Sharif Denson: The Reinvigorator of the Gators STAR Position

Sharif Denson heads to Gainesville as the handpicked talent to reinvigorate an underperforming STAR spot in the Gators' defense.

Photo: Sharif Denson; Credit: Brandon Carroll

ORLANDO, Fla. -- One of the longest-tenured commits to the Florida Gators 2023 recruiting class, defensive back Sharif Denson, closed his recruitment by officially signing on the dotted line with UF on Dec. 21.

"When you go around the area and you visit different high schools, every coach talks about Sharif Denson and the competitor he is," head coach Billy Napier said that day. "He's a matchup player. He can play corner. He can play STAR. He is a competitor. He's going to bring a lot to our team."

Due to his talents and the need for Florida at STAR, the versatile DB will begin his career as a nickel cornerback.

That role has proved to be daunting over the past five seasons at Florida, but Denson accepts the challenge if it results in him seeing the field earlier in his career.

"Wherever I go in, and I could play first, that's where I'm going to be at," said Denson during media availability for the UA Next All-America Game. "So, if that's that nickel, then I'm going to be there."

In year one of the Dan Mullen regime, Todd Grantham debuted his patent 4-2-5 defensive system that highlighted the fifth DB at nickel cornerback. The spot asked a player to boast the ability to work downhill toward the line of scrimmage and eliminate space in zone coverage as a safety would while simultaneously needing man-to-man coverage skills presented by a boundary cornerback.

That staff inherited a roster with arguably the best fit for the niche position in Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. He produced at a level that created high expectations for the spot.

In his lone season occupying the STAR, Johnson produced at a career-high rate with 71 tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks, two passes defense, four interceptions and two touchdowns. 

However, his versatility masked the processing overload that the position demands of the player at STAR.

The production at the position quickly waned when Gardner-Johnson departed to the NFL, where he's proven to be one of the best nickel cornerbacks in the game for both the Saints and Eagles. He currently leads the league in interceptions this season, with six in 11 games played.

The Gators have spent four years searching for a replacement, quickly learning that his skill set isn't replicated all too often.

That's evident from the Gators' struggles as they've searched for a replacement. Trey Dean III, Marco Wilson and Tre'Vez Johnson have each been plugged in since, but struggled to fill the void.

When Patrick Toney assumed the reigns in 2022, the position was altered slightly to remove some of the responsibilities, allowing more free play. However, the change didn't have the immediate impact some may have expected. Toney, as a result, made finding a true STAR prospect a focal point on the trail.

Now, arguably for the first time since its modern inception at Florida, the Gators have explicitly recruited for the role in the form of Denson.

"Coach Toney got a great group of guys," he said. "It's a bunch of different guys who can do a bunch of different things.

"I feel like we're a super versatile group, so it's not like he just recruited a bunch of outside corners and then he wants to move us out to different positions. Like, he recruited nickels, he recruited safeties, he recruited outside corners. He recruited the whole back end, so I feel like we can all work together and be good."

The Gators have found who they believe to be the guy to rekindle the spark that STAR is intended to provide.

Denson boasts the exact skills demanded to flourish there, possessing speed, length, the pursuit of the ball in the ground game, coverage skills and ball-hawking tendencies.

As a former teammate of Johnson at the prep level, each attending Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns, Fla., Denson shared that the two have discussed what playing the spot entails, namely the mental aspect of it.

"He's just telling me to study the playbook because, at nickel, you're kind of setting yourself up based on their alignment, so you need to make sure you know the playbook, what you're doing and what your job is."

That adds to the challenges assuming that role brings. However, despite the lack of success since Gardner-Johnson's departure, Denson is comfortable in his abilities to shine in the spot. He'll take a day-by-day approach to ensure he performs at a high level.

"Every day, I'm just gonna come in the weight room, come into practice, I'm just gonna work hard and do everything I can to be great," he said. "So, if I excel and be one of the best, then that's just what I'm going to be. 

Denson's main hurdle — outside of his acclamation to the collegiate level, although being deemed "mature and ready to go" by Napier — will be putting the necessary playing weight on his 5-foot-11 frame.

"I just feel like the challenges for me will be maybe size because I got to take on like the bigger blockers," he said. "I'm gonna be a nickel. I'm gonna have to come to the SEC. But they're gonna put that weight on me, so I'm not too concerned about that. Really, that was my only concern. We have a lot of help in [the] slot, so I'm good."

Currently sitting at a near-game-ready 180 pounds, he looks to eclipse the 185-pound mark before the start of his freshman season. He'll likely climb toward the near 200-pound mark down the road, given his frame to match the mean average of professional defensive backs, which hovers at 199 pounds, according to MockDraftables.com.

In 2023, Denson will likely start as the No. 2 in the room behind Perkins when Florida heads to Salt Lake City to take on Utah in week one due to experience. However, given the promise he presents and the extra time to grow acclimated to the collegiate level as an early enrollee, Denson won't sit in that reserve role long.

He'll climb the ladder with the expectation to be the unit's STAR of the future.

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