The winter 2023 portal cycle will officially begin on December 4, and Florida needs some help. Any team that aspires to lofty heights but finishes 5-7 is going to need some help, frankly.
In the portal cycles leading up to the ’23 season, Florida lost a total of 37 scholarship players to transfer and brought in 17. It was supposed to be 18, but Kentucky’s Kiyaunta Goodwin canceled his transfer to sit out the season and attend to his cancer-afflicted mother. His plan as of September is to enroll somewhere in January, but it figures to be some place closer to his hometown in the Louisville area than UF is.
Every player who left has his reasons for doing so, ranging from having been dismissed to getting a chance to start instead splitting snaps. I’m not here to judge anyone’s motivations for leaving and won’t be discussing them because it’s not really the point of this piece.
The point is that the Gators need help, and the portal hasn’t always brought upgrades. Here’s how things have turned out so far.
Quarterback
Out: Emory Jones, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson
In: Jack Miller, Graham Mertz
This is one position where UF has pretty clearly upgraded.
Jones left after a turbulent 2021 season for Arizona State, and after struggling there, he was the starter for a poor Cincinnati team this year. CDRW has spent the past two years as backup at Syracuse for Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader.
Miller gets a grade of incomplete, as he’s never been healthy enough to fully gauge his participation. Mertz, meanwhile, became easily the team’s second-best signal caller of the post-Tebow era behind Kyle Trask, and he would’ve topped the 3,000 yard mark had he been able to play all 12 games.
Running Back
Out: Demarckus Bowman, Nay’Quan Wright, Lorenzo Lingard
In: Montrell Johnson, Cam Carroll
This is another spot where the portal has been kind to the Gators.
None of the players who left was getting major carries. That trend continued for Bowman, who got ten rushes this year after sitting out the ’22 season for his second undergraduate transfer. Wright and Lingard were the feature backs this year for USF and Akron, respectively.
Johnson has been one of two featured backs at Florida for two seasons running and one of the more reliable offensive players. Carroll, however, missed the year to injury. He’s been in college six seasons already, so he’d have to petition the NCAA to come back. I’ve yet to see anything about his future status one way or the other.
Wide Receiver
Out: Jacob Copeland, Xzavier Henderson, Daejon Reynolds, Trent Whittemore
In: Ricky Pearsall
The portal has delivered just one player here, but oh what a player he’s been.
Copeland was a rotation guy for a year at Maryland before bouncing around three NFL franchises this year without any game action. Henderson led Cincinnati in catches and yards. Reynolds was the third wide receiver in catches and yards for a bad Pitt offense. Whittemore appeared in all 12 games for UCF but had just three catches, all of them in one game.
Pearsall was Florida’s best receiver the past two seasons and came excruciatingly close to 1,000 yards this year. His entry made Copeland’s departure survivable in 2022 and was a bridge to Eugene Wilson taking over as the top target next year.
Tight End
Out: Kemore Gamble, Nick Elksnis
In: None
Gamble left prior to the 2022 season despite the emphasis that Billy Napier’s offense put on tight ends. He ended up catching just seven passes for UCF in ’22 before graduating. Elksnis played in seven games for South Carolina but didn’t record a catch.
The blank on transfers in really stands out. The position hasn’t had a true playmaker since Kyle Pitts, but finding someone even half as good to come in and play without the growing pains of high school signees would’ve helped the offense both of the past two years.
Offensive line
Out: Gerald Mincey, Joshua Braun, David Conner, Griffin McDowell, Yousef Mugharbil, Michael Tarquin, Ethan White
In: O’Cyrus Torrence, Kam Waites, Damieon George, Lyndell Hudson, Micah Mazzccua
The single best player UF got to transfer in is Torrence, as he earned All-American honors. That much is undeniable. But on the whole, can we say for sure that Florida upgraded here? It’s tricky.
White was going to leave for USC but ended up retiring from football due to injuries, according to Lincoln Riley. McDowell was far enough down the depth chart that Napier moved him to tight end last year, though he’s started back on the line at Chattanooga this year. Mugharbil and Conner didn’t see the field for NC State or Colorado, respectively. It’s unlikely any of them would’ve contributed this past year.
But Tarquin started for USC this year, and Mincey has been an on-again-off-again offensive tackle starter at Tennessee. UF sure could’ve used some tackle help this year. Either one likely would’ve played better than George, whose natural position might be guard, and Hudson, who was always a depth piece. It’s hard to call Mazzccua an upgrade from Braun too. Waites has missed enough time to injury that it’s hard to get a good read on him.
Compared to the depth on the actual roster, the transfers on the whole were better the alternatives. But Torrence aside, did Florida’s portal comings and goings net out positively on the line in general? I’m not so sure.
Defensive Line
Out: Lamar Goods, Jalen Lee, Chris Thomas
In: Cam Jackson, Caleb Banks
Like with some of the skill positions on offense, UF has upgraded here.
Goods ended up back in his home country of Canada playing for a program there. Lee played in seven games for LSU but had just two tackles, while Thomas played in eight games for Marshall and had 13 tackles.
Jackson, meanwhile, was the best defensive tackle on the team this year, and Banks started all but one contest this season. The only complaints are that Florida couldn’t find DT depth help for 2022, and that it hasn’t landed any true defensive ends. Once Justus Boone went down to injury, there wasn’t anyone left who could really speed rush the passer opposite the edge linebackers.
Edge
Out: Khris Bogle, Chief Borders, Antwuan Powell-Ryland, David Reese, Lloyd Summerall
In: None
It’s a strong negative on the edge for what should be obvious reasons.
Powell-Ryland was the biggest loss from a production standpoint, as he made second-team All-ACC after leading Virginia Tech in sacks with 9.5. Reese had a nice season for Cal, finishing with 31 tackles, 6.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and two pass break-ups. Injuries derailed Bogle’s 2022 after four games, and he didn’t stand out in 2023. Borders and Summerall were solid rotation guys for Nebraska and USF, respectively.
UF’s paltry sack figures this year really stick out for a program that used to have a good pass rush no matter what else was going on with the team. Getting zero portal help at defensive end and edge linebacker did nothing to help the cause.
Linebacker
Out: Ty’Ron Hopper, Mohamoud Diabate, Diwun Black
In: Teradja Mitchell, Mannie Nunnery, Deuce Spurlock
Hopper alone makes this category one of a downgrade. He was the dominant inside linebacker the team has sorely missed these past two seasons. Diabate played well for Utah in ’22, racking up 58 tackles with 13.5 of them for loss. Black didn’t play much for Temple in 2022 but was a rotation piece in 2023.
Mitchell had all the look of a player who wasn’t the same after the injury that caused him to miss the ’22 season. The effort was there, but he didn’t play as well as hoped. Nunnery was good in spots but inconsistent. Spurlock was always a depth/developmental guy, and he appeared on special teams in three games in November.
Cornerback
Out: Avery Helm, Jordan Young
In: Jalen Kimber
It’s hard to frame this one as an upgrade as well.
Helm was somewhat inconsistent at UF, but Young was a promising rising player. The former started for TCU this year, while the latter did for Cincinnati. Young put up the better numbers of the two, recording 34 tackles, seven pass break-ups, and a pick.
Kimber has been a regular presence in the secondary, including 11 starts in ’23, but he too has been inconsistent for different reasons. It’s probably a wash at best.
Safety
Out: Fenley Graham, Mordecai McDaniel, Corey Collier, Donovan McMillon, Tre’Vez Johnson
In: RJ Moten
Once again, UF hasn’t yet used the portal to upgrade the position.
McMillon is the one who hurts the most. He led Pitt in tackles and was honorable mention All-ACC in 2023. Johnson was a mainstay on the Missouri defense with 40 tackles to his name, but he didn’t outperform what he was doing for UF previously. Collier appeared in a few games for Nebraska but didn’t record any stats. Graham transferred to FAMU, but it looks from their website that he didn’t play in 2022 and wasn’t on the roster in 2023. McDaniel never found a landing place after entering the portal.
Moten started ten games for Michigan in 2022 but struggled to find success this year. One hopes it’s just a side effect of him not joining the program until June and that he’ll make a bigger impact next year.
Adding It All Up
Florida unquestionably came out ahead at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and defensive tackle. It has lost by default at tight end and edge on account of bringing in no players there, but edge is the bigger problem spot.
Offensive line is around a wash, depending on how heavily you weight a single year of Torrence, but it looks better when comparing transfers to holdover players still around in ’23. Corner is maybe a wash too, but I think more a net negative. Linebacker and safety have been definitely net negatives so far, and defensive end is a negative in that the team needed help that never came.
Most of the net positives were on offense, and most of the net negatives were on defense. If you watched the team this year, you won’t be surprised by that outcome.
The Gators are already losing players to the portal for the upcoming cycle, but they need to shed some scholarships just to bring in the full 2024 recruiting class. They’ll need to see even more go to bring in new transfers. Through it all, Napier really needs to up his net positive rate if the team is going to improve greatly for next season.