Gators Land Mississippi State Transfer Kicker Jace Christmann
The Florida Gators are heading to the transfer portal yet again, this time for a specialist, and one that Florida head coach Dan Mullen and plenty from the Florida staff is very familiar with in Mississippi State kicker Jace Christmann.
Christmann, entering his sixth season in college football, was recruited by Mullen in the 2016 recruiting class for Mississippi State. He would go on to redshirt his freshman season before being named the starting placekicker from 2017-19. In 2020, Christmann played in just two games, however.
Over his time kicking for the Bulldogs, Christmann nailed 127 out of 128 of his extra points, while connecting on 32 out of 40 of his field goals, netting a FG percentage of 80%. Christmann announced his intentions to transfer to the University of Florida on Friday via social media.
"After many thoughts and prayers, I'm excited to announce I will be transferring to the University of Florida to play my final season of college football after graduating in the spring," Christmann posted in a statement on Twitter.
"I will forever be grateful for the relationships and memories I made at MSU, but I am ready to see what the next chapter holds. To Coach Mullen and his staff, we started together, let's finish together. Time to get to work."
It appears the Gators are heading in a new direction at kicker this season. While it was expected that redshirt senior kicker Chris Howard would take over for the departed Evan McPherson, who declared for the 2021 NFL Draft shortly after the season, it doesn't seem as though those plans have continued.
While, certainly, Howard will likely be given every opportunity to take the job, it appears that Mullen and his staff feel Christmann will likely be the man for the job, at least for the 2021 season, his final season of eligibility.
