Florida football: Matching up the Gators and Canes on offense

Florida and Miami have different stories at wide receiver as well.

Florida returns a plethora of talent and experience at WR. This group includes redshirt senior Van Jefferson, senior Josh Hammond, senior Freddie Swain, senior Tyrie Cleveland, junior Trevon Grimes, junior Kadarius Toney, and redshirt freshman Jacob Copeland. I know, it’s a lot.

Jefferson had 503 receiving yards and 6 TDs, Hammond had 369 yards and 4 TDs, Swain had 265 yards and 5 TDs, Cleveland had 212 yards and 3 TDs, Grimes had 364 yards and 2 TDs, and Toney had 500 yards from scrimmage and 1 TD.

Jacob Copeland has had a sensational spring and fall camp. He was injured for most of last year but is the strongest receiver on the roster according to Gator corner Marco Wilson. “He is strong,” said Wilson. “It’s a really physical matchup. I think I can bring that to him too. When he gets in the game I don’t think he’ll go against a DB that will do that and I don’t think I’ll go against receivers that are as physical as him or as strong as him.”

Miami lost starting WR Lawrence Cager to a transfer to Georgia, WR Marquez Ezzard to a transfer to Georgia Tech, and Darnell Langham graduated.

However, they return star junior receiver Jeff Thomas, sophomore Brian Hightower, and they added star graduate transfer from Buffalo, K.J Osborn.

Thomas had 563 receiving yards and 3 TDs while playing in 11 games. Hightower had a good spring camp and after only 60 receiving yards and a TD, he is expected to have a key role in the Miami receiving core. Oborn had a great junior year at Buffalo, notching 892 receiving yards and 7 TDs.

Although Miami added Oborn and returned Thomas, they’re receiving core doesn’t compare to Florida’s. The stats don’t lie and UF has 6 upperclassmen who have all had valuable experience.

Advantage: Clearly Florida