NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jalen Tabor celebrated after grabbing the interception. It was the first time in a while he had anything to celebrate about.
It came in the first quarter of Florida’s 13-7 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday, and it marked the return of a dominant UF defense that went absent against Tennessee.
But while Tabor started it, it was Florida’s younger players who solidified the defensive effort.
“They're acting like veterans out there,” redshirt junior defensive tackle Caleb Brantley said. “We're doing a good job of bringing them along and they're doing a good job of coming along and staying in their playbook and staying ready."
A week after allowing 498 yards of offense to Tennessee, Florida limited Vanderbilt to 265. That effort started up front with Brantley even with a completely new supporting cast around him.
Starting defensive lineman Joey Ivie was out with a hand injury. In his place was redshirt sophomore Khairi Clark. And at the end spots — sports normally occupied by upperclassmen Jordan Sherit and Bryan Cox — a pair of sophomores in Keivonnis Davis and CeCe Jefferson started.
Despite registering only four tackles, coach Jim McElwain praised Jefferson — who he calls “Carl” — heavily after the game.
“Carl's great,” he said. “He's fun… 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."
In addition to Jefferson and Davis, redshirt freshman Jabari Zuniga and true freshmen Jachai Polite also saw significant minutes.
Zuniga picked up his team-leading fifth sack in the effort, while Polite — who had been playing defensive end but moved inside against Vanderbilt — registered one tackle.
Antonneous Clayton, meanwhile, saw the first action of his college career against the Commodores. Florida’s No. 1-recruit in the class of 2016 didn’t register any stats, though his role was limited to a third-down pass rusher.
“These young guys came out and they stepped up and they showed that they can play ball just as well as those other guys,” linebacker Jarrad Davis, who led the Gators with 15 tackles, said. “They came out. They did their thing.”
But even with the emergence of the underclassmen, McElwain was still moderately upset with his defense — a defense that registered a pair of interceptions and sacks.
“I don't think we played physical up front…” he said. “I think they out-physicaled us in all phases."
It wasn’t too inspiring given that Vanderbilt entered Saturday’s game ranked 120th nationally in total offense. And with a game against LSU coming up next week, he knows there’s corrections to be made.
Quarterback Austin Appleby, however, believes that even if it’s not perfect, UF’s defense is still elite.
“Thank God we’ve got the best defense in the country to bail us out,” he said.
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Marcus Maye (20) points to the crowd in celebration during Florida's 13-6 win over Vanderbilt on Oct. 1, 2016, at Vanderbilt Stadium.
