Florida Gators 2022 Positional Outlook: Special Teams
Billy Napier's first offseason in charge of Florida Gators football is sure to be a busy and exciting one.
With roster reconstruction already underway via recruiting and the transfer portal, the next step in preparing for his first season as Florida's head coach will focus on identifying and developing talent already on the roster, and determining how to use it best in 2022.
In order to best preview the Gators' upcoming spring camp and the season to come, AllGators is taking a look at each position on the roster to recognize the strengths and weaknesses at each spot, as well as put together early projections of individual depth charts.
RELATED: Gators 2022 positional outlooks
- Quarterback
- Running Back
- Wide Receiver
- Tight End
- Offensive Line
- Defensive Line
- Cornerback/STAR
- Safety
- Linebacker
To wrap up Florida's positional outlooks prior to spring practices starting, we take a look at what Florida is calling the "GameChangers" more colloquially known as the Special Teams unit, and what they have going for them heading into the 2022 season.
Gators 2022 Game Changers (Special Teams) Outlook
The Gators entered the 2021 season with plenty of confusion as to what they might do at several key special teams positions, including kicker after the program brought in transfer Jace Christmann from Mississippi State to split reps with expected starting kicker Chris Howard.
Howard also dealt with a lingering injury last season, forcing him to miss meaningful repetitions at the spot.
At the return positions, though Fenley Graham had a lot of momentum amongst the fanbase as a return specialist as a freshman, he would appear in just six games, not able to do anything.
During his redshirt freshman season in 2021, Graham was still cast aside for other players, even with Graham appearing in 12 games, primarily as a gunner on special teams. He didn't get to field any punts until the final game of the season last year, hardly an opportunity for a player that was brought on to do just that.
As such, Florida used a multitude of players at both punt and kick return, leaving them in a poor spot throughout much of the season. Still, Florida had to field players and a couple of them are returning for the 2022 season, that includes punt returner Xzavier Henderson.
Henderson, a redshirt freshman last season, accounted for 23 punt returns for 162 yards and a long of 33 yards. He averaged just seven yards per return. This all occurred while he was forced to split time at receiver due to the team not having many options at the return specialist position, to begin with.
The same could be said about this season, except the Gators are likely to use Graham in that role at least to see who else they might have at the position.
As far as the kick-return role, the Gators utilized various players, but primarily running back Malik Davis, who is now out of eligibility, ready to take his talents to the professional level.
The team didn't add many other players who have a serious history in returning kicks, so it could be assumed that one of the running backs, perhaps redshirt senior Lorenzo Lingard or redshirt junior Demarkcus Bowman in its place.
At kicker, Florida is set to bring back Howard with a freshman in Trey Smack expected to enroll with the program later this summer. The two will likely compete with Howard holding the advantage for now due to experience and Smack's late enrollment.
At punter, there won't be a change with redshirt sophomore Jeremy Crawshaw likely returning to his role as the primary punter. Florida has three other non-scholarship punters on the roster as well.
At long snapper, Florida gave primary snapper Marco Ortiz a scholarship last year. The team also has Rocco Underwood as another scholarship player that will likely compete with Ortiz this spring and into fall.
Early 2022 depth chart projection
Kicker: Chris Howard (starter), Trey Smack (depth)
Punter: Jeremy Crawshaw
Kick Returner: Lorenzo Lingard, Fenley Graham, Demarkcus Bowman
Punt Returner: Fenley Graham, Xzavier Henderson
Long Snapper: Marco Ortiz (Starter), Rocco Underwood (depth)
There isn't much to go off of as of right now when it comes to the Florida special teams unit. This group is very much of the wait-and-see ilk. Still, Florida should be positioned nicely with their kickers as veterans, along with a veteran long snapper, unless Underwood unseats Ortiz.
At the returner position, it's very likely that Lingard, Graham or a multitude of other running backs or receivers take the position. Both Lingard and Bowman are players with serious speed. The only caution would be if the team plans to use Bowman heavily in the run game, he likely would not also be a returner at that point.
Still, for the GameChangers unit, anything is possible as of right now.
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