Tag: Jonathan Odom

Gators TE Nick Elksnis plans to enter transfer portal

Another Gator is headed to the transfer portal. Tight end Nick Elksnis, a class of 2021 signee, is leaving the program after two seasons.

Florida tight end [autotag]Nick Elksnis[/autotag] became the second Gator in as many days to announce his plans to enter the transfer portal. Elksnis took to Twitter to announce his transfer, but he’ll have to wait until Dec. 5 to officially enter the portal.

Elksnis, a former three-star prospect from the class of 2021 according to 247Sports, was on the field for just 61 snaps over two years at the University of Florida. Injuries have limited him this season and kept him sidelined since Week 5. The specifics of his injury aren’t known to the general public, but the injury report does indicate it’s an upper-body issue.

Elksnis should get some looks from elite programs now that he’s officially stepping away from the program. He fielded offers from Florida State, Miami, Michigan and Tennessee among others as a prep player.

Florida’s tight end situation has been dire all year, and those problems date back to the spring when Elksnis suffered a broken scapula that didn’t require surgery to heal. After Elksnis went down in the spring, so did [autotag]Jonathan Odom[/autotag], leaving Florida with very few tight ends to work with. That’s part of the reason [autotag]Dante Zanders[/autotag] shifted positions, and it took until the South Carolina game to see any production from Odom.

Most of Elksnis’ snaps came in a special teams role, so it’s easy to see why he’s moving on from the program. He joins a growing list of Gators that plan on entering the portal in December, and he likely won’t be the last to leave the program. Billy Napier expected some attrition after his first year at the program, and he likely has a plan to replace whatever talent departs.

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2022 Florida Football Season Preview: Tight Ends

Florida’s tight end room has seen a complete overhaul since the end of last season. Here’s a look at the group heading into 2022.

Next up in Gators Wire’s position-by-position breakdown of the 2022 Florida Gators football roster is the tight end room.

Last year’s starter [autotag]Kemore Gamble[/autotag] was one of the many players that left the team via the transfer portal. While he suits up for the UCF Knights this season, the Gators will test out some new names at the position. Senior [autotag]Keon Zipperer[/autotag] is the returning player in the room with the most experience, but a trio of defensive players made the switch to tight end after two others went down with an injury in the spring.

Billy Napier added a pair of tight ends in the 2022 recruiting cycle too, so there’s plenty of depth on the team at this point. The big task for Napier will be to figure out which players deserve the most playing time. Most of these guys are relatively unproven, and Napier likes to run a lot of two-tight-end sets to engage the run game.

There seems to be a clear first and second team in place as the season draws near, but an injury or two could give some rotational pieces an opportunity to shine.

Here’s a look at the nine tight ends listed on the 2022 Florida Gators fall roster.

See also:

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Quarterbacks

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Running Backs

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Wide Receivers

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Offensive Line

Florida’s TE room just got tighter after ‘potentially career-ending’ injury

Terrible news for Gators fans and Gage Wilcox. We hope the best for the young man.

The tight end position has been an area where Florida football is running thin this spring and things just took a turn for the worst on Thursday. Head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] announced that redshirt freshman [autotag]Gage Wilcox[/autotag] suffered what he called a “potentially career-ending” injury during an early practice, joining redshirt freshman tight end [autotag]Nick Elksnis[/autotag] and sophomore tight end [autotag]Jonathan Odom[/autotag] in the medical tent.

According to Swamp247, Wilcox had missed practice over the past four sessions but could not be ascertained exactly when the injury occurred. When asked about the event, Napier offered, “It’s very unfortunate. That’s part of the game though.”

It is also still unclear exactly what the nature of the injury was.

The absence of Wilcox, Elksnis and Odom leaves only [autotag]Keon Zipperer[/autotag] as the lone active scholarship tight end on the roster this spring. However, the recent squeeze at the position has Napier and his staff trying out senior defensive end [autotag]Dante Zanders[/autotag] and walk-on junior linebacker [autotag]Noah Keeter[/autotag] as possible replacements.

The former was recruited as a three-star at the position out of high school and appeared there a total of 15 times in his freshman years. The latter was a two-way player in high school, with tight end being his role on the offensive side of the ball. So at the very least, there is some experience behind that shallow depth.

You can count on the Gators taking a serious look at the transfer portal in the coming weeks to help fill this gaping void. In Napier’s own words: “When you have three guys that get injured at a position that was already thin, it throws a little wrench in your plan.”

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Gators running thin at TE in spring practices due to injuries

Tight ends Jonathan Odom and Nick Elksnis will miss spring practices as they recover from injuries.

Billy Napier thought he had plenty of tight end depth coming into the spring, but it turns out that the Florida Gators aren’t quite as loaded at the position as originally thought.

Redshirt freshman Nick Elksnis and sophomore Jonathan Odom are out for the rest of the spring, according to a report from 247Sports. Elksnis is dealing with a broken shoulder blade and Odom has a torn labrum. Both players could feasibly return to action before the season, but missing spring practices will hurt when it comes to learning the new scheme.

Senior Keon Zipperer is the presumed starter after appearing in all 13 of Florida’s games last season, but he only brought in 11 passes on the year. Zipperer is healthy and currently the only scholarship tight end at practices. Redshirt freshman Gage Wilcox was missing from practices last week, which means the next man up is senior Dante Zanders who recently switched back to tight end from defensive end.

Zanders actually was recruited as a three-star tight end out of high school, so the position isn’t foreign to him by any means. Walk-on junior linebacker Noah Keeter has also worked with the group in recent weeks.

Florida did sign three players in the 2022 class that should add some depth once they get on campus over the summer. Four-star [autotag]Tony Livingston[/autotag] was originally listed as an offensive tackle, but Napier said the team would be utilizing him at tight end. Four-star athlete [autotag]Arlis Boardingham[/autotag] is a tight-end/receiver hybrid that has the size to play early in the SEC, and three-star [autotag]Hayden Hansen[/autotag] rounds out the group.

Injuries won’t keep Elksnis and Odom out forever, but the Gators are stretched pretty thin right now at tight end. Napier’s even decided to take a look at some of the recruits in the class of 2023 after initially planning on going without a tight end commit in the cycle.

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Florida looks to steal this tight end commit from Florida State

The Gators are looking to shore up their tight end room with this Seminoles commit.

The recruiting trail continues for Florida football as new head coach Billy Napier navigates the Gators into what everyone hopes will be a promising future. The acquisition of top prep talent is a sure way to turn around a floundering football program and his army of staffers are burning the midnight oil in their efforts to woo top prospects to Gainesville.

One of the areas of concern heading into the 2022 season and beyond is at tight end, which currently only has two scholarship players who naturally play the position — senior [autotag]Keon Zipperer[/autotag] and redshirt freshman [autotag]Gage Wilcox[/autotag]. Florida could bolster its room with the addition of three-star prospect Randy Pittman from A. Crawford Mosley in Lynn Haven, Florida, who recently paid a visit with the Orange and Blue.

Currently a Florida State commit, the 6-foot-2-inch, 230-pound prospect stopped by on Saturday to watch Florida’s sixth spring practice and meet with the coaches. Unfortunately, Wilcox did not participate while [autotag]Nick Elksnis[/autotag] and [autotag]Jonathan Odom[/autotag] were out with injuries, so he did not get to see much from his potential peers, but did come away with a positive impression of staff, including tight ends coach William Peagler.

“It was amazing out there,” Pittman told Jacob Rudner of Swamp247. “The tempo that was going on, the way that [head coach Billy] Napier was moving everyone around and coaching and teaching people how things work over here, it was amazing.”

“I was able to watch the tight ends working on the drills doing different types of blocks, reblocks and things like that,” he added. We got to break down some offensive plays and some offensive schemes. It was nice.”

Pittman committed to the Seminoles on April 16, 2021, but has kept the door open for other schools to court him and has continued to make visits over the past several months. While FSU is obviously in the lead for his services, UF is hot on the trail with UCF throwing its hat in the ring as well according to On3, with Tennessee, Florida Atlantic, South Carolina and West Georgia also listed as suitors.

The in-state three-star tight end is the No. 396 prospect in the nation and No. 21 among 2023 tight ends in the 247Sports Composite while landing at No. 509 overall and No. 26 at his position on the On3 Consensus.

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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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2020 Gators Football Recruiting Profile: Jonathan Odom

This is a prospect player profile for tight end Jonathan Odom of the Florida Gators football recruiting class of 2020.

Name: Jonathan Odom

Position: Tight End

Height: 6’5″

Weight: 250 lbs

Hometown: Tampa, Fla.

High School: Jesuit High School

Twitter: @Odom_87

247Sports Composite: ⭐⭐⭐

Rivals.com: ⭐⭐⭐

Overview:

Jonathan Odom is a three-star tight end from Jesuit High School in Tampa. He was the No. 32 overall tight end in the 2020 recruiting class and the No. 768 player in the nation.

The son of former UF offensive lineman Jason Odom, who was a two-time First Team All-SEC selection and a one-time All-American who played four seasons in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jonathan committed to play for coach Dan Mullen back in May 2019 despite offers from other SEC powerhouses like Alabama and LSU.

He signed with Florida during the early signing period in December, and he enrolled at UF in June.

At 6-foot-5, 250-pounds, Odom possesses ideal size for a tight end. He has demonstrated blocking ability throughout his high school career, but the bulk of his contributions at the position came in the passing game. His junior season in 2018, he had 20 catches for 275 yards and nine touchdowns.

With returning tight end Kyle Pitts poised for a breakout season this year and players like Kemore Gamble and Keon Zipperer still on the roster, it’s likely that Odom will redshirt in 2020 while possibly seeing action on special teams or in reserve situations.

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