Florida's failure to sustain success can be pointed back to transfer departures in 2024

Many Florida Gators fans will look at the 2024 season as the high point of the Billy Napier era and, from a record standpoint, they are correct. Florida had an inconsistent first two-thirds of the season before winning four straight and finishing with eight wins.

The good was very promising. In the four-game win streak, Florida knocked off two top-25 teams and beat Florida State on the road before taking out Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl. But the inconsistencies from the first eight games of the season may have been an indication that the Gators were walking a fine line. That margin of error was so small, in part, because of the attrition that Florida suffered in the transfer portal. The Gators lost 23 players in the months prior to the 2024 season. Some of those players would've been starters and key pieces in the two seasons that followed. The losses were ones that impacted team depth, and it caught up with Florida in 2025.

Here are five players that left Gainesville in 2024 that would've been difference makers for the Gators:

Umanmielen parlayed a strong 2023 season into a major NIL deal with Ole Miss in 2024, and he delivered for the Rebels with 10.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. He was a first-team All-SEC performer and a few outlets had Umanmielen on their All-American lists.

It was a big loss for the Gators, and it could have been the difference in the first half of the season when the pass rush was struggling. Florida got a measure of revenge that season with a home win over then-No. 9 Ole Miss, but if Umanmielen had stayed on that defensive front with Tyreak Sapp, George Gumbs and Caleb Banks, Florida may have had the best defensive line in the SEC. 

Douglas left the Gators before the 2024 season in search of a bigger role, and he found one with the Red Raiders. Over the next two seasons, the talented 6-foot-3 receiver had 114 catches for 1,723 yards  with 13 touchdowns. Douglas' departure might not have seemed like as big a loss if Dallas Wilson had a healthy 2025 season, but he didn't, and the Gators were lacking a veteran receiver in the pass game. A role that Douglas could have filled.  

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The Gators had some very good, experienced pieces on the offensive line in 2025 with two players drafted in the top-90 picks. Leonard would've added to that experience and given Florida another tough player in the trenches and a leader in the locker room. He wasn't an NFL draft pick like Umanmielen or Douglas, but as last season began to spiral, Leonard would have been a guy that coaches and teammates could lean on. 

How much would the Gators have loved to have McClellan on the defensive line after Caleb Banks missed the majority of the 2025 season? Instead, McClellan became a top presence in the interior for the Tigers with 48 tackles, eight tackles for loss and six sacks to work his way into being an NFL Draft pick. 

Etienne did a dirty deed by crossing the border and one can imagine how explosive the Gators' backfield would've been in 2024 had Etienne stayed. Florida had some backs and Etienne's departure allowed Jadan Baugh to have a strong freshman year, but Gator fans felt the sting when they watched Etienne score the game-winning touchdown to clinch the SEC championship for the Bulldogs.

It's easy to speculate on what might have been had some or all of these players stayed. Many coaches and programs were still learning their way through the changes in college football and some didn't understand that player retention was going to be as important as high school recruiting. Napier decided to address the problem of losing players in the portal by replacing them with other players in the portal. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. 

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