Fall camp is closing in on Gainesville, and Florida’s 2026 roster is already taking shape under a new look. The Gators are trying to move past a 4-8 finish in Billy Napier’s final season, and with Jon Sumrall now leading the program, expectations around UF have shifted fast.
That’s the backdrop for Swamp247’s countdown of Florida’s 26 most important players for 2026, and at No. 6 is sophomore JACK edge rusher Jayden Woods.
Woods brings a strong profile into his second year. The 6-foot-3, 244-pound Kansas native was ranked by 247Sports as the No. 90 overall prospect, the No.
10 EDGE and the No. 4 player in Kansas in the class of 2025. As a true freshman in 2025, he played in all 12 games and made two starts, finishing with 28 tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception, one pass breakup, two QB hurries and a fumble recovery.
He co-led the team in sacks, and he also ranked third on the Gators in tackles for loss with 5.0 and third in interceptions with one.
His return to Florida wasn’t a given. Woods entered the NCAA transfer portal after UF’s four-win season in 2025 and even took an official visit to Texas before Sumrall and his new staff managed to bring him back to Gainesville. That gives Florida a young pass rusher with real upside and a clear path to a bigger role.
The job ahead is straightforward: Woods will try to win the starting JACK edge rusher spot in fall camp, with redshirt senior Kofi Asare and freshman KJ Ford expected to be his main competition.
His importance goes beyond the depth chart. Woods’ return was one of the biggest offseason wins for Sumrall, and there’s a strong belief inside the program that his freshman year was just the start. Teammates and coaches praised both his work ethic and his physical tools in 2025, and the expectation is that he can take another step now that he’s no longer a first-year player.
Woods also said midway through last season that he needed to be more mature, and that makes his next step even more interesting. Florida wants him to grow into a more vocal, more visible leader, and if he locks down the starting role, his production should climb with it. The Gators should be able to generate more pressure this season, and with Woods already tied for the team lead in sacks last year, the numbers could follow.
The lack of proven depth at his position only raises the stakes. Woods is positioned to be one of Florida’s most important pieces in 2026, and the expectation is that he’ll be in the mix for accolades by the time the season winds down.
In Other News...
Former Florida GM Just Reignited The Billy Napier Blame Debate
Billy Napiers Florida tenure is back in the conversation, and this time the pushback is coming from inside the same orbit that once helped build it. Jason LaFrance, who served as Floridas general manager and is now an associate athletic director at James Madison, said the Gators roster in Napiers fourth year had enough talent to stack up with just about anyone in the country, a pointed assessment for a program that never turned that promise into a run at the national level.
Napier has since moved on to James Madison, where he is taking over after Bob Chesney left for UCLA, but the Florida debate he left behind is still very much alive. The Gators did not produce the kind of breakthrough season their roster suggested was possible, and LaFrances comments only sharpen the question of how much of that failure belonged to the talent on hand and how much belonged to the coaching. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Just Missed On A Priority QB Sumrall Really Needed
Florida spent real time on the trail of one of the nations most coveted young quarterbacks, and Kingston Preyear had given the Gators enough reason to stay involved. The four-star from Alabama has been on the radar as a top-tier 2028 signal-caller, and Floridas staff, under Jon Sumrall, worked to keep the conversation moving after he visited Gainesville in March and returned for the programs camp in June.
Alabama ultimately won out in the end, landing the in-state standout and leaving Florida to regroup after missing on a priority target it badly wanted in the class. For the Gators, it is another reminder that early quarterback recruiting can turn quickly, especially when a player ranked among the best at his position nationally starts narrowing the field. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Fans Are Watching Keldrid Ben For One Reason
Keldrid Ben has become a familiar name on Floridas recruiting radar, even if the path here has always pointed elsewhere. The four-star running back has been committed to Oklahoma since December, but the Gators still made a push with an offer in March and campus visits in April and May, enough to keep his name in the conversation as he heads toward a scheduled announcement about his recruitment.
For Florida fans, the interest is obvious because Ben is the type of back any staff would want to at least keep tracking. Still, the expectation around the announcement is that it will be more of a closing moment than a surprise twist, with the focus on family, friends and community as he wraps up the process and puts a final bow on the decision he has been building toward for months. [Read more 🡒]