the team person that I am feels like good to be back to where I officially came in at.”
Everything eventually came full circle for Zanders. After being switched back to offense this season, Zanders mentioned just how much he’s learned on the defensive side of the football.
While also going into detail about just how much reading scheme changes or gap changes on the defensive line has helped him at tight end this year.
“Yeah, because with our old scheme, we used to drop, and we would slant inside and everything,” said Zanders. “So like I can see from their body language like what they’re doing, if they’re going to drop, if they’re going to rush around the edge, if they’re going to try to come inside, and also help me be more physical.”
“I feel like, when I first came in and my confidence wasn’t as high as it is now because I wasn’t really like — I was a smaller guy. I wasn’t really as big as the defensive ends that we used to play against. So, playing defense and just hitting every day during practice and banging with the offense and tackles and each other just built my confidence to tight end to help me with my blocking,” said Zanders when asked how much playing defense has helped him.
There is so much for this Florida football team to prove this season. Not just to fellow Gator fans, but to themselves. Zanders expects that Florida fans will see just how hard this team has worked this off-season.
“An explosive offense. How can I explain it? We’ve got a lot to show, especially after last season, we’ve got a lot to prove. Not even to fans, not even to people around the world, but ourselves. We worked hard in the spring and worked hard this off-season and into fall camp. We’ve got a lot to show,” said Zanders when asked what to expect on offense Saturday.
Dante Zanders also had good things to say about quarterback Anthony Richardson and the level at which he plays.
“Expecting to see great things. The only things I can say about Anthony, everybody was crazy with Kadarius Toney and how he can stop and do all that stuff. He’s Kadarius Toney at the quarterback position. He’s got an arm on him. He do incredible throws off his back leg, run, everything. So, he’s an incredible player,” said Zanders on what to expect from Richardson this season.
Not only is this offense ready, but they are well prepared. Billy Napier has made discipline and attention to detail a huge priority for not just the offense, but the team as a whole.
“Let’s say with our special teams, our special teams is more locked in and more focused,” said Zanders. “That was something that we felt to win that last year a lot, special teams, because that’s also a big part of the game. It’s the third phase, offense, defense, special teams.”
“So, he came in to make sure everyone knows exactly what they need to do, every position, everything, he makes sure that each person knows their job and knows like the role, like special teams isn’t just, oh, I want you to go out there just to tire you some more. Everyone knows that special teams is a big role,” said Zanders when asked about the changes in discipline heading into week one.
Coach Napier has made discipline such a huge priority that he even brought in SEC officials to help better prepare his players for game days.
“It helped discipline a lot because, if you have people jumping offsides in practice, the coach isn’t going to call it, so the refs. You see that flag constantly,” said Zanders.
“And having our reports after practice, saying which person was offsides or which person had this penalty or which person did this or which person did that, it makes you as a person be like, oh, I don’t want to be seen, I don’t want my name on the board as jumping offsides or holding or face mask. So, it makes everybody just up their game just a little bit more,” said Dante Zanders when asked just how much practice officials have helped this team.
It’s something these players haven’t been used to playing under Dan Mullen for the last few years, but it’s helped them tremendously in terms of feedback and learning from their mistakes.
“We used to have the SEC officials during like scrimmages sometimes. So having them during practice constantly was like really new. It was something I felt like we needed too because, as I stated earlier, nobody wanted to be on that board. You want to be on the board for good things. You don’t want to be seen as, oh, he can’t block because he’s holding or he can’t do this because he’s constantly offsides,” said Zanders.
Coach Billy Napier has done all the right things heading into his first game as the Head Coach of the Florida Gators. Not only are players on board, but they believe in the plan implemented here at Florida by Billy Napier and this staff. Tight end Dante Zanders, as well as many others, are ready to go out and prove it.