Florida Football: 2024 Gator opponents spring game roundup

The spring season has come and gone for Florida Football and most people seemed to have positive reviews for the Gators coming out of their annual scrimmage.

As the page starts to turn to the summer, how did everyone on Florida's 2024 schedule look during their own spring practice?

Florida Football: Hope Springs Eternal

Miami

Ignoring the fact that the Hurricanes played their game at their track and field/soccer complex and had about 1,000 people total show up, QB transfer Cam Ward played well enough to keep his name relevant heading into the summer.

Ward was 19 of 24 for 324 yards, though Miami only used live tackling for the first half before modifying things in the second half.

Samford

Apparently, nothing of note has happened for Samford in the last two months as their own website hasn't posted anything since February 7. Do you Samford, do you.

Texas A&M

In a classic case of "If the offense struggled it means the defense played well," Aggie fans seem to be happiest with their secondary coming out of their spring game.

Entrenched starting QB Conner Weigman was only 5 for 14 for 47 yards, though some mused whether he is fully healed from a broken foot. Similar to Florida, the Aggies have one standout receiver, Noah Thomas, but questions loom over their depth in the wide receiver room.

Mississippi State

Utilizing a weird scoring system, most eyeballs were fixed on Baylor transfer QB Blake Shapen.

Shapen played well, going 18 for 22 for 312 yards. Of course Bulldog fans are musing the inverse of Aggie fans and are questioning their secondary after game.

UCF

KJ Jefferson made himself known to Gator fans last season when Arkansas came to town and knocked off Florida.

Now with the Knights, Jefferson had an erratic day that still filled the stat sheet. Despite only throwing 12 for 22 and two interceptions, Jefferson had 271 yards and two touchdowns, though one of those was a 70-yard comeback route. Jefferson's real strength is with his running ability, but he finished the day with minus seven rushing yards.

Tennessee

Nico Iamaleava didn't play much, but was 7 for 9 for 96 yards.

The running game for Tennessee however was not effective and if you go back to last year's game one of the big reasons why the Gators were able to beat Tennessee was the Vols were held to 3.3 yards per rush, so it is something to keep an eye on.

Kentucky

Opting for zero tackling, Kentucky debuted what they believe will be a more up tempo offense in 2024.

Beau Allen hit some deep shots and didn't throw any interceptions. But again with zero tackling take it with a grain of salt.

Georgia

The Georgia spring game ended in a 20-20 tie, so there's that. Based on post game comments, Kirby Smart seemed more interesting in keeping everyone healthy than playing a high intensity game.

Also a certain former Florida running back didn't exactly flash in his Georgia debut.

Texas

Did you hear, Arch Manning is the greatest QB of all time.

Manning had a great statistical day, but some of the gushing over throwing to receivers so open that even Treon Harris could make the throw was a little much.

LSU

Another game that ended in a tie, Garrett Nussmeier scored on all three possessions he played in and was 7 for 7 for 187 yards.

Of course this means the Corey Raymond led secondary is still Swiss cheese.

Ole Miss

Lane Kiffin said screw it and didn't even bother trying to play a traditional spring game. Instead, Ole Miss opted for an NFL Pro Bowl style carnival of 7 v 7 games with stuff like a slam dunk contest and a hot dog eating contest mixed in between.

FSU

Opting for a shortened game themselves. the main narrative coming of Tallahassee was whether or not DJ Uiagalelei played well or not.

His stat line would tell you he did not, going 12 for 26. Defenders claim its because the wide receivers for the Seminoles had multiple drops. We're going to stay out of that rock fight for now.