Little by little, the list of Florida Football players hitting the transfer portal is growing. After the initial wave was filled with mostly backups or former starters who lost playing time, the Gators saw Jack Pyburn hit the portal and make his way to LSU.
Well, add another member of the defensive line to the portal, and it continues a theme that has seen quite a few members of Florida's class of 2023 leave town.
Florida Football: Next man up
T.J. Searcy came to Gainesville as a four-star defensive lineman. He played 258 snaps as a true freshman and picked up a half sack against South Carolina.
He had 26 total tackles and six hurries in 2023, and saw his usage go up in 2024. This year, he took 362 snaps, with three sacks, nine hurries, and 34 total tackles.
Of Florida's EDGE rushers, he had the third most snaps on the team, but with George Gumbs and Tyreak Sapp also potentially coming back in 2025, Searcy has opted to hit the transfer portal.
Florida's recruiting class of 2023 finished 12th in the 247 rankings, but has now seen five of its top 12 rated prospects from the group hit the portal.
Will Norman left last year, while Searcy joins Kelby Collins, Ja'Keem Jackson, and Gavin Hill as top Florida commits from the class of 2023 to leave.
Of the other seven players from the top 12 of that group, Aidan Mizell had 13 catches this year, Eugene Wilson was hurt but also was in the same orbit motion role as last year, Roderick Kearney is still waiting his turn, Dijon Johnson took 495 snaps this year, Kamran James had two sacks and 14 hurries, Jordan Castell took a team-high 733 snaps but with questionable production, and Sharif Denson took 467 snaps.
Pro Football Focus grades are far from the gold standard, but for what it is worth, they gave Norman the highest grade of anyone in that group with a grade of 70.0.