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In response to the release of the AP Top 25, which notoriously featured teams from leagues that have canceled the fall football season (nine in total), Sports Illustrated narrowed its initial top 25 to a “Still Standing 16.”
The Gators rank fifth on these new rankings, behind SEC foes Alabama and Georgia, who are ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
Sport’s Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger wrote that while the Gators should be successful offensively with the return of redshirt senior quarterback Kyle Trask, their defense has to replace a multitude of starters.
Here’s what Dellenger said about UF heading into the third season of coach Dan Mullen’s tenure.
Dan Mullen and the Gators can’t get over the hump called Georgia. For three seasons the SEC East rival has stood in their way of the conference championship game, but for how much longer? Mullen became the first Florida coach to open his tenure with back-to-back double-digit-win seasons
It feels as if the Gators are this close to greatness—and achieving it will depend on a QB many believe is the SEC’s best. Senior Kyle Trask is good enough to send incumbent Feleipe Franks packing to Arkansas. Trask threw for 300 yards in three of his last four games and finished with 25 TDs and seven INTs, but many of his top targets are gone, including Freddie Swain and Van Jefferson. Trask’s sophomore backup, Emory Jones, is a powerful runner whom Mullen uses as he did Dak Prescott early in his career at Mississippi State.
Under coordinator Todd Grantham, Florida’s defense has been one of the best in the nation the last two years, carrying a sometimes sluggish offense to ugly victories. But 2020 presents problems … such as the departure of much of the front seven. At least senior safety Shawn Davis is back to anchor the secondary. —R.D.
Player to Watch: Miami transfer Lorenzo Lingard, a 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore, might be one of the best running backs no one has heard of. A former No. 2–ranked recruit at the position, he suffered a left knee injury in October 2018 that derailed his tenure as a Hurricane. Florida has other RB options, but Lingard intrigues.
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