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Two Gators tight ends out for spring with injuries

Untitled designby:Nick de la Torre•03/27/22•

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Photo courtesy of UAA Communications / Isabella Marley

The Florida Gators have their first two significant injuries of spring camp.

Redshirt freshman tight end Nick Elksnis and redshirt sophomore tight end Jonathan Odom will both miss the remainder of spring with injuries.

Elksnis broke his scapula at the beginning of Saturday’s practice. The injury occurred prior to the 15-minute portion of practice that was open to the media. Odom has a torn labrum in his shoulder. He tweeted that he will undergo surgery on Wednesday, March 30.

The return time for a broken scapula is typically six weeks with the first two weeks having your arm immobilized in a sling. Labrum surgery recovery is longer than that and could keep Odom out for several months.

Gators thin at tight end

Florida is running low on numbers at the position with these two injuries. The Gators only have two scholarship tight ends still healthy — Gage Wilcox and Keon Zipperer — that they entered spring with. UF also has a walk-on, Noah Keeter, at the position.

To supplement the lack of depth, senior Dante Zanders has been moved back to tight end. Zanders came to Florida in 2018 as a tight end. He appeared in just two games, mainly on special teams and redshirted. He appeared in every game in 2019 as a reserve tight end and special teamer but didn’t record a catch.

Zanders (formerly Dante Lang) moved to the defensive line before the 2020 season. He had 11 tackles and 0.5 sacks in those two seasons.

The other redshirt freshman that came to UF with Elksnis is Wilcox. However, Wilcox wasn’t at any of the Gators’ three practices last week during the portion open to the media.

Zipperer is the only tight end that is practicing that has actual experience playing tight end for the Gators. The senior from Lakeland has appeared in 31 games during his career. He has 25 receptions for 309 yards and three touchdowns.

Florida upping the priority to recruit a tight end in 2023 class

With two redshirt freshmen and two signees in the 2022 class tight end wasn’t a priority for the Gators in recruiting. That thought process has changed after the first two weeks of spring practice. Now, the Florida Gators coaching staff is actively telling recruits they need help and are looking to sign at least one tight end in the 2023 class.

“I’ve been talking to them for a little while on and off,” Mikeska told Gator Online’s Corey Bender. “They weren’t thinking about signing a tight end in the 2023 class because they took three in the grade above me. They said after spring practice, they realized they were going to need help from the 2023 class. I was one of the first guys on their board.”

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