It’s been a mostly frustrating offseason for the Florida Gators so far on the back of a five-game losing streak. But on Sunday, things certainly took a step in a positive direction with not one, but two key transfer portal additions.
A few hours after the Gators landed offensive lineman Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson from San Diego State, they picked up their second veteran piece in the trenches by adding interior defensive lineman Joey Slackman. Rated as a top 25 player in the transfer portal by both 247Sports and On3’s ranking systems, Slackman will get his chance to up his draft stock at the highest level of college football.
Originally from Commack, NY, Slackman was not really recruited coming out of high school, but impressed a few Ivy schools (the Ivy League didn’t offer athletic scholarships) and eventually signed to play for Pennsylvania. In his three years with the Quakers, Slackman produced pretty consistently: 115 tackles, 25 TFLs, 11 sacks, 3 passes defended and two forced fumbles.
But it wasn’t until 2022 that he really broke out. As a junior, he exploded, generating twelve TFLs and four sacks. Additionally, the advanced metrics tracking site Pro Football Focus rated him as 90.1 overall and 92.8 against the run- both of which are the best in the country for FCS defensive tackles. As a result, he was named the Ivy League Player of the Year.
With accolades like that, Slackman felt justified in seeking a more prestigious football program to play at in his final year of eligibility. Almost immediately upon hitting the portal, Slackman was avalanched with FBS offers, including from some big-name schools like Michigan, Auburn, Washington, USC, Colorado… and Florida. Early smoke seemed to indicate that it would be either Florida or Auburn, and some thought he may have been an Auburn lean, with a few seeming to think he could wind up at Michigan.
But it’s going to be Florida for Joey Slackman, and he’ll enter a defensive line room that’s got a complicated situation.
Cam Jackson was very helpful when healthy, but he seldom was in 2023. Desmond Watson is a monster at times, but has not been able to string together any real consistency. TJ Searcy and Kelby Collins demonstrated true promise, but Slackman has two years of experience on them both and while it’s true that his experience is at the FCS level, sack and TFL production does typically translate at least to some degree between levels of competition. Also in that DL room are Caleb Banks, Jamari Lyons, Gavin Hill and Tyreak Sapp.
Lastly, a quick fun fact about Joey Slackman— he also played tennis and wrestled as a kid. His three-sport athlete background will soon be on display in the trenches of SEC football, a rarity even among the top athletes.
Florida is now at a delta of -15 in the transfer portal, but the Gators do figure to make plenty of moves to fill out their roster in the next several months. Here’s hoping they continue to do so while maintaining the high caliber of player.
