Tag: Chief Borders

Former Nebraska edge rusher transfers to Pittsburgh

Chief Borders will play for the Pittsburgh Panthers next season. 

A former Husker has announced his transfer portal destination. Chief Borders will play for the Pittsburgh Panthers next season.

Borders spent only one season with the Huskers. He spent time with the Florida Gators before coming to Lincoln. In his lone season with the program, Borders recorded nine tackles, including half a tackle for loss and one pass breakup.

Prior to arriving in Gainesville, the four-star recruit played in the 2021 Under Armour All-America Game. He initially chose Florida over Arkansas, Auburn, Michigan State and Stanford.

During his freshman year, he appeared in four games before being redshirted for the remainder of the season. In 2022, he appeared in all 12 games and played a primary role on special teams.

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Nebraska LB visiting UCLA after entering portal

UCLA hosting Nebraska LB.

The UCLA Bruins football program continues to cast a wide net in the transfer portal. After landing Florida A&M EDGE Cherif Seye, the Bruins also hosted Nebraska linebacker Chief Borders, per Steve Wiltfong of On3.

Borders is a late addition to the portal and has two years of eligibility remaining, so it could be a good fit for UCLA.

Borders was at Florida previously and spent two years with the Gators before going to Nebraska, and now he enters the portal again.

Coming out of high school, Borders had offers from a lot of programs, including Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, LSU, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Oregon,

So, UCLA being able to add Borders would be a terrific get for the defense. With UCLA going to the Big Ten, there is a scenario where Borders stays in the same conference and gets an uptick in usage in Westwood.

Nebraska pass rusher Chief Borders enters transfer portal

The Chicago, Illinois native decided to enter the transfer portal on Monday after spending one season with the program.

Nebraska’s rising junior edge rusher, Chief Borders, has decided to continue his collegiate career elsewhere. The Chicago, Illinois native decided to enter the transfer portal on Monday after spending one season with the program.

In his lone season with the program, Borders recorded nine tackles, including half a tackle for loss and one pass breakup. He also spent two seasons with the Florida Gators, playing in 16 games over two seasons, including 12 games in 2022.

Borders was a three-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting cycle, according to both 247Sports and Rivals, while ESPN ranked Borders as a four-star star prospect and the No.124 prospect in the country.

He originally committed and signed with Florida over offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, LSU, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, and others.

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Former Ohio State LB officially commits to Florida Gators

Now that Ohio State’s season is over, linebacker Teradja Mitchell has officially announced his transfer commitment to the University of Florida.

On Monday, former Ohio State linebacker [autotag]Teradja Mitchell[/autotag] officially committed to the University of Florida, confirming a Dec. 21 report from the Orlando Sentinel’s Edgar Thompson.

“Florida was the perfect fit for me,” Mitchell told Swamp247. “They were one of the first schools to reach out to me when I entered the portal. Coach (Jay) Bateman has been around and has watched me since high school. He recruited a couple of guys from my area. So we instantly clicked once we had our first conversation. It felt like family.”

Mitchell entered the portal on Dec. 5 after seeing his role in the Buckeyes’ offense reduced in 2022. Florida presents an opportunity for him to make an immediate impact at a school that has depth issues in the linebacker room. The Gators are losing starters [autotag]Ventrell Miller[/autotag] and [autotag]Amari Burney[/autotag] to the NFL draft and [autotag]Chief Borders[/autotag] and [autotag]David Reese[/autotag] to the transfer portal; [autotag]Diwun Black[/autotag] was dismissed from the program in November, too.

Mitchell will join [autotag]Shemar James[/autotag], [autotag]Scooby Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Derek Wingo[/autotag] as the main players in the linebackers room next year. He should be in town over the coming weekend to get enrolled for spring classes at Florida, meaning he’ll be available to the team during spring practices. Barring injury, Mitchell should easily compete for a starting role.

A former five-star recruit out of high school, Mitchell has as high a ceiling as any newcomer to Florida’s roster. He leaves Columbus with 64 total tackles, including 8.5 tackles for a loss.

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Third Gator headed to Nebraska via transfer portal

The Florida to Nebraska pipeline is at full strength. A third Gator is headed to the midwest to play under Matt Rhule.

A third Gator is headed to the Midwest to join the Nebraska Cornhuskers via the transfer portal. Linebacker [autotag]Chief Borders[/autotag] announced his commitment to the Huskers on Tuesday and will reunite with defensive back [autotag]Corey Collier Jr.[/autotag] and long snapper [autotag]Marco Ortiz[/autotag].

Borders made his decision after taking a visit to Lincoln. He entered the portal on Dec. 7, so it took less than three weeks for him to find a new home. Borders has three years of eligibility left and should help revitalize the Huskers’ defense under new head coach Matt Rhule.

In two seasons with Florida, Borders recorded just three tackles despite playing in 16 games. He played in 12 games for Florida during the 2022 season but mostly in a special teams role.

Borders was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, according to 247Sports. He was ranked the No. 328 overall player on the 247Sports composite for the class of 2021 and was No. 37 among linebackers. Although he played high school ball in Georgia, Borders’ hometown is Chicago, Illinois, so he’s got some familiarity with life in the Midwest.

Florida’s lost a good amount of depth at both inside and outside linebacker (JACK), but the Gators brought in former Ohio State linebacker [autotag]Teradja Mitchell[/autotag] through the transfer portal and officially signed incoming freshman [autotag]Jaden Robinson[/autotag] on Wednesday.

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This Gators redshirt freshman linebacker heads for the transfer portal

This redshirt freshman linebacker is seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

Florida football lost another player to the NCAA transfer portal — with plenty more to come — on Monday when redshirt freshman linebacker [autotag]Chief Borders[/autotag] announced that he will be departing the team for greener pastures through the collegiate version of free agency. On3’s Hayes Fawcett was the first to report the news.

The 6-foot-4-inch, 241-pound defender played in four games for the Gators in 2021 before redshirting. Those included his collegiate debut in the opener against the Florida Atlantic Owls as well as the Gasparilla Bowl against the UCF Knights, in which he registered his first career tackle.

This season, the second-year player appeared in all 12 games primarily on special teams. He registered a total of two assisted tackles in 2022.

Borders offered the following to Florida fans on his personal Twitter account.

The young man originally from Chicago, Illinois, played high school in Georgia before coming to Gainesville as a four-star recruit during [autotag]Dan Mullen[/autotag]’s tenure. Borders was recruited by linebackers coach Christian Robinson and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who convinced him to choose the Orange and Blue over the Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Toledo Rockets and Virginia Tech Hokies, among many others.

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2022 Florida Football Season Preview: Outside Linebackers

The Gators have a decent amount of depth at outside linebacker, but it’s Brenton Cox Jr. who leads the group heading into the 2022 season.

After going over the defensive linemen on the team in detail, it’s time to talk about Florida’s outside linebackers room heading into 2022.

These are the edge rushers of the team that are expected to cause havoc opposite of [autotag]Princely Umanmielen[/autotag] at the strongside defensive end spot. [autotag]Brenton Cox Jr[/autotag]. leads the group and is returning for his third year at Florida.

The Gators are only losing two players at the position, [autotag]Jeremiah Moon[/autotag] to graduation and [autotag]Khris Bogle[/autotag] to the transfer portal, and they added two freshmen in the most recent cycle. Florida still has plenty of depth on the edge, though. Cox should be good for 13 starts barring injury, and there’s a trio behind him that can do the job if he does need any rest.

Here’s a look at all eight outside linebackers/JACK/edge rushers on the 2022 Florida Gators football roster.

See also:

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Quarterbacks

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Running Backs

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Wide Receivers

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Tight Ends

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Offensive Line

2023 Florida Football Season Preview: Defensive Line

Coveted 4-star running back recruit makes room for Florida official visit

Big time running back prospect will be making a stop in Gainesville this month.

Now that the calendar has flipped to June, Florida football’s recruiting staff will be hosting a plethora of prep prospects over the coming months starting this weekend. New head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] has been burning the candle at both ends with his staff in an effort to get the Gators back on the winning track.

So far, Florida has done a pretty good job clawing back up the recruiting rankings, recently cracking ESPN’s top-25 rankings update and landing at No. 23 as May came to a close. However, there is still a great deal of work remaining and the Gators have not been slacking on the job.

One of the bigger names expected to drop into Gainesville this month is 4-star running back Justice Haynes out of Roswell (Georgia) Blessed Trinity Catholic, who recently made some changes to his summer school tour and managed to squeeze in Florida for an official visit on June 10, according to 247Sports.

The 5-foot-10-inch, 200-pound back has made the trip to the Swamp once before when he made an unofficial visit earlier this spring with his family, including his father Verron Haynes, a former Georgia Bulldogs standout who played eight seasons in the NFL.

“I’d be lying… if I didn’t say that right now, as far as all the whole recruiting goes, [Florida] did the best thus far from the standpoint of courting Justice the athlete and courting Justice the person,” he told 247Sports in a phone interview in regards to their recent visit.

“It was a really impressive visit, definitely one of the most impressive visits I’ve had ever,” according to Justice himself, per GatorsOnline after his early April stop. “They showed love as soon as I got there. The whole army of staff was down there. The players also knew me. I met [autotag]Trey Dean[/autotag] and [autotag]Chief Borders[/autotag].”

Haynes ranks No. 45 overall and No. 3 nationally at his position, according to the 247Sports Composite, while the On3 Consensus lists him at Nos. 38 and 4, respectively. Georgia is way out front in his recruitment with a 94.6% chance of landing him, per On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, while Florida sits in third place with a 1.2% chance.

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This 4-star linebacker stopping by Florida next Tuesday

Florida is hosting four-star linebacker Raul Aguirre on Tuesday along with a handful of other recruits.

Recruiting is expected to slow down now that the Orange and Blue game has passed, signaling the end of spring football for Florida this year.

But it’s always recruiting season for head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] and staff, and they are still hosting prospects until the next NCAA dead period takes place. One prospect visiting the Gators on Tuesday is four-star linebacker [autotag]Raul Aguirre[/autotag], according to Gators Online.

The Fayetteville, Georgia, native is ranked as the 123rd overall prospect and as the ninth-best player at his position, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

Florida originally presented a scholarship offer to Aguirre on March 28. This will be his first time ever visiting the Swamp.

He has already established a strong relationship with Napier and his coaching staff but Aguirre also has a connection to a player on the Gators roster: [autotag]Chief Borders[/autotag]. He said Borders and his father have told him about how much they have enjoyed the coaching change so far.

For Aguirre, Napier and inside linebackers coach [autotag]Jay Bateman[/autotag] have been the main points of contact from Florida.

This spring he has taken visits to Alabama, Ohio State and Nebraska. Aguirre also holds offers from Georgia, Miami, Oregon, Texas, South Carolina, Auburn and Penn State as well as others.

He said he isn’t sure where Florida fits into his recruitment until he makes it down to the Swamp for a visit. Aguirre will obviously find out on Tuesday.

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Florida announces rosters for Orange and Blue game

Who are Gators fans cheering for Team Orange or Team Blue? Florida’s spring game is this Thursday night.

Florida’s first football game under new head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] is finally here. The Orange and Blue Game is Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. EDT and can be seen on SEC Network+. Ahead of the game, the Gators unveiled their rosters for the spring game on Wednesday.

The rosters consist of 52 and 48 players, respectively, even though outside linebacker [autotag]Chief Borders[/autotag], running back [autotag]Montrell Johnson[/autotag] and cornerback [autotag]Jordan Young[/autotag] are expected to play for both teams. Napier and Florida also divided up its on-the-field coaching staff and off-the-field analysts and staffers. Women’s basketball coach [autotag]Kelly Rae Finley[/autotag] and men’s basketball coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] will serve as the honorary captains for the Orange and Blue teams.

Napier has elected to put the first-team offense and defense on opposite teams. The first-team defense will be on Orange while the first-team offense will be on Blue. Orange’s defense will be highlighted by safety [autotag]Trey Dean[/autotag], defensive tackle [autotag]Gervon Dexter[/autotag] and linebacker [autotag]Ventrell Miller[/autotag]. Blue’s offense will be led by quarterback [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag], wide receiver [autotag]Justin Shorter[/autotag] and offensive linemen [autotag]O’Cyrus Torrence[/autotag].

It’s an exciting time for Florida fans because it’s their first chance to see Napier in charge and the program’s first spring football game in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here is a look at the rosters for both teams:

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