Florida football held its fourth spring practice on Thursday at the Sanders Practice Field.
In all, the Florida Gators will hold 15 practices, culminating with the Orange & Blue game on April 12 at 1 p.m. at The Swamp.
Florida is coming off its first winning season since 2020, closing the 2024 season with four straight wins to finish 8-5.
Thursday marked the final spring practice for the Gators for 12 days. Due to spring break, Florida will skip practice for the next two Saturdays, as well as Tuesday and Thursday of next week.
Here are three takeaways from the open portion of practice:
Florida football WRs showing their speed
The Gators freshman wide receivers – Naeshaun Montgomery, Dallas Wilson and Vernell Brown III – came onto campus in January known for their speed.
It appeared that way at Thursday’s practice. At drills with WR coach Billy Gonzales, the three showed good speed, especially Brown.
Brown was a two-time state track qualifier at Jones in Orlando.
“He’s got what I can’t coach, alright, and that’s speed, there are a lot of guys too that are just… they’re fast, right,” analyst Joe Houston said. “And like anytime you are just trying to get creative to get your best athlete the ball in the open field and in that position, you are almost guaranteed to get it.”
Among other receiver notes, Eugene Wilson and Khaleil Jackson remained in black, non-contact practice jerseys.
Offensive coordinator Russ Callaway praised the baby Gators at WR.
“Those guys are really good players, but they’re extremely hard workers, right? I have not seen a young group like this, not just about the ability that they have, but it’s almost annoying how much they’re up here wanting to get extra work,” Callaway said. “And that’s when you know you’re on the right ones.”
Gators QB Aidan Warner looks solid
Warner has been pushed aside a little in open portions of practice in favor of the Gators’ scholarship freshman signal callers – Harrison Bailey and Trammel Jones Jr.
However, Warner is Florida’s lone QB besides DJ Lagway to have actual in-game reps. Warner started UF’s game at Texas last season in replacement of Lagway.
He completed some nice passes in practice, including one to tight end Hayden Hansen.
Bailey and Jones also took reps. Warner and Bailey did it together, and Jones paired with walk-on Aaron Wilson.
DJ Lagway once again remained in a practice jersey but didn’t throw. Instead, he practiced handoffs, as he’s done in each of the first three practices.
Linebackers and defensive backs show their agility
Aaron Chiles, a sophomore from Maryland, saw his playing time steadily increase last season. He finished with 22 tackles (12 solo, 10 assisted).
In a young linebacker core, Chiles will have a lot asked of him in 2025. He seemed up to the task in Thursday’s practice. He showed some impressive speed and agility, rushing new linebacker coach Robert Bala.
Among the DBs, freshman Lagonza Hayward Jr. played well in coverage, as did Jordan Castell.
Hayward is a freshman from Georgia who originally committed to Tennessee before flipping to Florida. 247sports ranked him as the No. 15 safety in the Class of 2025.
Castell, a junior for 2025, was freshman All-SEC in 2023. He has one interception and 13 pass deflections during his time as a Gator.
Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on X/Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football holds its fourth spring practice: three observations
