Sharif Denson: The Reinvigorator of the Gators STAR Position

Picture: Sharif Denson; Credit score: Brandon Carroll

ORLANDO, Fla. — One of many longest-tenured commits to the Florida Gators 2023 recruiting class, defensive again Sharif Denson, closed his recruitment by formally signing on the dotted line with UF on Dec. 21.

“If you go across the space and also you go to totally different excessive colleges, each coach talks about Sharif Denson and the competitor he’s,” head coach Billy Napier stated that day. “He is a matchup participant. He can play nook. He can play STAR. He’s a competitor. He is going to convey lots to our group.”

As a result of his skills and the necessity for Florida at STAR, the versatile DB will start his profession as a nickel cornerback.

That position has proved to be daunting over the previous 5 seasons at Florida, however Denson accepts the problem if it ends in him seeing the sphere earlier in his profession.

“Wherever I am going in, and I might play first, that is the place I’ll be at,” stated Denson throughout media availability for the UA Subsequent All-America Recreation. “So, if that is that nickel, then I’ll be there.”

In 12 months one of many Dan Mullen regime, Todd Grantham debuted his patent 4-2-5 defensive system that highlighted the fifth DB at nickel cornerback. The spot requested a participant to boast the flexibility to work downhill towards the road of scrimmage and remove area in zone protection as a security would whereas concurrently needing man-to-man protection expertise introduced by a boundary cornerback.

That employees inherited a roster with arguably one of the best match for the area of interest place in Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. He produced at a stage that created excessive expectations for the spot.

In his lone season occupying the STAR, Johnson produced at a career-high fee with 71 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, three sacks, two passes protection, 4 interceptions and two touchdowns. 

Nevertheless, his versatility masked the processing overload that the place calls for of the participant at STAR.

The manufacturing on the place shortly waned when Gardner-Johnson departed to the NFL, the place he is confirmed to be the most effective nickel cornerbacks within the sport for each the Saints and Eagles. He at present leads the league in interceptions this season, with six in 11 video games performed.

The Gators have spent 4 years looking for a alternative, shortly studying that his talent set is not replicated all too usually.

That is evident from the Gators’ struggles as they’ve looked for a alternative. Trey Dean III, Marco Wilson and Tre’Vez Johnson have every been plugged in since, however struggled to fill the void.

When Patrick Toney assumed the reigns in 2022, the place was altered barely to take away a number of the obligations, permitting extra free play. Nevertheless, the change did not have the instant influence some could have anticipated. Toney, because of this, made discovering a real STAR prospect a focus on the path.

Now, arguably for the primary time since its trendy inception at Florida, the Gators have explicitly recruited for the position within the type of Denson.

“Coach Toney acquired an ideal group of fellows,” he stated. “It is a bunch of various guys who can do a bunch of various issues.

“I really feel like we’re a brilliant versatile group, so it is not like he simply recruited a bunch of outdoor corners after which he desires to maneuver us out to totally different positions. Like, he recruited nickels, he recruited safeties, he recruited exterior corners. He recruited the entire again finish, so I really feel like we are able to all work collectively and be good.”

The Gators have discovered who they consider to be the man to rekindle the spark that STAR is meant to supply.

Denson boasts the precise expertise demanded to flourish there, possessing pace, size, the pursuit of the ball within the floor sport, protection expertise and ball-hawking tendencies.

As a former teammate of Johnson on the prep stage, every attending Bartram Path Excessive College in St. Johns, Fla., Denson shared that the 2 have mentioned what enjoying the spot entails, specifically the psychological side of it.

“He is simply telling me to review the playbook as a result of, at nickel, you are sort of setting your self up based mostly on their alignment, so it is advisable to be sure you know the playbook, what you are doing and what your job is.”

That provides to the challenges assuming that position brings. Nevertheless, regardless of the dearth of success since Gardner-Johnson’s departure, Denson is snug in his talents to shine within the spot. He’ll take a day-by-day method to make sure he performs at a excessive stage.

“Each day, I am simply gonna come within the weight room, come into apply, I am simply gonna work laborious and do every little thing I can to be nice,” he stated. “So, if I excel and be the most effective, then that is simply what I’ll be. 

Denson’s principal hurdle — exterior of his acclamation to the collegiate stage, though being deemed “mature and able to go” by Napier — might be placing the mandatory enjoying weight on his 5-foot-11 body.

“I simply really feel just like the challenges for me might be perhaps measurement as a result of I acquired to tackle like the larger blockers,” he stated. “I am gonna be a nickel. I am gonna have to come back to the SEC. However they’re gonna put that weight on me, so I am not too involved about that. Actually, that was my solely concern. We now have numerous assist in [the] slot, so I am good.”

At the moment sitting at a near-game-ready 180 kilos, he appears to eclipse the 185-pound mark earlier than the beginning of his freshman season. He’ll doubtless climb towards the close to 200-pound mark down the highway, given his body to match the imply common {of professional} defensive backs, which hovers at 199 kilos, in line with MockDraftables.com.

In 2023, Denson will doubtless begin because the No. 2 within the room behind Perkins when Florida heads to Salt Lake Metropolis to tackle Utah in week one on account of expertise. Nevertheless, given the promise he presents and the additional time to develop acclimated to the collegiate stage as an early enrollee, Denson will not sit in that reserve position lengthy.

He’ll climb the ladder with the expectation to be the unit’s STAR of the longer term.

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