The Florida Gators released their 2021 spring roster ahead of practices starting on Thursday. Some Gators lost big while others gained big.
Here we will go over the biggest changes fall to spring.
Offense
- OL Jean Delance dropped from 316 to 307
- OL Richie Leonard lost 12 pounds going from 347 to 335
- OL Josh Braun put on 12 from 340 to 352
- OL Ethan White jumped from 335 to 346
- OL T.J. Moore went from 300 to 309
Most of Florida’s offensive gains and losses were made on the offensive line, a unit that struggled a season ago. White’s weight gain stands out a bit here considering he worked to lose more than 60 pounds after he got on campus, but this could be linked to the knee injury that kept him off the field for much of the 2020 season.
Quarterbacks Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson stayed right around the same marks, with Richardson losing a couple of pounds.
Defense
- LB Derek Wingo lost 12 pounds going from 233 to 221
- LB Antwaun Powell dropped 15 from 260 to 245
- DL Zachary Carter lost 13 pounds from his big frame from 290 to 277
- DL Princely Umanmielen dropped from 255 to 245
- S Mordecai McDaniel dropped from 207 to 192
- S Rashad Torrence went from 205 to 197
- S Tre’Vez Johnson also lost eight pounds from 196 to 188
The Gators saw the most changes from the fall on the defensive side of the ball. Powell led the group in dropping 15 pounds between his freshman season and spring.
Along with making gains ahead of his final season at Florida, Carter also decided on a jersey number change from #17 to #6. Defensive end Dante Lang went with a number change as well, from #81 to #18.
Freshmen/Transfers
- CB Jason Marshall 6’0, 191 (#3)
- QB Carlos Del Rio-Wilson 6’2, 238 (#8)
- QB Jalen Kitna 6’5, 198 (#11)
- S Donovan McMillion 6’1, 197 (#13)
- S Corey Collier Jr. 6’1, 172 (#20)
- DL Desmond Watson 6’5, 432 (#21)
- RB Demarkcus Bowman 5’10, 187 (#23)
- CB Jordan Young 6’0, 189 (#31)
- LB Chief Borders 6’4, 240 (#36)
- DL Daquan Newkirk 6’3, 318 (#44)
- DL Antonio Shelton 6’3, 318 (#55)
- WR Daejon Reynolds 6’2, 201 (#81)
- TE Nick Elksnis 6’6, 237 (#84)
- DL Chris Thomas Jr. 6’5, 314 (#90)
- DL Justus Boone 6’4, 265 (#91)
Freshman defensive lineman Watson comes in at a massive 432. He should be at the top of the list as Nick Savage’s next big project. The Gators need him to drop a good amount of that weight before he is ready to see the field.
Kitna, a Texas native who has drawn some comparisons to Kyle Trask, will assume the Heisman finalists former jersey number as a freshman.
Along with the freshmen and transfers, it is important to confirm a few who chose to return to Florida this season. As expected, linebacker Ventrell Miller, defensive lineman Jeremiah Moon, wide receiver Rick Wells and offensive linemen Stewart Reese and Jean Delance are all listed on the roster.
The full spring roster can be found here: https://floridagators.com/sports/football/roster