Jabari Zuniga seeing significant growth under Nick Savage
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Strength and conditioning guru Nick Savage has received nothing but rave reviews since following Dan Mullen to Gainesville, with Jabari Zuniga being one of the players who has witnessed massive gains under his tutelage.
The redshirt junior defensive lineman ended the 2017 season with a squat max coming in at around 400 pounds, and says that number is now sitting at 500 pounds. Strengthening up the lower body was a point of emphasis heading into the offseason, and that mission is certainly being accomplished.
"Coach Savage's strength program is like the real deal," Zuniga said. "It's extremely different. We come in every day and you've gotta get your mind right because you're gonna be squatting heavy, you're gonna be benching heavy.
"You've just gotta get your mind right. With the last coach, it was more of we'd go like one week heavy, one week off. But with coach Savage, it's like every day you come in and you've gotta be ready to work."
For Zuniga, there wasn't much brainstorming following the 2017 season. The Georgia native already knew which improvements and adjustments had to be made, and is now seeing everything fall into place under Mullen's guidance.
"Savage made it an emphasis to just develop your base, you know, your lower body," Zuniga said. "I felt like I just had to. My lower body wasn’t really, like, strong. It wasn’t stable, so in the run game, I wasn’t really stout like I wanted to be."
Zuniga says there's been a lot of moving pieces with Gators now under rolling out the 3-4 front under Todd Grantham, who also has a strong reputation for his success on third down.
When speaking to the media on Monday, Mullen said UF's defensive front has to work on becoming more physical as a unit, but mentioned their speed on the edge, with the 6-foot-3, 246-pound Zuniga being one of the players receiving praise.
"Very aggressive," Zuniga said of Grantham's defense. "It’s a lot of different stuff. It’s a lot of blitzes, ya' know? A lot of plays. I mean, it’s very fun because you know, it’s just like different stuff. We got the corners coming, free safety coming; it’s just a lot of different stuff."
Sal Sunseri, who arrived in Gainesville after taking on the role of linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders, has brought a fiery, competitive mindset to the Gators' defensive line.
Sunseri has coached a total of 10 years in the NFL, but is also well-established at the collegiate level with additional stops at the likes of Tennessee, Alabama and Florida State also on his resume.
"I mean, it’s most definitely top-level coaching," Zuniga said. "Coach Sal came from the Raiders, ya' know? So he was working with Khalil Mack and all of those boys, so it’s definitely like something different."
Sunseri has rolled out a whole lot of NFL film for his pupils, but continues to stress the little things first in order to make that next leap in their playing career.
"You just got to like, study all the time," Zuniga said of Sunseri's message to the defensive line. "You just really try to perfect your game. It’s the little things that’s gonna make a difference."
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