Florida’s leader on the defensive line over the past two seasons, defensive tackle [autotag]Zachary Carter[/autotag], is headed to the Cincinnati Bengals, who selected the former Gator with the 95th overall pick in the third round of the 2022 NFL draft.
That makes him the second UF alumnus to come off the board in the draft behind cornerback [autotag]Kaiir Elam[/autotag], who was taken by the Buffalo Bills with the 23rd pick overall. NFL.com projected Carter as an early fourth-rounder and many expected his teammate, running back [autotag]Dameon Pierce[/autotag], to be taken ahead of him, but the Bengals wanted their guy on Friday night.
Carter signed with the Gators as a four-star recruit out of Hillsborough High in Tampa. He was ranked No. 130 overall in the class of 2017 and No. 3 at strongside defensive end. After redshirting in his freshman year, Carter saw glimpses of the field in 2018 as a reserve defensive lineman and special teams guy. He wouldn’t become a regular player on the defense until 2019.
As a redshirt sophomore, Carter appeared in all 13 games for Florida, starting two of them against Vanderbilt and Missouri. He finished with a then-career-high 4.5 sacks and 7.0 tackles for loss. Carter finally got a regular starting role in 2020 playing 11 games at defensive tackle.
He came into 2021 as the unquestioned leader of the defensive line and quickly backed it up with a three-sack game against Florida Atlantic. That level of production didn’t quite hold up, but Carter finished the season with eight sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
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