Florida’s offense may be grabbing most of the headlines, but the real question mark heading into 2026 sits on the other side of the ball.
Buster Faulkner has already become a familiar name around Florida, and the excitement around what the Gators’ offense could become is easy to understand. The defense, though, has been a much quieter topic, even though Brad White is walking into one of the biggest unknowns of the offseason. The biggest question is whether Florida’s defense will resemble the Kentucky units White coordinated in recent years.
White isn’t giving away much yet.
At a press conference on Wednesday, he was asked what his scheme would look like this season. His answer was short and to the point: "We'll see Saturday."
He did offer a little more afterward, saying Florida will be flexible and multiple up front.
“I think honestly, when you look at college football these days, there's a lot of teams - you're going to be multiple, you're going to have three-down fronts, you're going to have four-down fronts. So we'll have the ability to go to both. I think having that ability allows you to be flexible in your personnel.”
That leaves Florida fans with a defense that still feels like a mystery box.
Part of the uncertainty comes from White’s track record at Kentucky. His defenses there were known for playing it safe on the back end and leaning on a strong front four to carry the load. That approach worked well against weaker opponents, but ranked teams often had their way with it.
The numbers back that up. From 2019 to 2025, Kentucky allowed 19.5 points per game against unranked opponents during White’s time as defensive coordinator. Against ranked teams, that number rose to 30.2 points per game over 27 games.
Another way to look at Kentucky’s style under White is through havoc rate, defined as “Disruption rather than pure prevention, using source-provided havoc events to track how often a defense creates snaps that push an offense off schedule.” Kentucky finished in the top half of the SEC in that category only once during White’s tenure.
Still, Florida is not being presented as a straight copy of what White ran at Kentucky. Jon Sumrall has said during the offseason that the Gators won’t simply lift and shift that system wholesale. There’s also the possibility that White wanted to do more at Kentucky but had to work within the framework Mark Stoops preferred.
And there’s one more difference worth noting: Florida’s talent level gives White a different canvas than he had in Lexington. Kentucky was often trying to punch above its weight. Florida isn’t in that same position.
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The part still hanging over that picture is Denzel Aberdeen, whose eligibility remains unresolved as college basketball continues to work through legal and eligibility questions. Florida can map out a contender with the core it already has, but Aberdeens status could shape just how high the Gators can go and how much margin they have if the season starts to get bumpy. [Read more 🡒]