Florida Gators College Football Preview 2024: Key Players, Game Schedule, Season Predictions

Florida College Football Preview 2024

Some idiot once wrote several columns and quips about how Florida should have been even more successful than it was in the Steve Spurrier era - with the one national championship helped by a monster break to get a rematch, so ...

I was young. I needed the work.

This is as anecdotal as it gets, but Florida doesn’t seem to have the same national "should-be-a-superpower" thing happening as, say, Texas, Michigan, or USC.

Oh, there’s a tradition, but when it comes to the national consciousness, is Florida like Alabama in terms of interest? Again, this is true opinion over a million years of doing this, but no, certainly not at the moment.

Maybe it’s because Florida was always SEC Championship-level great under Spurrier, but there was just that one national title. Maybe it’s because the Urban Meyer story has so many parts to it now that the dominant run with the Gators in the mid-to-late 2000s - binge streaming aside - has been a tad lost.

Or maybe it’s because those who remember the Spurrier and Meyer eras could never buy into the idea that Florida was - to borrow the Texas thing - "back" even when Dan Mullen won 21 games in two seasons and Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain had a little bit of success.

Maybe it’s because Billy Napier had to dig the program out of a hole, and maybe it’s because it's been a struggle when it comes to getting the talent in, but the expectations for this should-be-no-excuses-powerhouse program are alarming.

Really? The consensus win total is 5.5, and that might seem high if you really dive into this nightmare of a schedule. (Yes, of course, different league, different schedules, different worlds) USF is at 7.5 and Florida Atlantic is at 6.5. Miami and Florida State are at 9.5.

Florida International University’s projected win total is one game worse than the University of Florida’s.

How weird is this latest run? Florida hasn’t had three straight losing seasons since a four-year stretch of mediocrity from 1935 to 1938.

But there’s more depth now. For all the misfires, Napier does have a good starting 22, there is more talent, and this should be a better year with more wins over decent SEC teams.

It’s Florida. At some point, it’ll get there again.

Florida Football Preview 2024: Offense

- The offensive line. If you’re looking for why the Florida offense hasn’t taken off in the Billy Napier era - at least to the level everyone was hoping for when he came in from Louisiana - it’s the line that’s not opening up the same big, giant holes the Ragin’ Cajuns enjoyed.

Injuries have been a problem, and finding the personnel to fit have been an issue. At least when it comes to experience, this version should be the best the Gators have had in years with pieces to move around.

Getting Brandon Dickson-Crenshaw from San Diego State for one tackle job was big, OT Austin Barber being healthy again will matter, and this bunch should be better. The interior will be settled, but again, there are options.

- The running backs can produce if they get the room. Montrell Johnson is a former Louisiana back who led the Gators with 817 yards and five scores, but Trevor Etienne took off for Georgia. The combination of Treyaun Webb - the third leading rusher last year - and big freshman Jadan Baugh should be okay in the rotation.

- That’s the Graham Mertz Wisconsin thought it was getting. He might not have been dynamic last year for the Gators, but the former star QB recruit for the Badgers hit 73% of his passes for 2,903 yards and 20 touchdowns with three picks. He won’t run, but he’ll spread the ball around. Now he needs more time from that line.

The receiving corps loses main man Ricky Pearsall, but second-leading receiver Eugene Wilson is back after making 61 grabs and a team-high six scores.

Wisconsin transfer Chimere Dike will be a deep threat, and Arizona State transfer Elijhah Badger will be one of the team’s most important targets - he could lead the team in receptions.

The tight end situation is deep and terrific, starting with great-looking sophomores Arlis Boardingham and Hayden Hansen.

Florida Football Preview 2024: Defense

- The defense has to be far, far stronger after falling off the map. It wasn’t bad over the first half of the season, and did a great job of holding down Tennessee, but everything collapsed when the schedule got tougher.

The Gator D stuffed Utah to start the season, and was great against Vanderbilt and Charlotte, but Georgia LSU, and Missouri all went off. The run defense has to hold up.

The line loses the one guy who did everything in the backfield - Princely Umanmielen left for Ole Miss - and now the Gators need Justus Boone to be ready from his knee injury to go on the edge opposite Tyreak Sapp. The tackle combination of Cam Jackson, Caleb Banks and Penn transfer Joey Slackman have to form a wall.

- The linebackers should be a plus. Losing Scooby Williams to Texas A&M hurts, but Shemar James is back after finishing second on the team with 54 tackles in just eight games - he missed time with a knee injury - next to South Carolina transfer Grayson Howard. There’s enough depth to work into the two spots to be fine.

- With more options and healthy parts, the secondary should be better, too. The really, really young Gator safeties of last season are experienced, starting with leading tackler Jordan Castell at one spot, and the transfer portal is helping, starting Washington’s Asa Turner. He’s about to be a statistical star, and there’s far more depth now.

The corners have to pick off passes. Devin Moore came up with one interception - that was the only one from the CBs of the three the Gator D generated. If Moore can stay in one piece he’ll be a force, and Jason Marshall might be the team’s best defensive player after breaking up 18 passes over the last two years.

Key To The Florida Football Season

Run defense, run defense, RUN DEFENSE
There was a time when the the Florida run defense was a non-starter for good ground attacks. The 2012 team, for example, allowed teams to average 2.98 yards per carry and no one got to 160 yards.

The 2023 Gator run defense was the worst in decades, allowing 4.84 yards per carry, got hammered by LSU and Kentucky for 329 yards each, and a run of six teams in seven games - Vanderbilt the lone outlier - hit 150 yards. Florida was 0-5 when giving up 170 yards or more and 1-6 when allowing teams to average at least 3.5 yards per carry.

Florida Key Player

Brandon Dickson-Crenshaw, OT Sr.
The rest of the offensive line that took a long, long while to come together might finally be okay. It’s been a rough run, and it’s coming off a tough year, but it should start becoming a plus. That goes faster if the former San Diego State Aztec really can fit in right away at one tackle job.

If Dickson-Crenshaw starts at the right side that allows the staff to play around with the puzzle pieces a bit.

Florida Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: Elijhah Badger, WR Sr.
Graham Mertz might know Wisconsin transfer WR Chimere Dike, but the other Badger will be a bigger deal. Dike averaged over 15 yards per catch, but Badger has the potential to be a far more important playmaker as a true No. 1. He made 135 catches for close to 1,600 yards and ten touchdowns at Arizona State over the last two seasons.

Top Transfer Out: Princely Umanmielen, EDGE Sr.
Pretty much everything that happened in the backfield came from Umanmielen. He made 7.5 sacks. The next leading Gator pass rusher made 2.5. He had 11.5 tackles for Loss. No. 2 on the team had 5.5. Florida needs defensive playmakers, and one of its best from 2023 is at Ole Miss.

Florida Key Game

Miami, Aug. 31
If you’re the University of Florida football program and you’re coming off a 5-7 clunker - closed out with four straight losses - you need a good start. No, you need a GREAT start.

Beating Miami in Gainesville wouldn’t make the season before September even starts, but wow would it feel good. With Four of the first five and six of the first eight and nine of the 12 games in Florida, there’s a lot to like about the potential of the 2024 Florida season. But it has to begin by beating the Hurricanes.

10 Best Florida Football Players

1. Graham Mertz, QB Sr.
2. Jason Marshall, CB Sr.
3. Elijhah Badger, WR Sr.
4. Montrell Johnson, RB Sr.
5. Jeremy Crawshaw, P Sr.
6. Grayson Howard, LB Soph.
7. Shermar James, LB Jr.
8. Jordan Castell, S Soph.
9. Tyreak Sapp, DE Jr.
10. Austin Barber, OT Jr.

Florida 2023 Fun Stats

- Sacks: Opponents 39 for 260 yards, Florida 22 for 143 yards

- Time of Possession: Florida 33:06, Opponents 26:54

- Fumbles: Opponents 15 (lost 4), Florida 14 (lost 7)

Florida Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season

Florida football can’t be such an easy win in the 50/50 games.

Yeah, fine, so last year’s team couldn’t hold up against Georgia, and it lost to a strong Missouri team, and it didn’t have Graham Mertz against Florida State. Not ideal, but okay. Forgivable.

Getting roasted by 19 against Kentucky and losing at home to Arkansas wasn’t okay.

This year’s team should be far better, and the schedule might be far worse.

Miami is also better - that’s the season opener. Texas A&M is better. UCF is dangerous, Kentucky is still good, and there’s no week off whatsoever outside of the paycheck game against Samford.

Mississippi State is a winnable game, but that’s in Starkville. LSU and Ole Miss come to Gainesville, but those are hardly sure things, and they’re even worse as part of a BRUTAL November with Georgia, at Texas, and at Florida State a part of the fun.

Missing Alabama is always good, and not playing Missouri and Oklahoma is a plus, but this is going to be rough.

The Gators will rise up to win enough games to go bowling, but for a program that’s supposed to be pushing for 10-2 every year - at least - this won’t feel good enough.

Set The Florida Win Total At … 5.5

Likely Wins: Samford

50/50 Games: at Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, Miami, at Mississippi State, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCF

Likely Losses: Georgia (in Jacksonville), at Texas

2024 Florida Football Schedule

Aug 31 Miami
Sept 7 Samford
Sept 14 Texas A&M
Sept 21 at Mississippi State
Sept 28 OPEN DATE
Oct 5 UCF
Oct 12 at Tennessee
Oct 19 Kentucky
Oct 26 OPEN DATE
Nov 2 vs Georgia (in Jacksonville)
Nov 9 at Texas
Nov 16 LSU
Nov 23 Ole Miss
Nov 30 at Florida State

Missing: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Vanderbilt