Caleb Brantley / redshirt junior / 6-foot-2 / 297 pounds
By Ian Cohen
After Al Smith was introduced as Crescent City High’s new football coach in a crowded gym in 2012, Caleb Brantley was the first person to shake his hand.
Smith had coached two former Florida athletes — running back Mike Gillislee and De’Ante ‘Pop’ Saunders, and Brantley wanted an offer from UF.
“He was very eager to know what I would have him doing,” Smith said. “It panned out pretty good.”
Brantley was a four-star recruit in Florida’s 2013 recruiting class, and, three years later, the redshirt junior is projected as a first-round NFL Draft pick.
But, on the stat sheet, he isn’t playing like one.
Brantley averages just 1.6 tackles per game this season, tied for 13th on the team.
He has just eight total tackles this year, one sack and two tackles for loss.
Compare that to Jonathan Bullard (Brantley’s former mentor and now a member of the Chicago Bears) after the same amount of games last year, and the discrepancy between the two is evident.
Bullard had 4.5 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and 26 total tackles after five games.
Still, Brantley’s teammates and coaches believe that he’ll turn his season around.
Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said before the season began that Brantley can be the most dominant defensive lineman in the country, and his peers along the line agree.
But with just six games remaining on UF’s schedule, time is running out for Brantley to leave his mark on the program.
Q&A with Crescent City High School Coach Al Smith
IC: What was the most athletic thing you’ve ever seen Caleb Brantley do?
AS: “He made a one-handed catch one time in practice. You couldn't tell that he wasn’t a tight end because he made a spectacular catch. He wasn’t a big ‘ol fat, stumblin-around lineman.”
IC: What’s your best Caleb Brantley story?
AS: “My offensive line and defensive line coach took him hunting, him and a couple other linemen. They were driving the truck in the woods, and one of the coaches decided to scare him and tell him there was a bear or something in the woods. And then they cut the truck off and acted like the truck had stalled out, and the lights had went off. And the coaches were telling the kids, ‘hey, there’s a bear in the woods.’ There were kids on the back of the truck, and they didn’t have any guns. That was with the coaches in the front of the pickup truck. So they were back there laying down, hoping that the bear wouldn’t see them or smell them. And one of the coaches had crept out of the window and rocked us out of the truck like he was the bear. Caleb yelled and hollered and jumped on top of the cab of the truck and tried to stand on top of the truck trying to get away from the bear. It would take one of my lineman coaches to tell you. They probably told it funnier than I did. I could picture him doing that though.”
IC: What does Brantley’s future look like?
AS: “I think he can definitely be a first rounder, to be honest with you. Big legs, very explosive lower body, great upper body strength, good knowledge of the game. A hardcore competitor. He hates to lose. You don’t like to lose? Dang, he doesn’t like to lose a play. He doesn’t like to lose a drill. He doesn’t like to lose at all. That helps when you got a kid like that in there.”
• • •
Jordan Sherit / redshirt junior / 6-foot-4 / 254 pounds
By Jordan McPherson
Injuries hindered Jordan Sherit’s ability to produce during his first three seasons with the Gators. A torn ACL late in his senior year of high school delayed his timetable for getting on the field at UF. Another injury in 2014 kept him on the sidelines for three of Florida’s final four games before he showed a glimpse of his talent in 2015.
And this year, almost like clockwork, the injury bug hit him again. Sherit had his knee scoped last week and will be out for the immediate future, including Saturday’s homecoming game against Missouri.
But before the injury, Sherit was on the verge of a breakout season, finally unleashing the potential coaches saw from him during his All-American high school days.
Five games into the season, the redshirt junior is second on the team with a career-high three sacks and fourth with 20 tackles, eight fewer than his total heading into the season.
He’s quick off the edge and his high football IQ helps him anticipate plays before they begin, but Sherit makes his statement in the film room. He’s learned the playbook inside and out and scouts each opponent with precision, pinpointing their weaknesses and ensuring he can put himself in the best position to make a play.
When Sherit is on the field, he’s disruptive, a potentially unstoppable force. He just needs to find a way to stay on the field.
Quick Facts:
Sherit has started in Florida’s season opener each of the last two years. He recorded seven tackles in those games.
Sherit’s first (and only) sacks prior to this season came in the Gators’ 24-14 win against South Carolina last year. In the third quarter, he and fellow defensive lineman Jon Bullard sacked South Carolina quarterback Perry Orth on third-and-5, forcing the Gamecocks to punt. One drive later, Sherit notched his first solo sack. Brantley sat out the first half of that game because of a targeting penalty the week before.
A four-star recruit out of Tampa Hillsborough High, Sherit was the third-highest rated defensive line recruit in Florida’s 2013 recruiting class, according to 247sports.com’s composite rankings.
Sherit’s nickname on the team is “Papo,” according to defensive lineman Caleb Brantley.
Coaches’ Praise:
Defensive line coach Chris Rumph: “I tell all the younger guys, all the defensive ends, I say, ‘If you want to see how it’s done, if want to become really good, then study Jordan Sherit.’ He’s that guy. You look at him, he’s nothing flashy. His name doesn’t come up when you talk about the guys, the cover of the magazines, the cover out here. This guy just continues to make plays and just go about it, go to work. He’s a typical blue-collar guy and I love him to death.”
Defensive Coordinator Geoff Collins: “Jordan is a guy that knows the defense inside and out. He can basically play any position that we need across the front four. Probably if we need him to play linebacker, he can do that.”
Head coach Jim McElwain: “Jordan has obviously played a ton but had that injury bug kind of hit him a couple times. His stability, his knowledge of the game and what we expect to be done through the discipline of his play is outstanding.”
• • •
Jabari Zuniga / redshirt freshman / 6-foot-3 / 245 pounds
By Ethan Bauer
Ross Comis dropped back and watched as Florida’s defenders pushed his linemen behind him.
The UMass quarterback stepped up, trying to avoid the rush.
But Jabari Zuniga was waiting for him.
The redshirt freshman defensive lineman wrapped Comis up and dropped him, taking a moment to tower over him in triumph. It was his first-career sack.
For Zuniga, the sack came after a year of waiting. When he arrived at UF, his body — a year younger than most true freshmen — wasn’t ready for college football. So he sat out.
Similarly, his high school football career also started out without much fanfare.
When approached by Georgia’s Sprayberry High School coach William Shackelford as a freshman, Zuniga wasn’t interested in playing football. He wanted to play basketball instead.
And while Shackelford eventually convinced him to join the team, Zuniga wasn’t a blue-chipper as soon as he put on pads.
“The first year, he wasn’t very good,” Shackelford said. “But you could tell there was something in there about him. You could just tell.”
Once he grew three inches between his junior and senior year, college coaches could tell too.
“He sprouted up,” UF linebackers coach Randy Shannon said. “It was like, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. Who’s this guy?’”
After finding his way to UF and sitting out his first year, Zuniga’s five sacks so far this season are a team-best and tie him for third in the Southeastern Conference.
Shackelford said he always knew Zuniga was destined for such numbers, adding that his performance at Florida was not unforeseen.
“I’m proud,” he said. “I’m not surprised.”
Quotable:
Defensive lineman CeCe Jefferson:
“Jabari, he’s the silent assassin. He’s that guy, he’s not going to say too much. He ain’t gonna say nothin at all. He’s just going to walk around like ‘What’s up, bro?’ *turns head* ‘What’s up?’ give you a little what’s up and go on about his business. He’s a quiet killer, but once he gets on that field, it’s over. I like that guy to break out this year.”
Coach Jim McElwain:
“He’s kind of grown into an actual man.”
Defensive line coach Chris Rumph:
“If you’ve ever seen this guy with his shirt off, I have a rule: He cannot take his shirt off in front of my wife. I mean this guy is yoked up. My wife’s around, his shirt is on.”
High school coach William Shackelford:
“If he would’ve had one more year, he could’ve been one of the top kids in the United States. He really had that kind of potential.”
• • •
CeCe Jefferson / sophomore / 6-foot-1 / 261 pounds
By Patrick Pinak
Florida’s defensive line is deep.
Deep enough to keep CeCe Jefferson’s power and athleticism from starting for much of this season.
The sophomore has been used primarily as a defensive tackle behind the unit’s leader, junior Caleb Brantley. He was relatively quiet playing inside, racking up four tackles through UF’s first four games.
But against Vanderbilt, he broke out when he moved outside.
The Glen St. Mary native tallied three tackles and added three run stops on 22 run stops, according to Pro Football Focus. And while it doesn’t appear in the box score, he put pressure on Commodores quarterback Kyle Shurmur in the 13-6 win.
UF coach Jim McElwain had high praise for Jefferson after the Vanderbilt performance.
“Man, this guy just brought some energy to the game,” McElwain said. “You want to talk about a guy that doesn’t play with any pressure, he just goes and plays.”
What has helped Jefferson see action is his versatility and high-energy play.
The 6-foot-1, 261-pounder slid over and manned defensive end in Nashville to fill the hole left by Jordan Sherit, who was sidelined with a leg injury. And with Sherit and nose tackle Joey Ivie out indefinitely with a hand injury, Florida will look to Jefferson even more.
Senior Bryan Cox, who also played limited snap along Florida’s banged up defensive line against Vanderbilt, knows how valuable Jefferson is.
“He can play it all,” Cox said. “You know, he can play inside, outside. It doesn’t matter.”
Quick Facts:
If you ask McElwain, CeCe Jefferson’s name isn’t CeCe. It’s Carl. McElwain has raved about Jefferson using his alias throughout press conferences and after games this year, but none was more apparent than after the Vanderbilt game. “I wish we had more Carls because Carl enjoys it,” McElwain said. “He loves being a Gator and he's proud to be a Gator and he plays with such energy and has so much fun doing it and he's like that at practice. We've got a lot of guys who can take a lesson or two from Carl."
A highly recruited prospect in high school, Jefferson has always had natural gifts on the field. That goes back to his very first varsity football game with Baker County High against Westminster in Carrolton, Georgia. On his first snap as a freshman, Jefferson darted around the edge and lit up the Westminster quarterback as he released the ball. “The quarterback pretty much did a 360 flip,” then Baker County coach Ryan Sulkowski said. From that point on, Sulkowski said he knew Jefferson was special.
Before Jefferson was pulverizing Division I quarterbacks and running backs in The Swamp, he was pitted against top-caliber offensive lineman in high school. As a sophomore, Jefferson went head-to-head with Lake City’s Laremy Tunsil, who starred at Ole Miss before the Miami Dolphins took him in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Jefferson, however, held his own. “They went 50-50,” Sulkowski said. “He got the best of Laremy more than a few times.”
What always stood out about Jefferson was his character and maturity. Sulkowski remembers one specific moment during his junior year that stands out. Baker County was losing by a good margin to Camden County High in Kingsland, Georgia. Jefferson sacked the opposing quarterback and celebrated. The following Sunday, Sulkowski told Jefferson he looked foolish because his team was losing so badly. Jefferson took the point to heart. “He looked at us, and this is how you know you have a mature kid,” Sulkowski said, “and he said, ‘Coach, you’re right. That will never happen again.’”
As feared and opposing Jefferson looks lined up on the line of scrimmage, he’s quite the opposite off the field. The wide-smiled Jefferson was on a recruiting trip with Sulkowski in Los Angeles during the summer of his junior year when he showed his softer side. Sulkowski said he and Jefferson walked past a stuffed animal machine at USC, and Jefferson asked his coach to get one for his girlfriend at the time. Sulkowski couldn’t say no to him. “I hate to say it about a D-Lineman,” Sulkowski said. “But he’s a sweetheart.”
From left: Florida defensive linemen Caleb Brantley, Jordan Sherit, Jabari Zuniga and CeCe Jefferson.
