GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Mohamoud Diabate have yourself a day.
With Jabari Zuniga and Jeremiah Moon out for the game against Vanderbilt, due to an ankle sprain and broken foot respectively, the true freshman was asked to take up a bigger role.
Diabate had one message to Dan Mullen on Friday night ahead of the game, "I told him I was going to take care of it."
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Diabate was a man of his word.
“Yeah, pretty good," a smiling Gators head coach said after the 56-0 win over Vandy. "Well, let me see here, he had 3 sacks. That’s a pretty good day, right."
Yeah, I would say thats a pretty good night, coach.
"I always felt like I had the talent," said Diabate. "I just had to mature and get the opportunity to do so."
All three of Diabate's sack came on third down.
Diabate's third sack came at an opportune time for the Gators defense as well. The group was trying to preserve a shutout, however, Vanderbilt was threatening in the second half, that is until Vandy quarterback Deuce Wallace met Diabate, who came off the edge and bulldozed Wallace from behind, forcing a fumble.
Jonathan Greenard would scoop the ball up and dash 81-yard back for a touchdown.
"I was like, ‘Man, we got to find a way to make sure they don’t score because we want to shut them out,’" Diabate said. "So, I was like, ‘Man, let me see if I can get a sack to get them out of field goal range.’ I wasn’t really thinking about a strip sack, but then, when I came off the end, he wasn’t looking -- he’s a right-handed quarterback, so I was on his blind side. So I was just like, ‘Let me take a swipe at it.’
"I just thought I’d sacked him, and then I looked up and saw Jon running, and I was like, ‘Wow.’"
Diabate's speed proved to be a problem for Vanderbilt's offense.
“I feel like that's my biggest asset so that's always what I want to do," said Diabate. "I want to use my speed and then if that doesn't work I'm gonna find a counter move to use. But that's my biggest strength so my coaches make sure that I know that and use that.”
After his performance on Saturday, the Alabama native has 3.5 sacks on the season,which is best for second on the team - behind Greenard with four sacks.
"I feel like it's just been my teammates helping me, Moon, Greenard, Zu, coach [Todd] Grantham, all those people helped me develop over the season," Diabate said. "I feel like that's been the biggest thing."
After allowing Georgia to have its way with the Gators defense on third down just last week, UF was able to hold the visitors to just 3-of-15 - Vandy did not convert one third down in the first seven attempts.
"That gave us confidence because we’re like, ‘We’re stopping these boys,’" Diabate said. "Then after one, it’s just like dominoes, like two, three, four. It’s like, ‘We’re locking them up.’ Coach Grantham’s calling great plays, players making great plays, (Donovan) Stiner two picks. DBs locking up the whole game. We just felt like we’re in our mojo."
Diabate was certainly in his mojo, which is good news from Florida's future.
