Season Superlatives

Please Read: Welcome to the new-look Inside the Gators

• Evaluating the Class of 2024 Transfers: Receivers earn an A
• Class of 2025 Recruiting Superlatives
• Grading the Gators: Class of 2025 Signees
• UF players to keep an eye on as Transfer Portal window opens
• 35-Game Report Card: Napier’s numbers are still lacking
• Former Florida Player Feedback: 10 Observations
• Parental Perspective: Florida Football Commits Parental RoundTable

Inside the Gators staffers Luke Adragna, Benjamin McLeish, Lance Williams, and Mark Wheeler take an in-depth look at Florida football at the conclusion of the 2024 regular season with a look at our Season Superlatives.

SEASON SUPERLATIVES

Offensive MVP

Adragna: Florida’s 2024 Offensive MVP is undoubtedly DJ Lagway. Lagway stepped in as a freshman and led UF to a 5-0 record when starting and has been a highlight reel since his debut against Samford. Honestly, you could name him MVP just for his attraction amongst recruits. Players want to compete with Lagway, and because of him, this program is trending in the right direction.

McLeish: Elijhah Badger. Badger was the perfect wide receiver for DJ Lagway. Lagway loves throwing the deep ball. Badger consistently burns the secondary on deep routes. He averaged over 21-yards per catch. It was a match made in heaven. Can Billy Napier recruit another wide receiver from Arizona State, please?

Williams: Quarterback DJ Lagway led the Gators to their first winning season since 2020. Despite early struggles when thrust into the primary quarterback role against Miami and Tennessee, the former five-star shined during Florida’s tough November schedule. The freshman brought high expectations to UF, but exceeded them with statement wins over LSU and Ole Miss.

Wheeler: This is a pretty easy pick, not just because of some of the dynamic plays he made, but the definition of most valuable is based on what the team did with and without him. In a 7-5 regular season, Florida went 5-1 with DJ Lagway as the starter (2-4 when he didn’t start), the only loss being against Georgia, a game in which he went down before halftime. Yes, there’s room for improvement, as is the case with any true freshman, but there’s a hell of a whole lot to like and he showed that he has the IT factor and the ability to carry a team.

Defensive MVP

Adragna: The Gators’ 2024 Defensive MVP has to be EDGE Tyreak Sapp. Sapp recorded 13 TFL, seven sacks and two forced fumbles. His PFF grade (89.7) led all Florida defenders, and he was a force to be reckoned with for a majority of the season. There were a lot of UF defenders who stepped up near the end of the year, but Sapp was the most consistent of the group.

McLeish: Tyreak Sapp. Sapp came into the season with high expectations and didn’t deliver the first few weeks. But boy, did he turn it around. Sapp was a monster in the trenches and got to the quarterback a team-leading seven times. He is a clear leader on the defense and brings the energy on every play.

Williams: Edge rusher Tyreak Sapp was the Gators best defender in 2024. Along with his seven sacks and 44 combined tackles, Sapp placed seventh in the SEC with 13.0 tackles for loss. Sapp also had 3.5 sacks in the Gators’ final three games.

Wheeler: There’s been several reasons given for Florida’s in-season improvement on the defensive side of the ball – from more intense practices during the bye week, to Ron Roberts taking over in the box, to a more basic defensive scheme being implimented, but one constant from players and coaches was Jack Pyburn’s intensity and full speed ahead motor bringing the unit to life. He didn’t provide much of a pass rush, but he was a run stopper extraordinare, who displayed the ability to drop into coverage.

Biggest surprise on offense

Adragna: The biggest surprise of the Gators’ 2024 offense was freshman running back Jadan Baugh. I expected this year’s wide receiver group to blossom as they’ve always done under Napier. However, I didn’t expect a freshman running back to play meaningful snaps ahead of Montrell Johnson Jr. Of course, injuries played a part in that. However, Baugh was efficient and had arguably the best game of the season with his five touchdown performance against Kentucky.

McLeish: Jadan Baugh. Baugh was an incredible spark plug for the Gators offense and stepped up in a big way when Montrell Johnson Jr. and Treyaun Webb went down. Ja’kobi Jackson also deserves a nod here, as the two running backs were the perfect one-two punch in their first year on the Gators.

Williams: Freshman running back Jadan Baugh was a pleasant surprise to Florida fans. Although graded as a 247 three-star, Baugh quickly cemented his role in the Gators offense. Baugh rushed for 603 yards off 5.1 yards per attempt while collecting eight total touchdowns.

Wheeler: The task at hand is to share a thought on who is the biggest surprise, not name the best running back. So, with that in mind, yes Jadan Baugh had one hell of a freshman season, and deserves credit for that. However, in 2023 Ja’Kobi Jackson was a healthy scratch for the entire season. This year he played in all 12 games, gaining 452-yards while scoring seven touchdowns. That is the most surprising contribution on the entire team.

Biggest surprise on defense

Biggest surprise on offense

Adragna: The biggest surprise from Florida’s 2024 defensive unit was EDGE Jack Pyburn. Pyburn didn’t amount to much his first two seasons with the Gators, and coming off a knee injury, there was a huge question mark heading into this season. However, Pyburn put it together and recorded 60 tackles (second most on the team), four TFL, one forced fumble and one interception. It will be challenging to mimic his production next season after his decision to enter the transfer portal.

McLeish: George Gumbs Jr. This guy was not on my radar in the offseason. And I’m sure not many people expected the former wide receiver NIU transfer to have the second most sacks on the team. But Gumbs proved everybody wrong and was an instant source of energy for a Gator defense that exceeded expectations in the second half of the season.

Williams: Oregon transfer Trikweze Bridges was the biggest defensive surprise for Florida. With multiple injuries in the Gators’ secondary, it was Bridges to fill the gaps. The redshirt-senior started the last seven games for Florida, three at safety and four at cornerback. The dynamic DB also led the Gators in total tackles at 69.

Wheeler: After starting 13 games for Oregon in 2022, Trikweze Bridges was benched by the Ducks (one start) in 2023. Of Florida’s three offseason Transfer Portal additions at safety, Bridges was the one I expected the least from, but instead he delivered the most. His position versatilty really helped to save Florida down the stretch when he went from three straight starts at safety to four straight starts at cornerback when players at that position started dropping like flies.

Biggest disappointment on offense

Adragna: I thought most players played above expectations on Florida’s offense. But the biggest disappointment of the group was tight end Arlis Boardingham. Boardingham played just half the snaps of tight end Hayden Hansen after having a couple decent performances his redshirt freshman season. I honestly thought he would perform well in comparison to the wide receiver transfers due to familiarity in the system and development over the offseason, but that never translated to much success on the field.

McLeish: Arlis Boardingham. What happened to Boardingham? He had an impressive season as a true freshman, flashing his athleticism and proving to be a true red zone threat. But this season he only had 18 total receptions. It seemed like tight ends didn’t have an identity on this year’s team.

Williams: Wide receiver Tre Wilson did not build upon his Freshman All-SEC campaign from 2023. Wilson played just four games due to injury, tallying 266 yards and one touchdown.

Wheeler: Back at the end of the 2022 season Austin Barber looked like a future star in the making as Florida’s starting right tackle. These last two seasons, after moving to left tackle, he fought through injuries last season to return this year as maybe the biggest liablity along the line. Maybe it’s time to face the reality that he is being miscast ont he left side.

Biggest disappointment on defense

Adragna: Florida dealt with an unprecedented amount of injuries on the defensive end, so it’s difficult to pinpoint any disappointments. A lot of guys stepped up. Although, if you had to choose just one, it would be safety DJ Douglas. Douglas was a redshirt senior transfer from Tulane and was expected to act as a veteran presence to a primarily inexperienced group. Despite those expectations, Douglas experienced significant struggles and was the main culprit when Florida had issues with tackling near the beginning of the season. The players that stepped up in his replacement outperformed him for a majority of the season.

McLeish: Justus Boone. I think many people were excited for the return of Boone after he missed all of last season with an injury. But he didn’t make much of an impact on the defense, only recording half of a sack and 10 tackles. And now, he’s entered the transfer portal.

Williams: Edge rusher Justus Boone was underwhelming in 2024. Fully recovered from a torn ACL from 2023, Boone was granted the No. 1 jersey and was expected to be a leader on the Gators defense. Boone had only 11 total tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss.

Wheeler: I’ll give you two for the price of one. To an extent, some of the dissapointment was created by preseason media hype that raised expectations for Joey Slackman and Asa Turner to what was perhaps unrealstic heights. After being hailed as potential difference making starters, neither made much of a positive impact in 2024.

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