Lost in the glow of Dallas Wilson's performance on Saturday during Florida's win over Texas was the play of Jadan Baugh and the balance he provided to the offense. Baugh carried the ball 27 times for 107 yards and a touchdown.
It's probably not sustainable to have Baugh have 27 carries a game, but as the depth behind him keeps getting stretched thin, he may not have a choice.
Next Man Up
With injuries to Treyaun Webb and Ja'kobi Jackson, it was true freshman Duke Clark who got to be the backup RB on Saturday. He had nine carries for 38 yards, including a long of 11 yards.
And........
He also got hurt during the game.
Billy Napier didn't go into detail on how bad the Clark injury was at his press conference on Monday, but he did say the Gators had a next man up mentality and that "whoever's running it for us typically does pretty good, I would say."
We had said prior to the season that Florida could probably go five running backs deep and still be okay, but we didn't actually intend to have to go that deep.
KD Daniels, in theory, becomes the next man up. Daniels was actually higher rated than Baugh coming out of high school, but has only played a total of 28 snaps since arriving in Gainesville.
Byron Louis, a top 200 prospect from the class of 2025, Chad Gasper Jr., a three-star prospect from the class of 2025, and Anthony Rubio, the walk-on and son of Marco Rubio, who scored a TD in the Gasparilla Bowl last season, round out the rest of Florida's RB room.
Even if Florida's best pathway is to get Baugh at least 20 touches, he will need someone from that group to step up against Texas A&M if Clark, Jackson, and Webb continue to be out.