Florida Gators Name Captains vs. Tennessee
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The Florida Gators announced their fresh quartet of captains for the week four contest at Tennessee on Thursday morning.
Offensive guard O’Cyrus Torrence, safety Rashad Torrence II, defensive end Tyreak Sapp and tight end Dante Zanders make up the Gators captains on the road this week.
They succeed Anthony Richardson, Gervon Dexter Sr., Nay’Quan Wright, Ventrell Miller, Brenton Cox Jr., Amari Burney, Montrell Johnson, Jeremy Crawshaw, Richard Gouraige, Kingsley Eguakun, Xzavier Henderson and Jordan Pouncey in the structured rotation of captains implemented by head coach Billy Napier this offseason.
Torrence, offensive guard, is a fitting pick to represent the Gators on the road as arguably the best player Florida has to offer on the roster. Living up to his billing as an All-American caliber offensive lineman since his transfer from Louisiana-Lafayette this offseason, Torrence is a catalyst for the rushing success Florida’s realized this season.
His play and leadership in the offensive trenches can’t go unnoticed, which is why it’s surprising it took until week four for him to be named as a captain.
Torrence is the highest grade of any offensive lineman this season through three games, according to PFF.
On the defensive side, another Torrence, safety, is participating in year three of his career in orange and blue after considerable time in each of his first two seasons. Accounting for 22 tackles in nearly 90% of the defensive snaps this year, Torrence is a consistent piece in run support and features in a Gators secondary that’s allowed just two passing touchdowns so far.
Playing in rotation down in front of Torrence is Sapp, a defensive end who is earning his first real experience after redshirting as a freshman in 2021. Highly regarded coming out of the high school ranks as a pass rusher and all-around defensive lineman, Sapp has taken a vocal leadership role within Sean Spencer’s wild dog unit alongside fellow redshirt freshman Justus Boone.
The duo operate off the bench, but are disruptive players up front for Florida. Boone is the proclaimed leader of the Wild Dogs and Sapp is a captain for the first road contest on the year.
Zanders earns the nod as the fourth captain after an interesting journey to this point.
After switching from defensive line back the position he originally manned when he arrived at Florida in tight end out of need, Zanders impressed on the blocking front to be named starter over veteran Keon Zipperer.
While the duo sees nearly equal playing time this season, Zanders’ ability to fill in at a alarmingly thin unit continues to earn him praise. That culminates in his status as captain this week.
The Gators will kick off against Tennessee in Knoxville at 3:30 pm ET.
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