Florida’s inside linebacker room stands out as a potential strength after returning five scholarship players from last season. With roughly 50 new players on the roster, the linebackers provide a valuable veteran presence for the defense.
In search of more physicality, head coach Jon Sumrall identified junior linebacker Aaron Chiles as a standout throughout spring camp.
“I felt Aaron Chiles in the last couple practices more,” Sumrall said two weeks ago. “We had the live setting the Thursday before spring break when we turned it up a little bit and let them tackle for that one period. His presence was felt.”
At Tuesday’s press conference, linebackers coach Greg Gasparato highlighted Chiles’ play during Florida’s 13th spring practice.
“You see growth every day, today, he made a ton of plays on the field which was fun to watch,” Gasparato said.
As a sophomore in 2025, Aaron Chiles recorded 52 tackles (22 solo), two quarterback hurries, 2.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, and one pass breakup across 12 games and 472 snaps. In an effort to improve his overall game, Chiles focused on getting leaner under new Director of Football Performance Rusty Whitt.
“Right now, I’m about 238. This is probably been like the most-lean mass I’ve had since I’ve been here,” Chiles said. “Rusty in the weight room is definitely getting us way stronger. I’m not really have any injuries or things like that, no nagging pains or anything like that. My whole body just feels way stronger.”
Aaron Chiles believes his improvement off the field has translated to better on-field performance, particularly in coverage—an area he sought to improve.
“I would say I’m way more comfortable,” Chiles said of his coverage ability. “And just being an overall backer, being able to drop in coverage, fit the run, I would say my overall game has benefited from me just getting stronger, losing fat and looking better and feeling better.”
Linebackers coach Greg Gasparato agrees.
“Aaron Chiles has gotten so much better from the start to the finish, just understanding coverage concepts,” Gasparato said. “He’s very business oriented. He spends more time in this building than a lot of people. He takes care of his body better than most people do, he’s in there doing extra work in the morning, after practice, he is a very regimented person, very smart, understands what’s going on. When he makes a mistake, he very rarely makes the same mistake twice, but he is big, he’s strong, his body fat has gotten better, it’s gone down, his body fat percentage, since he’s been working with Rusty.”
The next step for Aaron Chiles is figuring out where he fits in. The 6-foot-3, 238-pound Maryland native can play inside linebacker, line up outside along the defensive line, or slide to the SAM position, giving the defense multiple ways to use him.
“I just think he’s got a unique skillset and size at 240 pounds where you can use that guy a lot of different ways,” Gasparato said on Chiles. “That’s kind of what spring is, let’s try him here, try him there, see where he’s good, see where he’s comfortable, and then as we move forward in the summer we kind of see, OK, these are his strengths, these are the weaknesses we need to bring up and let’s use them in this way.”