Now back at full strength, redshirt senior linebacker Jeremiah Moon is ready to rise again in his final season at Florida.
His 2019 campaign was cut short against Georgia with a season-ending injury, the second of his career. He finished the year with 31 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks, which Reese’s Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy admits are not “great stats.”
But Nagy singled out Moon on Twitter two months ago, calling him “one of the most physically talented defenders” in the 2021 NFL Draft class. He praised the 6-foot-6, 228-pound Moon as the “only guy we’ve seen so far that flashes high ceiling rush talent and can also run with TE down the seam.”
"His comments were great to hear,” Moon said. “But at the same time, I still come every day ready to work. I try to improve my speed with the injuries and everything.
“I’m trying to get back with that, to be able to bend off the edge and be able to run with the tight ends and cover the running backs. So, I’ve definitely been working on that.”
Moon saw eight starts last season both at OLB and BUCK, filling in for Texans rookie linebacker Jonathan Greenard when he went down with an ankle injury. Over the past month, Moon has been in fall camp vying for the starting job at BUCK along with sophomore Khris Bogle and Georgia transfer Brenton Cox Jr.
Their position coach is defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
“It's pretty competitive,” Moon said of the battle. “We have a lot of guys coming up, getting better at that spot and I’ve seen so much improvement over this offseason. Everybody's taking it so seriously. And so, we'll see when game time comes.”
“Coach Grantham is gonna put you in a good situation to make plays. All you gotta do is follow the scheme, take what you do in the film room and apply it on the field and things will take care of yourself. You see it a year in and year out with Jachai [Polite] and Jon [Greenard].”
Moon is “looking to go out with a bang” as a senior, with championship aspirations and confidence that he will be more productive. In addition to improving his coverage, Moon has worked on his pass rush moves in an effort to bring down more quarterbacks.
“I’ll be getting more sacks this season, I feel like,” he said. “I've been working on that a lot with my hands and my feet, and just being more physical.”
“I'm excited for the season to come up to prove what I can do. It's been a long road for me with injuries and everything, but I know everything is in control and it’ll be OK.”
Moon said the team’s goal is to the win the SEC and national championship, but the Gators set that bar for themselves every year. What makes him feel that 2020 will be different?
“I feel like since quarantine started, our team took on the responsibility to make sure that we were doing everything we're supposed to do while we were away from each other,” he said. “I feel like we're going to be the most prepared team to do that. Being a leader, I think I've done a somewhat good job of just trying to keep everybody focused on what we're here to do.”
