Envisioning Roles for Florida's Transfers: LB Mannie Nunnery
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, defensive linemen Caleb Banks and Cam'Ron Jackson, and linebacker Teradja Mitchell, Houston linebacker transfer Mannie Nunnery will be our next player of focus.
One of three transfer linebackers to team up with the Gators this offseason, Nunnery entered the fold by committing to Florida on Jan. 23, offering Florida another experienced player at the position to pair with Mitchell and a far less seasoned Deuce Spurlock.
However, while Nunnery has plenty of appearances under his belt — 34 — he's only made seven starts defensively. The bulk of his playing time has been in the third phase of the game.
Nunnery is regarded as a special teams ace and he should make an immediate impact for the Gators in that regard, with the ability to play within every unit. He blocked two punts and three kicks during his 2021 season and has collected ten tackles across 300 kick and punt coverage snaps, per Pro Football Focus.
"Mannie Nunnery, obviously two years ago he was the national special teams player of the year," Napier said following Nunnery's transfer. "6-[foot]-1 and a half, 225-pound guy who from a testing perspective already one of the more athletic kids on our team."
Following Ventrell Miller and Amari Burney's departures to the NFL Draft and Diwun Black's transfer to Temple, there will be ample opportunities for Nunnery to take the field defensively and on special teams.
Mitchell, rising junior Derek Wingo and rising sophomore Shemar James are expected to field major roles at linebacker, but Nunnery should be in a position to rotate with James at the weak-side linebacker position to fill in the snaps that Burney vacated upon leaving the program.
Nunnery recorded 75 total tackles, 2.5 sacks and seven tackles for loss before electing to transfer following four seasons with the Cougars. In a breakthrough campaign defensively, Nunnery posted 46 tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, two pass breakups and five quarterback pressure (per PFF) in 2022.
While his role in the defense may not be as large as Mitchell, James or Wingo's, Nunnery's playmaking ability as a special teamer will give the Gators a major boost moving forward. Blocks aren't exactly a projectable statistic but his knack for getting his hand on a kicked ball could lead to momentum-swinging plays in Florida's favor, which Florida has lacked across its entire special teams unit for some time.
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