Anonymous SEC coaches highlight strengths and surprise weakness of the Florida Gators

As the offseason meanders on for the Florida Gators, more and more previews are starting to hone in on what they think Billy Napier and crew are going to accomplish in 2025. One of the annual previews involves SEC coaches anonymously giving their blunt opinions of other SEC programs.

It won't shock anyone what coaches think Florida's strength is, but some will be surprised what one coach thinks their weakness is.

SEC coaches think DJ Lagway is good at football

Athlon Sports ran their annual piece where SEC coaches comment on the league. When it came to Florida, one coach sees a sky-high limit for the Gators in 2025, with DJ Lagway being front and center:

"Lagway and that offensive line are legit enough to bring back a true 'Florida offense.' If they can be in the hunt for a playoff bid and start scoring points like those old Gator programs, I think he'll be off the hot seat for a while."

Another coach thinks Lagway might just be the best the SEC has to offer:

"Lagway could compete with Arch [Manning] for best QB in the league."

None of that is a surprise, as almost every major headline involves Lagway carrying the Gators in 2025.

When it came to weaknesses, one coach highlighted a unit that raised eyebrows for a bunch of Florida fans:

"They don't have a killer at receiver, but they're solid at running back."

Most Gators fans would disagree with this assessment and are excited with the wide receiver group Napier has assembled.

Now, admittedly, we here at Hail Florida Hail are on a bit of an island compared to most and have highlighted that while Florida's wide receiver group has top-ten potential, there is also a floor for this unit that could be the bottom half of the SEC.

Everyone in this unit looks explosive, which is why this group has sky-high potential, especially with Lagway throwing.

But everyone on this unit does have a question mark attached to them:

• Eugene Wilson: Of his 80 career catches, 46 have been behind the line of scrimmage, while just 13 have been more than 10 yards down the field. Will Napier let him run routes, or will he still be a gizmo and gadget player?
• J. Michael Studivant: He has a career reception rate of 57%. Last year, he was at 55%, which was 290th out of 345 WRs with at least 40 targets.
• Aidan Mizell: He looks great every time he touches the field, but for whatever reason, he was also losing snaps to Marcus Burke by the end of 2024.
• Dallas Wilson: He looked amazing in the spring game and could be the not-so-hidden weapon of this unit. He's also had his spring game against a banged-up 2nd team secondary playing static zones.
• Tank Hawkins: Fastest player on the team and also has the potential to be a breakout star, especially if he gets to return kicks in 2025. But until we see actual production on the field, he, too, remains in that mystery category.

If we had our way, Florida would run more five-wide receiver formations and let these guys go to work because surely someone would get open. Because when the strength of this unit is explosiveness, it would behoove the Gators to highlight that in 2025 rather than force them into contested catches down the field.