You can criticize UF defensive coordinator Todd Grantham for many things. The failures to get lined up correctly at times. Poor tackling. Playing 10 yards off of the ball on third-and-4. Coverage busts. Corner blitzes that don’t get home and leave the secondary vulnerable.
No matter how critical you are of him, though, you have to give him credit for at least one thing: the guy knows how to harass opposing quarterbacks.
In Grantham’s first season in 2018, the Gators finished fifth in the SEC with 32 sacks. Jachai Polite tied for fourth in school history with 11 sacks.
They led the conference with 46 sacks in 2019, 13 more than the next best team. Jonathan Greenard led the league with 9.5 sacks.
Even when the rest of the defense went up in flames last season, the pass rush was still strong, finishing second in the league with 35 sacks.
The 2021 crop of edge-rushers may be Grantham’s best group yet. There might not be a headliner like Polite or Greenard, but they more than make up for it with depth.
Linebacker Mohamoud Diabate, who tied for second on the team with 4.5 sacks in 2019, said there’s a healthy competition brewing among the pass-rushers.
“Me and Zach [Carter] been arguing about who’s going to have more sacks,” Diabate said. “So, we argue. All of us. Me and [Brenton Cox], we all argue who’s going to have more sacks. We all respect each other’s game. We all know we [are] all really good pass-rushers. You ask them about me, they’re going to tell you. You ask me about them, they’re going to get to that quarterback.
“So, we’re all getting there. We were just actually talking about it, who’s going to get there first. We’re all racing to the quarterback.”
The BUCK position in particular is in the discussion to be considered the deepest position on the entire team.
Cox is explosive around the edge and has worked hard to improve his technique and discipline this offseason.
“I think that Brenton’s done a good job of really trying to become a complete linebacker,” Grantham said. “When you play outside ’backer, a lot of people want to talk about your rush element and how many sacks you have, and that is an important deal, but your ability to set the edge of the defense, your ability to give some coverage element to that at times, to become a complete player – I think he’s done a really good job of buying into becoming a complete linebacker, a complete player and has worked hard to improve his craft in every area.”
Jeremiah Moon brings a veteran savvy to the group with 28 games played in five years. Khris Bogle flashed toward the end of last season and should be more equipped to play all three downs after going through another offseason program.
But none of those guys even led the team in sacks last season. That distinction belongs to Carter, a strongside end whose combination of strength and speed makes him very difficult to block.
They have some talented young players such as Antwaun Powell, Lloyd Summerall and Andrew Chatfield who would probably be in the rotation at most other schools, if not starting. Instead, they’re facing an uphill battle to play meaningful snaps at UF this season.
And that’s just the defensive linemen. Linebackers such as Diabate, Amari Burney, Diwun Black and Scooby Williams can also be used as situational pass-rushers.
Grantham likes the depth he has coming off of the edge right now, but he cautioned that depth can erode quickly after just a few games if you catch some bad luck with injuries. The key for him now is to take advantage of his players’ unique skillsets through the plays he calls.
“Right now, we feel like we’ve got some depth, and I feel like we’ve done a really good job of moving some guys around to get our best players on the field,” Grantham said. “‘How can we get these guys on the field?’ We’ve kind of mixed and matched some personnel groupings to allow us to do that, so it’s just a matter of going out and playing.
“I think the biggest thing is looking to create one-on-one matchups, and how do we create those matchups where guys go play? That will be the task every week to kind of mix that up a little bit to create the matchups relative to who we’re playing.”
There are three constants in Gators football under Dan Mullen and Grantham’s watch: excellent quarterback play, ranking among the league leaders in sacks and a steady flow of former top prospects from the transfer portal.
It doesn’t look like any of those traditions will be broken this year.
These Gators are deep on the edge and ready to get after some quarterbacks.