Coming into the 2025 season, many Florida fans were hoping for a big bounce-back year from Eugene Wilson III. The wide receiver from Tampa had a productive freshman campaign before injuries derailed his 2024 season.
But a wild stat line from Wilson during the opener against LIU has created more question marks than answers about his role as the season gets ready to ramp up.
Eugene Wilson III goes for negative yards
Wilson's stat line was five catches for negative four yards and a touchdown.
The touchdown itself was nice, as Wilson lined up in the slot and ran a route to the back corner with plenty of separation to haul in his 8th TD as a Gator.
But his other four catches were all behind the line of scrimmage, and Billy Napier was asked about Wilson's day during Monday's press conference:
"Yeah, I mean, the ball goes where it goes. He ran a lot of vertical routes, they covered him, the other guys were open. So, stats aren't the whole story. Typically, it's about what the defense is doing, and the quarterback ends up having to distribute the ball. So, they knew he was out there and that maybe helped the other players get open more. He's back and back to being himself. He'll be a part of it every week."
Seen this film before
According to Pro Football Focus, Wilson was on the field for 23 total snaps, 16 of which were passes, meaning there were 11 passing plays where Wilson didn't get the ball.
Without the All-22 film, it's tough to do a deep dive on all 11 of those plays, but there were at least three or four plays where Wilson's route was still within five yards of the line of scrimmage. So at best, Wilson ran seven or eight vertical routes out of 16 passing snaps.
If he was covered on all those routes, that opens up another can of worms. However, the truth is that Wilson's usage isn't anything new compared to what we have seen since his arrival in Gainesville.
Of Wilson's 85 career catches with Florida, 60% have come from behind the line of scrimmage, while just 16% of his catches have come at least 10 yards down the field.
His 40-yard catch against Kentucky last year is the only time he has caught a pass at least 20 yards down the field.
There is a narrative that Napier could be trying to save stuff before LSU, and if that's the case, it's perfectly fine to use Wilson in the same role. With the speed Florida has at wide receiver, there are a ton of things the Gators could do to get Wilson into space.
But it is worth keeping an eye on if Wilson is running 78 motions once again in Baton Rouge.