Florida Football: Elijhah Badger commits to the good guys

Florida Football is entering the 2024 season with Billy Napier firmly on the hot seat. And while there is reason the believe the roster for the upcoming season is stronger from top to bottom compared to the 2023 roster, depth at wide receiver has been a major question mark all off season.

Today the Gators have picked up a key cog to add to the their wide receiver group as Arizona State receiver Elijhah Badger announced he will be playing in Gainesville in 2024.

Florida Football: Badger Badger Badger

The Gators set their sights on Badger after Colorado State receiver Justus Ross-Simmons opted to transfer to Syracuse. Florida did pick up Chimere Dike from Wisconsin during the winter transfer portal to add to the wide receiver group, but Dike had a quiet spring game.

In fact, while there were reports of guys like Tank Hawkins standing out during practice and Aidan Mizell had a nice touchdown catch during the game itself, no one expected to be in Florida's receiving rotation beyond Tre Wilson had more than three catches.

If one doesn't want to put much stock in a spring game, Kahleil Jackson is Florida's second most productive returning receiver with 251 yards last year.

This makes the addition of Badger a much needed shot in the arm to the group for 2024.

There were rumblings of whether Badger was healed from a back injury he suffered last season and if his credits from Arizona State were going to transfer Florida. But once those were cleared up, it's clear why Napier is adding Badger to the squad.

Last year Badger had 65 catches for 713 yards. Similar to Wilson, Badger is a yards after catch nightmare for opposing defenses. 546 of his 713 yards in 2023 came after the catch, and average of 8.4 yards after the catch.

Badger lined up out wide 66% of the time in 2023 and 34% of the time in the slot.

2024 will be the final season of eligibility for Badger.