Who will be the Florida Gators’ stats leaders in 2025?

After a long offseason, the wait is almost over Gator fans. Opening day in 2025 is Saturday in The Swamp, where your Florida Gators will play host to Long Island at 7 p.m. Today, I’m projecting UF’s statistical leaders for the 2025 season.

Let’s get started ….

Passing yards

The pick: DJ Lagway, soph..
Projected number of yards: Over 2,750
Projected Completion %: 61.5.
Projected TDs: 26
Projected INTs: 9
In 2024: Last season, Lagway led UF in passing and was 6-1 as a starter after taking over when Graham Mertz was injured. Lagway completed 59.9 percent of his throws for 1,915 yards, 12 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
Behind the projection: Yes, Lagway missed a good bit of time this offseason, first with a lower body/shoulder injury and then in preseason camp with a calf issue. But with a year under his belt in Gainesville, a greater understanding of the offense, a veteran offensive line blocking for him, talented receivers to throw the ball to and a running attack that takes pressure off him, he should thrive in Season 2 at UF.

Rushing

The pick: Jadan Baugh, soph.
Projected number of yards: Between 850-900
Projected number of carries: 170
Projected number of rushing touchdowns: 11
In 2024: Baugh was the Florida Gators’ leading rusher with 133 carries for 673 yards. He tied Ja’Kobi Jackson, who also is back this year, for the team lead with seven rushing touchdowns.
Behind the projection: Baugh emerged as a star-in-the-making last year and with Montrell Johnson off to the NFL, Baugh should get more carries in 2025. But how many more is the question? Napier and running backs coach Jabbar Juluke prefer their running backs to split carries. That keeps them fresh when it counts. And UF can do this because of all the talent in the backfield [see Jackson and KD Daniels for starters]. The goal is to keep Baugh healthy for an entire season, not for him to set rushing records against lesser teams.

Receptions

The pick: Eugene Wilson, redshirt soph.
Projected number of catches: 50-55
In 2024: Chimere Dike, now in the NFL, led UF with 42 receptions [for 783 yards].
Behind the projection: As a true freshman in 2023, Wilson had a team-high 61 catches. Last season, he caught 19 passes in only four games before being lost for the season with an injury. In 2025, he’ll be looking to impress NFL scouts. Because he’s so versatile, fast and dangerous in space, Wilson should again make a significant impact for the offense in 2025. The Florida Gators typically make sure he’s a big part of the gameplan each and every week.

Receiving yards

The pick: J.Michael Sturdivant, redshirt sr.
Projected number of receiving yards: 850-900
In 2024: Elijhah Badger led the Gators with 806 receiving yards [on 39 receptions] and averaged 20.7 yards a catch.
Behind the projection: Before transferring to UF, Badger averaged a career-best 12.4 yards a catch at Arizona State in 2022. Meanwhile, Sturdivant’s three-year college average is 13.6 yards a reception. His season-high yardage total of 755 came as a freshman at Cal [he later played two seasons at UCLA]. With his combination of size [he’s 6-foot-2.5] and speed, Sturdivant has the ability to take the top off a defense. And Lagway’s speciality happens to be the deep ball. The best guess here is Sturdivant catches around 40-45 passes and averages right around that 20-yards-a-catch mark for the Florida Gators in 2025.

Tackles

The pick: Myles Graham, soph.
Projected number of tackles: 80 total tackles
In 2024: Trikweze Bridges, an Oregon transfer in his final season of college football, led the Gators with 69 total tackles and 38 solo stops.
Behind the projection: Graham did not start a game in 2024, yet still finished 13th in total tackles with 30 stops [9.0 solo] as a true freshman. Five of the players who recorded more tackles than Graham last season are gone. Meanwhile, he has emerged as a likely starter and possible star. By all accounts, the staff is extremely high on Graham and believe he’s poised for a big season. With strong defensive line play, that should set up Graham nicely. He’s not only athletic and physical; he’s extremely smart. Additionally, sources tell us he has emerged as a team leader. Everything is there for Graham to more than double his tackles total in 2025.

Tackles for loss

The pick: Tyreak Sapp, redshirt sr.
Projected number of tackles for loss: 15
In 2024: Sapp was tops on the team with 13.0 tackles for loss. He started nine games.
Behind the projection: Sapp is hungry to go out with a bang at UF and has received lots of preseason All-SEC recognition. So why is his 2025 projection only slightly ahead of what he produced in 2024? Easy. Even though Sapp is the projected starter at the “F” EDGE position, junior Kamran James is essentially right there with him. In fact, it’s pretty much a 1A and 1B situation. They are both very talented and will split reps. That probably will keep Sapp from hitting 20 tackles for loss, but it should keep him fresh in the fourth quarter of big games.

Sacks

The pick: George Gumbs Jr., redshirt sr.
Projected number of sacks: 8.5
In 2024: Sapp led the Florida Gators with 7.0 sacks.
Behind the projection: Gumbs was second on the squad in 2024 with 5.0 sacks despite only making three starts at the “OLB/Jack EDGE” position. He often was behind Jack Pyburn and T.J. Searcy but both of those players have transferred and Gumbs now is likely to have a bigger role. Yes, true freshman Jayden Woods is making waves. Yes, sophomore LJ McCray also is going to play a lot. But Gumbs is Gumbs is primed to make his mark. He began his career as a walk-on receiver at Northern Illinois and was still raw as a defender when he arrived in Gainesville last year. Now, he’s a lot more polished. Gumbs is a physical freak who will keep offensive tackles busy.

Interceptions

The pick: Bryce Thornton, jr.
Projected number of interceptions: 5
In 2024: Thornton led UF with three interceptions.
Behind the projection: Thornton, a strong safety, keeps progressing. He made four starts as a true freshman and then seven last year, including the final five games. Against Ole Miss, he came up with two big picks. In 2025, Thornton and starting free safety Jordan Castell will patrol the back end of the defense. And if the Florida defensive front is as good as advertised and consistently pressures opposing QBs, that likely will result in numerous errant throws under duress. And Thornton has proven to have strong ball hawk skills.