Unit Breakdown: Secondary

Gators junior cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. (Photo: File/UAA Communications)

Saturday, August 26, 2023 | Football, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Stop if you've heard this before.

The ________ room will be led by a couple experienced guys, but feature mostly a bunch of young, promising players who will serve as the unit's foundation as Coach Billy Napier continues to build the Florida football program he envisions.

That was pretty much the storyline for the receivers, defensive line and linebackers, so on a team that has undergone such radical roster turnover (including 28 outgoing transfers), such is the narrative running through the Heavener Football Training Center these days.

For the last five years, UF fans spent a lot of Saturdays taking aim at safety Trey Dean III and company on social media, but Dean (31 starts, 49 games the last four seasons) is now with the New York Jets and Rashad Torrence II (22 starts, 31 games the last three) is with the Los Angeles Rams. The Gators return one starter in the defensive backfield — a potential star, at that — which may equate to good news given what the Gators put on tape when it came to getting off the field on third down. As in 49.7-percent conversation rate, which ranked 129th out of 131 FBS teams in the country.

Obviously, blame for those abysmal numbers didn't fall completely on the secondary — pass rush, down-and-distance situations, poor tackling, etc. — but it's safe to say there is plenty of room for growth on the back end of the UF defense and, through camp, every rotational player (and there will be a handful) has had their moments. Almost all of them have taken reps with the first unit.

Secondary coach Corey Raymond is among the best and most respected in the country, so look for this group to make a jump; something better and more ambitious than a nowhere-to-go-but-up jump, also.

IN THE MIX

Pos.	Player	Ht./Wt.	Class	Hometown (previous school)
CB	Jason Marshall Jr. Jalen Kimber Ja'Keem Jackson Devin Moore Aaron Gates Ethan Pouncey	6-0.5 / 205 6-0 / 186 6-0.5 / 182 6-3 / 196 6-0.5 / 197 6-0.5 / 175	Jr R-Jr Fr So Fr R-So	Miami Mansfield, Texas Kissimmee, Fla. Naples, Fla. Moreland, Ga. Winter Park, Fla.
S	R.J. Moten Miguel Mitchell Kamari Wilson Jordan Castell	6-0 / 220 6-1 / 223 6-0 / 209 6-2 / 205	Jr So So Fr	Delran, N.J. (Michigan) Oxford, Ala. Fort Pierce, Fla. Orlando
Nickel ("Star")	Jaydon Hill Jadarrius Perkins Sharif Denson	5-11 / 199 6-0 / 194 5-11 / 180	R-Jr Sr Fr	Huntsville, Ala. Hattiesburg, Miss. (Mississippi Gulf Coast) Jacksonville

BEST PLAYER

Junior cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. started all 13 games as a sophomore last season, led the team in pass breakups with eight, did not get beat for one touchdown, was selected to represent the Gators at SEC Media Days in Nashville, Tenn., last month and is projected first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He is a talented and physical all-around player who will set the tone for his unit. Marshall, an outstanding press-man with length and the ability to mirror, only had one interception last season, probably because opponents had other preferred UF defensive backs at which to throw. He's been exactly what the previous staff envisioned when it signed Marshall out of Miami Palmetto High, where he was the No. 2 overall prospect in the state and a rare five-star recruit to land with the Gators the last several seasons.

BREAKOUT GUY

Michigan transfer **R.J. Moten** (6) will wear No. 16 for the Gators and figures to be an instant impact guy in the back end.

Legacies are always fun stories and the Gators have four on the current roster, with the newest arriving in transfer safety R.J. Moten, a two-time All-Big Ten selection at Michigan. Moten's father, Ron, played linebacker for the Gators during the 1980s and was a sixth-round draft choice by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1987. There's no questioning the football pedigree, which manifested itself with the Wolverines to the tune of 28 games, 13 starts (all with last season's College Football Playoff participant), 65 tackles, six pass break-ups and two interceptions. Moten is a vocal guy who did not come to Gainesville quietly. He immediately announced himself both in the building and between the lines. At Michigan, he played for an outstanding defense. At Florida, he will have a big hand in trying to fix what has been a very bad one of late.

FRESH(MAN) FACE OF NOTE

This one is easy. Cornerback Ja'Keem Jackson was the highest-ranked prospect in UF's 2023 signing class and last week was named to the On3 Preseason True Freshman All America Team. The service rated Jackson, out of Kissimmee Osceola High, as the No. 3 corner prospect in the country, 40th overall player and thus the most heralded member of Napier's first, full recruiting-cycle class. He won't be in the starting lineup at Utah, but Jackson will be the first defensive back off the bench and his skill set (namely, coverage, quickness and ball instincts) will show up. He's also gotten some personal attention from Marshall, who has basically taken Jackson under his wing in hopes of furthering his development.

ETC.
Opposite Marshall, it's likely Jalen Kimber, who transferred to UF last season from Georgia, will be the other cornerback. Kimber played in all 13 games (he had a pick-6 in the three-point win over USF), but did so with a broken hand for nearly the entire season. He's fully healthy now, so that should make a difference. UF figures to play a bunch of snaps with five DBs. Redshirt junior Jaydon Hill started the last nine games of the season at corner and garnered SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors after intercepting two passes, returning one 49 yards for a score, in Florida's win over Missouri. Hill and senior Jadarrius Perkins (14 tackles, 1 INT in '22) will take turns at that nickel or "Star" position. Sophomores Devin Moore, who is coming off offseason shoulder surgery, and Ethan Pouncey, along with a pair of freshmen in Sharif Denson and Aaron Gates, will provide depth on the outside. Sophomore Miguel Mitchell played safety in all 13 games (with one start) as a true freshman in '22 and figures to line up alongside Moten on the back end, having moved ahead of Kamari Wilson, who also played in every game as a freshman and started twice. Wilson, another one of those rare five-star signees for the program, has struggled to meet the sky-high expectations that accompanied him as Napier's first splash recruit, but he's still very young and will get a chance to reset. True freshman Jordan Castell, some say, has had the best training camp of anyone in the safety room, so look for the Orlando product to make a splash. True freshman Bryce Thornton and wideout-turned-safety Ja'Markis Weston, a redshirt junior, will get turns in the safety rotation.

"QUOTE"
"It's a good unit. We're looking good right now. Confident in everybody in the room. Coach Raymond, he holds everybody to a certain standard, no matter if you're the smallest fish or biggest fish in the room. Everybody's held to that same standard, and he's going coach everybody hard. He wants the best for everybody, so I'm very confident in the whole room and everybody." — Marshall.

BOTTOM LINE
Another position group with talented young players and a plenty of room to grow. A lot will be put on their plates and a lot will be expected. That's just where the program is right now in this phase of the roster overhaul and rebuild.

IN CASE YOU MISSED ...
* Unit Breakdown: Backfield
* Unit Breakdown: Receivers
* Unit Breakdown: Offensive line
* Unit Breakdown: Defensive line
* Unit Breakdown: Linebackers