Florida senior safety Jadarrius Perkins has left the Gators football team and will enter the NCAA transfer portal. He made the announcement on Twitter Thursday.
“I want to appreciate Dan Mullen and Scott Stricklin for giving me the opportunity to be a Gator, something I’ll remember and cherish forever,” Perkins wrote. “With that being said, I have decided to enter my name in the Transfer Portal as a Graduate. A really unfortunate situation, I love all of my teammates that has kept me up throughout everything.”
He was the lone senior in the Gators’ secondary room.
Perkins, a Hattiesburg, Mississippi native, played two seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast before he transferred to Florida ahead of the 2021 season.
He ranked as the nation’s No. 5 junior college prospect in the 2021 class. Perkins originally signed his letter of intent to Missouri Feb. 3, 2021, but decided to transfer to UF a month later.
The senior defensive back played in all 13 games for the Gators during the 2022 season. He recorded 14 tackles, two tackles-for-loss and one interception.
Perkins fought to start at the STAR position of Florida’s defense during the offseason.
He was in competition with redshirt junior cornerback Jaydon Hill, who ultimately won the battle and took the field for 23 defensive snaps against No. 12 Utah in week one. Perkins played only six snaps in the game and recorded one tackle.
Florida head coach Billy Napier expressed the intent to increase the usage of freshman Sharif Denson at the STAR position during Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference.
He mentioned the names of several young defensive backs and added they “will have more of a role this week” against McNeese State.
The Gators host the Cowboys (0-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
