One of the things about the offseason is that we can hypothesize who is going to be a key contributor for Florida and who isn’t, but until the ball kicks off for real, we are just guessing. Now that we are halfway through, there have been some players who have emerged that we didn’t expect to be as productive as they have been.
These are the three players who have surprised us the most halfway through the season.
Three Florida players who have surprised us the most
Duke Clark
When he committed to Florida, we knew Duke Clark was fast, and he had some legit track speed to him, but entering the 2026 season, it looked like he was still going to be buried on the depth chart behind transfer Evan Pryor.
But Clark has emerged as RB2 and has had some massive runs early in the season, including his TD against Auburn and his 126 yards rushing against Ole Miss. He got hurt this past Saturday against South Carolina, so we’ll see what the back half of his season looks like.
Amir Jackson
Amir Jackson was a highly rated prospect coming out of high school, but he was rendered invisible by the previous coaching staff. What has surprised most people about Jackson in 2026 is that he was thought of as strictly a pass-catching tight end, but his blocking has caught the eye of Gator fans.
As with most of the offense, he has been a bit quiet these past two games, so we’ll see if he can regain his form the back half of the season.
Emmanuel Oyebadejo
The defensive line had Jayden Woods, LJ McCray, and Kamran James returning, but it has been the play of Jacksonville State transfer Emmanuel Oyebadejo that has popped the most for Florida. We liked Oyebadejo as a transfer, but he name wasn’t brought up a ton during fall camp.
Then, against Auburn, he looked like a one-man wrecking crew and has been the most impressive EDGE on a defense that needs all the help it can get right now.
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