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Four Florida Freshman to Watch During Gators' Spring Camp

Florida had a top 20 high school signing class this year, the bulk of whom committed prior to Jon Sumrall's hiring.
Dylan Olive|
Fort Myers four-star defensive lineman Kendall Guervil
Fort Myers four-star defensive lineman Kendall Guervil | Cam Parker / Florida Gators on SI

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GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- With spring camp approaching, Gainesville will be home to a bevy of new faces as the Florida Gators overhauled roster prepares for Jon Sumrall’s inaugural season with the program.

The Gators added nearly 50 new players to the program this offseason, highlighted by a very busy transfer portal period that included 27 signees. Somewhat overshadowed by the madness of the portal was an extremely talented freshman class, finishing ranked 17th compositely amongst the entire nation in the 2026 cycle.

The group of freshmen includes some extremely intriguing candidates to make an early impact with the program, as Florida Gators on SI sees the four included below as rookies to monitor heading into the first practices of the year for Florida.

Davian Groce

The highest rated signee in the Gators class, Groce has all the traits needed to be an immediate contributor in 2026 despite a deep Florida wide receiver room.

After a senior season at Frisco’s Lone Star High School, where he recorded over 1,800 total yards and 20 touchdowns against Texas 5A competition while missing multiple games due to injury, the 10.75-second 100-meter speedster heads into spring with a true chance to crack an extremely talented rotation at the position by week one.

“With Davian Groce, been really impressed… There's times where you're like, ‘Hey, you got strain a little bit more,’ and then you look up, and he won 13 reps in the gauntlet, right?” inside receivers coach Trent McKnight said. “He's a guy that can run fast with good size, so that always translates well, right? Very, very productive.... Been really impressed with him and excited to see what he goes out there and does this spring and making plays.”

Similar to Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson last year, watch for Groce to continue to impress this spring and possibly earn a big role early in his time with the program.

KJ Ford

One of the more highly coveted and seemingly college-ready prospects in Florida’s class, Ford is the type of unknown talent at the edge position that could make the Gators extremely confident about the unit with a good spring.

The 6-foot-3.5, 245-pound pass rusher recorded 31 total tackles and 8.5 sacks as a senior at Duncanville (Tx.), now entering a position group seemingly relying on someone to breakout across from Jayden Woods.

“KJ has been good. He's an eager guy. He looks up to Woods in a sense a lot. But he's a guy that's coming in very mature. He works. He puts in the time," outside linebackers coach Bam Hardman said. “The one thing I'm looking forward to seeing him do in the spring is just go out and execute at a fast pace. So he's been good."

A big spring could help Ford stand out amongst a somewhat unproven edge group behind the exciting Woods, with a clear path to playing time making the mature freshman one to look out for ahead of 2026.

Heze Kent

Arguably the most unique freshman in all of college football, Kent will undoubtedly be the heaviest tight end in the nation at 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds.

Recording 37 catches for 674 yards and 16 total touchdowns as a senior out of Brunswick (Ga.), the Gators seem to have a plan for the outlier prospect despite many expecting a shift to the offensive or defensive line at the next level.

“A lot of guys can see him as a project tackle, or this or that. The guy’s here to go play tight end, that's what I tell him, and he can definitely do it,” unit coach Evan McKissack said. “He's gradually losing weight, and biggest thing, he's got great athleticism, and he had some injury issues… He's finally kind of gotten over those humps, and is way more available in workouts."

Florida has also worked with Kent on dropping weight, a challenge McKissack said Kent is overcoming.

"We like to say, ‘Okay, let's get below 300, let's get to 295, let's get to 290’... He's answered those challenges," McKissack said. "And the key is consistency… It's just about his ability to freaking go face each challenge each day.”

While Kent may have a longer way to go to earn a real role in year one at Florida, the extremely unique prospect will be an intriguing player to watch and hard to miss at the tight end position this spring.

Kendall Guervil

Once a top-150 composite recruit that now enters possibly Florida’s weakest position unit, Guervil would surely have plenty more buzz heading into spring if not for tearing his ACL and meniscus just halfway through the first game of his senior year. Entering 2025, the talented defensive lineman had recorded 137 total tackles with six sacks and four forced fumbles in the past two seasons at Fort Myers High School, trending to become one of the better recruits in his class before the devastating season-ending setback.

With heavy attrition to last year's unit, Sumrall and staff have consistently noted Florida’s lack of proven depth in the interior of their defensive line this winter.

“DK (Kalu), Emmanuel (Oyebadejo), Mason (Clinton), Kendall (Guervil), JaReylan McCoy those are all new guys that we added…they all have traits, they all have the measurables, the length, they all have explosion, they all have the ability, we’re going to find out the rest after we take the through the process and get on the field,” position coach Gerald Chatman said of the group. “I look forward to seeing how those guys progress.”

If Guervil enters spring fully healthy, the 6-foot-4.5, 315 pound freshman could be a fix for the Gators at a position that seems to be one of the biggest concerns heading into 2026.

Spring camp is scheduled to kick off on March 3, with plenty of exciting freshmen to monitor in the first year of the new staff.

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Dylan Olive
DYLAN OLIVE

Dylan Olive. Bio: Dylan Olive is a contributing writer at Florida Gators on SI from Key West, FL. He is a recent graduate from the University of Florida. When not writing, he is likely spending time with his wife and dog or watching the New York Yankees or Giants. Twitter: @DylanOlive_UF

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