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Florida Gators: Arik Gilbert decommits, re-enters transfer portal

By Jeremy Klump

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - OCTOBER 24: Arik Gilbert #2 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball as Shilo Sanders #21 of the South Carolina Gamecocks defends during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium on October 24, 2020 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - OCTOBER 24: Arik Gilbert #2 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball as Shilo Sanders #21 of the South Carolina Gamecocks defends during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium on October 24, 2020 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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What a wild 24 hours it has been here at Hail Florida Hail. After publishing an article yesterday about how LSU transfer and former 5-star tight end Arik Gilbert was poised to be a star for the Florida Gators, Gilbert announced on Twitter that he was decommitting and re-entering the transfer portal.

Wow.

So there is a lot to unpack here, starting with the fact that Gilbert never even stepped foot on campus. Oddly enough, after listening to tight ends coach Tim Brewster talk about his tight ends the other day, I had this weird feeling about how much he didn’t speak about Gilbert, so, likely, the Gators weren’t surprised by this move. Even if they were surprised by it, Gilbert has made his decision, and the Gators understand that.

There is tons of speculation as to why Gilbert has decommitted, but there is no point to really speculate at this time. It seems more like the time to focus on which Gators are in Gainesville and how Florida will be moving forward.

Luckily for the Gators, even without Gilbert, they are still stacked in the tight end room. It will be tough to replace Kyle Pitts, the No. 1 player in the 2021 NFL Draft. However, the Gators have some players that will do their best. The tight end room consists of Kemore Gamble, Keon Zipperer, Jonathan Odom, Nick Elksnis, and Gage Wilcox.

Gamble and Zipperer combined for five scores last season, so they expect to be the ones who will gain the most playing time off of this. Odom, Elksnis, and Wilcox are the young guns, but they all have chances to see some playing time because of the Gilbert transfer.

I would expect to see a lot of two-tight end sets with both Gamble and Zipperer, and I do not know if either guy will really be “the guy.” Instead, I think Florida will go with a “tight end by committee” approach, even sprinkling in the talented, young tight ends as well.

This news isn’t great for the Gators, but as you can see, they should still be okay after taking a big blow today.

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