Tyreak Sapp, now playing EDGE, ready to ‘start a fire’ on defense
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Prior to Florida’s first scrimmage and his subsequent position change, Tyreak Sapp met with the media last Wednesday. It’s the third fall camp for the redshirt sophomore and his first under new Gators defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong.
Sapp was asked what excites about him about Armstrong’s defense.
“He’s the type of coach who lets you be the player that you are,” Sapp said. “We always talk about it a lot in the D-line room, doing what got you here. Do what got you to college and make those plays.”
Sapp will now be doing just that — making plays at the position that got him to college. He was a defensive end at St. Thomas Aquinas, playing with his hand in the dirt as an EDGE rusher and finishing his high school career with 100 total tackles (more than 70 solo), 21.5 sacks and five fumble recoveries.
After moving to defensive tackle at UF, Sapp will now be switching back to his old position following the season-ending injury to redshirt sophomore Justus Boone, who suffered a torn ACL in Thursday’s scrimmage.
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Sapp was practicing with EDGE coach Mike Peterson and his position group on Sunday, repping as the first-team defensive end, aka the ‘F’ spot. The other players there are true freshmen Kelby Collins and Kamran James and sophomore Quincy Ivory.
Sapp is now in line to start after being a projected backup at defensive tackle. He will have a bigger role not only on the field, but with his leadership.
“I think I’ve played more of a bigger role as more of like a leader, and a guy who the defense is gonna look forward to me making plays and actually starting that fire,” Sapp said. “Because you always need a guy on the defense who can actually start a fire. But when we get that fire, we need everybody who can contribute and throw the wood in the fire and make that fire blaze.”
Sapp, who’s listed at 6-foot-3 and 271 pounds, said he got both faster and stronger this offseason. He believes he can “make a difference” on defense in 2023 and felt that way before his role changed.
“Physically, I feel great,” Sapp said. “I think I look great and I’m just going to keep improving and just try to be that guy. I like to be the person that catches a team off guard.”
The Gators will also be counting more on true freshmen Kelby Collins and Will Norman following Boone’s injury. Collins had been repping as Boone’s backup and will now be in the rotation with Sapp, while his move to the ‘F’ spot creates an opportunity for Norman at defensive tackle.
“High work ethic, high motor,” Sapp said of Collins and Norman. “Guys who are ready and willing to work, guys who take coaching, accept coaching, guys who want to get better. But they have the humility to understand that they’re not all the way there, and they don’t have it all the way figured out.
“I encourage my brothers to come out, bring their ‘A game and bring everything they got to practice so that we all can get better. Not just thinking about ourselves, but just for us all and trying to just focus on what we need to do to take a step personally, but at the same time collectively.”
