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The start of the spring football season is right around the corner and the future is looking bright for the Florida Gators. After a season that exceeded expectations and put true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway into the national spotlight, many believe that Billy Napier’s program will make some waves in the College Football Playoff race this fall.
A key element to the Orange and Blue’s success is its returning players. ESPN writer Bill Connelly compiled a ranking of returning production for all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision schools based on his SP+ model, with Florida landing at No. 18 in the nation. The program posted a 66% overall return rate, with the offense also bringing back 66% of production (ranked 36th) and the defense at 65% (ranked 25th).
“The formula I created shifts with each new year of data and has had to shift a ton with the rising number of transfers,” Connelly explains. “But the gist remains the same: High or low returning production percentages correlate well with improvement or regression. They might not guarantee a good or bad team, but they can tell us a lot. And in 2025, they tell us a lot about the state of college football.”
Why Florida is among those ‘most likely to improve’
“Despite a brutal schedule and the handing of the QB reins to freshman DJ Lagway midseason, Billy Napier’s Gators saw significant improvement in 2024, jumping from 5-7 to 8-5 and from 41st in SP+ to 20th,” he begins.
“Lagway has some all-or-nothing tendencies to smooth out, and four of last year’s top six targets are gone, but he’ll have running back Jadan Baugh and four offensive line starters back, and perhaps most importantly, a defense that was dominated by sophomores and juniors last year (but still improved from 60th to 23rd in defensive SP+) returns a solid 12 of 20 players with 200-plus snaps,” Connelly…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/where-florida-footballs-returning-production-172834669.html
Author : Gators Wire
Publish date : 2025-02-24 17:28:00
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