Florida has two young defenders and pass-catchers in the mix for one of college football’s top freshman honors.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Dallas Wilson and cornerback Ben Hanks III were both placed on the Shaun Alexander Watch List, which tracks the nation’s best freshman regardless of position. The award has been handed out since 2018 as the college freshman player of the year and carries the name of Shaun Alexander, the former Alabama running back and 2005 NFL MVP with the Seattle Seahawks.
Wilson made the kind of first impression that gets attention fast. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound receiver finished the 2025 season with 12 catches for 174 yards and three touchdowns in four games for Florida. His debut was especially loud: he earned SEC freshman of the week honors after catching six passes for 111 yards and two scores in the Gators’ 29-21 upset of Texas at home.
Lingering injuries limited Wilson to just four games in his first collegiate season, and he will now be listed as a second-year freshman.
Hanks’ path has been slower, but he’s on the same watch list after flashing when healthy. The cornerback played in three games last season, starting one, and logged eight tackles, two pass breakups and an interception as a freshman. His early college run was interrupted by lower-body injuries, but he is now fully healthy.
That health matters because Hanks is right in the middle of a competition for a starting job. He is battling redshirt juniors Dijon Johnson and Cormani McClain for one of Florida’s two starting cornerback spots.
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Florida, meanwhile, keeps offering a different kind of backdrop. The Gators have now extended their sellout run to 18 straight games at The Swamp, a steady show of support that underscores how secure the home atmosphere has become. For a program looking to keep its place in the SEC spotlight, the numbers around Gainesville are a reminder that fan appetite can be just as revealing as anything happening on the field. [Read more 🡒]
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What makes the exercise so familiar for Gators fans is the old tension between optimism and reality. Conference strength, depth and preseason rankings all get debated before a snap is played, and Florida is once again trying to climb while those arguments swirl overhead. Sumralls task is bigger than simply rebuilding the Gators, because in the SEC, even the early stages of a turnaround are measured against programs that rarely give anyone room to breathe. [Read more 🡒]
Micah Handlogtens Next Move Keeps A Frustrating Florida Saga Alive
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For Florida, it is another reminder of how unfinished this story has felt since Senior Night, when the program honored Handlogten while also continuing to pursue a waiver for another year. He played 34 games in the 2025-26 season and averaged 4.1 points and 5.9 rebounds, but the broader question now is whether his appeal clears the way for him to suit up again in the SEC, only in different colors. [Read more 🡒]