Know Before You Go: All the Changes—and New Faces—On the No. 13 Florida Gators Defense
Updated: Sep 4, 2021
As the No. 13 Florida Gators kick off their 2021 season on Saturday, the defense is bound to look much different. Since the words “Florida Gators” and “defense” appeared in the same sentence, we know your blood pressure probably just spiked, so we’ll repeat the second part of it again; “the defense is bound to look much different.”
Frankly, it had to because the alternative wasn’t acceptable. After a year in which the defense could only be described as abysmal, taking a unit that had spent the past 10 years in the Top 30 and above, dropping them to 100th in FBS, the defense has no where to go but up. Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham knows that.
While he hasn’t changed his entire coaching style—decades in the coaching ranks creating habit prohibit that—but he’s brought along a defense with a full offseason, something he couldn’t say last fall. And that’s given him confidence once again.
“We feel pretty comfortable, we’ve evaluated everything that we do, we feel comfortable with what we’re doing. The players worked hard today on our first and second-down gameplan, and we’ll continue to add our gameplan as we move forward, and we look forward to playing on Saturday.”
“Whatever he calls, we’re going to go out there and execute,” promised safety Trey Dean III. “He’s going to put his playmakers in positions to make plays, and we’ve just got to go out there and make the play. Like I say, I think he’s the best defensive coordinator in the country. So, he got a lot of tricks in the hat.”
If Grantham is going to work some magic this season, at least he’ll have some new tricks in that hat of his. There are sweeping changes around the Gators defense, courtesy of new faces. As you get ready to watch the Gators kickoff their season, hoping to defended their SEC East title, here’s are the changes to be aware of on the defensive side of the ball.
CORNER AVERY HELM
Avery Helm is a Texas native, but he’s always known where to look for DBU.
“Everybody know that Florida was considered DBU, so I always knew about them. But when I got an offer from them, it was like 'wow.' And then when I took a visit it was somewhere I really wanted to be. So, that's how I ended up here now.”
After ending up at Florida, Helm had enough talent in front of him that the assumption was he’d have time to learn and grow; earn a few stripes before stepping in to start. Then Jaydon Hill tore his ACL in fall camp. All of a sudden, the redshirt freshman Helm was getting the signal; he would need to start opposite Kaiir Elam this fall.
“Avery’s a guy that has really good speed that’s really progressed every time he’s had an opportunity to play,” bragged Grantham this week on his new starting corner. “You like the way he takes scrimmage 1 and the things he did there and improves on scrimmage 2. A really conscientious guy that works hard everyday to be the kind of guy you want, and then obviously being able to have Jason Marshall backing him up. As far as being able to rotate those guys, along with Elijah Blades coming in, we feel like we’ll be able to continue to compete at that spot.”
Helm steps onto the field with another former Gator in the back of his mind, hoping to emulate the gators last defensive All-American.
“I used to always watch Vernon Hargreaves when I was younger, like when I first started playing corner, that's who I used to watch. And he always brings excitement.”
Hargreaves revived a legacy—begun by Janoris Jenkins and Joe Haden—of freshmen dominating at corner for the Gators. Since VH3, C.J. Henderson, Marco Wilson and even Trey Dean III have all shown out as freshmen at corner. Helm, a four-star recruit who picked Florida over Alabama and Arkansas, knows that there will be some baptism by fire at one of the toughest positions on the field. But he has a plan to carry on that tradition.
“You just build,” he told reporters this week, ahead of his first start. “I'm just going to see how the first game goes because it's my first college game that I'm starting off in. Just to see how I start off, and then I'm gonna just learn as I go. It's gonna be an all-in learning experience for me.
“You just go the way the season goes. You just go in at the best you can do, and as long as you're at the best you can do it then you're gonna be good, you're gonna be successful."
STAR TRE’VEZ JOHNSON
The Gators haven’t had the right “unicorn” at star since Chauncey Gardner-Johnson roamed the field in 2018. There was an experiment with Trey Dean that went nowhere. Marco Wilson finished out the 2019 season on a high note at STAR but 2020 was…well, we’ve already discussed that.
Now, the Gators are turning to a young guy who saw ample time on the field as a freshman. Now a true sophomore, Tre’Vez Johnson looks to bring back the tenacious play that is necessary at the nickel STAR spot.
“That’s kind of like a hybrid position so you gotta be able to do a lot of things,” explained Johnson during fall camp. “So I’m just trying to improve my game whether it be covering, whether it be me being in the box tackling, fitting up and being physical. And just watching how Chauncey and other guys in the league doing it at a high level I just try to take a little bit from their game too. But, yeah, it’s not too much of an adjustment. You just gotta stay in there and watch the guys. And really whatever the coach calls, just do your job.”
As a true freshman, the safety played in all 12 games, finishing with 15 tackles, two pass break-ups, one tackle for loss and an interception. He was recruited as a safety, but played closer to the line at times last season as well. It’s a transition that Gardner-Johnson made as well, creating the mold for a competent STAR. The similarities are why Todd Grantham wants the former baseball player in the versatile role.
“Tre’Vez is a guy that you know, really can play multiple positions. You always talk about how can you get your best players on the field. You know he's been able to go through a spring practice and all season, you know, last year he was kind of thrown in the fire, and kind of learned on the run a little bit, but he's a very conscientious guy. He's really worked hard in the offseason to understand the nuances of that position along, along with understanding those things as well as developing in the weight room.
“You know he's a year older, a year more mature. It's allowed him, you know, in his cover skills to be a little bit firmer. So, that position is one that you've got to be able to come up and set the edge on perimeter bubbles, and those kind of things. You got to be able to blitz a little bit, and then you've got to be able to cover. So we obviously asked a lot of him but we feel comfortable with his talents that he'll be able to do those things and we look forward to watching him show his progression as we move forward to the season.”
SAFETY TREY DEAN
Trey Dean has been a corner, a STAR, a backup safety, a benchwarmer, a freshman phenom and veteran letdown. He’s been it all and then some. But he couldn’t leave just yet. He returned for his senior year with a very specific goal in mind.
“I didn’t come back for no reason. The No. 1 goal is to win the national championship, first win the SEC championship. Before that just win the East. It’s going to be great, our crowd is going to play a big factor especially every game, not just the big games, but every game, like I said, nothing like the Swamp.”
Grantham has often talked about the finding ways to get Dean on the field, just to take advantage of his natural talent. But he was put in the wrong position at times. To help the Gators achieve his goal, Dean had to be at his best. And that meant going back to where he previously at his best; at safety.
“First off, it’s really just all God. It’s not a place I’ve never been before, just take it for the team, that’s just a stepping stone to show them my ability, show people what I can do,” predicted Dean.
It’s the position he played in high school, and where he’s most useful, allowing his cerebral approach time to diagnose a play before blowing it up.
“He has all the measurables, size and speed, tremendous energy,” braces secondary coach, Wesley McGriff. “Sometimes you have to tone him down, which is great quality. But to have an opportunity to have a young man like that in your room and coaching him that’s what you live for, that’s what you dream of.
“I’m excited about coaching Trey and watching him take the next step and guess what, Trey’s excited every day about getting better. I mean, he comes to the building ready to work, does a good job in the classroom studying tape, asking questions, so he’s very engaged. You can find him on the practice field because he’s going to give 110 percent every play.”
THE TRANSFERS ON THE LINE
“The two new guys, Daquan Newkirk and [Antonio] Valentino, I thought those guys embraced the role. They stepped in and just took over right from Day 1.
Those were Dan Mullen’s comments at the beginning of fall camp, on his two new transfers on the defensive line. Since then, the Gators struck again in the transfer portal, where they’ve dominated the past couple of years, adding Tyrone Truesdell.
The additions allow Zach Carter to move back to defensive end, where his tall frame—albeit now bulked up slightly from his year on the interior line—and quick get off can get around tackles and into the backfield.
Each guy has the potential to start right away.
ANTONIO VALENTINO
A Penn State transfer, Valentino appeared in 40 games for the Nittany Lions, accumulating 51 tackles (17 solo), 12.5 tackles-for-loss and six sacks. At 6-3, 312, he’s hoping to emulate a former Gator who is already making waves as a rookie with the Green Bay Packers.
“I’ve watched a lot of film on TJ [Slaton],” revealed Valentino during fall camp. “I think our play styles are pretty similar, and I think that TJ was very good in his techniques. TJ was one of those players where, you know obviously he made plays and he got drafted fairly high, he made his plays when he had to make them, but I think where TJ—and where Coach T [David Turner] said TJ made the majority of his money from, is causing disruption.
“Like, TJ wouldn’t make the play but he would make the play. Like if they were zoning to his side, he would stick his foot in the ground and make the running back have to cut back to where the rest of the defense is. So I think I can do things similar to that, it’s just getting 100 percent comfortable with the playbook and anticipating things before they happen and knowing when to react to things.”
Slaton is a great example of a monster lineman, which can be par for the course in the SEC. Valentino joked he used to roll his eye’s at the “SEC bias” in college football while in the Big 10…then he participated in one padded practice with the Gators.
“It was just like, ‘Yo, these dudes is moving, like everybody’s an athlete’. It’s just a superior athlete I guess that you can just find down here. No disrespect to the Big 10 or anything, it’s just one of those things where you just have to see it to understand it.”
The other two Florida defense line transfers have seen it, they do understand it, and it will help them make an immediate impact in Gainesville.
DAQUAN NEWKIRK
An Auburn transfer, the redshirt senior played in 30 games with the Tigers from 2018-20, racking up 40 tackles (12 solo), five for loss, with two and a half sacks. He remembers what it was like to lose in the Swamp as an opponent in 2019, and is excited to be on the other side of the field and closer to home (Orlando).
Still, he knew he couldn’t just stroll in and take a job. He was more than happy to earn it, as he recalled during fall camp.
“I think guys just accepted their roles, honestly,” said Newkirk as to how he and Valentino were able to fit in so quickly. “I know my role in the weight room and that’s what I love. I’m a team player. I’m down to do whatever. If I would have came here and I didn’t win whatever – if I was a backup – that was fine. I’m just coming here to do my role.”
As for what that role will actually be? That can change, depending on whatever is needed at any given time, according to Newkirk.
"I play mainly three-tech, but I play all across the line in different schemes. So, I don't really prefer anywhere, I'm just an everywhere guy. So wherever they want to put me at, I can play it pretty much."
TYRONE TRUESDELL
Newkirk was joined just this week by his former Auburn teammate, Truesdell. The 6-2, 326 lb. defensive lineman can come in and play right away, after only a week of practice. Don’t believe us? Ask Todd Grantham.
“He'll play Saturday, he’ll play Saturday…he was a guy that we were excited about trying to get here, and then we're, you know certainly happy and fortunate that it finally came about and we look forward to watching him play on Saturday.”
A graduate student, Truesdell started his final two seasons on the plains at defensive tackle. Overall, he played in 44 career games with 67 total tackles (30 solo), nine for loss, with two and a half sacks and two fumble recoveries.
“He's a big bodied guy that can give us some stoutness in the middle, allow us to maybe expand some roles of some guys in there, and you know you never can have enough depth at that position as you go through the season,” said Grantham.
For at least right now, depth will be Truesdell’s primary role. His implementation into the line will be staggered, Grantham went on to say, not wanting to cause harm by going too fast. He’ll play on Saturday, but it will begin with limited packages.
“I’m a big believer in as you learn, you learn the concepts. So this, you might have to play this one technique, but it applies to maybe four different defenses, and as you learn that you’re maybe learning three to four concepts, then all the sudden you know eight to 10 defenses and we’ll be fine with that. So it’ll obviously be a limited package with him in there,” explained Grantham.
Truesdell’s experience in the SEC will help, so the DC will work on making him comfortable and letting his instincts go from there.
“We’ll make sure he’s comfortable with it. I’ll make sure I go over the calls with him and make sure he knows exactly what to do and just let him go play and have fun. It’s been a long road for him to get here and we’re certainly excited we can add him to that unit to give it some depth.”
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