Six Players to Focus on in Saturday's Spring Game

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida Gators on Saturday will play for the first time in front of a crowd in 2025 with its annual spring game.

New faces will make their debuts, old faces return and some who were low on the depth chart will hope to use Saturday as a breakout moment. Although the scrimmage won't be televised to a national audience, fans in attendance will still get an opportunity for an early look at the 2025 Gators.

Here are six players, three on offense and three on defense, to focus on for those in attendance.

Offense

QBs Aidan Warner/Harrison Bailey

Cliche to include the quarterbacks on this list? Maybe, but the Gators' backup quarterback competition may be the most intriguing and most important in the country as DJ Lagway continues to deal with a lingering shoulder issue.

Bailey was brought in to be Lagway's backup, but Warner, who already beat out one transfer quarterback in his short career, is in a position to rise back up the depth chart after tremendous improvement during camp.

Lagway isn't expected to throw on Saturday, giving Bailey and Warner the bulk of the snaps at the position. Whichever one separates himself, if they even do, will go a long way into telling what UF's plans are for the position in the spring portal and beyond.

RB KD Daniels

Florida's running back room returns two of its three main contributors in Jadan Baugh and Ja'Kobi Jackson, but after a strong performance in the bowl game, redshirt freshman KD Daniels is poised to become the third back in the rotation in 2025.

Increased size and boosted development, as well as injuries and inexperience in the room behind him, leave the former four-star as a breakout candidate on Saturday, similar to how Baugh shined last year.

OT Bryce Lovett

The lone newcomer on Florida's starting offensive line, Lovett transitions to the full-time starting right tackle spot after floating between that spot and guard last year. From the opening day of camp, Lovett has garnered praise from the staff and his teammates for picking up right where NFL-bound Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson left off.

While taking most of the first-team reps, Lovett hasn't completely won the job yet, according to assistant offensive line coach Jon Decoster, as Caden Jones has had a strong camp. Keep an eye on if Lovett has truly meshed well in his elevated role and how much Caden Jones is pushing him for the right tackle spot.

Defense

CB Cormani McClain

No one has arguably had a jump in both on-field ability and off-field maturity quite like McClain, and the praise from those around him was immediate. Now, it's time for the former five-star to step up on the field in a full-time capacity as the Gators deal with injuries in the secondary.

With increased size and speed, McClain will be one to see how he matches up with Florida's talent at receiver as he looks to live up to the hype in his second season with the program.

LB Jaden Robinson

With Grayson Howard out for all of spring camp, Robinson has taken over the MIKE linebacker position for the time being, which he did for the back-half of last season. While he's garnered praise from new position coach Robert Bala for his on-field leadership, Saturday will be an early indicator on if he's ready to build off a strong finish from a year ago.

EDGE Jayden Woods

Despite only being a true freshman, Woods has made an instant impact in the weight room and on the field as he opens eyes and drops jaws on those around him. While the star power from Florida's freshman class is evident, especially on offense, Woods could walk away from Saturday's scrimmage as the top freshman in spring.

He is currently listed with George Gumbs Jr., LJ McCray and Tyreak Sapp on what appears to be the first-team defense on Team Orange.

Offense

Defense

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