Envisioning Roles for Florida's 2024 Transfers: EDGE Brien Taylor Jr.
Photo: Brien Taylor Jr.; Credit: Florida Gators Creative Media
Florida leaned into the winter transfer portal to upgrade its roster for the second offseason in a row, securing a dozen college football veterans to bolster the Gators' roster entering the 2024 offseason.
All Gators is projecting roles for each transfer acquisition. Up next is edge rusher Brien Taylor Jr., who jumped to the Southeastern Conference from the junior college level this offseason following two seasons at Blinn.
A class of 2020 graduate from Houston (Texas) Cypress Falls, according to his MaxPreps profile, Taylor was an unranked prospect with experience on the offensive and defensive lines in high school before joining Blinn as a defensive end before the 2022 season.
He contributed to the Buccaneers' defensive front in a versatile role for two years, on the edge and along the interior line, appearing in 13 games with seven in 2022 and six and 2023. Along the way, Taylor accumulated 39 tackles with 9.5 for loss, two sacks and one forced fumble.
Taylor exited Blinn as the No. 4 defensive lineman and No. 10 overall prospect in the class of 2024 from the JUCO level, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He was coveted by Power 5 programs such as Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, and the school he ended up signing with, Florida, among others.
At Florida, Taylor is likely to continue aligning on the edge while offering the positional flexibility to slide inside and rush from the three-technique spot. At 6-foot-4.5, 281 pounds, per UF, Taylor is presumably best fit at "F," the hand-in-the-dirt, strong-side end position of coordinator Austin Armstrong's Gators defensive scheme.
There, he'll be instructed by former Gators linebacker and current edge rushers coach, Mike Peterson.
"[Peterson] is a real good dude," Taylor told All Gators in December 2023. "Made sure I know I can come here and work. Build step-by-step."
Taylor will face plenty of competition on Florida's edge in 2024, however.
Rising redshirt junior Tyreak Sapp started 11 games at "F" for Florida in 2023, occupying the spot in place of Justus Boone, a projected first-teamer entering his 2023 redshirt sophomore campaign before suffering a torn ACL in fall training camp.
Both return to the Gators in 2024, with Sapp freshly removed from producing single-season career highs of 24 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
So does rising sophomore and 2023 Freshman All-SEC honoree Kelby Collins, who posted an impressive 23 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 20 quarterback pressures as a rookie, per Pro Football Focus. Fellow rising sophomore Kamran James also looks to step up into the edge rush rotation at "F" after appearing in 12 games defensively as a freshman, albeit in a marginal role, where he tallied four tackles.
Incoming freshman LJ McCray, a consensus five-star prospect in the class of 2024, similarly projects to play the position with the versatility required to earn snaps inside in certain personnel packages.
How each player will factor into Florida's defensive line rotation specifically remains to be seen. Some of these players can also occupy the JACK, weak-side edge rushing position given their explosive skill set, a spot in need of reinforcements after multi-season starter Princely Umanmielen transferred to Ole Miss this offseason.
But, there is no question that the Gators' coaching staff has solidified the depth of the "F" position with several potentially significant contributors looking to make an impact this year and beyond.
Taylor can be counted as one of them.
Find All Gators' previous transfer role projections, for defensive back Trikweze Bridges, defensive lineman Joey Slackman, offensive lineman Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson and wide receiver Chimere Dike, below.
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