TAMPA, Fla.– As one of the few draft-eligible players on the Florida Gators roster with collegiate eligibility, edge rusher Tyreak Sapp will have an important decision to make after the team’s appearance in the 2024 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.
However, the redshirt junior isn’t ready to reveal his future plans.
“I think I’ll talk about that later. I’m just kinda focusing on the game right now,” he said during Wednesday’s media availability.
Sapp is one of three main contributors on the Gators’ defense who is eligible for the NFL Draft but still holds collegiate eligibility. Previously, defensive lineman Caleb Banks announced his plans to return for a senior season, while linebacker Shemar James is weighing multiple factors before finalizing a decision.
In the midst of a breakout in the back-half of the 2024 campaign, Sapp has seen his draft stock improve tremendously. The 6-3, 272-pound edge rusher recorded 3.5 of his team-high seven sacks in the final three games of the season.
“Under my expectations actually,” Sapp said of his sack total. “I feel like we would’ve done better if we had started a little faster at the beginning of the season. This season brings a lot of challenges and opportunities to beat adversity. So, I just think that the adversity that we faced in the middle of the season, at the beginning of the season helped us to fuel that fire and get those sacks at the end of the season. And I had to look into myself and realize what I wanted for myself and what I wanted for this defense. I think that helped a lot, too.”
Getting Sapp to return would be a massive success for Florida, which has seen edge rushers Jack Pybyrn and TJ Searcy already enter the NCAA Transfer Portal alongside defensive lineman Kelby Collins, who also has experience at the position. On Monday, head coach Billy Napier explained how he believes the player retention portion of his job is almost over.
“I think for the most part,” he said. “I mean, you know, nothing surprises me anymore. I think we got, for the most part, most of that is done. There’s a handful of things that we got to get resolved, but look until they show up for class in January, I think it’s not a done deal, right? The perfect world, you have some type of document you could sign that would kind of lock them in, but we don’t have that. So, look, we got to we still have some work to do. We want to add a couple more players to our team.”
As it stands, the Gators are set to return George Gumbs Jr., Kamran James and LJ McCray in the room while adding signee Jayden Woods to the mix. Additionally, defensive line signees Jeramiah McCloud and Jalen Wiggins have the ability to play outside, too. Florida also recently offered UMASS transfer Kofi Asare.
The deadline to enter the 2025 NFL Draft is Ja. 15 for players not playing in the College Football Playoff National Championship. Friday’s matchup between Florida and Tulane in Tampa (Fla.) begins at 3:30 p.m. with television coverage on ESPN 2.
