Florida football: Looking at the Gators’ highest graded defenders

Florida football’s 2023 season is officially over, and the end came sooner than fans, coaches, and players all would have wanted.

The Gators end the year at 5-7 and will miss a bowl game in Billy Napier’s second season after watching their lead against Florida State disappear.

Now that the offseason is officially here, we get to do a lot of evaluating and try to locate specifically what went wrong in the second half of the season, but also what went right for the Gators when they were successful.

Today, we’ll look at who on the Gators’ defense received the highest grades for the season per PFF.

Florida football: The regular contributors

Brandon Olsen (@WNS_Brandon) tweeted out this morning the nine players on Florida’s defense, who played a minimum of 200 snaps, that graded out the highest this season.

Here’s the list:

Princely Umanmielen – 77.0 – Princely came into the season with a lot of hype around him being potentially one of the best exterior DLs in the entire SEC. While he may not have lived up to all of that, he was still very productive off the edge and graded out as the Gators’ best player on that side of the ball.

Jordan Castell – 75.1 – Castell, the true freshman, was one of the first young guys to make a name for himself in this defense. He had a coming out party against Tennessee and was reliable in the secondary all season. He has a bright future in Gainesville.

Tyreak Sapp – 73.1 – Sapp, another underclassman, made it clear early on in the season that he was one of the Gators’ better linemen. He can be a game wrecker in the years to come.

Cam Jackson – 70.3 – Jackson, the transfer from Memphis, was solid on the interior DL all season and should be back for another season.

Jalen Kimber – 69.3 – While the corners were a point of scrutiny all season, Kimber still put together a solid year and has a good foundation to build off of before his senior season

Shemar James – 68.9 – Shemar’s season ended early in Jacksonville, but he was Florida football’s best linebacker and tackler and will be back with a vengeance next season.

Jason Marshall Jr – 68.8 – While Marshall didn’t live up to some of the first-round hype he got in the preseason, he still had some good moments and has a decision to make this offseason.

Kelby Collins – 68.6 – Collins is another freshman who showed his potential this season, and will get more consistent reps next season.

Caleb Banks – 68.6 – Similar to Kelby, Banks showed that he has the potential to be an elite DL in this league and can get there in the next few years.