![Florida Gators defensive back Gregory Smith III (30) runs a drill during spring football practice at Heavener Football Complex at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4017,h_2259/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01jfabpkcf7xjt9sxngr.jpg "Florida Gators defensive back Gregory Smith III (30) runs a drill during spring football practice at Heavener Football Complex at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]")
Florida Football is taking on Tulane this Friday in the Gasparilla Bowl, and for the most part, the Gators are going to be at full strength, especially relative to the opt-outs Tulane has had.
Part of the benefit of bowl season are the extra practices a team gets, but it also provides the opportunity to get some guys extra snaps who the Gators anticipate to be key contributors in 2025.
The following are four players we would like to see get increased snaps during the Gasparilla Bowl.
Gregory Smith
He was a late addition in the class of 2024, and the evaluation on Gregory Smith showed that he was super athletic but also raw to the position of safety.
Smith saw snaps against Samford, Kentucky, and Texas, but it wasn't until the season finale against FSU that Smith got an extended run with 49 snaps with three total tackles.
Florida's safety situation for 2025 is still a question mark, so Smith is a player the Gators need to figure out what they have or don't have heading into the offseason.
Aidan Mizell
Wide receiver is another massive question mark for Florida next season. The Gators haven't exactly made a strong push in the transfer portal to land anyone from the initial wave, but in theory, there is talent in the room slated to come back.
Among the question marks in the wide receiver room is whether Aidan Mizell is ready to break through in 2025. He took 239 snaps this year, averaging around 15-20 snaps per game.
He had five catches against Mississippi State and four catches against Georgia, but only had four total catches in Florida's other ten games. Against FSU, he was beat out for snaps by Marcus Burke.
Given his four-star billing coming to Gainesville, and the fact we know he can catch a deep ball from DJ Lagway, we would like to see him get a chance to showcase that on Friday.
LJ McCray
After coming to Gainesville as the defensive headliner of the class of 2024, LJ McCray had a quiet freshman campaign. He took 148 snaps and logged one snap and five hurries.
The 21 snaps he got against FSU tied for the most he had all season. With Jack Pyburn and Justus Boone gone, the road is paved for McCray to get 25+ snaps on Friday as Florida needs to lock in their defensive ends for 2025.
Aaron Chiles
He came into the season billed as an "alien," but as the season played out, we didn't see a ton of Aaron Chiles.
He played in every game, got 113 snaps on the season, and was more productive than one may think, with 21 total tackles on the season.
Florida's linebacker room is deep, and fellow freshman Myles Graham appears ahead of Chiles in the pecking order. But now, with rumblings that Shemar James has to decide whether he will come back for his senior year or leave for the NFL, Chiles might be a key cog for the 2025 season and could benefit from 20+ snaps on Friday.