Tag: Antonio Valentino

Here’s where the Gators defensive line ranks in the SEC

The Gators defense is looking to recover after a rough 2020. The defensive line’s health will be key to the team’s success.

Florida’s defensive line has drummed up some excitement during fall training camp, and The Athletic has them fifth in the Southeastern Conference in a recent analysis of the unit.

The Gators enter the season with a four-player rotation of Zachary Carter, Gervon Dexter, Daquan Newkirk and Antonio Valentino. Carter opted to come back to the team despite being NFL-ready, and Newkirk and Valentino came over through the transfer portal with Power 5 experience. Dexter, who played in all 12 games as a true freshman last season, is looking to make a big leap in his fourth season of organized football.

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The concern lies in the unit’s depth. Beyond those four, the options are mostly young players who still need development to compete with SEC offensive linemen. Carter had to fill in up the middle last year and it hurt his production. That adds more pressure to Valentino and Newkirk to perform but the two have impressed in fall so far.

Staying healthy will be key. Any one of the four men going down with a serious injury may cause the defensive end rotation to fall apart, which The Athletic describes as the “worst-case scenario” for Florida. The “best-case scenario” is if “Carter capitalizes on his all-conference potential, Dexter becomes a monster, and the transfers deliver career-best production.”

Ahead of Florida are Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and LSU. The Tigers are in a comparable situation to the Gators as they look to bounce back from a rough 2020.

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Antonio Valentino looks to be an anchor for the defensive line in 2021

Valentino fills one of the biggest roster holes and should start at defensive tackle this season.

Name: Antonio Valentino

Number: 55

Position: Defensive Tackle

Class: Redshirt Senior

Height: 6’3″

Weight: 312 pounds

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

High School: Westerville-North

Previous School: Penn State

Twitter: @_groovy55

2020 statistics:

TOT SOLO SACK FF PD
14 5 3.5 1 1

Overview:

Originally a three-star recruit from Columbus, Ohio, Valentino didn’t get an offer from the hometown Ohio State Buckeyes. Instead, he committed to his most high-profile offer and joined OSU’s Big Ten rival, Penn State. With the Nittany Lions, he was a rotational defensive lineman (and later a starter).

He’s appeared in 40 games, making 10 starts, and totaled 51 tackles (12.5 for loss) and six sacks. He redshirted his first year in 2016 but appeared in six games the following year. He appeared in every game in 2018 as a redshirt sophomore, and he has seen starting action the last two seasons.

With his 3.5 sacks in a shortened 2020 season, he was named an All-Big Ten honorable mention. Following the season, he elected to enter the transfer portal as a graduate, and he landed with a UF team that desperately needs help on the interior of the defensive line.

Along with fellow graduate transfer Daquan Newkirk from Auburn, Valentino is expected to be a starter at defensive tackle in his final season of eligibility in 2021.

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Florida defensive tackle Antonio Valentino is adjusting to life in the SEC

After playing his first few seasons in Big Ten country, Florida defensive tackle Antonio Valentino is adjusting to life in the SEC.

New Florida defensive tackle Antonio Valentino (formerly reported here at Gators Wire under the surname Shelton) didn’t know much about the SEC growing up in Columbus, Ohio. He also couldn’t name any Florida player besides Keiwan Ratliff, who came from Columbus, too. However, as he got older and played his first few seasons at Penn State, the SEC started to dominate the college football landscape. Valentino remembers when Alabama, LSU and the Gators chanting “SEC! SEC! SEC!” when they won their national championships and didn’t understand their love for the conference.

But after enrolling at Florida, he quickly learned.

“I really saw it when we put pads on in the spring, and it was just like, ‘Yo, these dudes is moving, like everybody’s an athlete,” Valentino said, according to GatorsTerritory. “It’s just a superior athlete I guess that you can just find down here. No disrespect to the Big 10 or anything, it’s just one of those things where you just have to see it to understand it. All the SEC bias and everything they talk about in this conference is 100 percent accurate. It’s 110 percent accurate, and I haven’t even played in an SEC game yet.”

He said after playing in environments like the Big House in Michigan, The Horseshoe in Columbus and Beaver Stadium in Happy Valley that he looks forward to visiting Death Valley to play LSU the most.

Valentino also didn’t know there was a school located in Gainesville, Florida until he spoke to defensive line coach David Turner. Valentino said after he entered the NCAA transfer portal a 352 area code popped up on his phone.

“I was like, what’s in Gainesville? I didn’t know where UF was,” he said. “I picked it up and it was Coach T (Turner).”

He made his decision quickly because the message was simple. Florida said it needed a veteran or two on the defensive line.

Valentino and Daquan Newkirk should help the Gators defense be more formidable against the running game this fall.

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