Florida football: Trikweze Bridges elevates potential for the Gators' secondary

Florida football has been quiet and underwhelming in the transfer portal ever since the window opened, but Billy Napier has started to make some noise over the last 48 hours.

The Gators have secured three commitments out of the portal in the last two days, the most recent being a former PAC-12 DB making his return to the southeast.

Trikweze Bridges, an Oregon transfer originally from Lanett, Alabama, announced this morning that he will continue his career in Gainesville with new Gators' DB coach Will Harris.

Bridges is going to be a key member of the Gators' DB room, and brings lots of experience and playmaking ability to a young Floida secondary.

Florida football: Proven production in the back end

Bridges was a member of the 2019 recruiting class, and was ranked as the 468th-overall player in the country and the 38th-best safety in his class.

He outperformed those rankings during his time with the Ducks. He had his best season in 2022, when he totaled 49 tackles, forced a fumble, broke up five passes, and picked off oppoosing QBs three times.

This past season he had a little less production, with 16 tackles and two pass breakups.

Over the course of 1,190 snaps in his career, Bridges has given up 662 yards and has a 14.2% missed tackle rate (David Soderquist on Twitter). Those numbers won't challenge the best in the country, but it's a steady improvement from what Florida has had in the secondary.

With all of the youth in Florida's secondary, adding another body with a few years of experience is going to help take pressure off of the young guys like Ja'keem Jackson and Jordan Castell, and allow them to develop some more before they're in featured roles.

Hopefully we'll see the Gators add another transfer in the secondary before all is set and done.