2025 Florida Football Predictions: Gators Ranked 21st in RJ Young's Ultimate 136
Published
Aug. 10, 2025 9:02 p.m. ET
share
x
link
This isn't your average college football ranking.
My Ultimate 136 is a set of rankings that is fluid, but it's my job to look ahead and make a claim for all FBS teams based on what I know and why I know it. Here are the three pressing questions I started by asking when putting together this list:
Who do I think is good?
Why do I think they're good?
What are the chances they will finish above or below my expectations?
Here is a look at where Florida lands in my Ultimate 136.
Florida Gators ranking: 21
Last year's ranking: 43
Top player: QB DJ Lagway: Went 6-1 as a starter last season, tying Chris Leak for the most wins as a true freshman QB in Florida history; led all FBS true freshmen with a 154.9 passer rating (min. 150 attempts).
[Florida's 2025 schedule]
RJ's take: It's really simple for the Gators. If they play the entire 2025 season like they played the last three games of 2024 to mount an eight-win season with two top 25 and SEC mascots to taxidermy and nail to the wall, then Florida can and should win 10 games for the first time in the Billy Napier era. Remember, there were two ranked wins at the end of their schedule and the Gators damn near knocked off Georgia in "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party."
ADVERTISEMENT
Lagway, all 6-foot-3, 239 pounds of him, ought to be ready to drive a fast car down the straights of its non-conference schedule and can be tossed into corners for the wheel-to-wheel combat that is the SEC slate. The Gators went 6-0 when Lagway started and finished each game.
Early on the throttle, late on the brakes and steal their racing line, Florida. Let me see what you can do with this car shaped like a hungry rapier, Napier. At 19-19 through three seasons, he needs to win big this season.
[Check out RJ Young's Ultimate 136 College Football Rankings here]
Florida Win Total Odds: Over 7.5 (+106) Under 7.5 (-130)
Have an issue with my rankings? Think your alma mater is too low, or your school's rival is too high? Get at me on X, @RJ_Young , and I'll select my favorite tweets and respond to them in a future article.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him at @RJ_Young.
FOLLOW
Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience
College Football
Florida Gators
share
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Rays rebuild has already backfired
Just over a year ago the Rays treated the 2024 MLB trade deadline as an opportunity to blow up most of the team, dealing All-Stars and veterans — Isaac Paredes, Randy Arozarena, Zach Eflin, Aaron Civale, Jason Adam, and more — just months after dealing the face of the franchise Tyler Glasnow. At the time the Rays were well out of playoff contention, and made the moves with an eye on the future, expecting acquired talents — both veterans (INF/OF Christopher Morel, OF Dylan Carlson, RHP Hunter Bigge) and prospects (RHP Dylan Lesko, RHP Brody Hopkins, OF Aidan Smith) — to set the stage for the team's immediate future. And yes, immediate. The afternoon after trading Randy Arozarena to the Mariners president of baseball operations Erik Neander said 'I have a responsibility to try to get this team to a World Series,' emphasizing the front office's strategy was built around returning to playoff contention as quickly as possible. [ 'We don't want 2024 to be 2014, don't want 2029 to be 2019,' Neander said. 'Don't want to go five years without a playoff appearance, so these decisions were made to make sure that we don't fall off and it doesn't take us five years to find our way back.' That is why many who follow the Rays closely were quick to say 2024 wasn't a firesale. The team held on to Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe, two of the most productive players in team history, and had plenty of young talent locked and loaded in 3B Junior Caminero, OF Josh Lowe and 1B Jonathan Aranda, the return for Glasnow in RHP Ryan Pepiot and OF Jonny DeLuca, and injured players ready to bounce back in LHP Shane McClanahan and RHP Drew Rasmussen. The goal was simple: ride the wave of talent through 2025, and catch an even bigger wave in 2026 with a farm system now replenished with an absurd amount of depth. On the major league side, that obviously did not materialize. Among the players named above Diaz and B. Lowe have done their part, and newly minted All-Stars Caminero and Aranda surpassed expectations. But that only got the team so far. At the 2025 trade deadline the team moved the deck chairs around, swapping two catchers and two starting pitchers out via deals, but without upgrading the abysmal outfield that has suffered poor performance across all three positions. A few more injuries later (B. Lowe had 35 plate appearances in July, Aranda fractured his wrist on August 1) and the team's playoff odds have dropped from 81.4% at the end of June to just 2.1% as of today, August 13. But fear not, right? All the pain the fans needed to face in trading away the stars was sure to be assuaged by the incoming talent should the major league side fail to deliver. Unfortunately, no. Baseball America just re-assessed the farm systems across baseball and dropped the Rays down to 20th overall, despite the massive influx of additional talent over the last two seasons via trade, with only one player considered a top-100 prospect (SS Carson Williams, 75 overall), writing: System Summary: This has been a year to forget, as injuries and ineffectiveness have struck numerous hitting prospects. System Strengths: Competition. The difference between the No. 5 and No. 25 prospect in the Rays system right now is relatively miniscule. Despite the lack of Top 100 Prospects, few teams have as many potential big leaguers as Tampa Bay. They just need some of them to emerge as elite prospects rather than possible big leaguers. System Weaknesses: Upper-level production. This was supposed to be the year that Xavier Isaac, Tre' Morgan, Carson Williams and Brayden Taylor all pushed for big league promotions. Instead, all four seem to need more seasoning that may stretch into 2026. [Baseball America] There's a lot to be said about diversifying risk through quantity, but for the wider prospect blogosphere to suddenly back peddle on the quality of the Rays system is astonishing. Entering the season the Rays farm system was No. 2 overall at MLB Pipeline, and No. 1 mid-year in 2024. At Baseball America the system ranked 6th pre-season, and 7th the year before. For years, the Rays have sold fans on the idea that losing stars today would mean winning bigger tomorrow. But if the on-field product is crumbling and the farm is losing luster, the future starts to look a lot less like a light at the end of the tunnel and more like an oncoming train. Quantity can only take you so far without quality to anchor it. If the crown jewel of the organization—the pipeline—can no longer be counted on to deliver elite talent, then the entire Rays model is in question. There isn't a great team on the field today, there isn't a better one waiting in the wings. The team doesn't even have a major league stadium to play in. Is it a problem that money (and a new owner) can fix?
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
The home of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning renamed Benchmark International Arena
TAMPA, Fla. — The home of the Tampa Bay Lightning has a new name, Benchmark International Arena, after the NHL team unveiled a multiyear agreement Wednesday with the mergers and acquisitions company. The change takes effect immediately. The building that opened in 1996 had been known as Amalie Arena since 2014, and it was the site of the Lightning hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2021 for their second of back-to-back championships .
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Florida star QB DJ Lagway's injury raises concern about College Football Playoff run
It doesn't matter how it happened, only that it did. And that the long- and short-term future for one of college football's top young players is now in question. Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is quickly becoming Mr. Glass. Shoulder, hamstring and core injuries in his first year in Gainesville, and now a calf injury in fall camp. 'I'm not an injury-prone guy,' Lagway said last month during SEC media days. Then a left calf strain arrived before the start of fall camp, and now the inevitable is here: when and how could the glass crack again? Lagway missed time or didn't participate full-go throughout the entire offseason, multiple injuries not only stalling his development - but also leaving the Gators' 2025 resurgence in question. In one short year, Lagway's injury timeline has moved from unlucky to unnerving. Whether it's increased level of competition, intensity of training or just plain bad luck, four injuries (two relatively serious) before the start of Lagway's second season is cause for concern. More problematic: it's not a long or difficult a jump from calf strain to a much bigger problem. Especially since we've seen it of late among the greatest athletes in sports. Aaron Rodgers and Tyrese Halliburton dealt with calf strains in the last two years, and both strains preceded season-ending Achilles injuries. Kevin Durant's Achilles injury in 2019 started with a calf strain, too. But before we go down that rabbit hole and scuttle the season for a rising star quarterback and a team with College Football Playoff hopes, before we make too much of Lagway wearing a compression wrap on his left calf in practice, maybe he's not Mr. Glass at all. Maybe he just got dinged more times than most. 'The whole injury thing, for the most part, is relatively new for me,' Lagway said last month, and he hasn't spoke to media since. 'I feel better than I ever have right now.' It was last month when Lagway admitted to USA TODAY Sports that the throwing shoulder injury didn't occur during his breakout freshman season as most believed, but that it was something he dealt with the entire season. A season in which he won every game he started and finished. His 6-1 record overall as a starter included a lone loss to Georgia, where he left late in the second quarter with a hamstring injury — with the Gators leading 10-3. Other than that, Lagway's freshman season (even with modest numbers) was high-level production in the nation's most difficult conference. He has had soreness in the shoulder since high school, and has typically used rehabilitation instead of surgery to overcome pain and stiffness. The shoulder injury (and the core injury) forced him to miss throwing in spring practice. Then the calf injury showed up before fall camp, and despite the soreness, Lagway has been throwing and looks sharper than ever. The only question now: will the calf hold up? 'The guy's been working hard all summer,' Florida coach Billy Napier said earlier this week. 'Certainly, hopefully, he'll be able to do more and more as we go day-to-day.' That's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it's also all Napier and Florida have to hold. Because with Lagway, Florida is a legitimate threat to reach the College Football Playoff. Without him – and with sixth-year nomad Harrison Bailey or former walk-on Aidan Warner playing quarterback – the Gators may have problems reaching bowl eligibility. Earlier this week, former Alabama coach Nick Saban – speaking during his Nick's Kid's Foundation event – said five teams could win the SEC this season. One of those teams was Florida. ARCH MADNESS: Rumors with Nick Saban and Cleveland Browns are plain dumb TOUGH ROADS: College football toughest schedules based on preseason poll Even with the uncertainty of Lagway's health, or the nation's toughest schedule. Which, frankly, Napier and the team are getting tired of talking about. Spot the ball, they all say now. Doesn't matter that the schedule includes games away from Gainesville against Georgia, LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Mississippi, and home games against Texas and Tennessee, Florida played the same schedule last year. And by the end of the regular season (and with a healthy Lagway), the Gators were playing as well as anyone in the SEC. There's a lot to like about this Florida team, one that Napier has patiently and organically built through high school recruiting instead of relying on the crapshoot that is the transfer portal. An experienced and deep offensive line, some of the SEC's best young skill players and a defense that developed last year with Lagway. In the six games Lagway started and completed, the Florida defense gave up an average of 13.1 points per game. In the other seven games, the Gators gave up an average of 31.5. 'He makes everyone better,' Napier said. 'That's what rare players do.' If they can stay on the field. Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida faces DJ Lagway injury concern ahead of playoff run
