Top 11 Defensive Ends in UF History

TheDouglas78

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Top 11 Defensive Ends in Florida Gators History

After 3rd position, the list get a little questionable, Polite at 6 is high in my opinion, Harvey who belongs on the list, but I don't know if he should be 4th. Seems to be some bias towards the last couple of decades.
 

soflagator

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Swap 1 and 3.

Beyond that, this is one garbage list, especially in terms of order.. Richardson should be above Harvey, and Polite has no business being anywhere near this group, much less in front of Fowler. The only thing I do like is seeing Cunningham on there. He probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves and should hover around the 10 spot.
 

TheDouglas78

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Swap 1 and 3.

Beyond that, this is one Eagles list, especially in terms of order.. Richardson should be above Harvey, and Polite has no business being anywhere near this group, much less in front of Fowler. The only thing I do like is seeing Cunningham on there. He probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves and should hover around the 10 spot.

Agree with you, I didn't see Youngblood play, so can't comment on him, but in my life time of the guys I saw live, Carter and Brown were the two best. Could make an argument for either of them being 1. I would say Carter was the more consistent, where Brown had flash game especially Tennessee '99 where you could see the whites of Tee Martins eyes as Brown caught him from behind from where I sat.
 

AlexDaGator

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Wasn't Huey an OLB until SOS moved him to DE his senior year in 1990?

At least they didn't put Kearse on the list. Gotta give them credit for that.


Alex.
 

Uncle Rob

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I'd like to give an honorable mention to Jordan Sherit. Until he go hurt in his senior season, he was very disruptive and always seemed to be in the backfield. Mac would play him in the first half and then put in Zuniga or Polite after he had worn the o-lineman out. Who ever was blocking him looked like they were wearing roller skates. Sucks that he had the career ending injury
 

soflagator

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Alex Brown had a pretty damn good NFL career.

Yes he did. He, Carter and Youngblood(Super Bowl story alone is awesome) to me are a clear top 3, with the order being somewhat subjective. They were also complete DE's, as opposed to pass rush specialists(see JP, DH, JM, even Dunlap to an extent). Granted I didn't see Youngblood, and it shouldn't be overly weighted by NFL success, but I think they are top 3 regardless of criteria.

I'm beginning to think my issue with these lists is consistent across the board, and it's about the 10 places. There seems to be a pretty solid consensus around 1-2, some valid debate about 3-5, and then just a random grouping beyond that. 110+ years of football, much of which wasn't seen by any of us, makes it too hard to narrow down anything outside a top 3, maybe top 5.

Another interesting stat about Youngblood's NFL career. In his infamous 1979 playoff/SB run where he played despite injuries, he helped knock out the #1 cowboys in the Division round.
 

Woodstork

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The 247 list is ass. This is a position of significant Gator lore. Here’s my much better one IMHO
1) Youngblood. ROH for a reason. Larger than life overachieving mfckr.
2) Carter. Great player, Gator great. Classy, cool and smart off the field, wrecking ball on it.
3) Dunlap - here for freakish physique and talent, could have meant so much more absent drinking.
4) Harvey. Winner (see additional remarks). **** UGA and Ohio.
5) Brown. **** Tennessee. Diehard Gator.
6) Cunningham. 2x national champ.
7) Jarvis Moss (Cock Block)
8) A bunch of others...

I prefer winners and die hard Gators. Carter and Youngblood are all time Gator blue bloods. Brown holds records and is a great Gator, but would be on here even just for how he single handedly wrecked Toothless in arguably the most decisive game ever by a UF DE. I was at that game.

War Stories: Most memorable UF-UT games, Nos. 10-6

Harvey had a way of rising to the occasion in 2006. Created the margin of victory over UGA that year in a 21-14 win and poor Troy Smith probably still runs from Harvey in his sleep.

Florida Shows It Belongs by Winning Title With Ease

Moss cock block. Always worth a look. Turn up the volume.


I liked Fowler, Richardson, Polite, and Greenard but they didn’t really leave a lasting legacy or have memorable big-time championship mission-critical games like the others. Greenard is tempting to add because we saw his importance by absence vs LSU.

Also, no wife beaters allowed on my list. Otherwise there’s another guy I’d add.

P.S. I guess the Freak is considered a linebacker, but maybe he should be listed as honorable mention.
 

soflagator

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The 247 list is ass. This is a position of significant Gator lore. Here’s my much better one IMHO
1) Youngblood. ROH for a reason. Larger than life overachieving mfckr.
2) Carter. Great player, Gator great. Classy, cool and smart off the field, wrecking ball on it.
3) Dunlap - here for freakish physique and talent, could have meant so much more absent drinking.
4) Harvey. Winner (see additional remarks). **** UGA and Ohio.
5) Brown. **** Tennessee. Diehard Gator.
6) Cunningham. 2x national champ.
7) Jarvis Moss (Cock Block)
8) A bunch of others...

I prefer winners and die hard Gators. Carter and Youngblood are all time Gator blue bloods. Brown holds records and is a great Gator, but would be on here even just for how he single handedly wrecked Toothless in arguably the most decisive game ever by a UF DE. I was at that game.

War Stories: Most memorable UF-UT games, Nos. 10-6

Harvey had a way of rising to the occasion in 2006. Created the margin of victory over UGA that year in a 21-14 win and poor Troy Smith probably still runs from Harvey in his sleep.

Florida Shows It Belongs by Winning Title With Ease

Moss cock block. Always worth a look. Turn up the volume.


I liked Fowler, Richardson, Polite, and Greenard but they didn’t really leave a lasting legacy or have memorable big-time championship mission-critical games like the others. Greenard is tempting to add because we saw his importance by absence vs LSU.

Also, no wife beaters allowed on my list. Otherwise there’s another guy I’d add.

P.S. I guess the Freak is considered a linebacker, but maybe he should be listed as honorable mention.


I think Moss gets a ton of mileage out of a handful of plays. Not downplaying their significance, obviously, but I think we can put too much emphasis on one or two great plays. Otherwise, Dwayne Thomas could rightly make his way into the discussion. I'm probably in the minority here, but I think it has to be more than one or two memorable plays.

Also, I don't remember Harvey's play against uga in 2006. I remember RayMac's scoop and score. Was it DH that caused it? I don't remember.
 

TheDouglas78

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Thinking about it, I believe 5 of the guys on this list made it through their second NFL contract and one is a Hall a Famer.. so that's a pretty decent success rate.
 

Woodstork

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I think Moss gets a ton of mileage out of a handful of plays. Not downplaying their significance, obviously, but I think we can put too much emphasis on one or two great plays. Otherwise, Dwayne Thomas could rightly make his way into the discussion. I'm probably in the minority here, but I think it has to be more than one or two memorable plays.

Also, I don't remember Harvey's play against uga in 2006. I remember RayMac's scoop and score. Was it DH that caused it? I don't remember.

I agree Moss rides on a small number of plays, but in my mind one of them was so iconic he’s on the list. Transcendent outcome from perhaps the single-most clutch and spine-tingling moment in Gator history. Without which we have one less NC.

He’s like the Patrick Henry of Gator history. Henry falls short of the volume of great thoughts and deeds from Franklin, Washington, Hamilton or Jefferson but his cry of ‘Give me liberty, or give me death’ was so powerful in winning hearts and minds teetering on the brink of abandonment - he has a place among the list of American Revolution greats.

Regarding Harvey vs UGA in 2006 - 3 tackles and 1 sack, a fumble recovery, and forced the fumble Ray McDonald returned for a TD. Pretty good day. Not sure the Gators win without Harvey that Saturday.
 

soflagator

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I agree Moss rides on a small number of plays, but in my mind one of them was so iconic he’s on the list. Transcendent outcome from perhaps the single-most clutch and spine-tingling moment in Gator history. Without which we have one less NC.

He’s like the Patrick Henry of Gator history. Henry falls short of the volume of great thoughts and deeds from Franklin, Washington, Hamilton or Jefferson but his cry of ‘Give me liberty, or give me death’ was so powerful in winning hearts and minds teetering on the brink of abandonment - he has a place among the list of American Revolution greats.

Regarding Harvey vs UGA in 2006 - 3 tackles and 1 sack, a fumble recovery, and forced the fumble Ray McDonald returned for a TD. Pretty good day. Not sure the Gators win without Harvey that Saturday.

Yeah I can see JM on the list. As I said, outside of a few slam dunks, there are several names I agree with. We just may see them in a diff order based on personal preference.

And thanks for the stats on DH. At first I was surprised that I didn’t recall his impact in that game. Then I remembered it was a uga game in my mid-20s.
 

YLGator

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Worst of the lists so far. This is the list Bullard and Ray MacDonald should be on instead of Polite and an LB from the 80's.
 

Gatorbait25

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Swap 1 and 3.

Beyond that, this is one garbage list, especially in terms of order.. Richardson should be above Harvey, and Polite has no business being anywhere near this group, much less in front of Fowler. The only thing I do like is seeing Cunningham on there. He probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves and should hover around the 10 spot.

Cunningham was definitely underrated. Polite in my opinion was more of a one hit wonder. He had a really good season in
what was a three loss year, he had big games against LSU and the noles. I'd take any of Cunningham, Harvey, Moss and Dunlap over JP.
I'd probably say Alex Brown is the best I've watched. The 06 DL is one of my favorite position groups on that side of the ball in our history.
When you consider the demolition of the buckeyes O was done without probably our best player in Thomas, it makes the group all the more impressive. Siler was also an extremely underrated backer for us .
 

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