Florida Football's 2024 Transfer Portal Class: Hits, Misses, and Surprises

The transfer portal is open for business today, and Florida Football claims it plans to get aggressive with adding talent to the roster for 2025. If they do get aggressive, it would be a departure from last year, when Florida took their time before landing transfers.

But even with the slow and steady approach, the Gators still landed several key members of the 2024 season. Here is a recap of who Florida landed last year and how they panned out.

Clay Millen

On paper, Clay Millen was supposed to be the third-string QB behind Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway. He had starter experience at Colorado State and took third-team snaps during the spring game, and there was no indication anything was going south.

But in the Samford game, when it was time for mop-up duty, Millen didn't play. And when both Mertz and Lagway went down with injuries, Millen wasn't called upon.

Pup Howard

If there is one player Florida grabbed out of the portal who pretty much performed as advertised, it was Pup Howard. The linebacker from South Carolina was billed as a solid tackling player and in 2024 he only had one missed tackle on the season.

Howard got hurt late in the year and missed the last three games, but he expects to be a part of Florida's plans going forward.

Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson

He came to Florida with solid metrics, but the concern with Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson was whether those metrics would translate from the Mountain West to the SEC.

After being forced to split time early in the season, he eventually settled in as Florida's right tackle, and while his pressure rate was a touch high, he only gave up one sack the entire season.

Chimere Dike

He came from Wisconsin off a down season, but the billing for Chimere Dike was that in 2022 he was in the slot catching passes from Mertz and had a great year.

We will be honest that heading into the season, and quite frankly even early in the season, we were not sold on Dike. However, as the season progressed, he also found a way to be open for three or four catches a game, and he received over 600 yards each year.

Combined with his abilities as a punt returner, we would imagine Dike is going to get some looks by NFL teams next season.

Joey Slackman

He was supposed to be the big grab out of the portal last year, and there was plenty of offseason literature written about Joey Slackman and what he brought to the table for Florida.

He was then immediately hurt, and after the Texas A&M game, the most snaps he took in a game was the 12 he got against LSU.

Trikweze Bridges

The reverse of Slackman, Trikweze Bridges was not viewed as a contributor at the onset of the season. But as injuries piled up Bridges was called upon more and more at safety.

As even more injuries piled up, Bridges switched to corner and held his own. Bridges wound up taking 612 snaps on the season, the second most among anyone on Florida's defense.

George Gumbs

When George Gumbs committed to Florida, he was viewed as a project. Keep in mind, he had originally signed to Northern Illinois as a 185 pound wide receiver and then transitioned into an EDGE.

We wouldn't say Florida hit a home run with Gumbs in 2024, but they definately hit a solid double off the wall. Gumbs wound up with five sacks and 14 hurries on the year. The latter of those stats rank him 274th out of 624 EDGE rushers who had at least 150 pass-rush attempts in 2024.

Devon Manuel

When he came from Arkansas, we thought we would actually see a decent amount of Devon Manuel along the offensive line, given the metrics he had with the Razorbacks. But he never really cracked the rotation, and eventually, injuries knocked him out for the year.

D.J. Douglas

Florida tried to make the safety from Tulane pan out, but D.J. Douglas was seldom seen after the first four games, where he was a notable liability on the field.

Asa Turner

The safety we thought would play alongside Jordan Castell all year, Asa Turner, started against Miami, was juked out of his shoes, tried to make an open-field tackle, hurt his hamstring, and was never seen again.

Aidan Warner

When Aidan Warner transfered from Yale to Florida, most Gator fans never envisioned a scenario where he would get on the field.

Suprise, as Warner had to take the reigns against Georgia and Texas. It's not his fault he struggled, as we have made the case he should have never been put in that position, but of the 46 players on offense for Florida that Pro Football Focus gave a grade to in 2024, Warner was ranked 45th.

Jameer Grimsley

In a weird situation where he was technically a transfer even though he was a true freshman, Jameer Grimsley left Alabama to come to Florida.

He wasn't seen until the Texas game and he did get 16 snaps against FSU, where he did not give up a reception. We imagine Grimsley will play a bigger role moving forward.

Cormani McClain

The man, the myth, the legend himself, Cormanu McClain came over from Colorado with plenty of eyeballs following his move over.

He wasn't seen until the Kentucky game, when he had a spectacular pick-six to seal the game. He got extended snaps against Georgia and Texas and struggled in both. McClain wasn't seen on the field for the last three games.

Elijhah Badger

One of the last players Florida grabbed out of the portal last offseason, Elijhah Badger went on to be the most impactful member of the 2024 group.

It's also wild to think that Badger wasn't even a starter against Miami, but he eventually became the perfect downfield threat for Lagway. Badger "only" had 37 catches on the year but went for 789 yards for an astounding 21.3 yards per catch.

Jason Zandamela

Like Grimsley, Jason Zandamela transferred from USC without ever actually starting his freshman campaign with them. The offensive lineman redshirted in 2024, but if he can live up to his top 50 overall billing as a prospect, he could be a massive part going forward.

Caleb Rillos

Not much was expected from the tight end from Air Force, and Caleb Rillos didn't take an offensive snap for Florida in 2024.