In his opening press conference, Jon Sumrall made it a point to highlight Jadan Baugh as a player he wanted to keep. Baugh’s historic night against FSU capped off one of the few bright spots of Florida’s season and made him a potential building block for Sumrall in 2026.
But, as is life in modern college football, the odds of keeping Baugh in Gainesville don’t look great. And whether or not he had any control to keep Baugh, the optics for Sumrall and new Florida GM Dave Caldwell aren’t off to a great start.
Jadan Baugh is officially on transfer watch
According to a Horns247 report, “Agent sources” expect Baugh to enter the transfer portal when it opens on January 2. This wouldn’t be a massive shock, given that Baugh has been heavily linked to Texas ever since running back coach Jabbar Juluke went from Florida to Texas. Ohio State and Georgia have also been reported to be kicking the tires at Baugh.
It should also be noted that other insiders on both the Florida and Texas sides don’t consider Baugh's departure a foregone conclusion.
Sumrall has tried to make Baugh a high priority to keep, and most Florida fans would be fine with “overpaying” for Baugh. And if getting a new QB for 2026 is pivot point No. 1 for Sumrall, whether or not he retains Baugh is pivot point No. 2.
While some of this is in Sumrall’s hands (namely, the fact that Florida had Juluke go to Texas, and Sumrall has yet to hire a running back coach of his own), some of this would also fall into the hands of Caldwell. If you are not knee deep in the ins and outs of Gator Football, Caldwell is the current GM for Florida and is the former GM of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Let’s just say his time in Jacksonville didn’t go great.
But as much as Sumral has a hand in reaching out to Baugh, it’s Caldwell at the heart of the negotiations to come up with a deal to retain Baugh. If Sumrall made Baugh a high priority for Caldwell to retain, and he doesn’t, Caldwell too shares in some of the blame.
Deja Vu
If Baugh does walk, it’s also possible he just wanted a fresh start of his own to go play for a team he knows should succeed in 2026.
It reminds us of two years ago when Trevor Ettiene walked away to Georgia. We wrote when Ettiene transferred that:
“And yet, after two seasons with the Gators, despite the fact he would still be a featured player, Etienne looked around at what Napier was building and said, 'I’m going to look elsewhere.’
According to insiders, it wasn’t even NIL money that chased Etienne away. It was the desire to win.”
It feels like history might repeat itself again with a running back who has been with Florida for two years, who would be a featured player, and who, by all accounts, is having his deal matched by Florida.
And if Baugh does leave, it would be an optics hit for Sumrall to make him such a priority and for Baugh to still say, “I’m going to look elsewhere.”