The 2024 Florida football team produced an explosive turnaround that exemplified the potential of its young players and its camaraderie as it navigates through training camp.
Some of the same key players from last season have made tremendous improvements that, paired with new additions, have created a buzz of anticipation around Florida football. UF’s coaching staff expressed pleasure in the way the offseason went both within the team environment and in the weight room.
“We absolutely have aspirations to be a playoff team,” said Florida head coach Billy Napier. “It's not about yesterday or tomorrow. It's about today. A good today leads to a good week, leads to a good month, leads to a good season.”
Florida’s strength and conditioning coach Tyler Miles honed in on progressing player movements this offseason by focusing on advanced running and lifting to build on the fundamental basics of strength and conditioning.
He also kept track of how much fat was lost and how much muscle was gained during the offseason. Not only did the team lose over 200 pounds of fat, it gained 700 pounds of muscle — 120 pounds more than last offseason.
“Kam James had a phenomenal summer, in a lot of ways, but just as a leader, as a whole, very vocal, led by example,” Miles said. “Jake Slaughter was a great leader. George Gumbs was a phenomenal leader. Devin Moore was more vocal this offseason.”
In particular, Miles had praise for the way edge rusher LJ McCray and running back Jaden Baugh moved weight over the offseason, highlighting their physical gains.
“LJ (McCray), honestly, he probably had one of the best offseasons out of anybody,” he said. “He gained like 40 pounds in each one of his lifts…he really attacked it this year.”
He then turned his attention to Baugh, whose performance in the weight room stood out on a historic level.
“Jaden Baugh had an incredible summer,” Miles said. “He broke the team records, not only for his position but pound for pound, the strongest, we have a formula, and pound for pound, he’s the strongest guy on the team – not only on the team but since we started tracking that, pound for pound the strongest guy that we’ve ever had.”
Executive head coach and defensive coordinator Ron Roberts also spoke highly of the team heading into the season, explaining how his defense has set a high standard of daily work ethic and exemplifies how you are supposed to go about and handle your business.
Additionally, the uplifting environment created at practice and in meeting rooms might play a big role in the gains made in the weight room over the summer. Roberts explained to the media that he is enjoying practices and meetings more than he has in a while, and that he thinks the positive atmosphere has a meaningful impact on his players.
With the team doing a fantastic job to prepare themselves for the grueling fall, Roberts feels that the team and staff are in a good place right now and is excited to get into camp and commence the season. He even went as far as highlighting the explosiveness of his linebackers by donning his group as one of the most complete in all of college football.
“Our linebacker room is about as deep as anybody in the country,” Roberts said. “I think we're sitting on, whatever, three, four guys that are NFL guys.”
He also furthered Miles’ description of McCray’s work ethic and physical improvements, noting that the sophomore has changed his body composition and has great potential ahead of fall camp due to his considerable growth.
“He's got a tremendous skill set. Very talented,” Roberts said. “I would suspect and I'm hoping he has a break-out season and he's an impact player that we all think he can be.”
Another player that took over as a leader both in the weight room and on the field is edge rusher Tyreak Sapp. The 6’2.5 274-pound senior, who recorded 46 total tackles and forced two fumbles in 2024, is well revered by coaching staff at Florida and has made a clear impact through his leadership and accountability
“Leading up to November, the things that transpired, it forced us to kind of jell together,” Sapp said. “Because it would have been easy to point fingers and say it was his fault and whoever's fault. But I feel like it was just up to us to be, we're gonna take accountability for ourselves and put it in our hands, because we look at each other like, who else is gonna do it? Nobody else is gonna do it. Nobody's coming to save us.”
Additionally, Sapp explained how he trains with the offensive line in order for them to challenge and bring out the best in each other.
“It's iron sharpens iron with them. I consider them one of the best O-lines in the country,” he said. “If not, the best O-line in the country, and I consider us as the best front in the country, and I'm gonna bring it every day and I want them to bring it every day.”
Sapp also noted that the competitive mindset and daily intensity goes beyond just practice, and is about setting a tone that will carry into the brutal gamedays in the Swamp and on the road in the SEC. “I want them to hate practice,” he added. “I want them to hate it, because when they go in the game, I want them to be hated. I want people to watch the film and be like, 'I don't want no parts of that.' And that's what it has to be if you want to be the best in the country.”
Another offseason addition Florida is excited about is special teams coordinator Joe Houston. Houston has worked at nearly every level of football and came to Florida after four seasons as a special teams assistant for the New England Patriots. Since arriving, he’s placed heavy emphasis on improving the team’s fundamentals and situational awareness during punts, kickoffs, returns and block schemes.
“We’re always looking to improve in every aspect,” he said. “The more you can do, the better you’re going to be.”
Even players like senior kicker Trey Smack – who Houston claims is “NFL caliber talent” – have bought into the coordinator’s philosophy and have seen the positive impacts that his mentality about special teams has brought to the program.
“I've gotten so much insight from him, from the NFL,” Smack said. “He's coached under Nick Saban and also Bill Belichick for multiple years, and he just brings a whole new idea on special teams.”
Napier was last to speak during Florida’s press conference and spoke highly about the team’s offseason strides.
“I love the intangibles of the group,” Napier said. “There's a lot of height, length and speed and guys that have — there's experience…But it's about getting our veteran players to play their best football, and then we have quite a few of these younger players that we need to continue to grow and develop.”
Not only is Napier looking for his players to get consumed with improvement, but he’s placing an emphasis on building long-term commitment within the program. As he continues to shape UF’s roster, Napier has made it clear that recruiting is about finding players who are willing to stay, grow and contribute to Florida’s sustained success.
”There was a commitment to recruiting big groups of high school players in the beginning,” he said. “My opinion is that player retention is extremely important.”
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is the men's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He enjoys spending his free time with pets, at the beach and fishing.
