Florida football’s standout edge rusher announced his return to college football on Dec. 6 after pondering his chances in the NFL draft. However, his decision to re-join the collegiate ranks came with a twist — he would also be entering the NCAA transfer portal.
On Friday, Princely Umanmielen announced his commitment to one of the Gators’ Southeastern Conference rivals, the Ole Miss Rebels.
The 6-foot-5-inch, 255-pound defender finished 2023 with 7.0 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss — both good enough to crack the top 10 in the SEC. He was named to the Second Team All-SEC as a defensive end, making him the only member of the Orange and Blue to make the all-conference team.
Umanmielen’s best game came against the Arkansas Razorbacks, in which he logged 2.5 sacks along with a season second-best of six total tackles (three solo, three assisted). His season and career-best for tackles in a game came a week prior against the Georgia Bulldogs, in which he amassed nine (six solo, three assisted) plus 1.5 sacks.
Advanced analytics like Umanmielen a lot. His 88.9 PFF pass-rush grade was the third-highest among SEC edge rushers, and his pass-rush win rate of 20.8% was the best mark in the conference among defensive linemen with at least 300 snaps played.
A four-star prospect out of high school, Umanmielen spent the past four seasons with the Gators, racking up 15.0 career sacks in Gainesville. He joins a Rebels defensive line that recorded 34.0 sacks in 2023 — fifth-most in the conference — and pairs him alongside All-SEC Freshman Team linebacker Suntarine Perkins on next year’s defensive corps.
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