Florida’s defense showcases strong Spring in Orange and Blue Game

After months of apprehension surrounding Florida football’s new-look defensive scheme under Brad White, the Gators took to the field to display their progress and in the annual Orange & Blue Spring Game. 

Florida’s spring consisted of preaching physicality and consistency to the defense in hopes of getting them to play every snap with deliberate intensity, and in the spring game, the unit forced three interceptions, tallied five sacks and came from behind to tie the game in the final seconds.

White’s defense looked uniform and efficient early in the spring scrimmage, but allowed 29 points in the second quarter after jumping out to an 8-0 lead. As expected, Tramell Jones Jr. and Aaron Philo settled in and began making plays, but the defense showed relentless pursuit of the quarterback and an ability to create turnovers. The one glaring issue was defending the deep ball.

“You never want the ball to go over your head,” White said. “The most disappointing one was the first play, after, on the double move, that can’t happen, there’s only 44 seconds, you’ve got to play the ball in front of you at the end of the half.”

Defensive Linemen

Heading into the Spring, Florida head coach Jon Sumrall labeled the defensive line positional unit as the one group he would want to add another body to.

He’s since changed his tune, thanks to the strong play of Gerald Chatman’s group.

“I'm excited about that group,” Sumrall proclaimed. “There's a lot of guys in that room that I think can play winning football … That group is what's really giving me hope.”

And that group proved why Sumrall’s hope is well-founded. Florida recorded 5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss Saturday, with redshirt junior Brendan Bett, redshirt senior Emmanuel Oyebadejo and true freshmen KJ Ford and JaReylan McCoy all getting to the quarterback.

However, one player specifically stood out: redshirt junior LJ McCray. A former blue-chip recruit, McCray hasn’t yet made his mark in Gainesville, but he has transformed his body and attitude ahead of the 2026 campaign.

After reportedly making three consecutive great plays in Florida’s second Spring scrimmage weeks ago, McCray showed out Saturday with four tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass deflection.

With the strong play on the defensive front, White echoed Sumrall’s confidence in the unit.

“You’ve seen them take steps in terms of that elevation and they have shown flashes that they can be difference makers,” White said. “They can be somebody that helps you win SEC games.”

Linebackers

While other areas of Florida’s roster have seen dramatic overhaul, its linebackers room has remained ever-steady.

While the leader of the unit, junior Myles Graham, and his reliable partner, junior Aaron Chiles, were not in their usual spot at the heart of the Gator defense, three other Gators stood out.

Chief among them was sophomore Myles Johnson, whose 7 tackles, including one on the game’s opening kickoff, paced the orange defense.

His play was enough to earn him a shoutout from Sumrall, who said Johnson has “made strides throughout the Spring.”

Alongside Johnson, incumbent starter Jaden Robinson and sophomore Ty Jackson were major presences in the middle part of the defense, combining for 8 tackles.

One area of intrigue remains at the JACK position, where sophomore Jayden Woods was solid with 3 tackles in limited playing time. He figures to be a major part of White’s scheme going forward. 

Cornerbacks

Less than a week before the spring game, Sumrall noted that the talent in his defensive backs room is undeniable, but he wanted to see more maturity and competitive character from his backs. 

During the scrimmage, a handful of UF DBs locked down coverage and made life difficult for the UF offense. Despite the unit allowing a couple of deep balls at the end of the first half, players like redshirt junior Kanye Clark and sophomore J’Vari Flowers stepped up to make key tackles. 

One thing UF’s coaching staff has stressed is the ability to make open-field tackles, and Clark did just that. He tallied four in the first quarter alone and stuffed junior running back Jadan Baugh on a fourth-down run in the first drive of the game. Clark’s tackle earned the defense three points and set the tone for the game. He saw most of his playing time in the first half and finished with six total tackles.

Flowers played tight coverage and finished with five total tackles — all of them solo — and did a good job concealing the defense’s need for a missing Dijon Johnson, who is expected to lead the DB room as a redshirt junior come August.

“It’s good learning, it’s good teaching for young corners, and so they’ll learn,” White said. “It’s not just about learning defense, it’s about learning situations, and we try to put them in unique situations all through the spring.”

Sophomore Elijah Owens, who transferred from Mississippi Gulf Coast CC, also made strong tackles, with one of his five total tackles producing a loss of three yards in the final minute of the scrimmage. It’s hard to say whether the loss helped push the offense out of range for Patrick Durkin’s missed 49-yard field goal that tied the game as time expired, but regardless, Owens made his presence known late in the game.

“We did not enjoy the balls going over our head, but we'll get that thing fixed,” White said. “I thought they played hard. Turnovers were good. Third down stops were good, and I like their physicality … You got two guys going on vice tackle, that's what you've been preaching.”

Redshirt junior Cormani McClain also flashed. He had three solo tackles and a pass breakup and produced a strong showing ahead of what is set to be his second season as a vital piece of UF’s cornerback room. 

Sumrall said his goal was to have McClain on the field with the top talents to make the game competitive and see how the redshirt sophomore would fare against UF’s top route runners.

“I wanted to see maybe Cormani with the ones and with the twos, and see how he responds,” he said.

Safeties

With one starting position sealed for senior standout Bryce Thornton, the competition between Baylor senior transfer DJ Coleman and Kentucky junior transfer Cam Dooley has been a major battle throughout the spring.

And Coleman and Dooley both showed why they should be factors in the Florida defense.

Coleman first picked off Philo when he expertly read the QB's eyes on a play he was in primary run coverage. His lurk earned the defense its first turnover of the day.

“I just saw [Aaron] Philo looking straight at me, so I just sat there and when he threw the ball, my instincts took over and I jumped it and caught it,” Coleman said.

Meanwhile, Dooley added his own interception on Philo, when he snagged a ball that was thrown behind and then deflected off the hands of Vernell Brown III.

With both players forcing turnovers, White commended their play post-game.

“Explosives and turnovers, those are huge dictators of games, White said, “If you can win the turnover battle, you can win the explosive play battle.”

One more standout was sophomore safety Lagonza Hayward, who flew all over the field to finish the game with five tackles.

Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.

Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.

---

---