Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Numbers define much of the work done by Tyler Miles, Florida's first-year strength and conditioning director.

Miles and his staff must connect to players in a human way to motivate, and based on numbers Miles shared Tuesday when the Gators reported for camp, he worked with a motivated group over the summer.

A few examples:

• The Gators have 45 players who can lift 300 pounds in the power clean, up from 15 when they started the program over the winter.
• Florida's average in the squat is 425 pounds, up from around 365 pounds at the end of winter.
• In speed training, the Gators have two players who can run 23 mph, 15 running 22 mph, 43 running at 21 mph, and 63 who can run 20 mph. Miles said that based on input from those on the strength staff, the highest number of players they recall running 22 mph at anyone's previous job was five.
• The Gators gained 575 pounds of muscle and lost 475 pounds of fat across the roster.

The mission, of course, is for advances in the weight room to lead to improvement on the field and more wins on the scoreboard.

Miles, who replaced Mark Hocke when head coach Billy Napier revamped his coaching staff and support personnel following last season, credited the players for their commitment to the program and their accountability in doing the work.

"It was a lot of fun, to be honest,'' Miles said of the summer. "We had a lot of highs. It was just a lot of fun to grow the relationship more with everyone on the team. The buy-in was really easy. It was easy from the get-go, and we kept that going all summer. It really made my life easy."

The Gators shared moments from some of their workouts on social media, and you don't need to be a sports science expert to notice that many players appear more muscular than a season ago.

Napier said the transition in the weight room — and at the table via the guidance of Jake Sankal, who is in his first year as director of nutrition — has been a resounding success.

"The players wanted it,'' Napier said. "The players were vocal about it. The best thing about this team is the voice that we have at the player level. Tyler and his staff did a phenomenal job. Jake Sankal, that whole strength and conditioning, sport science, the nutrition area, the training room, that whole performance team was next level."
  COMPETITIVE CAMP

The even-keeled Napier opened his press conference Tuesday with an upbeat bounce, knowing that one of his favorite parts of the year is finally here.

He is especially eager to open camp because he is confident that this is Florida's best roster since he took over the program in December 2021.

"This camp will be the most competitive camp that we've had since I've been at the University of Florida, and we have more competitive depth,'' he said. "We have more experience."

Napier held a team meeting late Thursday morning to set expectations before the team's first practice. The message was clear: take the field urgently and do your job to the best of your ability.

"I'm going to talk about making an impact and being the difference, and we want every single person that's part of the team and the organization to feel as if their role might just be the difference."



Center Jake Slaughter learned how vital preparation is when he was thrust into the starting lineup in last year's season opener at Utah due to an injury to Kingsley Eguakun. Slaughter started eight games in 2023 and enters this season as one of the offensive line's veterans.

"I feel like this team has definitely shifted,'' Slaughter said. "We want to start fast and finish strong. That was a big thing this summer that we pushed. I feel like a lot of guys are ready to go out and compete. There's going to be a ton of competition across the board."
  THE LAUNCHPAD

Florida's special teams performed relatively well statistically much of last season. The problem was that they were caught with only 10 men on the field multiple times, which caused issues and prompted a cottage industry of online memes.
 

To help game-changer coordinator Chris Couch oversee the unit, Napier hired analyst Joe Houston, a former kicker at Southern Cal who spent the past four seasons as a special teams assistant with the New England Patriots.

This season, one of the new implementations will be a special teams launch pad on the sideline. They have been used in the NFL and collegiate ranks for several years. Basically, it's a pad laid down on the sideline for special-team players to stand in numbered spots so the unit is assembled and ready to plug and play when it's their turn to run onto the field.

"We're constantly working on ways to improve,'' Houston said. "There's going to be issues that you come into as you go through the landscape of a season, and we put in measurements to improve those miscommunications."

Houston compared the issue to what opposing offenses face on third down in The Swamp.

"It's not quiet,'' he said. "Having an area where you can communicate directly with the players [is helpful]."
  BIG Q ON BIG DES

Much has changed with the Gators since last season. Some things have not, such as inquiring minds interested in senior defensive lineman Desmond Watson's weight.

Watson has teased fans for three seasons, highlighted by a memorable strip and fumble return at home against South Carolina during his sophomore season, which many viewed as Big Des' coming out party. But Big Des is a big man with a big appetite, and significant transformations take time. He garnered national attention when he signed with the Gators in 2021 out of Armwood High in the Tampa Bay area. Watson was listed as 6-foot-5, 385 pounds out of high school, 400 pounds as a freshman, 415 as a sophomore and 435 as a junior. On Florida's current online roster, he checks in at 449 pounds. Meanwhile, through all the weight changes, Watson has remained No. 21 on the roster and is a player with loads of potential, considering his athleticism.

Miles addressed Watson's status on Tuesday. The word "weight" was not used, but everyone in the room understood the massive undertone.

"Des has done a lot of great work this offseason,'' Miles said. "He's just got to keep continuing to work. The work never stops, but he has made great strides this offseason in every aspect."
  QUOTE OF NOTE I

"Look, Mark did a good job for us. He's a good person. It's an opportunity, a promotion in his field, more responsibility. I've got a lot of respect for Mark. We've known each other for a long time. He's closer to the family. It is what it is. We've had no issue attracting quality people here. We'll go find someone to do his job." — Gators head coach Billy Napier on the departure of Mark Robinson, hired as UF's chief of staff in January, to join Kirby Smart's staff at Georgia
  QUOTE OF NOTE II

"I'm really proud of the numbers, but I'm really just proud of how they conducted themselves. We talk about being a pro but also just being a man every single day. You come to work, and you do what you're supposed to do, and I think that is what led to the increase in numbers." — UF strength and conditioning director Tyler Miles on the mindset that led to improved results in the weight room since the end of last season
  EXTRA POINTS

The Gators are scheduled to hold their first camp practice on Wednesday morning at approximately 10:30 … The team moved into Tolbert Hall, located across Stadium Drive from the Heavener Football Training Center, for the duration of training camp. They have stayed in local hotels many times in recent years but are keeping it close to the office in 2024. "I think it's good for our guys to experience something different,'' Napier said. "It provides an opportunity to be around your teammates each day during training camp. I think there's opportunity there to build some character and maybe create some gratitude. We're trying to create an old-school feel to training camp where they appreciate when they move back into that nice apartment in a couple of weeks." … Houston said to expect intense competition in the kickoff and punt return. He mentioned Eugene Wilson III, Chimere Dike, Montrell Johnson Jr., Tank Hawkins, Jadan Baugh, Aaron Gates, Elijhah Badger, Aidan Mizell, Treyaun Webb and Ja'Kobi Jackson as players in the mix.