Gators TE Kemore Gamble misses hog on hunting trip, vows to ‘catch one’

Would you want your starting tight end wrestling 150-pound hogs with a knife before his breakout season begins?

Hog hunting is not a typical addition to most tight ends’ preseason workout regimens, but Florida’s Kemore Gamble took on the dangerous challenge this summer with teammate Jonathan Odom.

Gamble spoke on Monday about the experience and it served as somewhat of a metaphor for the starting tight end’s upcoming season. He spent the trip eager to catch a hog but “missed” when he got his chance. After dropping three passes in the Cotton Bowl to close out a season behind Kyle Pitts, Gamble looks to his own breakout season in 2021 and his mental fortitude doesn’t seem weak right now.

“Yeah, I’ll catch one,” Gamble said to The Athletic when asked about trying again for a hog. “I ain’t scared.”

While the fearlessness bodes well for Florida’s offense in the upcoming season, it’s perhaps not the best stance when it comes to hunting 5-foot-long, 150-pound animals with a knife. One may think that coaches would ridicule such high-risk activities before the season, but tight ends coach Tim Brewster is nothing but high on his group.

“You’d be hard-pressed in America to have a better, more complete tight end room than what I have,” Brewster said. “… Kemore Gamble’s going to be the best tight end in the SEC. What do you think about that?”

Brewster’s confidence in life after Pitts for Florida is perhaps overplayed but also encouraging. Gamble didn’t drop a pass during the regular season last year and got a 30-yard touchdown from Emory Jones for one of his three scores on the year. Gamble look poised for a breakout season after being in the shadow of the highest-drafted tight end in history and he’s not afraid to let people know.

“Kyle Pitts is Kyle Pitts and I’m Kemore Gamble,” he said.

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