Florida Gators sophomore spotlight: Gervon Dexter

The Southeastern Conference has long been lauded for its size, speed, and talent but the biggest difference in the conference may not lie in how fast the receivers, corners, and running backs are, but just how freakish their defensive linemen are. The combination of size and speed that the SEC has produced is stunning.

The Gators have had their own share of those physically dominating presences in Alex Brown, Jevon Kearse, Carlos Dunlap, Dominique Easly, Shariff Floyd, Ronald Powell, and Jon Greenard, to name a few.

The next in line is sophomore Gervon Dexter.

Height: 6-6

Weight: 308

Position: DL

2020 stats: 20 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, 1 interception

A five star, and the highest-rated recruit Dan Mullen has signed while at Florida, Dexter was expected to come in and make an impact right away. Dexter appeared in all 12 games, making two starts. He made an impact right away in the 2020 opener against Ole Miss, recording an interception and 1.5 tackles for a loss. Dexter earned his first start at Texas A&M.

Despite Dexter's five-star status and expectations he's truly only played football for four years. A basketball player first, Dexter found football late but has the gifts and ability. Florida defensive line coach David Turner recognized the talent and viewed Dexter as somewhat of a blank canvas to help him become the football player he wants to be.

"Everybody wants him to be great now and I’ve talked to him a little bit about that. I said, ‘hey man, you can’t walk around here with the way everybody looks at him just from a physical standpoint and expect him to just wreck shop every Saturday. That’s really not what he can do yet because he’s still new to the game," Turner said of Dexter. "Everything is new to him. Sometimes you have to block out the noise. You gotta listen to the people who are closest to you in terms of, hey this is what we gotta do as coaches. Listen and listen to me and hopefully, we can get him going in the right direction in terms of his development."

Dexter's freshman season showed the potential. In 2020 he had the opportunity to play behind Kyree Campbell and next to Zach Carter and T.J. Slaton. This spring Dexter had even more time to continue to develop his game and the additions of veterans Antonio Shelton and Daquan Newkirk will continue to aid that development and progression. It's already showing dividends.

"I think he’s improved a lot. He’s being more consistent with just making plays every day and understanding where he’s going and why he's going there," running back Malik Davis said of Dexter. "I think he’s becoming more consistent, he’s been making a lot of plays this spring.”

And when Davis or any other running back sees Dexter in the hole, well.

“Uhhhh, I’m getting away from him.”