Envisioning Roles for Florida's Transfers: DL Cam'Ron Jackson

When Billy Napier arrived in Gainesville, he made his plans for Florida football clear: Tear everything down and rebuild the Gators from scratch.

If Napier's transparency throughout his first offseason in charge wasn't enough to convince UF fans of that reality, his last two months as the program's head coach certainly should.

Since the second half of November 2022, Florida completed its first repeat losing season in the SEC since the 1950s, saw 22 scholarship players enter the transfer portal, welcomed ten FBS transfers into the university after acquiring six last offseason and signed Napier's first complete high school recruiting class, a haul including two or more signees at six different positions.

Florida football is going to look different in Napier's second year at the helm, undoubtedly. Whether it will be improved or not remains to be seen, but the incoming transfers — the majority of them, at least — will be expected to push the Gators in the right direction sooner rather than later.

All Gators is projecting roles for every Florida transfer acquisition ahead of the 2023 season. Having previously covered quarterback Graham Mertz, running back Cameron Carroll, offensive tackles Damieon George Jr. and Kiyaunta Goodwin, guard Micah Mazzccua and defensive lineman Caleb Banks, next up is Memphis defensive tackle transfer Cam'Ron Jackson.

Much like the varying résumés each offensive line transfer brought to the table, Jackson and Banks arrive at Florida with drastically different levels of experience and production at the college level. Compare Jackson's 41 tackles to Banks' 38 defensive snaps in 2022, and that much becomes clear.

A consensus three-star from Haynesville, La., Jackson signed with the Tigers of southwest Tennessee in the class of 2020 after a year-and-a-half-long commitment to his home state LSU Tigers was called off. He was ineligible to sign as planned in Dec. 2019 and spent the next several months mending his grades to clear the program's requirements.

While Jackson shared in May 2020 that he posted the grades necessary to join LSU, he flipped his commitment the next month and joined Memphis as a 6-foot-5, 280-pound defensive end just before fall camp.

He went on to reshape his body over the next two seasons primarily within a special teams role — although he made eight rotational defensive appearances as a redshirt freshman in 2021 — bulking up 60 pounds to hit the 340-mark as a redshirt sophomore in 2022. Florida now lists Jackson at 353 pounds.

Jackson's alignment shifted from the edge to the interior along the way, a transition that proved fruitful when he took on a starting role last season.

Across 377 snaps at defensive tackle in the three-technique mold and 198 reps at nose tackle, Jackson compiled a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup to go with his career-high of 41 tackles in 2022. Jackson also pressured the opposing quarterback 20 times, per Pro Football Focus, proving his impact as a pass rusher beyond the traditional box score.

"When given an opportunity to play," Napier said of Jackson on Feb. 1, "Cam’Ron in particular had really good film."

Jackson's portal entrance was reportedly considered imminent in the days prior to Memphis' appearance in the 2022 First Responders Bowl on Dec. 27. He made the move on Dec. 29, and within 24 hours, he had committed to transfer to Florida.

Florida was already lacking depth on its defensive line entering the offseason, and the departures of Gervon Dexter Sr. to the NFL Draft and Jalen Lee in a transfer to LSU only emphasized the need for reinforcements.

Banks, in addition to high school prospects Kelby Collins, Kamran James, Will Norman and Gavin Hill, signed with the Gators in December and figures to offer long-term potential upfront. Despite their lacking experience, Banks and Collins are likely to contend for roles sooner rather than later given Banks' flashes at Louisville and Collins' recruiting profile.

Jackson, however, walks a clear path toward immediate playing time.

His positional versatility makes him a candidate to man the defensive tackle position Dexter held in 2022 and earn significant snaps within the A-gaps. Desmond Watson, listed at 6-foot-5, 415 pounds on UF's roster, commanded the latter position a season ago and could split the role with Jackson, allowing Florida to field a fresh and disruptive nose tackle on every down.

Not to mention, Jackson-and-Watson goal-line and short conversion packages will be a sight to see. Good luck trying to run through a two-man, 700-pound wall.

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