With the regular season over, players are beginning to announce transfer portal decision. The first Gator to depart the program is wide receiver Andy Jean.
Florida wide receiver [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag] plans to leave the program via the transfer portal, according to On3’s Corey Bender. The transfer portal opens on Monday, Dec. 9.
Jean signed with Florida as a member of the Gators’ top-15-ranked recruiting class of 2023 (No. 12 by 247Sports and No. 13 by On3). He was a four-star recruit ranked inside the top 400 by both major recruiting services — No. 380 by 247Sports and No. 397 by On3 — out of Northwestern High School in Miami. Jean picked Florida over his hometown Hurricanes and the Florida State Seminoles.
At the time, Jean was high on Florida partially due to Jaden Rashada flipping to the program. Of course, Rashada never made it to Gainesville and played a year with Arizona State before transferring to Georgia last offseason.
Jean leaves Florida with three more years of eligibility. He played four games in 2023, collecting six catches for 97 yards and earned a redshirt. Jean saw the field for just one snap in 2024, out wide against Mississippi State. Pro Football Focus gave him an offensive grade of 63.8 over 93 snaps as a freshman.
Florida’s options at wide receiver
This is the first transfer portal announcement for the Florida Gators. Every Power Four program deals with some attrition each offseason, but Florida has enough depth at wide receiver to survive the loss.
The Gators are set to lose three seniors from the position room, including starters Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike. Ja’Quavion Fraziars is also out of eligibility.
[autotag]Eugene Wilson III[/autotag] will be a redshirt sophomore next year and the unquestioned No. 1 of the position room.
Redshirt juniors Marcus Burke, [autotag]Kahleil Jackson[/autotag] and Taylor Spierto could all return. Jackson went down at the start of the season with an injury but was a starter against Miami.
Several younger receivers figure to return to the program and take on larger roles in the offense, including redshirt freshman [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] and true freshmen TJ Abrams and [autotag]Tank Hawkins[/autotag].
Florida is also adding a trio of receivers in the 2025 draft class, including five-star Vernell Brown III and four-stars Naeshaun Montgomery and Muizz Tounkara. The Gators are chasing five-star receiver Dallas Wilson, an Oregon commit.
The Gators also have walk-ons Jaden Edgecombe, Alex Gonzalez, Brian Green Jr., DeBraun Hampton, David Schmidt, Zak Sedaros and Jackson Wade on the roster.
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Graham Mertz headlines a group of Gators who are out for Week 2 against Samford.
Florida football goes into Week 2 a bit banged up against the Samford Bulldogs.
The Gators will be without several of their key starters, the most notable being quarterback Graham Mertz who suffered a concussion last week against Miami and was placed in concussion protocol.
Head coach Billy Napier said on Wednesday that Mertz was progressing but it’s just not enough time to be ready for Week 2.
“Graham did not practice today,” Napier said on Wednesday. “He is farther into the protocol, and he’s doing better but he’s not quite — he hasn’t quite passed the final test. He’s doing better, but he’s not quite there yet.”
Five-star freshman DJ Lagway will be taking the place of Mertz and start at quarterback against Samford and will get a chance to show Florida fans his talent.
Napier had plans for Jackson to be a key part of the Gators offense this season.
“Kahleil Jackson needs no motivation,” Napier said about Jackson’s mindset. “He’s self-motivated; he’s a grinder. He’s always been out to prove himself, and he’s done that. He has the respect of myself, our staff, his teammates.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Florida will be without some of their key defenders in the secondary.
Junior cornerback Devin Moore and redshirt-senior safety Asa Turner are out for Week 2. Moore is dealing with a lower-body injury and Turner has a shoulder injury.
Napier said that sophomore Dijon Johnson and redshirt-senior DJ Douglas will see playing time.
“Guys like Didi (Dijon) Johnson, will be in the rotation,” Napier said. “DJ Douglas will get more time. We’ve got some depth there.”
Napier went on to say, “So I mean, I think you just see some of those players that maybe played 12 plays, they’ll play 25 this week. We’ve got confidence in those players. I think it’s an opportunity, and they’ll be ready.”
Florida (0-1) will go up against the Samford Bulldogs (0-1) on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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Competition is running wild in Florida’s wide receivers room heading into 2024. Behind the top three, which other receivers will step up?
Next up in Gators Wire’s annual position preview series are the wide receivers, and the 18-man position room might be one of the most interesting at the University of Florida heading into 2024.
The big question is which pass catcher will step into first-round pick Ricky Pearsall‘s shoes as the top option for Graham Mertz. Billy Napier brought in two transfers to fill out the top of the depth chart, but it’s sophomore Eugene Wilson III who has played the most snaps under Napier.
There’s also plenty of room for competition when it comes to the second and third strings. Several young players are looking to get on the field and find their role on the team.
Here’s a look at each of the receivers on Florida’s roster.
Top option: No. 3 Eugene Wilson III (So.)
Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun
Year
GP
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
Long
AVG/G
2023
10
61
583
8.8
6
30
53.8
Wilson is Florida’s top returning receiver on the depth chart and should receive the most targets of anyone in the position room. He broke out in the second half of the season, ending 2023 with a team-high 6.1 receptions per game.
He split time between the slot (200 snaps) and lining up out wide last season (235 snaps). Wilson is a do-everything kind of player and Billy Napier will draw up a few plays to exploit his skill set. There’s quickness and speed here. Wilson has a chance to be one of the SEC’s best, but he’ll have to beat most teams’ top defensive back now that he’s WR1.
Second option: No. 6 Elijhah Badger (R-Sr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Year
GP
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
Long
AVG/G
2020*
1
0
0
0.0
0
0
0.0
2021*
11
7
61
8.7
0
22
5.5
2022*
12
70
866
12.4
7
9
72.2
2023*
11
65
713
11.0
3
17
64.8
Total
35
142
1,640
11.5
10
22
46.9
* = while at ASU
[autotag]Elijhah Badger[/autotag] transferred from Arizona State during the offseason, and he’s quickly moved to the top of Florida’s depth chart. Similar to Wilson, Badger can line up both inside and outside, giving Napier plenty of versatility on offense.
Expect Badger to set up out wide most of the time. Florida needs a deep threat to keep the defense honest on most snaps, and Badger’s been putting together highlight plays.
“He is explosive, he is athletic, he can run after the catch, he has a vertical threat to his game and he’s got play strength and he’s got length,” Napier said. “He’s a 6-1 guy but he’s got great great length.”
Starting Slot: No. 17 Chimere Dike (Sr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Year
GP
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
Long
AVG/G
2020*
7
12
189
15.8
1
0
27.0
2021*
13
19
272
14.3
1
9
20.9
2022*
13
47
689
14.7
6
12
62.6
2023*
11
19
328
17.3
1
30
29.8
Total
44
97
1,478
15.2
9
30
* = while at Wisconsin
Rounding out that group of starting receivers is Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Chimere Dike[/autotag]. Mertz already has a connection with Dike from their time together as Badgers, but now both are in the prime of their college careers.
Dike’s most productive year with Wisconsin came with Mertz at quarterback in 2022, and it’s easy to see why he followed his former teammate after regressing in production last season. There’s a level of familiarity between the two that’s hard to recreate.
“The good thing about football is even in different offenses, a lot of the concepts have carryover, a lot of similar routes are ran. So, there’ll be a new concept (Florida’s) running that it feels exactly like one that we’ve ran on 100 times before, so I’m definitely fortunate to have that. Obviously, he’s continued to get better as a player and I’m excited to be here and be able to work.”
Second String: No. 11 Aidan Mizell (R-Fr.), No. 14 Andy Jean (R-Fr.) and No. 22 Kahleil Jackson (R-Jr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Here’s where the competition begins, according to Napier.
The second and third-string units inside the receivers room should be fluid throughout the season. Napier likes to play guys who are earning snaps, and he’s repeated several times through fall camp that this is one of the most competitive position groups in Gainesville.
Redshirt freshmen [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag] and [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] are the two breakout candidates here. Neither played much last season. Jean only appeared in four games — catching six passes for 97 yards — as injuries kept him sidelined. The good news is he was able to redshirt and retain a year of eligibility.
The same goes for Mizell, who appeared in just two games last season. Mizell missed much of his senior year of high school with an injury, so he was always likely to redshirt last season. A true speedster, Mizell has a chance to become a serious deep threat for Florida. He can burn most cornerbacks and planned to run track at the university at one point.
Then there’s redshirt junior [autotag]Kahleil Jackson[/autotag], who reeled in 21 receptions for 251 yards. A former walk-on who was added to the scholarship roster in 2022, Jackson made several highlight-worthy plays last season for Florida. It’s hard to tell if the young guys will pass him by, especially with transfers moving ahead of him on the depth chart, but Jackson should be a frequent face on the offense early on in the year.
Reserves: No. 0 Ja’Quavion Fraziars (Sr.), No. 30 Taylor Spierto (R-Jr.) and Marcus Burke (R-Jr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Next up are the reserves, who are likely to fit into that third-string role with some flexibility to move both ways on the depth chart.
[autotag]Ja’Quavion Fraziars[/autotag] and [autotag]Marcus Burke[/autotag] are the two tallest receivers on the team. The Gators have more speed than size at receiver, so both can earn snaps out wide if they prove useful.
Fraziars has hauled in 15 receptions for 143 yards and three touchdowns over four years at Florida, and Burke is at 12 catches for 201 yards over three seasons. A good year for both would be doubling that production, but that’s far from guaranteed.
Then, there’s Taylor Spierto, another walk-on who earned a scholarship last year. He’s most a special teams guy, but he did catch two balls for 17 yards last year.
These three are the rare remnants from the Dan Mullen era in the position room, but they wouldn’t be in Gainesville if they weren’t bought in on Napier. Hopefully, he’ll give them chances to shine, knowing that all three are likely to move on after this season.
Freshmen: No. 4 TJ Abrams (Fr.) and No. 10 Tank Hawkins
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
[autotag]TJ Abrams[/autotag] and [autotag]Tank Hawkins[/autotag] are both true freshmen, but they could end up ahead of the three reserves on the depth chart by season’s end.
Hawkins is the one standing out early. He scored twice during Florida’s first scrimmage and he has verified track speed.
“(Hawkins) got here in January. He’s had a great offseason,” Napier said. “He’s definitely playing faster. His skill level is improving. He’s getting comfortable. Like we’ve talked about before, we kind of have those top three and then you got this group that’s competing. He’s in that group.”
Abrams has a “running back build”, according to Napier, but he’s firmly in the group of receivers competing for a spot in the rotation this year.
In truth, both of these guys probably belong above the reserves on our list, but age over beauty and all that, right?
Walk-Ons
Believe it or not, Florida has seven walk-on receivers on its roster this season.
The oldest of the bunch are redshirt sophomores Alex Gonzalez and Zak Sedaros. Gonzalez joined the team as a preferred walk-on in the summer of 2022 after an in-state prep career at Lehigh Senior near Fort Myers. Sedaros also joined the Gators in the summer of 2022, but without the “preferred” tag. He is also a member of the track and field team at Florida.
Next up are the redshirt freshmen, Jaden Edgecomb, Brian Green Jr. and Jackson Wade. Both Green and Wade joined the program as preferred walk-ons last summer and redshirted after making zero appearances. Wade played high school ball at North Paulding in Georgia, and Green comes from Orange Park near the Jacksonville area.
Edgecomb was selected by Billy Napier for the Louis Oliver Outstanding non-Scholarship Player Award from the Black Student-Athlete Community.
There isn’t much hope for playing time for the four listed above, but the final two walk-ons in Florida’s receiver room are all new to the program so there’s very little chance they see the field this season.
David Schmidt is a local kid from Newberry High. He was an all-state receiver his junior year and a special teams MVP in 2023. The reason for so many walk-ons is to provide depth at multiple positions during practice. Schmidt fills that role nicely.
DeBraun Hampton played high school ball with [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag], so there’s always a chance he blossoms over the next few years.
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Florida’s third spring transfer is a big one. Wide receiver Xzavier Henderson, who started 11 games for the Gators in 2022, is hitting the portal.
Florida wide receiver [autotag]Xzavier Henderson[/autotag] is entering the NCAA transfer portal, according to a report from Swamp247.
Henderson started 11 games for Florida last year and was expected to step into a bigger role with [autotag]Justin Shorter[/autotag] moving on to the NFL. 247Sports’ Jacob Rudner said that sophomore [autotag]Caleb Douglas[/autotag] and freshman [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag] had strong springs behind Henderson, which may have influenced the decision to leave.
[autotag]Ricky Pearsall[/autotag] is the clear leader of the receiver room, but [autotag]Marcus Burke[/autotag], Douglas and Jean are all young players showing promise.
Henderson leaves Florida with 835 career receiving yards and five touchdowns on 73 catches over 35 games. His best game in the Orange and Blue came against Georgia when he hauled in five receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown.
Receivers coach Billy Gonzalez reported strong spring scrimmage performances from Henderson, and head coach Billy Napier also spoke highly of him during the spring. The transfer is somewhat surprising, but he’s not the first player to leave the team during the second portal period of teh year.
Offensive lineman [autotag]David Conner[/autotag] and edge rusher [autotag]Antwaun Powell-Ryland Jr[/autotag]. were the first two Gators to leave the team in the spring. Following Henderson’s departure, Florida will have five open scholarship spots to hand out to transfers.
Florida’s assistant running backs coach just took a job with the ‘Canes doing pretty much what he did for the Gators.
Billy Napier lost another member of his army of staffers on Tuesday with the departure of assistant running backs coach [autotag]Benedick Hyppolite[/autotag], who took a job with the Miami Hurricanes as an offensive analyst working specifically with the running back corps — much like he did in Gainesville last season.
Hyppolite’s burgeoning coaching career has already had three stops on the collegiate circuit, starting as the offensive coordinator at Florida Memorial University — and HBCU in South Florida — in 2019 before joining the Hurricanes’ staff as a graduate assistant in 2020. He then got his big break with the Gators under Napier last season assisting with Florida’s successful running backs room before moving back south for a similar role in Miami.
Last season, UF’s rushing attack was among the top in the nation for most of the season thanks in large part to his efforts off the field. Transfer [autotag]Montrell Johnson[/autotag] and true freshman [autotag]Trevor Etienne[/autotag] combined for 1,560 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns, building the foundation of what should be a terrorizing ground attack for the Gators in years to come.
The departing analyst was no slouch on the recruiting trail either, shouldering a load in wooing four-star running backs [autotag]Treyaun Webb[/autotag] and [autotag]Chauncey Bowens[/autotag], while also stepping out of the backfield to assist in the recruitment of four-star wide receiver [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag].
Half of Florida’s 2023 recruiting class wound up in the On3 top 300 after the final update was released on Tuesday.
The Florida Gators already signed the bulk of its 2023 recruiting class, and the haul is looking even better than expected after On3 provided its last update to its independent rankings, the On300.
Ten of Florida’s signees cracked the top 300 and five players made it into the top 100.
Again, this is On3’s independent rankings, which is used to reach the more commonly cited On3 consensus or 247Sports composite rankings. Those are aggregate scores that use different formulas depending on the site and are used more often because they help eliminate any one service’s individual bias.
Several of Florida’s signees participated in All-Star games and boosted their stock with good performances against some of the top players in the class. The two most notable were cornerback [autotag]Ja’Keem Jackson[/autotag] and defensive lineman [autotag]Kelby Collins[/autotag], who each moved up over 50 spots to break into the top 50.
Here’s a look at where each Florida signee from the class of 2023 finished in the On300 rankings.
With early signing day in the books, we now have a better idea of which members of Florida’s recruiting class of 2023 will early enroll.
Florida head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] went over a lot in his post-early signing day press conference, but one of the major points discussed was just how many of the 20 signees will enroll early. According to Napier, the bulk of the class should arrive in the spring.
Of Florida’s 20 signees, Napier expects 18 to be in Gainesville for spring practices. Rather than listing each name that plans to early enroll, it’s easier to list those who won’t: wide receiver [autotag]Eugene Wilson III[/autotag] and defensive lineman [autotag]Gavin Hill[/autotag].
Adding 18 players to the roster a few months early could be huge for Billy Napier and Co. The Gators are replacing a ton of talent after many draft departures, dismissals and transfers. Getting the new Napier-recruited talent on campus early means more time to teach them the playbook, system, etc. More practice time means a better shot at finding early snaps, too.
“The other thing that’s going to help is you’re going to have 20 players that start in January,” said Napier during his early signing day presser, “and I think that translates to more reps and more teaching and more opportunity to get orientated to the university and just life in general in college. But I do think that there will be a number of this group (that compete for early playing time). They’re going to have to earn it.”
It can’t be overstated how important it was for Florida to bring in a group of recruits that were willing to enroll early, and Napier did an exceptional job making sure everything went according to plan.
In case you’re looking for a full list of early enrollees, here’s a list of the players that should be coming to Gainesville in the spring:
The Gators had been hovering around the top ten of the recruiting rankings since July when a surge of commitments created a buzz around the Florida program and first-year head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]. This is a stark contrast from the end of June when Napier penned an open letter to the Gator Nation essentially pleading for patience and trust in the process.
Napier was a fantastic recruiter at Louisiana, having the No. 1 recruiting class in the Sun Belt in all four seasons at the helm. But he didn’t do this alone. The addition of top-tier assistants such as assistant head coach and defense/cornerbacks coach [autotag]Corey Raymond[/autotag], co-defensive coordinator, and defensive line coach [autotag]Sean Spencer[/autotag], and many more, have had a massive impact on the recruiting trail. Raymond is considered one of the best, if not the best, defensive backs developers in the nation.
Sports Illustrated’s John Garcia Jr. had this to say, in part, about the Gators’ 2023 Early Signing Day results:
Florida may or may not have pushed a pair of in-state commitments out of the recruiting class this week, which doesn’t pair very well without any reciprocation come signing day. While UF has built a strong and balanced class to date, it struck out on late targets leading up to this week. Billy Napier’s staff did help UF hold on to commits coveted by others, though, like defensive back [autotag]Sharif Denson[/autotag] and wide receiver [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag].
Four-star Saint Petersburg, Florida, prospect [autotag]Isaiah Nixon[/autotag] is the player Garcia is alleging could have been pushed out of the class. He flipped from Florida to UCF on signing day and, along with losing out on a late push for four-star Orlando prospect John Walker, was the second in-state player the future Big 12 program snagged over the Orange and Blue.
The smaller class was strategic for Napier, as he needs scholarships available to be active in the transfer portal. Prioritizing quality over quantity was a point of emphasis Napier made in his opening press conference and subsequent open letter to the fan base.
The official national signing day is scheduled for February 1st, 2023, with a portion of the 2023 class deciding to enroll early and participate in spring practices.
Here’s what Billy Napier had to say about each player that signed with Florida during the early signing period.
Florida got 20 commits to sign during the 2023 early signing period, and [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] had a lot to say about the class following all the action.
Napier spoke to the press Wednesday afternoon/evening after an hour-long delay that allowed quarterback [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag]’s name to be added to the list of signees. Florida’s head coach spoke in-depth about each player in the class and Gators Wire has compiled a list of everything that he said.
Coach Napier also tackled general questions about recruiting in-state, the role NIL plays, adding more players through the transfer portal and which member of the class of 2023 will early enroll.
The TL;DR is that Napier’s team feels very confident about each player that was added to the program on Wednesday, and there was a strong emphasis on what kind of home each player came from. Napier firmly believes that being raised by a quality family helps create quality student-athletes.
Here’s a full transcript of everything Napier said on Wednesday.
Florida is set to sign most of its 2023 recruiting class on the first day of the early signing period and Gators Wire is keeping track of it all.
The calendar might still read 2022, but the reality is that many of the top recruits in the class of 2023 are signing early and Dec. 21 marks the start of the early signing period. Florida is expected to bring in a strong class in Billy Napier’s first full cycle as head coach, but nothing is ever set in stone until the pen hits the paper.
The February signing date could bring in more names, but the core of the class is signing early and Gators Wire is keeping track of every move the team makes. There usually are some surprises, and Florida is in the hunt for several uncommitted targets set to make their decisions through Friday when the period comes to a close.
Each of Florida’s commitments below is listed in order of expected ceremony start time. As players sign their national letters of intent, the list will update to reflect Florida’s most recent additions.
