Five bold predictions for Florida football this season
By Will Thomas
![Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier addresses the team after the game during the Florida Gators Orange and Blue Spring Game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, April 13, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]Ncaa Football Florida Gators Orange Blue Spring Game](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F10fc071274ccde63ab199d2e9f797f19c6c60fa85d7d5321534bc1be781d534a.jpg "Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier addresses the team after the game during the Florida Gators Orange and Blue Spring Game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, April 13, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]Ncaa Football Florida Gators Orange Blue Spring Game")
Florida football: Gators will have a top-five defense in the SEC
Let me start this section off by saying that I had a similar bold prediction last season, and it could not have gone worse.
But my confidence in the defense last year was more of just relief that Todd Grantham was gone, and thinking things could only go up. I was wrong.
Patrick Toney’s defense was near the bottom of the country in 3rd-down defense, and the tackling woes never got better as the season went on.
But new defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong can change that.
He’s preached aggression and physicality ever since he got to UF and has said that the Gators will be hunters on defense, not the hunted.
There are also some guys on that side of the ball I expect to have breakout seasons in Princely Umanmielen, Jason Marshall Jr., and Kamari Wilson.
Not to mention some of the impact transfers that Napier brought in defensively, like RJ Moten at safety and a slew of linebacker transfers like Deuce Sperlock and Teradja Mitchell.
The Florida defense will be more physical and wreak havoc like they did during the Muschamp era this fall. We’ll finally get that nasty Gator defense back that we’ve been waiting on for the past few years.