GAINESVILLE - Jadan Baugh went home to the Atlanta area over Florida’s bye week expecting a homecoming. Instead, the Gators’ star tailback walked away with a spot in his high school’s history.
At Decatur Columbia, where Baugh starred before signing with Florida, his No. 3 was retired Friday night. It was only the fourth jersey ever retired at the small 2A school east of Atlanta. Baugh was there to watch his alma mater beat Atlanta Carver 43-0.
“I didn’t even know they were going to do that,” Baugh said Monday. “When they did it, it was very exciting.”
Now the 20-year-old is back in the city with a much bigger stage in front of him. Saturday brings Florida’s rivalry matchup with Georgia, a game Baugh already had circled.
“It means everything to me,” Baugh said of the showdown. “But I’m trying not to put too much emotion into it because one thing my Dad always preached to me is, ‘Don’t get excited.’ If you get too excited, you’ll be overly ready for the moment.”
No. 17 Florida (5-2, 3-2 SEC) heads into the SEC showdown with No.
3 Georgia (6-1, 4-1) hoping to land another upset. Baugh’s role in getting the Gators here was easy to spot in Florida’s Oct. 17 win at Texas, where he helped jump-start a rushing attack that had gone quiet during back-to-back double-digit losses to Missouri and South Carolina.
The yards didn’t come easy in Austin. Baugh took a shot that sent him to the turf and left him winded enough to come out of the game for a stretch.
Still, the 6-foot, 222-pound junior kept pressing ahead, taking the hard yards until he finally broke loose for runs of 13 and 11 yards. Those were his only double-digit gains of the day, but the last one mattered most: it finished off Florida’s 27-24 win.
For Baugh, that performance was about more than the box score.
“It means everything,” he said. “Even coming to college, it was kind of hard for me because in high school, I wanted to break every run. I was trying to do everything and not understanding that some runs are going to be ugly runs, put your head down and just go.
“That Texas game actually showed me, ‘Hey, every run is not going to be a big run, but be patient. One of them is going to pop.'”
He finished with 91 yards on 25 carries, and coach Jon Sumrall said the way Baugh played reached beyond the running back room.
“It affects our entire team,” Sumrall said Monday. “Because now everybody is playing with that physical edge and the mindset he played with. And so, it creates confidence in your team.”
That edge showed up long before Baugh got to Florida. In Decatur, he spent time at safety, outside linebacker, defensive end, quarterback and receiver before settling at tailback as a senior after 1,000-yard rusher Royce Tolbert moved on to college.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart noticed the versatile prospect early and saw Baugh’s future on defense. Baugh, though, had different ideas.
“They wanted me on the defensive side of the ball, but I didn’t want to play defense,” Baugh said.
Smart and defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann weren’t persuaded even after Baugh’s huge senior year. He rushed for 1,583 yards and 19 touchdowns on only 113 carries, added 28 catches for 531 yards and six scores, and also piled up six interceptions, seven pass break-ups and 54 tackles at safety.
“I let them know I wanted to be on the offensive side of the ball and they understood that, so we went in different directions,” Baugh said.
His return to the Atlanta area last Friday, this time as a Florida standout, offered a reminder of how close he once was to heading somewhere else.
That decision gives Saturday’s game an extra layer, especially with some family members pulling for Georgia and others for Florida. Baugh said the split exists around the dinner table, but not this week.
“Some of them are Georgia fans, some of them are Florida fans,” he said. “But when it comes to this game, they’re all Florida fans.”
He’s still trying to line up tickets, with as many as 30 relatives hoping to get in. Once the game starts, though, the family chatter will give way to football - and to a chance for Florida to snap a five-game losing streak against Georgia.
“It’s a big opportunity,” Baugh said. “Coach told us this morning, everything we want is going to be there.
We’re going to be in a great position to show our talent and I can’t wait to see our team show their talent. Forget what I do.
“I just can’t wait to see them boys go out there with smiles on their faces and just play the game we love.”
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