Florida’s new center is already drawing national attention.
Harrison Moore was added Thursday to the 2026 Rimington Trophy preseason watch list, putting the Gators transfer in the conversation for the award given each year to the nation’s top center. Moore arrives in Gainesville after two seasons at Georgia Tech, where he started eight games at center last season.
At 6-4 and 293 pounds, Moore helped Georgia Tech allow only nine sacks last year and was one of 10 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award. The Rimington Trophy Committee built its preseason watch list with help from Pro Football Focus, its play-by-play grading system and nominations from schools.
Moore has not played a game for Florida yet, but he appears to be the leading candidate to open the season as the starting center. He has been competing with returning backup Jason Zandamela, and head coach Jon Sumrall said last month at SEC Media Day that Moore and fellow transfer TJ Shanahan Jr. were setting the pace during offseason work.
Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who coached Moore at Georgia Tech, said Tuesday that the move to Florida worked out well for everyone.
"It was fortunate that it worked out for the Gators," Faulkner said Tuesday of Moore's transfer. "Harrison Moore is one of the toughest guys I've, you know, ever had a chance to coach.
You know, last two years, he played a lot for us as a freshman. I think he's now getting comfortable in his own skin.
He's, you know, when we first signed him, he was 265 pounds, so he's still putting on weight. He's much stronger than he was.
He's starting to become a leader, a lot more vocal, and that's very important for what we ask the center to do in this offense."
If Moore ends up winning the starting job, he’ll be stepping into a massive vacancy. Jake Slaughter, a First-Team All-American in 2024 and a Rimington Trophy finalist in 2025, left for the NFL and was taken in the Second Round of the 2026 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers.
Faulkner said Moore has already drawn some of the same respect inside the building that Slaughter earned.
"From the things that I've been told, are very similar," he said. "Which is, again, you ask a lot of guys around this building, that's a high compliment. Jake Slaughter was very well thought of amongst his teammates, and you know, Harrison's only been here seven months, and he's still working to gain that kind of respect, and he'll do that."
If Moore takes home the Rimington Trophy, he would become the second Gator to do it, joining Maurkice Pouncey in 2009.
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