Florida Football Freshman Profile: Kelby Collins will be an early menace

As the season fast approaches for Florida football, we are continuing our series of the freshmen on campus and what the odds are they appear this season with the Gators. If you follow recruiting, these will be household names. But if not, these can be a good refresher to catch you up to speed.

We have previously profiled:

• Dijon Johnson
• Sharif Denson
• Ja’Keem Jackson
• Andy Jean
• Will Norman

Today we look at one of the key signings of the class of 2023, defensive end Kelby Collins.

Florida Football: Sack party

It is rare that all four recruiting services are unanimous in their evaluations of a prospect, but in the case of Collins, all four pegged him as a four-star prospect ranked between 50th and 53rd overall in the class of 2023.

Noted for his first-step quickness as well as his overall power, Collins was sought after by Alabama before Billy Napier was able to win the recruiting battle.

Collins had 16 sacks during his junior campaign with Gardendale High School in Alabama.

Odds of redshirting: Low to none

Listed at 6’4″ and 272 pounds, Collins is already the largest listed EDGE player on the roster for the Florida Gators.

Collins should get plenty of opportunity considering the lack of returning players Florida has along the defensive end position. Beyond Justus Boone and Princely Umanmielen, Jack Pyburn is the only other player in this position group that even suited up in a Gator uniform last season.

Even if he isn’t ready, Collins will see the field early out of sheer necessity to put someone in the rotation.

Napier didn’t seem worried about that heading into camp and stated that he thinks Collins is as ready to play as any freshman in the country.

It is going to take some unforeseen circumstances for Collins to not be a regular in 2023.