Thoughts of the Day: July 5, 2026

Jadan Baugh runs through a gaping hole against Tulane in 2024 (Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Sunday morning:

When we think of the Air Raid offense that Buster Faulkner grew up at Valdosta State we think it’s everybody out for a pass with an occasional run mixed in. Obviously, somebody tore the thou shalt not run the ball more than a dozen times per game page out of his playbook because Faulkner’s offenses in his three seasons as the coordinator at Georgia Tech were very balanced. Tech led the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing in 2023 (203.77 yards per game, 5.38 per carry) and finished second (187 yards per game, 4.95 per carry) in 2024 behind Miami, second again in 2025 (197.46 yards per game, 5.54 per carry) behind Florida State. In those three seasons, Georgia Tech averaged 431 total yards per game, 6.46 yards per snap and 30.56 points per game. Georgia Tech ran for 84 touchdowns and passed for 60 while Faulkner designed the offense and called the plays.

Contrast those numbers to those of Florida the last three seasons. The Gators averaged 149.83 rushing yards per game in 2023 (8^th in the SEC), 161.23 per game (9^th in the SEC) in 2024 and 136.75 (12^th in the SEC) in 2025. The Gators ran the ball for 57 touchdowns and averaged 4.37 yards per carry from 2023-2025. Florida’s offense averaged 379.32 yards per game, 5.91 yards per play and 26.1 points per game. The best year of the last three was 2023 with Graham Mertz at QB in which the Gators averaged 409.1 yards, 6.05 yards per play and 28.4 points per game. Overall, Florida scored 113 touchdowns the last three years (57 rushing, 56 passing).

From a pure talent perspective, Florida had more than Georgia Tech the last three years both at running back and wide receiver. Despite talents such as Ricky Pearsall, Chimere Dike and Elijhah Badger catching the ball and Montrell Johnson Jr. and Jadan Baugh running it, Florida under-achieved. Faulkner got far more efficiency out of his offense and much of it has to do with scheme. The way Faulkner spreads the field and uses the quarterback as both a runner and an efficient passer, it opens up lanes for the running backs. Running backs are heavily involved in the passing game as well. As the lead back the past three seasons at Georgia Tech, Jamal Haynes ran for 2,534 yards and 21 touchdowns, while catching 81 passes for 574 yards for four more touchdowns.

At Florida, Faulkner has an excellent collection of wide receivers whose speed will create lanes for his running backs, led by Baugh, back for a third season in which he is being touted as one of the best in the country. In ranking Baugh the No. 2 running back in the entire nation, ESPN offered these quotes to back up their selection:

"He might be the best running back in the country," one SEC personnel director said.

"Baugh might be one of the best backs I've ever watched on tape," a Big Ten scout added.

"For him to be 230 pounds and to have the lateral agility he has, with the burst and the vision, that's unique," one former Florida staffer said. "His stature and his movement skills at that stature make him elite, and then he can finish runs with toughness. He can make plays when there is not a play there."

High praise for Baugh, who needs 157 yards to reach 2,000 for his career and 744 to pass Tony Green for seventh on Florida’s all-time rushing list.

Baugh is going to get his carries, but Faulkner has a diverse group of backs to create problems for opposing defenses. Redshirt freshmen Duke Clark and Byron Louis are big backs who are at their best between the tackles while transfers London Montgomery and Evan Pryor are speed backs who can factor in the passing game as well.

This will be an offense capable of ground and pound when the Gators need to move the chains and keep the clock running as well as stretch defenses to their breaking point by using the backs both in the running game and the passing attack.

Here is a look at the Florida running back room:

Jadan Baugh (6-1, 228, JR): In high school at Decatur (GA) Columbia, he was the Swiss Army Knife who played quarterback, running back and wide receiver on the offensive side of the ball, safety and linebacker on defense. Florida recruited him as a running back, securing his services over offers from Alabama, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas among others. A 4-star recruit, Baugh was the No. 19 athlete in the country, the No. 35 recruit in the state of Georgia. Got four starts as a true freshman at Florida where he led the Gators with 673 yards (5.06 per carry) and seven touchdowns while catching four passes for 33 yards (8.25 per catch) and a TD. Second team All-SEC as a sophomore in 2025, he ran for 1,170 yards (5.32 per carry) and eight touchdowns while catching 33 passes for 210 yards (6.3 per catch) and two more TDs. Carried 38 times for 266 yards and two TDs in the win over Florida State, the second best single game rushing total in Florida history.

Duke Clark (6-2, 202, RFR): Former 4-star recruit out of Tampa Plant, the No. 116 recruit in the ESPN 300. Chose the Gators over Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma. Saw action in four games in 2025 and took a redshirt. Ran for 58 yards on 15 carries (3.9 per carry) and caught two passes for 14 yards. Best game was the win over Texas in which he carried nine times for 38 yards.

Evan Pryor (5-10, 194, RSR): The nation’s No. 2 all-purpose back out of William Amos Hough in North Carolina and part of Ohio State’s No. 2 ranked recruiting class. Injured in 2021, spent the next two seasons in a stacked backfield before transferring to Cincinnati. He is more of a third down type of back who is very good once he gets the ball in space. In two season s at Cincinnati he carried 132 times for 940 yards (7.1 per carry) and nine touchdowns while catching 25 passes for 288 yards (11.5 per catch) and two more TDs.

London Montgomery (5-10, 194, RJR): A former 4-star recruit out of Scranton (PA) Prep, Montgomery was the No. 3 player in the state of Pennsylvania and the nation’s No. 13 running back. A member of Penn State’s No. 13 recruiting class in 2023, took a redshirt as a true freshman at Penn State. Montgomery transferred to East Carolina where he was the effective No. 2 running back in 2024 when he gained 359 yards and scored a couple of touchdowns. As the lead back for ECU in 2025 he gained 742 yards (4.76 per carry) and scored seven touchdowns while catching 15 passes for 76 yards out of the backfield. Career numbers: 227-1,1101 rushing (4.79 per carry) for nine touchdowns; 20 catches for 105 yards (5.3 per catch).

Anthony Rubio (5-9, 188, RJR): Graduated from UF in the fall of 2025. Third team All-Dade out of Belen Jesuit where he gained 1,474 yards as a senior. Walked on at UF where he has 11 carries for 59 yards and a TD in two seasons as a backup running back. Son of former US Senator Marco Rubio, now the Secretary of State.

Byron Louis (6-0, 198, RFR): A 4-star recruit out of American Heritage in South Florida, Louis was the No. 9 running back and No. 31 overall recruit in the state of Florida. Originally committed to Florida State, flipped to Florida along with QB Trammel Jones Jr. Had offers from Alabama, Miami, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Don’t think I’ve gone soft and embraced soccer as the next great thing – I haven’t – but the World Cup is making a statement to the powers that be who are debating what’s next for college football. Think twice before cutting the little guys out.

Cape Verde, a tiny island nation that 95 percent of Americans have probably never heard of, stunned the soccer world by making the round of 32 at the World Cup, then had the audacity to leave brown stains down the back of the shorts of mighty Argentina. Argentina prevailed 3-2 in overtime to advance to the round of 16 Friday night but advancing was nothing short of a miracle of changing water into wine proportions.

This wasn’t a fluke. Cape Verde belonged and could have very well won the game, which would have gone down as perhaps the greatest upset in World Cup history and ranked among the greatest upsets ever in any sport. In proving itself against Argentina, Cape Verde reminded us of that funny line by Dudley Moore in the movie Arthur when he said, “It’s a terribly small, tiny little country. Rhode Island could beat the crap out of it in a war. That’s how small it is.”

Cape Verde is the feel good story of the World Cup, but not the only team that saw its carriage turn into a pumpkin when the clock struck midnight. Ivory Coast, which in an international friendly pre-World Cup, beat France, should have beaten Germany in group play. Germany then lost to Paraguay in the round of 32. Congo tied Portugal, should have beaten Colombia and had England on the ropes.

Those are just a few examples of how close the World Cup was to the chaos that would have erupted worldwide if some of these near Cinderellas had managed to keep their glass slippers on.

Ever since Tulane and James Madison were easily disposed of in last year’s College Football Playoff, the first time two Group of Five schools had a chance to play with the big boys, we’ve heard all the grousing about how the little guys don’t belong. I admit that I have more than once advocated for the Group of Six (it expanded by one more conference this year) should have its own division, separate from the power conferences, and its own national championship playoff, but the World Cup has opened my eyes to the possibility that a conference champ from the Group of Six could do some damage in a playoff.

Yeah, I know, it is like comparing apples and oranges when you compare soccer and American college football. And, yes, I know that we haven’t had a Cinderella story in college basketball since 1963 when Loyola upset Cincinnati, which was going for a three-peat NCAA championship. VCU made the Final Four and Butler made it to the national championship game twice, but otherwise a champion from a power conference emerged the winner.

The odds say whether it’s college basketball or college football the little guys have almost no chance to take home the big trophy, but shouldn’t they be given a chance. One defensive stand by Cape Verde and one stroke of good fortune for Argentina is all that prevented the greatest upset ever in soccer.

It can be argued that this might not happen in another World Cup in a hundred years. However true that may be, shouldn’t the Cape Verde’s of the world at least have their chance to take a bite of the apple? Shouldn’t we also take time to re-think shoving the little guys out of the championship picture in college football?