Florida Gators 2026 College Football Preview
Posted August 5, 2026
2025 Recap
Record – 4-8
ATS – 5-7
We’re old enough to remember when Florida was good. That certainly wasn’t the case last year as they only managed to win four games all year, and three of those were nothing to write home about (Long Island, Miss St, Florida St). That said, there was a CROWN JEWEL worth talking about, and that was a 29-21 victory over the mighty Texas Longhorns in The Swamp.
The Gators made a great hire in bringing over one of the rising stars in the head coaching ranks in Jon Sumrall, who did a fantastic job with Tulane and Troy.
Florida Gators 2026 Outlook
OFFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (SEC):
- Scoring: 21.6 PPG (#16, dead last)
- Total Offense: 341.3 YPG (#13)
- Rushing: 136.8 YPG (#12)
- Passing: 204.6 YPG (#13)
- Sacks Allowed: 20 (#3)
The Florida Gators are never supposed to be that disgusting on offense, but yet the 2025 season happened. New OC Buster Faulkner helped orchestrate a very potent offense at Georgia Tech last year (460 YPG, #11 FBS), so we expect better things to come.
Speaking of Georgia Tech, the new starting QB is former Yellow Jacket Aaron Philo, who got limited reps over the last two seasons in Atlanta while backing up the great Haynes King. Philo is a dual-threat specimen who needs to prove that his passing SKILLZ are worthy of an SEC starter, and we’ll see how things go. Waiting in the wings is redshirt freshman Tramell Jones Jr., who only played in two games last year with the Gators, but he’s got a LASER ROCKET arm, and we fully expect him to get some reps in the first two games of the season (FAU, Campbell).
The RB room is in great shape with the return of 1,100-yard RB Jaden Baugh (8 TD), and there’s plenty of depth behind him thanks to a juicy transfer portal haul. Keep your eye on the explosive Evan Pryor (Cincinnati, Ohio State), who has averaged 6.3 YPC over his career and is also a capable receiver out of the backfield.
The WR room was a true bucket of slop last year thanks in large part to inconsistent QB play and a bite from the injury bug, but we expect a YUUUGE level of improvement this season. Sophomore WR Vernell Brown led the team in receptions and receiving yards last year (40, 512), and another highly touted wideout, Dallas Wilson, battled foot injuries in 2025. Wilson had a monster game vs. Texas, and we expect big things from him if he can stay healthy. The Gators also made a great addition in WR Eric Singleton, who did significant damage with — wait for it — Georgia Tech back in 2024 (754, 3 TD). Singleton wasn’t a force at Auburn last year, but the Tigers QB room was a CLOWN SHOW.
The offensive line is likely to be an issue, at least early on. They’ve got adequate size and plenty of career starts within the group, but there’s very little SEC starting experience on board, and the Gators have to face a small handful of really nasty defensive fronts.
DEFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (SEC):
- Scoring: 24.0 PPG (#12)
- Total Defense: 376.8 YPG (#13)
- Rushing Defense: 153.9 YPG (#14)
- Passing Defense: 222.9 YPG (#9)
- Sacks: 26 (#11)
The defense wasn’t a disaster last year, but the SEC is CHOCK FULL of dominating defenses, so you’d at least have to say they struggled on a relative basis. New DC Brad White (Kentucky) has some talented holdovers to work with, so that’s good news.
The defensive line should hold up better against the run as they’ve got plenty of 300-pound bodies on the interior, including Jacksonville St transfer Emmanuel Oyebadejo (6.5 TFL, 6 QBH), but they could use some lethal PENETRATORS on the front line to help get the pass rush cooking. One dude to keep an eye on is sophomore DE LJ McCray, who was highly-touted coming out of high school and didn’t get much run last year.
The LB room looks solid with the return of leading tackler Myles Graham and fellow veteran Aaron Chiles, but the Gators need to get better play out of the secondary after last season’s disappointing performance (#14 SEC pass efficiency defense). The back end doesn’t have too many DUDES, which is a bit worrisome, but they’ve got a veteran safety combo in Bryce Thornton (#2 tackles, 6 PBU) and DJ Coleman (Baylor). We’ll have to see how things work out at cornerback.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Gators raided the Tulane roster and picked up an excellent kicking duo in PK Patrick Durkin (25/28 FG!) and punter Alec Clark (41.3 net), and they also retain primary PR/KR Vernell Brown.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – The Gators have a decent shot to go 3-0 in non-conference play, all they have to do is win at Florida St. Playing Texas (A) and Georgia (N) isn’t ideal, and they’ve also gotta face Ole Miss and Oklahoma at home in The Swamp. It’s not a crazy difficult schedule like they often face, but there’s still a challenging road ahead.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – at Missouri (Oct 3)
The scheduling dynamics are less than ideal as the Gators will be coming off a pair of brawls (Auburn, Ole Miss) while Missouri gets Florida at home after facing Mississippi St and Troy. Also note that Missouri is notoriously tough to beat at Faurot Field.
Season Win Total
Market consensus – August 5
Over 7.5 +130
Under 7.5 -160
MEGALOCKS says:
Lean: Under
The Gators will start 2-0, but it won’t be easy to come up with six more victories.
Note – Our official list of season win total investments will be posted in the blog section of the website.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
The legendary “Gator Chomp” wasn’t inspired by Jaws! It was created in 1981 by two Florida marching band members looking to add some extra bite to their brass section. And now half the SEC has PTSD every time they see arms moving at 45 degrees.
The Swamp’s wild nature scene is real, yo. In the late ’80s, thousands of displaced BATS invaded the stadium rafters, diving at bugs and showering fans below. UF had to build the world-famous campus “Bat Houses” just to get the stadium back.
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
The Gators have fallen on some hard times — it’s wild to think they’ve managed just one winning season in the last five, but here we are. We love the hire of Jon Sumrall, who’s shown elite coaching chops at smaller programs and looks more than ready to take on the SEC’s big boys. The offensive weapons are legitimately promising, though having question marks at quarterback and along the offensive line isn’t ideal. The defense looks good — but not quite great. The schedule becomes a grind after the first two layups, but who’s to say they can’t squeeze out a bunch of close wins? We’ll call for a 7‑5 season and expect better things in 2027.
CHOMP! CHOMP!