Florida Football Freshman Profile: Bryce Thornton adds safety depth

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
• Kelby Collins
• Aidan Mizell
• Aaron Gates
• Jordan Castell

Today we look at another depth piece added to the Gators’ secondary, Bryce Thornton.

Florida Football: Working his way up

Three of the four recruiting publications considered Thornton a mid-range three-star safety, though Rivals did view him as a four-star.

Son of former Georgia running back Bruce Thornton, Bryce chose Florida after making visits to both Alabama and Miami.

Injuries during his senior season hurt his ceiling, but his film from his junior year while at Milton High, just outside Atlanta, showcased a ball-hawking safety that was afraid to lay the boom as needed.

Thornton also showcased the athleticism to return his interceptions for touchdowns, return kickoffs for big gains, and even join in with the offense and running back or receiver as needed.

You can view his junior season film here.

Odds of redshirting: Medium

There is a lot to like about the film from Thornton. The knock against him, and probably the reason he wasn’t a unanimous four-star guy, is his size. Listed at 5’10”, he is the shortest safety in the Florida room, and at 204 pounds, he is the second lightest safety of the non-walk ons.

But as we pointed out yesterday with Jordan Castell, the Gators don’t have a ton of playing experience at the position in uniform this season.

Thornton has yet to pop up with buzz on X/Twitter during camp, and we would anticipate him being a special teams guy this season.

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