2026 baseball roster thread

Agreed. All things considered, the staff held the class together pretty well.

 

Agreed Mat—losing recruits was always the top concern in this scenario.

 

I just hope that whatever is going on is Coach O'Sullivan's life that caused him to step away is something he will successfully deal with. Family and personal well being comes before any job and while I have no idea what it is, Sully has given his all to Gator Baseball and we can only pray for things to work out in a positive way for him.

 

Now that fall baseball is wrapping up throughout the country, there will be a lot of players entering the portal as teams have to be down to 34 players by December 1.

I believe UF had somewhere around 40 players in the fall so six or so will be moving on following the exit interviews being held this week.

 

A Look at Florida Baseball’s Top-Ranked Recruiting Class - WRUF 98.1 FM | 850 AM | 103.7 HD2 ESPN

 

I guess we will find out, but I have been led to believe the roster can grandfather guys beyond that 34 this year

 

A few of the frosh showed promise, but are unlikely to play and rightfully should redshirt. I have enough knowledge of the roster rules to be confused about what actually applies to the Gators. Isn't the NCAA limit 40, but the SEC adopted the lower limit? How is the limit affected by redshirts? I agree that some players are grandfathered.

 

I heard that redshirts count towards the 34 but maybe that’s inaccurate.

 

I read that redshirts count as well.

So what are we looking at?

Pitchers:
1) Liam Peterson
2) Aiden King
3) Schuyler Sandford
4) Christian Rodriguez
5) Ernesto Lugo-Canchola
6) Luke McNeillie
7) Caden McDonald
8) Cooper Walls
9) Jackson Barberi
10) Ricky Reeth
11) Billy Barlow
12) Russell Sandefer
13) Joshua Whritenour

Position players:
14) Kyle Jones
15) Cade Kurland
16) Brendan Lawson
17) Ethan Surowiec
18) Landon Stripling
19) Karson Bowen
20) AJ Malzone
21) Cole Stanford
22) Sam Miller
23) Hayden Yost
24) Ashton Wilson
25) Blake Cyr
26) Justin Nadeau
27) Colton Schwarz
28) Jacob Kendall
29) Kolt Myers
30) Blake Brookins
31) Cash Strayer
32) Jaden Bastian
33) Nic Partridge
34) Eli Blair

 

https://www.gatorcountry.com/florida-gators-baseball/florida-gators-fall-baseball-recap/

 

Highly doubt we keep only one lefty on our staff

 

Looking into this more, it seems the hard cap of 34 is not going to be *fully* implemented yet. Players who would have been cut from the roster can remain as “designated student-athletes” and will not count against the roster limit. I believe it’s a way of protecting current players and the incoming freshman class from being rug pulled and losing student-athlete benefits. Might be the “being grandfathered in” scenario that I’ve heard others mention. You can read more about it below as they explain it far better than I ever could.

Roster Limits
Explaining DSAs — The College Sports Litigation Tracker

 

I can edit it. I am just trying to get an idea of who is on the team. Please list any players you think will make it.

 

Everyone who was there this fall will be there this spring. They are using the designated athlete tag on a bunch of players. Talking to some of the players it sounded like it’s just some bs hoop that they have to jump through, but it could just be the plan for cutting spots over the next few years as others have suggested.

 

That's consistent with everything I've heard, but also VERY helpful for getting through to the real application of the new rules. We'd find out anyway aver the next couple of months. This seems to be a good topic for one of the UAA writers to put out an explanation of how UF is applying the rules for all sports. At the time House details were tumbling out, I read an analysis that said conferences my create rules that go beyond NCAA limits, but I haven't seen further info about that assertion.

 

This seems a good thread for this quote.

 

isn’t this last missing a lefty pitcher or 2? Rivers Kurland and another?
I also don’t see Cooper Moss on list.

 

Checks out exactly the same as the fall ball rosters, no new additions, no late subtractions. Credit the staff for holding the fort together while Sully was away.
Now if we can figure out a few position players, see if Bastain has any chance, settle in at SS and C, and find a dependable Sunday starter, this team has a chance.