Being one of the nation’s most highly touted skill players comes with a lot. Outside noise, expectations and constant attention can often make players lose sight of their goals, humility or hunger to prove themselves.
But for running back Jadan Baugh, the distractions don’t hinder his mindset or his performance.
As a sophomore, Baugh rushed for 1,170 yards and eight touchdowns on 220 carries. Now gearing up for his third season at UF, Baugh has the outside noise blocked out and is consumed by improvement.
That outside noise reached its peak in December, when the transfer portal ran rampant, and moving pieces left question marks within every collegiate football program. However, Baugh stayed grounded and attributed the passion of UF’s newly hired coaches to his return.
Baugh said familiarity with offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who tried to recruit him at Georgia Tech, is a plus, and a late-December coaches’ visit to his home in Atlanta, Georgia, helped show how invested UF was in its star running back.
When newly hired UF head coach Jon Sumrall, Faulker and running backs coach Chris Foster made a visit to Baugh and his family in Atlanta on Christmas Eve to have a conversation with the sophomore about returning to Florida, Sumrall had just lost his father. Baugh said the visit meant everything to him and that the passion shown by Sumrall proved the level of commitment and care UF’s coaching staff has.
“For him to bring his family to come see me and to say that his dad wanted [him] to be here, that meant the most to me,” Baugh said of Sumrall. “That shows that you really, really care about your job and you really, really care about what’s going on with your players.”
While the visit went smoothly and helped retain Baugh, coaches have joked that Baugh isn’t the easiest to get a hold of. The junior often ignores his phone — sometimes all day — to focus on himself and his development. To him, it’s about being a professional both on and off the field. He said if he can ever limit a distraction that could hinder his development, he will do so.
“They tell me all the time I gotta work on communication, but it’s more of me focusing on myself and getting better every day,” Baugh said. “I tell the guys in my room every day: ‘Improvement is our best friend.’”
As he puts forward an effort to drive his teammates’ improvement, Baugh’s communication will be key to motivating others and becoming the leader UF’s running back room needs. However, Baugh said stepping up as a vocal leader and telling his teammates things they don’t want to hear has been a difficult adjustment. Nonetheless, he’s realized it's a major part of his improvement and development as a seasoned rusher in the SEC.
Not only has Baugh taken on a leadership role, but he’s gotten stronger, faster and leaner through his offseason work at Florida. He said the urgency the new coaching staff demands is a major difference from that of Napier’s regime, and that UF’s disheartening four-win season has driven him to work even harder.
“It makes me come into the facility wanting to work a lot more, especially in the weight room,” Baugh said. “They’re adamant on getting us to be urgent throughout everything, and I feel like last year we weren’t too urgent going through the weight room, being on the field.”
Along with urgency, meticulousness is another trait Baugh has noticed from his new coaches.
The junior had high praise for former running backs coach Jabbar Juluke for building UF’s running back room into what it is today, but said Chris Foster has been adamant about more attention to detail. He said Foster wants to see improvements both on and off the field and that while Juluke paid attention to the details, there’s been a greater stress under Foster to do the little things right and act as a professional.
“Having Coach Foster come in, it’s more attention to detail, and he makes sure I’m being a pro on and off the field,” Baugh said. “The whole staff just keep[s] me level-headed and very humble.”
This attention to detail Foster demands is exactly the kind of thing that can sway a ballgame. And for Baugh, making sure he has the stamina to do the little things right, whether it's on the first or 70th play of the game, is what sets him apart. He knows that consistency late in the game is what separates the good from the great.
“That’s what I’m working on, having a lot more endurance and being in shape at the end of the practice,” Baugh said. “Because at the end of the game, we need those little things because that’s when those little things come into play.”
Though Baugh is dead set on blocking out distractions and focusing on his own improvement, he’s adamant that the way the Gators perform as a whole is much more valuable to him than his personal production or stat lines.
He welcomes competition and hopes to see younger players break out during UF’s Orange and Blue Spring Game April 11 and throughout spring ball. As a leader, Baugh’s selflessness is evident in the way he embraces competition and others’ success.
“I would like to see a lot more of the young guys make explosive plays because I’d be more excited to see them make plays than me making plays,” Baugh said. “Team success is everything to me, so if those guys come in and it’s their time to shine, then I have no problem with that.”
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is a junior sports journalism student in his fourth semester at The Alligator. He is currently the sports desk's football and enterprise beat writer, and previously served as a reporter for men's tennis, sports enterprise and football. He is currently pursuing a public relations minor and is an avid Duval sports fan. (#DTWD)
