Next up in Gators Wire’s position-by-position breakdown of the 2022 Florida Gators football roster is the tight end room.
Last year’s starter Kemore Gamble was one of the many players that left the team via the transfer portal. While he suits up for the UCF Knights this season, the Gators will test out some new names at the position. Senior Keon Zipperer is the returning player in the room with the most experience, but a trio of defensive players made the switch to tight end after two others went down with an injury in the spring.
Billy Napier added a pair of tight ends in the 2022 recruiting cycle too, so there’s plenty of depth on the team at this point. The big task for Napier will be to figure out which players deserve the most playing time. Most of these guys are relatively unproven, and Napier likes to run a lot of two-tight-end sets to engage the run game.
There seems to be a clear first and second team in place as the season draws near, but an injury or two could give some rotational pieces an opportunity to shine.
Here’s a look at the nine tight ends listed on the 2022 Florida Gators fall roster.
See also:
2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Quarterbacks
2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Running backs
2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Wide Receivers
Starter: No. 9 Keon Zipperer (Sr.)
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Stats:
| Year | GP | REC | YDS | TD | Long | REC/G | AVG/C | AVG/G |
| 2019 | 8 | 3 | 31 | 1 | 25 | 0.4 | 10.3 | 3.9 |
| 2020 | 12 | 11 | 145 | 2 | 39 | 0.9 | 13.2 | 12.1 |
| 2021 | 13 | 11 | 133 | 0 | 30 | 0.8 | 12.1 | 10.2 |
| Total | 33 | 25 | 309 | 3 | 39 | 0.8 | 12.4 | 9.4 |
Zipperer, as mentioned above, was the top name on the depth on the chart at tight end when Billy Napier got to town. Behind Gamble and Kyle Pitts, he’d played in 25 games over the last two seasons, bringing in 22 receptions for 278 of his 309 career yards at Florida.
He could more than double that total this year if things go well, but Zipperer has been underwhelming so far in his college career….
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