Florida's Jake Slaughter earned his brick last season when he was named an All-American. It was the first time since 2022 that a Gator had earned the honor, when O'Cyrus Torrence was named to the list.
So it should be no surprise, as Slaughter gears up for his final season in Gainesville, that he has been named to the Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team.
Jake Slaughter named Preseason All-American for 2025
Slaughter coming back for the 2025 season rather than leaving for the NFL Draft is one of the major retentions for the Gators. He anchors an offensive line that returns four of its five starters and started to make some strides during the back half of the season.
In 800 snaps last season, Slaughter only gave up one sack and eight hurries. He did that while going up against a gauntlet of opposing defensive tackles that included Alfred Collins, Deone Walker, Joshua Farmer, Omarr Norman-Lott, Shemar Turner, and Walter Nolen.
All of those players were drafted in the first three rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Slaughter beat out Logan Jones of Iowa for first-team honors and is already seeing his name high up 2026 mock draft boards. CBS Sports and Pro Football Focus are among the entities that have Slaughter projected as a first-round pick in 2026 if he can maintain his same level of play this season.
His rise up the rankings has been remarkable considering he first came to Gainesville as a Dan Mullen recruit in the class of 2021, ranked 697th in the 247 Composite Rankings.
He started getting snaps in 2023 after Kingsley Eguakun went down with injuries and took over as the unquestioned starter last year.
Florida's offensive line finished last season 58th in sack percentage, but that was a massive improvement from being 115th in 2023. With continuity and DJ Lagway taking snaps from Slaughter, the hope is Florida can be a top 30 team in the category in 2025.