Florida Gators Fall Camp Storylines | Florida Gators Football 2024

welcome back to another episode of rock boys football Billy Napier the Florida Gators kicking off fall Camp July 31st want to dive into at least some of my biggest storylines for this Florida Gator program kicking off fall camp and you look at some teams that at least in my mind I am fired up for fall Camp Florida's at the top of the list I mean you look at the amount of position battles that you're going to see over the next couple of weeks you look at the amount of young talent that were probably going to hear is breaking out heading into 2024 you look at a lot of other programs across the country you kind of know what their roster what their depth chart is going to look like you know who their key contributors are going to be you look at Florida heading into fall Camp there are a lot of storylines a lot of questions and I think that's what makes fall Camp so exciting for this Florida program want to look at a couple of different things one some of the key position battles that we're looking at number two some potential breakout players I think as college football fans we all know that fall Camp is kind of when you get a feel for who's going to be breaking out during the 2024 season and Florida's got a laundry list of guys and then want to take a look at some positions where we maybe have some depth question marks as well fired up to get into this one before we do and as always just want to say thank you to you guys and to the Florida Gator fans I can't thank youall enough for all the support you guys have shown during this full off season whether we're talking recruiting whether we're previewing in 2024 the support's been amazing not many programs I love talking about more if you guys do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel and much more importantly you know I would love to hear some of your biggest storylines in the comment section you take a look at what we're going to be talking about over the next couple of weeks it's going to come from you guys in the comment section in terms of storylines you want us to cover fired up to get into this one and without further Ado you know let's start with a lot of these position battles and I want to highlight some of the most important position battles at least in my mind and you got to start on the offensive line now how I look at this offensive line I think you feel pretty good about the inside of the offensive line Jay Slaughter at Center was probably the best offensive lineman Florida had in 2023 you look at Harris coming in as a sophomore I can't wait to hear the reports out of this kid I think he is such a physically imposing offensive linean he's exactly how Billy Napier wants this offensive line to look on the inside you know even Damen George kicking inside I think he can be a quality guard we obviously know he was not a very good tackle in 2023 probably should have never been playing tackle in the first place you know what guard I'm kind of optimistic that he can be a dude you look at the depth Roger Kierney Bryce love it I feel good about the inside of the offensive line for Florida now you look at the Tackle Spot that is where you have the most question marks right you look at the offensive line in general it's one of those position groups that you're kind of only as good as your weakest link and I don't think Florida's offensive line was as bad as many people believe but they had a massive liability at right tackle with Damen George can you fix the tackle position heading into 2024 and if you do and I think this Florida offensive line takes a massive step in the right direction how does the tackle room shake out at least in my mind heading into fall Camp Austin Barber and Brandon Crenshaw Dixon those are the guys that in my mind are leading to be the starting tackles but what I think so fascinating what's so different from last year is there's some legitimate competition I mean you go back 12 months ago Damen George was just given the starting spot because Florida didn't have any other options you look at this year I mean you got four or five tackles that you feel pretty good about heading into the 2024 season obviously headlined by Austin Barber and Brendan kensaw dicks and you bring in Devin Manuel from Arkansas you have Cam weights you have a guy like Kaden Jones there's some legitimate competition at this tackle position which is exactly how you want it heading into 20 24 versus 12 months ago it was we don't have many guys so we just got to play what we got so I think Billy Napier did a phenomenal job adding depth to this tackle room guys who are proving contributors at the college landscape to kind of provide some depth in competition at tackle so at the very least we feel pretty solid that the tackle position is not going to be a liability like it was last year and if this tackle position takes a step in the right direction I think this Florida offensive line can be solid in the 2024 year and that's the biggest reason to believe in this Florida Gator team heading into 2024 another position group that you know I'm kind of curious about in terms of not necessarily who's going to start but what the pecking order looks like is the wide receiver spot I look at Eugene Wilson Elijah Badger and Shamir dek and say those are probably your starting three wide receivers heading into 2024 Elijah Badger is healthy ready to go for fall Camp which is a massive storyline who's going to be four and five for Florida at the wide receiver spot I'm personally a believer in Aiden miselle I think you look at Aiden Melle coming out of high school and say the kid needed a year he was a slender frame needed a year in the waight room I think he's going to be ready to go to be a little bit more of that you know vertical threat that I think Florida was missing last year that's a big long frame that can run really really fast I think he's going to be a problem for people or for opposing defenses in terms of what he can do attacking the deeper third the other guy I'm going to look at not getting a lot of attention but I'm kind of a believer in this kid tank Hawkins as a true freshman kind of same thing when you are the fastest player on the football field which is what tank Hawkins is going to be you can play early and I know tank Hawkins is a small wide receiver probably needs some time to develop but because of that speed that game breaking speed that tank Hawkins has I think it's gonna give him the ability to at least get on the field and potentially provide some of those game-changing plays for Florida on the offensive line Andy Jee another guy I'm keeping an eye on I think the last like a position battle that I'm looking at is how the secondary shakes out and what I love Billy Napier did was he went out and said hey we got a really good young secondary and we feel good about Deon Moore going into year three we feel really good about Bryce thort and Jordan Castell at the safety spot we could use a little bit more experience what does he go out and do brings in ASA Turner guy that's played a ton of football for Washington brings in DJ Douglas from tane brings in triquest bridges does this secondary shake out DJ Douglas is a guy that I'm keeping an eye on I mean I like Sharie Den at Star I like Aon gates at the star position I think DJ Douglas could emerge as your starting star for this Florida program you got a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things in the secondary my biggest question mark is how is it going to shake out what's the recipe GNA be for Austin Armstrong in the back end for this Florida Gator defense now this is probably the most fun part of fall camp story lines predicting the breakout performers now we're going to stick to year one year two guys so what young guys who are going to be either true freshman or going into their second year are gonna kind of put a stamp on what they're going to mean to this team in 2024 every single year we hear young cats who kind of break out and kind of put a stamp on being contributors as young players I think the first guy I'm looking at is going to be LJ McCrae on the defensive line this was a massive get for Billy AP year in the 2024 cycle and hey this kid can play I mean whether he's playing at the edge whether he's going to get some time at the three Tech I think this is somebody that can get in the rotation on the defensive line and you talk about another storyline that you know kind of makes me a believer in this Florida Gator team in 2024 it's the depth on the defensive line it has been a problem for Florida over the last couple years since Billy Napier took over look at Florida and say I think he got three deep on the defensive line at every single position that you feel pretty good about and if alj McCrae can be a guy that you can count on as a true freshman to not necessarily start but give you some quality rotational reps I think that's a massive storyline then guys like cam James TJ cersi Kelby Collins what do they all look like going into year two the defensive line is gonna be a fascinating position to kind of just keep an keep an eye on and say this defensive line could be really really good in 2024 if some of these young guys take that step I think the second player I'm keeping an eye on is miles grahs at linebacker you look at Shamar James and Grayson Howard I think those are your starting linebackers heading into the 2024 year if there's a young C that I think can get on the field early it's miles Graham and I think it's kind of right for the take and it's not necessarily the deepest linebacker room you have Derek Wingo he's a guy that's a proven contributor I I think Miles Graham can work his way in kind of to that too deep and get a lot of rotational snaps for Florida at the linebacker spot I throw an Aiden Charles as well Florida's got two really talented linebackers not only shmar James and Grayson how are two of the more talented linebackers you see in the SEC in terms of physical traits you know miles Graham and Aiden Charles those two kids can play and I think they're gonna get some opportunity to get some playing time as freshman I think the last one I want to talk about in kind of a an under the radar storyline for Florida is Depp that running back Montel Johnson is going to be the guy now we are a Believer and R trell Johnson heading into 2024 who's going to be your running back one or running back two and running back three Tryon web a guy that we saw a little bit of as a freshman saw a little bit of him in the spring game jadden Boss the guy and run at the running back spot if you can pass bro you're gonna get on the field as a young cat I think Jayden B can kind of emerge as that running back to to monell Johnson I think that's massive Montell Johnson is going to be the guy that's getting 20 plus carries a game but who can spell manell Johnson keep him fresh but also give you quality running back play I think it could be Jayden b as a true freshman the last storyline I want to talk about is just the depth what position groups are we a little bit concerned about the depth and what guys need to step up let's go to the cornerback spot where I think you got some quality starting quarterbacks and Devon Moore and Jason Marshall my eyes are going to be on two extremely talented year two players and jaem Jackson and kman mlan now we talked about kman mlan there were some rumors it was kind of verified rumors that kman mlan was struggling with showing up on time showing up to lift showing up to meetings we all know this kid is talented apparently he put together his best week since he's been with Florida he's obviously one of the more exciting players to monitor during fall camp but jaem Jackson the kids just flying under the radar I think kman McLean is stealing a lot of the spotlight jaem Jackson was a dude coming out of high school I think he can be a guy that gives Florida some serious depth and potential starting reps at the quarterback spot the reason I decided to highlight the quarterback position because Jason Marshall Devon Moore but outside of that kman mclan who is just a big question mark and he might not even be on the roster come December you look at jaem Jackson if he can be a guy that Florida can rely on as that cornerback three I think that's a really big story line and I think the last position that I want to talk about in terms of depth is the defensive line and we not going to get into it too much cuz we just talked about it how deep can this Florida Gator defensive line be because again it's been a massive problem for Billy Napier the first two years I look at the depth of this defensive line and say I mean they got two to three deep of really good football players how good can it be I think it depends on some of the young Talent you look at cam Jackson Caleb Banks Joey slackman Desmond Watson we know what those guys are we don't really have many question marks I think the question is all right four five six those guys that are going to get playing time how good are they going to be that's probably the last thing that I'm looking at I look at Florida a ton of story lines that we're going to be able to talk about over the next couple weeks would love to hear some story lines from you guys as well and I before we got to close it out we gotta talk about DJ lagway and I think the conversation is is DJ lagway gonna play as a true freshman I feel like he's gonna like Grant merch is your starting quarterback heading into 2024 there is no question marks about that are they gonna give DJ lag some opportunities to be a change of pace Guy this is a phenomenal athlete who's a big body that can certainly get it dumb with his legs I I kind of look at it like Michigan treated JJ McCarthy as a freshman where you know Kade mcir was the guy but JJ McCarthy would come in change a little bit of pace and kind of give that Michigan offense a different dyamic I think DJ lagway can do that for Florida so although he's not going to be your starting quarterback how often do we get to see DJ lagway at the quarterback position that's probably the last question mark I have we'll close it there appreciate you guys rocking with it again if yall do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel appreciate you guys we'll talk to yall later peace