Florida Football: 5 bold predictions for the 2017 season

4. Jabari Zuniga records more than 9 sacks

The Florida Gators had one of the best defenses in the nation last season. However, the team wasn’t particularly good at getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Maybe it was because the team was so good in coverage that opposing offensive coordinators had to shift to a quick, three-step drop passing scheme? Or perhaps the defensive line just wasn’t able to get consistent pressure from its four down lineman.

While Florida’s defense ranked fivth in the nation in total defense, it only ranked 38th in the nation at total sacks with 31. That’s a whopping 15 less than the team’s 2017 week one opponent.

Three of the Gators four starting defensive lineman, Caleb Brantley, Joey Ivie and Bryan Cox Jr departed Gainsville for the NFL following the 2016 season. The one player who remains, Jabari Zuniga, may be the most intriguing on the entire Florida Gators defense.

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Last season, Brantley, Ivie and Cox combined for 5.5 sacks. Zuniga nearly matched that number by himself, with five quarterback sacks during his redshirt freshman campaign. Now that the promising end has a year of in-game experience under his belt its worth asking just how good Jabari Zuniga can be?

Zuniga, a three-star recruit from Marietta, Georgia, lead all freshman in the SEC in sacks during his second season on campus, a feat that even former Gators great, and future first round draft pick Dante Fowler Jr wasn’t able to accomplish.

Much like Fowler, who played in a different scheme under a different head coach, Zuniga shows of the kind of difference-making ability that forces opposing teams to take notice. But unlike when Folwer played for the Gators, teams won’t be able to double team Zuniga consistently, because of the emergence of his defensive line-mates Jordan Sherit, who recorded 3.5 sacks last season, and CeCe Jefferson, who recorded an additional 1.5 sacks for the team last season.

Unlike last season’s defensive line that prided itself on stopping the run, but was weak against the pass, this season’s squad looks primed to deliver a more balanced attack, with more sack.

If Florida’s new look defensive line is able to consistently apply pressure to opposing quarterbacks from every position, it will allow Jabari Zuniga a chance to feast on unsuspecting quarterbacks, and potentially surpass Fowler’s career sack total, 14.5, after only two seasons.