The transfer portal is closed for business in terms of anyone from Florida Football being able to hop into it for now. As a whole, the Gators had 17 members of the 2024 squad hop into the portal, which is less than the 23 players who entered the portal last off-season.
Some of the players who hit the portal were necessary attrition, while others would have been nice players to keep around.
The following is our ranking of which portal losses will hurt the least and which ones we think will hurt the most.
#17 - Parker Leise (QB)
Even though he was out of IMG, the odds that Parker Leise was ever going to see the field were low. He was at best the 5th string QB for Florida entering this season and even when Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway went down Leise never had his name pop up.
#16 - Andre Morris (DL)
Not much to say here. Andre Morris joined as a walk-on out of Tampa Jesuit but never took a snap in two years with the program.
#15 Bryce Capers - (DL)
Came to Florida as a walk-on and actually did make it on the field three times in 2022 and against Samford this year. He leaves Gainesville, though, without having recorded a tackle.
#14 - Zak Sedaros (WR)
Another walk-on who only played in two games over three years with Florida, Zak Sedaros actually has some legit speed to him. He ran a wind-legal 10.61 seconds for the 100-meter dash in high school and was 5th at the Florida 4A state championships in 2021 in the 100.
#13 - Christian Williams (OL)
A lower-rated three-star coming out of high school, Christian Williams took some mop-up snaps over his three years in Gainesville but never cracked the main rotation.
#12 - Mike Williams (OL)
Listed at 6'6", Mike Williams had some size to him even though he also wasn't rated very high. He was seen as a long-term project but is leaving after just one year in Gainesville.
#11 - Deuce Spurlock (LB)
When he came to Florida from Michigan ahead of the 2023 campaign, there was hope the Gators were getting an up-and-coming depth piece. But Spurlock didn't see the field much in 2023 and didn't see the field at all in 2024.
#10 - Quincy Ivory (DL)
Quincy Ivory transferred to Florida from East Los Angeles CC, where he had 8.5 sacks in 2022 but never cracked the lineup on the defensive side. He did take 75 snaps on special teams in 2024.
#9 - Gavin Hill (TE)
The jump in expectations from the previous group to Gavin Hill is large, even though Hill never took a snap with Florida. He was a former four-star out of the class of 2023, and given Florida's insistence on using two tight ends, it isn't great that Hill never emerged.
#8 - Justus Boone (DL)
Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments of the 2024 season, Justus Boone just never regained the flashes he showed in 2022 prior to tearing his ACL in 2023.
#7 - Andy Jean (WR)
There is a pathway Andy Jean goes on to be a great player for Pitt, and one could argue that he could be higher on this list. He came to Florida as part of the talented trio of wide receivers that included Eugene Wilson and Aidan Mizell.
Injuries didn't help Jean's 2024 campaign and even with the wide receiver room having question marks for 2025 it didn't look like he part of the plans moving forward.
#6 - Marcus Burke (WR)
He came to Gainesville as a top 200 overall prospect but only had 19 catches over four seasons. Losing Burke probably isn't a massive loss, and we would argue that Jean has a higher upside for the 2025 season, but Napier saw something in Burke, given the number of snaps he gave Burke towards the end of the season.
#5 - Arlis Boardingham (TE)
Probably tied with Boone as one of the more disappointing players for 2024, there were high hopes that Boardingham could emerge as the pass-catching tight end that the Gators have been chasing since Kyle Pitts left.
That never happened, but like we said with Hill, the tight end room isn't deep heading into 2025, especially given how often Florida uses two tight ends.
#4 - Ja'Keem Jackson (DB)
The headliner of the class of 2023, Ja'Keem Jackson was expected to be a key cog of the defense in 2024. He struggled against Miami and got hurt against Samford.
Will Jackson go on to be useful for LSU? Who knows, but it usually isn't great having a top-50 prospect walk out the door after just two years.
#3 - Kelby Collins (DL)
The usage of Kelby Collins in 2024 was a headscratcher. The other headliner of the class of 2023 had a productive freshman year, taking 274 snaps with 16 hurries and three sacks.
But Florida moved him from the edge to the inside of the line in 2024, and even though he had a solid game against Mississippi State, he was buried in the DT rotation and wasn't seen again.
#2 - T.J. Searcy (DL)
T.J. Searcy was a mainstay along the defensive line in 2024 and took almost 400 snaps. Against Ole Miss, he had three hurries and three tackles, and against FSU, he had five total tackles.
Given the state of the defensive ends in 2025, having a guy like Searcy around would have been useful for Florida.
#1 - Jack Pyburn (DL)
Most of the names who entered the transfer portal weren't that shocking as Florida did have to push guys out to make room for all the new class of 2025 guys. With that in mind, Jack Pyburn was the one guy we didn't envision hopping into the portal.
Now, as it played out, Pyburn's alleged demands were way too high and/or just plain asinine to make, but don't be fooled by the fact he only had one sack. Pyburn was a plus defender in stopping the run and was an absolute shot in the arm for a defense that had no juice the first four games of the season.