Gators earn No. 12 preseason ranking from CBS Sports

(Photo by Chris Spears)

Does a year older necessarily make you a year better? CBS Sports obviously seems to think so when it comes to the Florida Gators. With their 4-game winning streak to finish off the 2024 season, the Gators finished a modest No. 35 in the CBS ranking of every team in Division I. Coming on strong at the end plus the year of experience impressed the people at CBS enough to rank the Gators No. 12 in their preseason ranking. That’s an improvement of 23 places from last year, plus it represents a 5-place improvement over the AFCA Coaches Top 25 which came out Monday.

Here is what Chip Patterson of CBS wrote about the Gators: “Billy Napier entered the middle of November with a 4-5 record needing multiple ranked wins to even reach a bowl game. But, after wins against LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State, the Gators added a bowl win to boost momentum heading into the offseason. Florida has NFL talent on both lines of scrimmage and potentially one of the best quarterbacks in the country with DJ Lagway, so a top 20 ranking is fair for the Gators given the roster talent.”

Florida has 11 games scheduled against Division I opponents. Here are the opponents and their ranking: 104. South Florida; 9. (at) LSU; 10. (at) Miami; 1. Texas; 18. (at) Texas A&M; 70. Mississippi State; 5. Georgia (in Jacksonville); 57. (at) Kentucky; 22. (at) Ole Miss; 20. Tennessee; and 41. Florida State.

CBS TOP 25: 1. Texas; 2. Penn State; 3. Ohio State; 4. Clemson; 5. Georgia; 6. Notre Dame; 7. Oregon; 8. Alabama; 9. LSU; 10. Miami; 11. Arizona State; 12. FLORIDA; 13. Illinois; 14. Kansas State; 15. Michigan; 16. South Carolina; 17. SMU; 18. Texas A&M; 19. Iowa State; 20. Tennessee; 21. Texas Tech; 22. Ole Miss; 23. Indiana; 24. Oklahoma; 25. Utah

Other SEC and teams of interest to Florida: 28. Missouri; 32. Auburn; 41. Florida State; 43. Arkansas; 47. Vanderbilt; 57. Kentucky; 58. UNLV; 70. Mississippi State; 74. UCF; 81. South Florida; 104. Florida Atlantic; 123. Florida International

TREYAUN WEBB INJURY

Running back Treyaun Webb, who fractured a tibia that required surgery after game four last season, has undergone surgery to repair a ruptured muscle in his right hamstring per Graham Hall of Florida.247Sports.com. No timeline has been given for Webb’s recovery but Hall reports that the injury isn’t expected to keep the redshirt sophomore out a significant amount of time.

BAUGH ON DOAK WALKER AWARD WATCH LIST

Sophomore running back Jadan Baugh, who led the Gators with 673 rushing yards and seven touchdowns last year as a true freshman, has been named to the Doak Walker Award Watch list. The award is given to the nation’s top running back every year.

Per Zach Goodall of Florida.247sports.com, Baugh was a non-participant in Tuesday’s practice. Also out were wide receivers Aidan Mizell, Eugene Wilson III and Kahleil Jackson, tight end Tony Livingston, offensive lineman Enoch Wangoy and cornerback Dijon Johnson. Besides the quarterbacks in non-contact jerseys were wide receiver Muiz Tounkara, linebacker Grayson Howard and CB Jameer Grimsley.

MARCUS SPEARS SAID IT

Marcus Spears, the former LSU All-American defensive lineman, first round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys (2005) and now co-host of ESPN’s “Get Up! First Take!” calls this a better get it done soon year for LSU head coach Brian Kelly. Kelly is 29-11 in three seasons at LSU. The Tigers made the SEC Championship Game in 2022 because they held the tiebreaker over Alabama. In the title game in Atlanta, LSU was hosed by Georgia, 50-30. The Tigers had the Heisman Trophy QB in 2023 but didn’t make the SEC Championship game. A year ago, LSU went 9-4 with three straight losses (Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida) in November.

Spears says more is expected of Kelly, who was signed to a 10-year, $100 million contract to leave Notre Dame for LSU. The Tigers are a top ten team in nearly every preseason ranking. Spears says the time is now to make the College Football Playoff or else.

Spears said, “LSU is in that window now … where if you don’t win big, if you’re Brian Kelly, this fan base is done, and I’m just telling you, the wins and the success and all of the other things, going to the SEC Championship your first year was great, but people still didn’t feel like that was a big time accomplishment based on how it happened.”

The Tigers are tearing it up on the recruiting trail, but Spears says none of that will matter to the fan base if the Tigers aren’t one of the 12 teams in the College Football playoff.

“It doesn’t guarantee a championship, but it should guarantee you being a playoff contender,” Spears said. “And if they are not, if they are on the outside looking in in the playoffs, this fan base is going to quickly turn on Brian Kelly. And it’s almost like there’s been situations where they’ve been waiting to do it. This would be that inflection point if LSU doesn’t win big this year. I’m telling ya’ll what I know, not what I think.”

SEC FOOTBALL

Alabama: Speaking of the 3-man competition for the starting QB position between Ty Simpson, Austin Mack and Keelon Russell, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said, “All the guys have been getting ones, twos and threes with the exception of Ty (Simpson). He’s the only guy who’s not taking any three reps. Really it’s been status quo, but today everybody got a couple reps with the ones. Ty took a couple with the twos. We’re still moving them around and the guys know that.”

Arkansas: Former Gator Miguel Mitchell, who spent most of last season injured, is off to a good start. He’s expected to be the starter at strong safety.

Auburn: Right now, the starters in the secondary are Jay Crawford and Kayin Lee at the corners, Sylvester Smith at nickel, and safeties Kaleb Harris and Champ Anthony. The corners are being pushed by Miami (OH) transfer Raion Strader and Tulane transfer Rayshawn Pleasant.

Georgia: ESPN ranks quarterback Gunner Stockton No. 2 in its ranking of new starting quarterbacks for likely contenders. ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote, “Georgia has the highest floor in the sport, but the Dawgs’ ceiling will be defined by Stockton and a receiving corps that didn’t do nearly enough for its quarterbacks last season.”

Kentucky: The Wildcats lost their best two wide receivers to the transfer portal so finding replacements who can play at a high level is critical for offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. Ja’mori Maclin (13 catches, 313 yards, 4 TDs in 2024) is an expected starter. The Wildcats are depending on Oklahoma transfer JJ Hester, Alabama transfer Kendrick Law and Clemson transfer Troy Stellato to figure prominently in the rotation.

LSU: Brian Kelly expects quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to be more of a runner this year instead of a statue in the pocket. Kelly said, “He knows that he’s not going to run the ball 10-15 times a game, but if he can give us 5-6 carries when we need them it’s going to make him more effective.”

Mississippi State: Linebacker Branden Jennings thinks the defense will be better this year thanks to improved depth at linebacker. Jennings said, “I feel like it’s very different when you have depth and you have good depth. I feel like we have good depth right now.”

Missouri: While the quarterback situation is up in the air, the Tigers have settled on the starters at the wide receivers in Marquis Johnson and Joshua Manning on the outside with Kevin Coleman in the slot. A year ago Johnson caught 25 passes for 352 yards and a TD while Manning caught 13 passes for 192 yards and a TD.

Oklahoma: Injuries at the running back position are troubling. California transfer Jaydn Ott has a sprained AC joint suffered in Tuesday practice. Taylor Tatum (hamstring) and Xavier Robinson (foot) have yet to practice.

Ole Miss: With Cayden Lee in a non-contact jersey, the wide receiver opening eyes is Wake Forest transfer Deuce Alexander. He caught 36 passes for 400 yards and two touchdowns last year as a true freshman.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks have three returning starters on the O-line in center Boaz Stanley and tackles Josiah Thompson and Cason Henry. Running with the first unit at the guards are Tree Babalade and Trovon Baugh.

Tennessee: On the O-line the starting center job is a competition between William Satterwhite and Sam Pendleton. Wendell Moe is a lock at one of the guards and Lance Heard is a returning starter at left tackle. David Sanders Jr. and Jesse Perry are in a battle for the right tackle position. Pendleton could wind up starting at right guard.

Texas: Despite losing projected starter at right tackle Andre Cojoe for the season due to an ACL, HBC Steve Sarkisian feels good about the depth on his O-line and the Longhorns ability to absorb the loss. “We have plenty of good people in that room and we’ll be okay,” Sarkisian said.

Texas A&M: The Aggies’ fifth practice of training camp was highlighted by numerous off-target throws of 15 or more yards from quarterbacks Marcus Reed and Miles O’Neill. Complicating matters, wide receivers KC Concepcion, Mario Craver, Terry Bussey, TK Norman and Izaiah Williams all had drops on very catchable passes of more than 15 yards.

Vanderbilt: Juco transfer Tre Richardson, who played at Washburn Junior College last year, lit it up at Tuesday’s practice. Richardson is also expected to be an asset in the running game. In juco ball last season, Richardson caught 52 passes for 983 yards and 11 touchdowns while running 32 times for 240 yards.