Florida Football hoping Eugene Wilson is in fact a top-ten receiver in 2025

Leading into the 2024 season, the hope among Florida Football fans was for Euegene Wilson to emerge from a useful gadget player to a legit downfield threat to give the Gators a sense of verticality.

That hope never happened as Wilson was relegated to jet sweeps and screens with the minimal action he saw before a hip injury ended his season prematurely.

But hope springs eternal, and Wilson is once again viewed as one of the best-returning receivers in the country. If Florida is going to achieve what it hopes to achieve in 2025, it needs Wilson to actually reach his ceiling.

Florida Football: Go Long

Pro Football Focus has released their list of the top ten returning wide receivers in 2025, and Wilson comes in at #10.

It's a lofty ranking, considering his 2024 season was cut short, and he has yet to put up the numbers of a top-ten receiver in two seasons in Gainesville.

The concerning part from 2024 is that Wilson was relegated to the same role he had in 2023. There was talk of Florida letting him go downfield more often, but even when he was healthy, that never happened.

Wilson had 26 targets in 2024, and on average, he was 6.0 yards downfield per target. Of the 553 wide receivers in the country who had at least 20 targets, Wilson had the 16th shortest average depth of target in the country.

Now, we know Wilson can be electric and is a home run threat every time he touches the ball, but as teams have started to get a read on Billy Napier's offense, we also saw some of the impact he had in 2023 get bottled up in 2024.

So, the key for Florida in 2025 is not to relegate Wilson to a strictly gizmo and gadget role. The last catch he made in 2024 before having surgery was a 40-yard bomb from DJ Lagway that showcased Wilson is capable of getting downfield.

Do that with any consistency in 2025, and Wilson might just live up to his top-ten billing.