Tyreak Sapp on No. 1: 'That Number Doesn't Change Anything. Regardless, You Gotta Be That Guy'

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- In any sport, certain jersey numbers became synonymous with greatness, and the Florida Gators are no different with the No. 1 jersey, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

However, Florida's 2025 spring roster revealed that no player on the roster currently wears the number, a first since the 2018 season. The reasoning, at least on the defensive side, is simple.

"For me personally, I feel like I just wanted to take a break from the assumptions. Take from a little bit of entitlement, too," senior edge rusher Tyreak Sapp said Thursday.

With spring camp upon the Gators, Sapp has made it clear that the jersey number doesn't matter if you're not productive on the field, which has been fairly evident over the last few seasons. Florida's three most-recent defensive owners of the number - Justus Boone, Princely Umanmielen and Brenton Cox Jr. - have each had their own shortcomings while wearing the number.

Cox Jr., who donned the number from 2020-2022, was kicked off the team in 2022 after the Georgia game, while Umanmielen (2023) and Boone (2024) both transferred out of the program after their lone season wearing the number.

"The number doesn’t change anything. Regardless, you gotta be that guy," Sapp said. "On Saturday, that number doesn’t make you make any more plays and make any less plays. You gotta understand that. As long as we understand that, we gonna go out there and be fine with it. Somebody wearing No. 1 or not.”

As a result, Sapp made it clear that he doesn't think anyone should get the No. 1 jersey.

“Not even myself," he said, although he clarified that the offense does its own thing with jersey numbers.

Entering his final season, Sapp is coming off a career-year with a team-high seven sacks, half of which came in the final two regular season games. As the veteran leader of the team, he's made it clear that if Florida wants to build off its strong finish from last season, the team will have to keep having an unselfish mentality that supersedes something as menial as a jersey number.

“It’s just about us, like, just having that unselfish mentality and doing it for each other," he said. "I just want everybody to know, everybody to understand, that it’s bigger than you. No matter everything that we do, it’s always bigger than you."

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