Written by: By Bob Redman aka Hollywood Bob
There were things that everyone wanted to see coming out of the first spring at the University of Florida under head coach Billy Napier. Not much focus was put on the tight ends. As spring ended and during the spring game that culminated last Thursday, the tight ends ended up being a pretty big story for Florida.
To put it in perspective, the tight end room started the spring with four scholarship players. Three of them had seen very little playing time. Junior Keon Zipperer is the only one who played a bunch in the last couple of years.
In the first week of spring, Florida lost one tight end in Gage Wilcox. He gave up football and went back home to Tampa. Then, sophomore Jonathan Odom and redshirt freshman Nick Elksnis were both lost to injuries very early.
Some moves had to be made. As it turns out, walk-on Noah Keeter moved from the defensive side of the ball to play tight end just before the start of spring. After the loss of Wilcox and the injuries, former tight end-turned-defensive end Dante Zanders made the switch back to tight end to help. Defensive tackle Griffin McDowell is in his third position in a Gator uniform and moved to tight end as well because of the injuries.
New tight ends coach William Peagler and tight end analyst Ty Darlington made the best of it throughout the spring dealing with all the hurdles.
“It is what it is,” Peagler said just a few days before the spring game. “It’s football, you’re gonna have some guys getting nicked up, but I’ve been proud of the guys that we have and the guys that have stepped over and made plays for us.”
There was no self-pity from the staff about the injuries and defections. Instead, they facilitated what looks to be crafty moves when all was said and done.
“The good news for us is even though we’ve had some injuries and things of that nature, we’ve been able to get other guys from the other side of the ball,” Peagler said. “It might not be the exact guy that we want in that spot, but we’ve been able to still have the same type of practice and all that stuff throughout spring ball.”
The result of the moves was pretty remarkable in terms of the group’s production in the spring. The results in the spring game were a bit surprising. Peagler, who was Football Svoop’s running back coach of the year in college football a year ago at Michigan State, has really done a great job as the tight end coach at Florida.
Zanders and Keeter led the victorious blue team in the spring game catching eight passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. Keeter had the longest pass reception in the contest at 29 yards. Zipperer played for the orange team. He caught two passes, and his longest was 28 yards, just behind Keeter. The position really showed up when not many thought it would. The tight end group as a whole led the way in the passing game.
“That’s a significant stat right there,” head coach Billy Napier said after the game.
That was the first of Napier’s many compliments for the group.
“I think first thing I would say is Dante Zanders — you can immediately see where he’s got a future,” he said. “I can’t compliment him enough. I mean he’s been the story of the spring. Heck, we hit three scholarship tight ends injured, out for the spring three, four, five practices in. We moved him over from defense, and the guy picked it up quickly. He did the extra. I mean he was in. I saw him around the facility more than some of the coaches. He was in there grinding away. And he has ability.
“I mean the guy’s 6’ 5” and a quarter, he’s 260 pounds, he’s loose, he can transition, he’s got good ball skills. Most importantly he’s smart and he’s consistent. The guy is heavy-handed at the point of attack. I mean, he’s a God-send. Not only did he make the move, that guy running out there is going to make a lot of plays for us. Extremely pleased with Dante.”
Florida signed three tight ends out of high school that will be here for fall practice. They will get the two back from injury and now have others who they really were not expecting. That room went from a huge deficiency a week or so into practice to a position they can count on in the fall. They should get their chances to show what they can do.
“I think the big thing for the tight ends (in this offense) is the ability to play big personnel groupings, but also spread it out,” Peagler said. “I think so many times when people see 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends), they assume it’s all gonna be in the box, and you’re just gonna run the football just now. To really be a good efficient offense in 12 personnel, it’s whenever you can spread it out and throw the football vertically down the field. That’s where you can really challenge people on all levels.”