Why LJ McCray Is the Wild Card to Florida’s 2026 Success

Just a year ago, the Florida Gators facility echoed with the sentiment that 2025 would be the season former five-star LJ McCray finally broke onto the scene in Gainesville. A rising sophomore transitioning to the JACK position at the time, McCray was touted to have one of the best offseasons amongst any player on the team, with sights set on the major impact he was so heavily expected to bring as the fourth-best recruit out of the 2024 class.

In the weight room, McCray set new highs.

“LJ, honestly, he probably had one of the best offseasons out of anybody,” former Gators strength and conditioning coach Tyler Miles said ahead of last year's spring camp. “He gained like 40 pounds in each one of his lifts, PRed by 40 pounds. You can see it now in his arms. He’s more thicker with more muscle. He had a phenomenal offseason.”

On the field, he was expected to blossom into the player many expected him to be,

“He's got a tremendous skill set. Very talented. Yeah, you can see the growth, potential of what he did. He changed his body and all that stuff,” defensive coordinator Ron Roberts said. “I would suspect and I'm hoping he has a breakout season and he's an impact player that we all think he can be. I think he can do that.”

Florida Gators defensive linemen Tyreak Sapp and LJ McCray celebrate a play — LJ McCray (17) was expected to be a key contributor in 2025. | Florida Gators Athletics

Instead, the transformed McCray would appear in just one game, Week Two against USF, playing a total of just four snaps before an injury that would end his breakout season almost as soon as it arrived.

Over 170 days later, McCray will have to start over, needing to once again transform his body as he transitions into yet another new position while looking to fit into Florida’s defense under an almost entirely overhauled staff.

“He has to go to work right now, he has to embrace the weight room to change his body, and he has to go through the process right now,” unit coach Gerald Chatman said about McCray as he works towards transitioning to the field defensive end spot in Florida’s new scheme. “... I think he has just simply has to go through the process, he has to follow the things that have been implemented right now within the program and just work, and that’s it, right now, the next phase it’s not about the result, it’s about the process, and he just has to go through the process.”

While learning a new defensive assignment on top of building up from a long rehab process, McCray’s potential remains exciting for a Florida defense that could end up relying on the former blue chip heading into 2026. Amongst a group of potential candidates for the spot headlined by Kamran James and Emmanuel Oyebadejo, McCray’s ascension into his high potential could solidify a rather questionable positional group on an overall talented defense.

Regardless, the transformation will not be easy.

“LJ was a highly recruited player out of high school. High expectations. I think it starts, any time you want to take a new player, I start with the mentality, I really have to see where his mindset is, is he willing to work, is he willing to embrace the challenge,” Chatman said about the transition for the third year. “He actually called a meeting with me, said ‘Coach, I want to meet with you,' and I kind of told him, ‘Do you really know what you’re getting ready to get yourself into?’ He said, ‘Coach, I know.’”

With McCray already beginning the process, the former projected superstar, once seemingly on his way to breaking out last year, has a chance to make the Gators defense special in 2026 if he can re-find the momentum he had once built and finally become the talent he has always had the potential to be. However, for now, the returning Gator will need to continue to buy into yet another transformation just a year removed from his last one.