Florida strength and conditioning coach talks summer gains

USA Today

31-07-2025

Much of the work this 2025 Florida Gators football team has done so far has been in the weight room, led by director of football strength and conditioning Tyler Miles.
After the bowl game, the calendar turns over, and winter enrollees join the team. Miles has to get them ready for spring camp, and then the process repeats with the summer enrollees ahead of fall camp. Miles might be best suited to determine which players will step up as leaders after pushing them all year in the weight room.
Here's everything Miles said to the press corps ahead of fall training camp.
Opening statement
"I just want to say first and foremost that I'm incredibly proud of the work that these young men put in this summer and this entire offseason. They really took a lot of big strides in a lot of different ways, and I couldn't be more proud of them.
"Not only how they worked, but how they conducted themselves and really led and took on that role as a team. So, incredibly proud of them."
Who emerged as leaders?
"Kamran James had a phenomenal summer in a lot of ways, but just as a leader, as a whole, very vocal and led by example. He really took on that leadership role. He's one. You've got your normal guys. Jake Slaughter was a great leader. George Gumbs was a phenomenal leader. Devin Moore was more vocal this offseason and leading for those younger corners and for that DB room as a whole. He did a great job. Sharif Denson had a great offseason and became more vocal as well.
"Austin Barber, he was at the forefront. Rod Kearney. He lifted at 7 a.m. If he wasn't in that 7 a.m. group, you could tell right away. He was the heart of that lift group. He pushed everybody and really brought everybody up."
On changes made to program
"One of the biggest things was just maybe making it more player-led. Last year was kind of like almost our base year, right? We needed to establish the fundamentals, the basics in not only strength, conditioning and running and sprinting and all those things, but how to really lead each other as a team and make it their team. So that was the biggest change this year, this offseason.
"We progressed the movements. We got more advanced in a lot of different things, both running and lifting, but also making it more so their team. They ran flex. They ran something called Prep and Core to start to lift. There were times that we would just let the last group lift group go to start flex. And they were just running on their own, and we just stood back and let them run it.
"So that was the biggest thing is making it more of it being their baby, which made it easier for us to progress all the movements and get more advanced and different things there."
On fat loss, muscle gain
"We gained 700 pounds of muscle this offseason. Last year was 580, so we gained 120 pounds more than last offseason, and we lost 200 somewhat pounds of fat, somewhere in the two hundreds. We didn't lose as much fat this year, but we didn't have as much fat to lose.
"Our guys had done a great job last year. Sixty-five percent of our team gained muscle and lost fat in season. We also had them longer because the bowl game, so we didn't have as much fat to lose. Still gained 700 pounds of muscle, which is more than last year, and I think that is the best number."
On Cormani McClain's growth in weight room
"He's still continuing to get stronger. Put on the weight and put on muscle. He's never going to be your big vocal guy, but we don't need him to be. He does his job. He comes in. He stays out of trouble. There was nothing out there about him because he was doing what he's supposed to do and getting stronger and faster and being better about his nutrition and just everything. So, he could continue that in the summer."
"He was in the 160s when he got here, and then last week his body weight goal was around 190, and he made it. Now some of the times he's downing drinks or whatever if he's got to just stay hydrated. But he's in the 180s, so somewhere around 20, 25 pounds (added) since he's been here."
"He's matured and he's gotten more — I don't want to say intelligent, but he's using his brain more, right? He's thinking on his own. He's being a pro because that's what it's going to take when he gets out there on the field. He's got to communicate, and that's been one of the big things that we push not only with him but with everyone.
"That's why they lead flex and prep and core. They need to learn to communicate with each other and lead each other, and not only lead each other, but also take leadership from one another, and that's been one of our big focuses. He's taken to that."
On LJ McCray
"LJ honestly probably had one of the best offseasons out of anybody. He gained like 40 pounds, and each one of his lifts, like PR by 40 pounds. You can see it now in his arms. He's more thicker and more muscle. He had a phenomenal offseason.
"Last season, offseason, LJ, it was his first year, right? The weight room wasn't his favorite, but he really attacked it this year. Whether he likes it or not, he didn't show it because he took every day serious. At the end, we kind of started testing things. He wanted to go after bigger numbers. So LJ had a phenomenal offseason."
On DJ Lagway's size, program
"It's hard to say exactly with him because quarterbacks in general don't lift like the rest of the team. They're not going to be that big. They're not going to look like George Gumbs. So we just focus on not only him but the quarterbacks as a whole. More stability and those kinds of things, and mobility in their T spine and all that stuff.
"He's been right where he needs to be. He's worked really hard, and he's done a good job."
On the linemen making gains
"They've gotten not only stronger and more explosive and all those things, but their mobility. We definitely make them drop in the hole. We make them work those big ranges of motion that bigs don't really want to work. But at the end of day, they got to be strong in that stance. So squatting all the way down in the hole and getting those numbers to where they need to be. They've really taken to that.
"When we first took over when I first took over, it was like, hey, you got to get down there. Now, talking about squat depth or catching a clean ride or any of those things, or doing your split squats, or whatever it is, like, that's not even a conversation. They know they've got to get down there, so I think that's been a huge step for them, getting stronger in those full ranges of motion."
On lateral movement work
"We did a lot this offseason with multi-directional running and jumping. You've got to get stronger in different planes of motion. So we did a lot of different things with that instead of just running straight ahead or even just jumping straight ahead.
"We did different jumps where they got a turn in the air, we did different jumps where we would do jumps at the end of our running and conditioning, because they're in a fatigue state. We want them to learn how to stabilize in their fatigue state.
"So we did a lot of different things this year, putting them in different planes in motion in different body states. You don't always perform your jumps on the football field when you're fresh, right? You do that in a fatigue state most of the time because you're playing."
Early impressions about the summer enrollees, preparation
"I'll send them workout plans and running plans to try and prepare them as best I can before they get here, but it's just never the same. They're never going to do it at the tempo or at the urgency that we do it here. So, you just hope for the best.
"Luckily, Coach Napier recruits really great young men, and they're very mature and very intelligent, and they've hit the ground running. Myles Johnson is incredibly intelligent. I mean, that guy came in day one and didn't miss a beat. That's just one example. I could go through the whole list of them, but Coach Napier recruits really great young men, and they pick it up quick.
"It's always an adjustment for them first, the urgency and the tempo. We run everywhere, even the weight room. You don't walk to your next room, you run to your next movement. That part is an adjustment for them, but they pick it up really quickly."
How do the early enrollees fare in comparison?
"Where they're gaining is that they have more time. So now they're they've gained more muscle. They've gotten stronger. When those summer enrollees get in, we have to start them where we started the winter. We try and pair those guys to the racks together with those guys so that they can also, and that gives a chance for those young guys again to lead.
"The best way to learn is to teach."
On the makeup of the current roster
"I'm very inspired by what I see. They're incredibly tough and incredibly resilient. I think you saw that at the end of last season, and that's carried over into their training in their offseason. They're very good young men, but I think the best thing about them is their willingness not only to work hard, but they want to do really well. Their toughness and their grit.
"I know sometimes me and my staff can be really hard on them about being even tougher and having more grit and all those things, but the truth be told, and hopefully they don't see this, they actually are really tough young men, and I'm very proud of them because we push them really hard. We push them very hard."
"You couldn't lead each other and take leadership from one another if you didn't have confidence. They're not lacking confidence, for sure."
Any standout 'freaks' in the weight room
"Top of the list is Jadan Baugh, who had an incredible summer. He broke liftin and running records not only for his position, but we do pound for pound the strongest. We've put it into a formula, and he's pound for pound the strongest man on the team. Not only on the team, but since we started tracking that, pound for pound, the strongest guy that we've ever had.
"Aaron Chiles is very impressive. Jayden Woods, true freshman. I know we've talked a lot about Jayden, but Jayden is an impressive young man. He continues to break almost every record we have for his position. So those three, Trey Wilson, he's put on a lot of muscle, looks really good. He's gotten stronger and faster and more durable with that weight and that muscle.
"George Gumbs. There's so many. Jake Slaughter. Austin Barber and Jake Slaughter had competition all summer for who would clean the most, and I think they both finished right around 380 pounds, s they're really pushing each other.
"Tyreak Sapp. I mean you just look at Sapp. You guys just saw Sapp. He's a monster. There's there's so many guys. Those are big guys. You got your skinny guys. Sharif Denson is weighing almost 200 pounds and built a lot of solid muscle. Aaron Gates looks phenomenal.
"So many of these guys, J. Michael Sturdivant — 216 (pounds). Dallas Wilson — 216 pounds. Dallas put on almost 13 pounds of muscle since he walked in the door. There's so many of these guys, but the ones at the top, because we just ran that formula are JadanBaugh, Jayden Woods and Aaron Chiles I would say for sure."
On Jamari Lyons and Aaron Gates returning from injury
"They both handled it really well. We had to progress, and that's our job, though, right? We progress them slowly and kind of had to pull the reins back on them. But I think the best thing that we saw was Jamari. Not taking anything away from Aaron, but Jamari, his injury was so bad, and for him to come back from that and to not give up and to recover and be pushing himself and have a really good offseason and put on muscle and all these things.
"A lot of people out there after that kind of injury could have hung it up, and he didn't. He kept pushing, and he's really had a good offseason and it hasn't held him back one bit."
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