Florida Football 2024 Position Preview: Defensive Line

After taking a look at all of Florida’s players on offense, it’s time to check out the defense.

Florida runs a scheme, that often utilizes three defensive linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs. That makes the defensive line a bit tricky to classify because the “EDGE” rushers can play hybrid roles, lining up on the line and as an outside linebacker, depending on the package.

That means most of the “defensive linemen” listed on the roster are interior linemen. Their jobs are to clog holes and stuff the run, rather than going after the quarterback every play.

There are some new faces in the position room, but Cam Jackson and Desmond Watson are two large and familiar faces. Some new guys in town should see the field often, too, with Chris McClellan now with Missouri.

Let’s take a look at every defensive lineman on Florida’s roster. Check out Gators Wire’s other position previews for the 2024 season below.

• Quarterbacks
• Running Backs
• Receivers
• Tight Ends
• Offensive Line (Tackles)
• Offensive Line (Centers and Guards)
• Linebackers

Starting Nose Tackle: No. 99 Cam Jackson (R-Sr.)

Defensive Stats:

Year	GP	SOLO	AST	TOT	TFL	SACKS	FF	FR
2020*	3	0	1	1	0.0	0.0	0	0
2021*	4	6	3	9	2.5	1.5	0	0
2022*	13	19	22	41	2.5	1.0	0	0
2023	11	18	14	32	0.5-1	0-0	0	0
Total	31	43	40	83	6-16	2.5-10	0	0

*  = while at Memphis

[autotag]Cam Jackson[/autotag] is the incumbent starting nose tackle at Florida, and he might be the only player locked into his role before the season starts. Pro Football Focus graded Jackson the highest of any Florida defensive linemen a year ago, with an overall grade of 71.3.

A deeper look reveals that Jackson was much better against the run last season, though. His run-defense grade of 76.3 is significantly better than his pass-rush grade of 59.7, and there’s some work to be done on tackling (59.2).

As the team’s best run defender, Jackson will be the go-to at nose tackle this season. With a year of SEC ball under his belt, the hope is that he’ll increase his snap count from the 281 plays he was on the field for last year.

Starting Defensive End: No. 97 Joey Slackman (Gr.)

Defensive Stats:

Year	GP	SOLO	AST	TOT	TFL	SACKS	FF	FR
2021*	9	6	10	16	3.5-8	2.5-6	1	0
2022*	10	27	22	49	9.5-35	4.5-26	1	0
2023*	9	23	27	50	12-48	4-30	0	0
Total	28	56	59	115	25-91	11-62	2	0

[autotag]Joey Slackman[/autotag] transferred to Florida from Penn during the offseason, and he’s expected to play a significant role for the Gators this year. Billy Napier gushed over Slackman during fall camp, noting the impact he has on the unit.

In fact, Slackman was a guy that the rest of the players wanted Florida to go and get. He’s a leader and veteran of the college game, which provides some stability for the younger guys still finding their footing.

“Look, I’m a Joey Slackman guy,” Napier said. “I think Joey brings maturity and an awareness (to the team). I think he’s extremely bright and he’s motivated, he’s driven, he’s a self-starter and he’s an alpha. I think he does a great job. He brings other things besides being a 6-3, 315-pound athlete to the table.”

From a numbers standpoint, Slackman was more productive than Jackson over the past three years, albeit in a weaker conference. If Slackman can come close to the 90.7 defensive grade he earned from PFF last year, Florida has itself a bonafide SEC starter.

Starting Defensive Tackle: No. 88 Caleb Banks (R-Jr.)

Defensive Stats:

Year	GP	SOLO	AST	TOT	TFL	SACKS	FF	FR
2022*	6	1	1	2	1-3	1-3	1	0
2023	12	7	12	19	1.5-11	1-10	0	0
Total	18	8	13	21	2.5-14	2-13	1	0

* = while at Louisville

Next up is redshirt junior [autotag]Caleb Banks[/autotag], who led the position room with 364 snaps a year ago. His 69.8 overall defensive grade was the second-highest for Florida behind Jackson, but Banks offers a different skill set than the other two starters mentioned above.

The 2023 Lousiville transfer is a strong tackler (72.3) and an even better pass rusher (74.2), which means defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong will find ways to get him on the field. The defensive line is a bit of a rotational unit anyway, so the starter tag isn’t everything here.

“(Banks) got significant experience last year. He played around I think it’s 300 plus plays, got banged up a little bit at times in the second half of the season. So, yeah, he’s on a mission. This guy’s got traits. He’s 6-5-and-three-quarters, 320 (pounds) and he’s learned a lot.”

Sometimes, all three of these linemen will be on the field. At other times, Florida could opt to run an edge-heavy set. It all depends on what the offense is showing, but this is the core of the position room.

Backup: No. 21 Desmond Watson (Sr.)

Defensive Stats:

Year	GP	SOLO	AST	TOT	TFL	SACKS	FF	FR
2021	5	2	5	7	0.5-1	0.0	0	0
2022	13	8	17	25	1.5-3	0.0	1	1
2023	12	3	8	11	1-8	1-8	0	0
Total	38	13	30	43	3-12	1-8	1	1

Fan-favorite [autotag]Desmond Watson[/autotag] is the true backup of the group here.

At nearly 450 pounds, Watson’s conditioning can be an issue at times, but he still overpowers most linemen in front of him when he’s on the field. He’s an asset on the goal line and other short-yardage situations, but he’ll be lucky to see more than 200 snaps this year.

Over 175 snaps in 2023, Watson earned a 64.8 defensive grade from PFF, which breaks down to 65.9 as a run defender and 58.8 as a pass rusher. It’s clear which role Watson thrives in most. Now the coaches have to utilize him accordingly.

Injured: No. 95 Jamari Lyons (R-So.)

Defensive Stats:

Year	GP	SOLO	AST	TOT	TFL	SACKS	FF	FR
2022	3	0	2	2	0-0	0-0	0	0
2023	12	10	10	20	2.5-7	0-0	0	0
Total	15	10	12	22	2.5-7	0-0	0	0

[autotag]Jamari Lyons[/autotag] entered fall camp in line to be a major contributor on Florida’s defensive line, but a broken ankle suffered during the first scrimmage of the season is going to keep him sidelined for the rest of the year.

Lyons played nearly 200 snaps as a redshirt freshman in 2023, earning a 64.9 defensive grade from PFF. He was the unit’s best tackler (81.0) by far, and he was the second-highest graded run defender (71.2) on the roster.

Losing Lyons before the season starts is significant, and the rest of the team knows it. Now it’s about rallying behind their brother and filling a large hole left by the injury.

“We have a number of players who have been through injuries in the past, and I think it’ll be important for those guys to help Jamari because Jamari is one of our best. He really cares,” Napier said. “It was really inspirational, to some degree, because the entire team was on the field, which I’ve never seen in my entire coaching career.”

“A guy gets hurt and everybody knows it’s a pretty good injury, but we’ve got all 132 are on the spot there to support him as he rode off the field.”

Freshmen: No. 35 D’Antre Robinson (Fr.) and No. 93 Michai Boireau

There are two first-year players in Florida’s defensive line room, [autotag]Michai Boireau[/autotag] and [autotag]D’Antre Robinson[/autotag].

Robinson was the more highly-touted recruit coming out of high school, earning a fourth star from three of the four major services, but Napier has hinted at Boireau seeing the field first.

Both were mentioned as guys who are competing for time now that Lyons is out of the cards.

JUCO Transfers: No. 33 Brien Taylor Jr. (Jr.) and No. 96 Tarvorise Brown (R-Fr.)

Florida added some depth to its defensive line room over the offseason by adding a pair of junior college transfers, [autotag]Tarvorise Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Brien Taylor Jr[/autotag].

Brown has received more hype than Taylor over the offseason, but he’s not expected to see the field a ton in 2024. He made no appearances at Hutchinson College before redshirting and transferring and is an early addition thanks to a reclassification.

The original plan was for him to join the team next year, but Florida was able to get him on campus sooner. Training at an SEC facility for a year should help Brown progress faster in the long term but don’t expect much from him this year.

“He just kind of fell in our lap, to some degree,” Napier said. “We were recruiting him for January and then found out he was a qualifier and then it just ended up working out.

“So far, so good. I think the reps he’s taken, he’s proved to have all the functional movement, the power, the length. I mean, he’s a good athlete. … I think he’ll prove to be a good evaluation.”

Taylor is a bit of a hybrid player who is moving from the F position out on the edge to the interior. He was with the EDGEs in the spring but has since moved rooms to work with defensive line coach Gerald Chatman.

Throughout his two years at Blinn College, Taylor split time between the edge and interior, so this transition shouldn’t be too difficult.

Walk-Ons: No. 61 Nicolas Flynn (R-So.) and No. 92 Sebastian Scott (R-Fr.)

Finally, the program has two walk-on players in the position room — redshirt sophomore Nicolas Flunn and redshirt freshman Sebastian Scott.

Flynn is entering his third season at Florida, all of which have come under Billy Napier. He has yet to make his collegiate debut. Flynn prepped at Lake Forest High in Illinois.

Scott joined the team in the summer of 2023 after playing prep ball at Cardinal Newman High in West Palm Beach. He made no appearances in his first year with the Gators.