Florida’s 2024 season still stands as the high-water mark of the Billy Napier era in one respect: the wins were there. The Gators stumbled through the first two-thirds of the year, then caught fire with four straight victories to finish with eight. That stretch included two wins over top-25 teams, a road win at Florida State and a Gasparilla Bowl victory over Tulane.
But the uneven start told part of the story too. Florida was living on a razor-thin margin, and the biggest reason was roster turnover.
The Gators lost 23 players through the transfer portal in the months before the 2024 season, and several of them would have mattered in the seasons that followed. The depth hit showed up later, and it caught up with Florida in 2025.
One of the biggest losses was Princely Umanmielen. After a strong 2023 season in Gainesville, he moved to Ole Miss on a major NIL deal and turned in a huge year for the Rebels with 10.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss.
He earned first-team All-SEC honors, and some outlets even put him on their All-American teams. For Florida, the loss was especially painful early in the season when the pass rush was inconsistent.
The Gators did beat then-No. 9 Ole Miss at home, but if Umanmielen had stayed alongside Tyreak Sapp, George Gumbs and Caleb Banks, Florida might have had the SEC’s best defensive line.
Graham Mertz’s passing game also felt the hit when Xzavier Henderson left before the 2024 season looking for a bigger role and found it at Texas Tech. Over the next two seasons, the 6-foot-3 receiver caught 114 passes for 1,723 yards and 13 touchdowns. His departure might have seemed less damaging if Dallas Wilson had been healthy in 2025, but that didn’t happen, and Florida was left without the veteran presence in the passing game that Douglas could have provided.
On the offensive line, Florida had some experienced pieces in 2025, including two players selected in the top 90 of the draft, but Kingsley Leonard would have added even more. He would have brought toughness in the trenches and a steady voice in the locker room. He wasn’t an NFL draft pick like Umanmielen or Douglas, but as the season unraveled, he would have been the kind of player coaches and teammates could lean on.
The defensive front took another hit when Cam Jackson left, and Florida felt that absence even more after Caleb Banks missed most of the 2025 season. Jackson became a major force inside for the Tigers, posting 48 tackles, eight tackles for loss and six sacks before turning himself into an NFL Draft pick.
And then there was Trevor Etienne, who crossed the border and gave Florida fans another painful reminder of what might have been. The Gators had backs, and his departure helped Jadan Baugh put together a strong freshman season, but it was impossible to ignore what Etienne later did when he scored the game-winning touchdown to clinch the SEC championship for the Bulldogs.
It’s all easy to revisit now as a series of what-ifs. College football was still adjusting to a new reality, and plenty of programs were slow to understand that keeping players mattered just as much as signing them. Napier tried to solve Florida’s portal losses by replacing them with other portal additions, but that approach was a gamble that never really paid off.
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Florida Fans Are About To Find Out What LJ McCray Really Is
LJ McCrays Florida career has been more about promise than production so far, which is what makes this next stretch so interesting. The former five-star defensive end spent most of last season sidelined by a foot injury, then turned his focus to recovery and the kind of strength work that can change how a pass rusher looks and plays. Under new conditioning coach Rusty Whitt, McCray has added more than 10 pounds of muscle and is heading into the offseason with a much different body than the one he brought to Gainesville.
Now the real evaluation begins. McCray is preparing to compete for playing time in 2026 under a new coaching staff and a new defensive setup, and Floridas staff will get a much clearer read on whether he is ready to become the kind of disruptive edge presence his recruiting profile suggested. He will have to earn his place in a crowded defensive end room, and the coming months should tell the Gators whether McCray is simply a talented name on paper or someone ready to turn the hype into snaps. [Read more 🡒]
Buster Faulkner Just Put Jadan Baugh In Rare Florida Company
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For a program trying to find a new offensive identity, that kind of recognition matters because it suggests Baughs role could grow well beyond a standard run-game workload. PFF also sees him as the sort of player who can factor into award chatter if everything clicks in Floridas new offense, which only adds to the intrigue around what he might become in Gainesville. [Read more 🡒]
Easton Royal Just Put Florida Fans Through Familiar Recruiting Drama
A fresh bit of recruiting theater has Gators fans looking twice after five-star wide receiver Easton Royal, a Texas commit, wrapped up his official visit to Gainesville and then switched his Instagram profile picture to a shot of himself in a Florida uniform. It is the kind of social media move that always gets attention in this sport, especially when it comes from a player Florida has kept pushing for and one whose recruitment still has plenty of runway left.
Royals post has naturally fueled speculation about whether the Gators can make a real run at a flip, even with Florida already sitting in a decent spot at wide receiver for the 2027 class. There is no resolution yet, and the next few weeks should tell more about where this is headed, but for now it is another reminder that Floridas pursuit of elite talent can still turn into familiar recruiting drama. [Read more 🡒]