2024 Florida Gators Defense Preview

operate in truth right operate in truth you know tell the [Music] truth hello everybody and welcome to the gator truth Florida football podcast I'm Daniel and on this episode we're going to take a look at the 202 for Florida Gator defense and I'm going to tell you why I believe it's going to be better than it's been the last few years before we get into it I do want to thank everyone who has checked out the channel in our 2024 offense preview if you have not go and check that one out as well but it is the most watched and listened to episode that I've ever done so thank you everyone who checked it out thank you everyone who shared it liked it any new subscribers thank you for coming on if you enjoy this video or audio if you are listening on anywhere you get your podcast feel free to subscribe thank you for subscribing like it if you're watching on YouTube it really helps but again thank you so much for everyone who checked us out with that said let's go ahead and get into the defense and the defense really should be a little bit different this year and part of that is staff changes that happened after the end of the season last year Corey Raymond and Coach chaos the defensive line coach they were let go Raymond ended up back at LSU coach chaos at Texas A&M but we brought in coach Harris and Coach Chapman to replace them Harris for the defensive backs Chapman for the defensive lineman and with that said Harris come came from the NFL where he is an assistant defensive back coach before that he had some very successful uh defensive back units at the University of Washington for the huskys where he's also brought over ASA Turner we'll talk about him a little bit later where he's familiar and again had some very successful units Chapman comes over from tan where he had been for a few years but in between he had to stop as like the interim LSU defensive line coach last spring so he's been around got experience a few different places as well before heading to gain but probably the biggest change after you know the coaching carel stopped spending last year Jay baitman our linebacker coach ended up taking the defensive coordinator job at Texas A&M Under head coach Mike Elco that opened up a spot that was actually pretty valuable to us because it allowed us to take Ron Roberts from Auburn who was their CDC or DC last year and bring him in as a codc at Florida and he's had some good units before that he was at Baylor before Baylor he spent time with Billy Napier at Louisiana last year had Auburn in year one of the Hugh freeze era at number 45 in the nation the flare gears defense has him in top 50 and at least four or five years so if he can improve our unit that much that's going to help this team a whole heck of a lot but those are the coaching changes that we've seen and also one last thing about Ron Roberts and his change over to UF is that he's been brought in as codc to kind of help Mentor a young Austin Armstrong who is the youngest coordinator in the SEC and bring him along help say this idea is great here's maybe how we can tweak it and also just help out with his experience and one thing I think Ron Roberts experience brings as well is a big way to address tackling and tackling if you go back to 20202 now has been one of the Gator's biggest issues I was talking with some podcasters from another school recently and they asked what are some things that can improve this defense I said a pass rush and then I to remember now B's probably bigger than that's tackling because there are times you know 2022 FSU game comes to mind where your pass rush gets there but then they don't make the tackle and end the threat and then the example from 2022 FSU twice Jordan Travis evades like five tackles gets down inide the one where they would have a long field goal had we just made the tackle and of course last year KJ Jefferson big moment Prince Le May man gets into the back field hits KJ Jefferson doesn't wrap up doesn't tackle and they end up going on to tie the game and ultimately Florida loses that game but had we wrapped up and tackled you know we probably win that game so those are things that I see being brought over from being brought over from Auburn and Elsewhere for Ron Roberts and where he helps and also where coach Harris and Coach Chapman are going to help and another thing that's going to help is we return a ton of production we also had transfer in a ton of production and we'll get into that as we talk about each position group the first position group that we're going to talk about is the defensive line and for those of you not sure I do include the Jack outside linebacker you know type deal as a defensive lineman because it is kind of a hybrid standup outside linebacker but also kind of a defensive end type deal so because of that that's kind of where I put that hybrid position just so when we go through you understand oh yeah this is what this position is for me but with that said we're gonna start at defensive end where we do have a big return in my opinion and that is Justice Boone Justice Boone missed last year with a leg injury had to sit out for the season comes back has the number one Jersey this is a guy who is already a big guy like size on the defensive line and now he's going to hopefully take that next step to be a big guy on the defensive end spot he we also have Tyreek sap who is another big guy in that spot who can help out and the two of them are already good depth there but on top of that you have the top defensive lineman from the 2024 Class A young guy by the name of LJ McCrae very nice guy got to meet him a few weeks ago very very very nice and also made some big plays in the spring game and with more time in the system with more experience he's only G to be better so that defensive end position is going to be a deep one and an experienced one and definitely a talented one now again just hope they can continue to wrap up and cause Havoc at the nose tackle unfortunately last week we did lose Lions who was supposed to bring some depth however we still have some good returning experience there and some big bodies there cam Jackson Who last year transferred in from Memphis dude this year comes in as more experience second year in the system hopefully a little bit better coaching to his style with Coach Chapman and also just a little bit Improvement in this gamee with Ron Roberts and you've got a guy who's in his fifth year I believe of college football and yep fifth fifth year had to double check my notes um and behind them a fourth year guy in big Dez a big guy that does eat up blockers in space hopefully this year with the new strength and conditioning program big Dez is able to contribute a little bit more able to go 100% another few snaps especially with the loss of a guy you know like a Jamari Lions who may not have come in and be the most dominant nose tackle but a guy who helps the rotation a guy with guys who are you know 350 400 pounds someone who can come in and just eat a few snaps give a few snaps of rest is important but I also wouldn't be shocked to see some of our defensive tackles move over to that position as well if we needed them to with that said we're going to go into talk about the defensive tackles real quick um and the first defensive tackle I want to talk about is Joey slackman who did transfer to us from Princeton um I say Princeton it was Penn my bad from the IV League definitely for two years caus havoc in the IV League started off as a Collegiate wrestler very exciting to have him the one question that I do have is that he was very great in the ivy league but the um competition level between the ivv league in the SEC is immense hopefully he comes in and does play well with that SEC level all indications are he's done so so far so well during Camp so I'm hoping that he continues to do that build and grow very nice guy got to talk to him after the spring game during the autograph signing asked him if he's the smartest player on the team humbly said I'm not sure about that but I mean the guy went to Ivy League may or may not be but very nice guy and hopefully he's as good as he is smart and with that said uh also at defensive tackle a guy who transferred in last year from Louisville who did not have too much experience at Louisville before playing a lot last year for us and that's Caleb Banks you know also a great guy guy who I got to talk to a little bit after that got to talk to a few guys but he did pretty well last year and again a second year at Florida a second year of getting a ton of playing time you know that's a lot of experience now to build on last year we talked about youth we talked about how young and inexperienced the de was defense was well this year that's not an excuse there's so much more experience in fact I ran the numbers this is probably a good time to say it and per the 11 starters the 11 starters have 11 or nine more years of experience than the 11 starters listed in the 2008 national championship game just as far as years of college are concerned or Years playing football in college and the reason why I say Years playing football is Joyce slackman I only counted three rather than what you normally think with a grad transfer of four or five um and that's not to say maybe there is Talent as that 08 defense because that was legendary but just saying Youth and experience per per man this group has more experience but I could see Caleb Banks uh going back to him possibly be one the guys who does take some snaps at nose tackle just to help out with the depth there because behind them they have Kelby Collins who again played pretty well last year as a true freshman coming in and getting some experience and playing through that for this defense and now this year again going through the brand new strength and conditioning program second year in the system you got the little bit of changes that Chapman and Ron Roberts bring so you're hoping that that can just take them to the next level and then moving to the Jack position the you know hybrid in outside linebacker type deal uh used to be called f it's been called all sorts of things Buck is another I think that's will mus Champ's name for it starter I believe will be TJ Cersei who had a great year in my opinion for true freshman definitely caused a lot of chaos even though sometimes you look at the stats and stats say oh maybe he didn't do quite as well well no sometimes it's about causing Havoc causing problems and now in year two you want to see those stats go up and definitely last year as far as the front half for the true freshman of the defense I do believe he was the MVP for true freshman comes in again like I've said before you get the you know better offseason strength and conditioning you get all the other things I think he has a jump this year as well backing him up there's been a lot of talk of George gums uh who's a guy who transferred from Northern Illinois and so I really hope that his experience there pays off in the SEC I've heard you know through various podcasts and also just saying things on Twitter several people talk to him that he's a guy that's really coming in under the radar and then Cameron James is another one of those talented young guys who last year as a true freshman got some reps I look to see him get more this year and I mean we're talking like every position I'm talking two three deep so I do think with that depth with that experience that was gained last year this could be the best defensive line we've seen in a while definitely one of the deepest and another name at that Jack position I've not even talked about yet is Jack purn who I think could also play the defensive end position need who's a very big dude and every time I've talked to him a very nice dude as well a guy you want to cheer for and I definitely do not want to leave him out because he's got three years of experience coming in here and I cannot wait to see what this defensive line and this group can do when you know when we've seen these changes before we get to the linebackers I do want to give a shout out to my friends at Alvarez Lawn Company Alvarez Lawn Company hey if you're in Central Florida you got a lawn project you need done you don't want to you know mow your yard because it's hot outside or you want to totally landscape your yard into a entirely different look if you'd like to try that and again you're in the central Florida area give my friends at Alvarez la company a call or even text them for a free quote at 4749 2617 you can also email them at Alvarez long company gmail.com once again Alvarez long company will give you a free quote just give them a call or text at 40749 2617 or give them an email at Alvarez long company atgmailcom Alvarez la company building plans that work for you we're going to go ahead now and move to the linebacker position and with the linebacker position I really think this is a group that could surprise last year few years now our linebackers have been iffy this year I do think we've brought in some good talent and also we've developed some good talent the first name I want to give out is Shamar James started here as a true freshman last year as a true sophomore played a lot before getting injured and then finally having to go out you know in that back half of the season and unfortunately with him not being able to play it did also hurt this defense quite a bit your linebackers are especially your middle linebacker are known as the quarterback of your defense and it did hurt an already hurting defense to have him go out but he's returned from the dislocated kneecap that took him out and I do believe year three I do believe you know this is his time you also have the new coaching whether it ends up being Armstrong doing the linebackers or Robert still and linebackers are both I think it's just a new way plus a little bit of scheme changes we might see I do think that's something that we're going to see and then the other starting linebacker pup Howard last year got some great experience playing up at South Carolina a little bit and the year before was one of the top linebacker recruits in the nation one thing that Billy Napier does well is build relationships and so when guys are like uh I'm not sure if I want to be here anymore Billy does take advantage of that and pup Howard's a good example pup Howard uh was that South Carolina was like H I don't know if I want to be up here so of course he comes over and now he's probably going to be the second starting linebacker for the Gators this year and everything that I've seen and heard is he's going to be really good for us here he looked good in the spring game and again that's the spring now we've got summer fall workouts probably taking him up to a little bit higher level as he's gotten more familiar with his teammates as he's gotten more familiar with the system so the two of them are going to do well another guy is Jaden Robinson was here last year didn't play too much but like Howard was a highly highly recruited linebacker in the class of 2023 now they's G been here for a year gone through another spring gone through the summer I think he can be more than a capable backup and a rooll guy another guy to talk about drik Wingo been here since 2020 has been here for all the bad defenses and there's at least one more name I'll bring up who's been here and this is a guy who's Desiring to see the change and help bring about you know help bring about the change from what the gator defense has been to what it should be and where the gator should be if nothing else Derek Wingo brings the experience and he brings that mentorship I've talked about how last year and you can see it in I believe it's in my um intro you can see one of my favorite moments from last year and that's Derek Wingo leading the abandon the fight song A after the win at South Carolina a guy who's Cal give and all for his program and that's really what you want to see a lot and then alongside that uh we've got two very big- time recruits that have come in as linebackers who I do think will get some run and may even end up being that second string spot and hopefully there's no injuries but if there's injuries they may end up starting and that's miles Graham the son of Gator great Ernest Graham and Aaron Charles both of these guys have been on campus both these guys you know have been learning this system and both of these guys want to also be that change and be part of the group that changes it so and everything I've seen is high praise for these two so it'll be very interesting and again we're talking linebacker positions two three deep I'm not just throwing out some random name I'm not throwing out a former two star and I won't say that name but that's what we were doing several years ago we're like hey this former two star this is your they'll put it together no now we're talking about guys who are all four five star recruits highly recruited linebackers coming into Florida uh and guys with experience like a Shamar James who's now in his third year of starting at Florida a pup Howard who's been another program he's been here he's played in the SEC a guy like Derek Wingo who again has that mentorship who's been around and can say here's where it's been let's not be there let's do this together you know definitely a lot of good things happening in that linebacker room and I cannot wait to see it especially if we do see the Improvement in tackling and especially if we do see just a little bit CH of changes in the scheme from things that Roberts has seen successful I know that sounds like a broken record but again just like me with Callaway and the offense I do think just a little bit of changes could make a whole lot of difference and before we move on to the defense of backs I do want to give my friends at Gator chatter a shout out Gator chatter you're Florida Gator sports bar um if you have not checked out our huddle up Gator episodes uh especially Aaron Bland who is the owner and operator of Gator chatter.com Gater chatter is a message board they have been together for years lots of fun guys and many ways does feel like a family uh you can say you know positive things if you want unlike some places that if you feel like you have to be negative they'll allow it and everywhere in between but Gator chatter is a good group of guys I've met quite a few in person and of course have friends like Aaron Bland check out that huddle up Gator episode if you have the time but with that said let's go ahead and move on to our defensive backs and this is one group that I'm really really excited about and I compared earlier the number of you know years experience with our starters with that 2008 Squad as far as saying experience is not our issue um other things maybe and it's really evident in the defensive backs 2008 you had a true freshman and three seconde players maybe they're all sophomores one may have been a red shirt freshman either way at one corner we've got a fourth year starter in Jason Marshall did have a rough year last year but in my season preview last year I did talk about how the first two years the passer rating against them was actually lower than if someone had just spiked the ball each play and I do believe that quote was lifted from Pro Football Focus again last year definitely took a step back but this is a year of redemption for him last year I think was a wake-up call about what he needed to improve upon especially a guy who is looking at possibly top three rounds draft pick and then has a year like that comes back really hope that he takes it to the next level and I believe he can again again you have Harris coming in who is known for making a difference and having great I believe it was even the top five pass unit his last year at Washington so you've got a guy like Marshall who has all that experience has all that Talent now it's time to put it all together and have it be a money year opposite him at corner you've got a third-year guy in Devin Moore now Devin Moore seems snake bit unfortunately keeps getting injured and when I was asked what's the defensive uh position group that you're most worried about uh I believe it was on Texas podcast and it could have been on Mississippi State as well my dogs are barking if you want to go check that out that's the name of the Mississippi State podcast I did a guest spot on um and I said the defensive backfield and one reason I said that is a lot of these guys do not have experience with each other uh but again I expect go chairis to put that together but also you have things like Devon Moore who unfortunately has had problems staying healthy and is actually currently out right now should be ready to go with the Miami game but with an illness but it's just one of those things that it just happens uh currently at the start it sounds like sharf Denon may be the starter of course Aaron Gates another highly recruited guy uh who didn't play much last year is giving him a run for that position Denon from what I've seen and what little he's played and also in Spring games does look like a guy who's not afraid to come up and make tackles so that's something that we've been Desiring out of our star position and something I hope we continue to see Jordan Castell very admirable job as a true freshman safety in the SEC last year again now he's got a full year under his belt he's got you know a whole new spring a different defensive back coach he's got you know tweaks in the system and one thing I want to say for this defensive backfield also is they've got this defensive line so if this defensive line can get generate more of a pass rush that's going to help out DBS like a younger sharf Denson who's in his second year or Jordan Castell in second year because quarterbacks are gonna have to hurry up their throws more which leads to sometimes more inaccurate throws or you know it if you're in man-to-man coverage you have less time to lose your guy or less time for something to happen um you know all sorts of things but with that said Castell very good to have back that experience and speaking of experience the other projected starter at safety ASA Turner who's come over from Washington and I said before exper has experienced with Harris from his first few years started in the national champ ship game last year of course kayin dor ends up moving the coach of Washington ends up being hired at Alabama to replace Nick Sabin Turner's like you know what if he's leaving I don't want to deal with a third coach coach at Washington during my time here I'll go ahead I'll if I'm GNA have a new coach let me pick the program coms over with Harris had an amazing diving breakup in the spring game and from what I've understood has continued to build on that through fall uh Camp so far I'm excited to see him uh he definitely got to talk to him as well after the spring game asked him what he thought about Florida and the heat was definitely something he was getting used to and now he's got a 330 kick first game of the season against Miami so good for him to come in and you know do what hopefully he'll do and that's be a great safety and also a great mentor to all the young DBS in the room and done I've done the DBS a little bit differently and that's by going through and sing all the starters first and now we're talking about some of the backups at corner we're talking jaem Jackson who did have experience last year some good and bad experiences uh there are times they look good and then there are times like fsu's first scoring Drive where unfortunately he led a big pass through but again that's part of being a true freshman that's part of you know making mistakes and learning uh without mistake sometimes we don't reach our full potential and so I really expect them to step up this year especially with the better coaching around him and again things like going through a better strength and conditioning program behind Devin Moore dejon Johnson who again High recruit from the last recruiting the 2023 recruit cycle was here last year now has a chance to come in get plenty of reps learn and unfortunately if I don't want to say unfortunately if more goes down he's gonna have a chance to show what he's worth as well and I do have confidence in him again very high recruits we're talking about in this too deep beond Denson we've talked about how he and Aaron Gates have gone back and forth although I think Denson does end up get the starting nod Gates Again being here year I do think he's going to give us plenty of depth and get plenty of run at that star position and hopefully with that star position both those guys can do better than some of the others we've seen here have just basically been where's the star okay here's where we're throwing the ball Bryce Thorton true freshman last year will probably be backing up up Jordan Castell and you know last year again learning on the job as a true freshman coming through expect him to be even better this year because of his experiened last year and then behind ASA Turner is DJ Douglas a guy who I really really respect because if you don't know a story started off as a walk- on at Alabama did well enough worked hard enough where he got a scholarship position at tlane played on some great tane teams I mean two years ago they're beating USC in a new year six Bowl last year had another great run of it gave Old Miss a run for a while and now he's earned himself he's gone from SEC walk-on to now an SEC scholarship player so definitely can't wait and hopefully he does well again players you want to cheer for someone like that is definitely someone I'd like to cheer for and then going either between the strong safety or free safety position we could see try I'm gonna mess this up try quy Bridges transfer from Oregon and again another guy brought in for death a guy with lots of experience as well I believe he's been in the game four five years he's a transfer senior and again a guy that can just help say here's experience at a great program like Oregon with a great defensive mind like Dan Lanning here are things I've learned here are some tips and sometimes guys can help bring those tips and bring that mentorship even if they don't end up starting or whatnot and can help improve the younger guys and the play of those around them so that's the defense I really do think it's going to be better the key to it is just getting out there playing and of course tackling because tackling has been that issue for us for several years now but with that said again thank you everyone who has checked us out thank you to everyone who has shared if you've enjoyed this episode please hit the like button on YouTube if you've also enjoyed it I do hope to get up to 250 subscribers by the time we kick off this season against Miami on August 31st so hit that subscribe button if you've not tell us tell your friends about us and with that said thank you all for listening and as always go Gators [Music] [Music]