Three standout performers for Florida Football during the Orange and Blue game

The Blue Team won 19-17
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA
facebooktwitterreddit

The 2024 Orange and Blue Game has come and gone for Florida Football and it is fair to say it was a cleaner and more polished game compared to the 2023 edition of the game. The Blue Team won 19-17, and the offense for both sides looked more polished while still meeting resistance from an improved tackling effort by the Gator defense.

The following are three players who stood out the most inside The Swamp on Saturday afternoon.

Florida Football: Three Stars

1. Tre Wilson

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA

Given the overall lack of returning production along an already thin wide receiver group, most preseason write ups for the Gators are going to heavily feature Tre Wilson as a focal point for the offense in 2024.

Wilson ended the day with eight catches for 122 yards, but the encouraging sign was where on the field he caught the ball. We here at Hail Florida Hail had said prior to the game that one of the things we wanted to see from Florida were some down field shots and the Gators succeed in this manner, highlighted by the 60-yard touchdown Wilson hauled in from Graham Mertz.

2. Jadan Baugh

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA

One of the fun aspects of spring games in their current iteration is that is given the almost everyone enrolls early now it gives us a chance to see a ton of the true freshmen Florida signed in their recruiting class.

One of the late commits for Florida during their 2024 class was running back Jadan Baugh, who Billy Napier got to flip from Arkansas. Listed at 6'0" and 237 pounds, Baugh looks like a wrecking ball, but on Saturday also showed off he is more than a straight ahead runner.

Baugh ran the ball 12 times for 77 yards and despite his size he had some great cut backs that one would expect from someone weighing 185 pounds, not 237.

We wouldn't be surprised if Baugh challenges Treyaun Webb for snaps once the fall comes around.

3. Trey Smack

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA

Trey Smack himself had a relatively pedestrian day, going 4 for 4 with everything coming from inside 40 yards. He did hit the game winning field goal as time expired to give the Blue Team the 19-17 victory.

But Smack makes our list not so much for what he did, but more so for what his Orange Team counterparts didn't do.

With multiple missed kicks from the Orange Team, neither of which were particularly well struck, Smack might be the one singular player the Gators can not afford to lose in 2024 given what backs him up.

feed