The only typical thing is the opening.
As Kendrick Lamar's “Not Like Us” blares from speakers surrounding the Heavener Football Training Center, a crowd waits in anticipation behind towering, coated gates. Seconds later, like a horde of mice when released from its cage, the gates outside the facility open, and the huddle of journalists filter in to get their first glimpses at the 2025 Florida football team.
The eager eyes weave from the shade of the indoor facility to the harsh sunlight, identifying who’s practicing where, who’s got the first rep in drills and who’s notably absent from the early March festivities. But as quickly as they scurried out into the sun’s gaze, the hoard hurries back to where they came from, and the music blares again.
In a yearly ritual, extraordinary predictions for the next six months comprise and summarize about fifteen-minute allotments of action. But in the modern world of college football, those predictions may be futile.
As Florida football opened spring practice on March 6, an air of speculation surrounded it, similar to any other major college football program. The largest question focused on the status of its Freshman All-American quarterback.
UF head coach Billy Napier announced on Thursday afternoon that sophomore DJ Lagway would be limited in practice, nursing a shoulder injury from last year.
“I think our intentions here are to be very smart,” Napier said. “He’ll be limited in throwing activities, but he’ll participate in all practices otherwise.”
Later that day, media members quickly determined “limited” meant Lagway wasn’t throwing the ball at all. Rather he just took simulated reps. However, that’s not atypical.
Historically, spring practice features intensity as teams try to establish a rhythm while spring turns into summer and fall. It might still accomplish that, but many top programs are approaching who’s playing and what they’re doing differently.
With spring games disappearing rapidly across the country and practices focusing on non-contact drills, spring college football has evolved to prioritize player protection. Why harm your prized assets — athletes bearing multi-million dollar NIL contracts — nearly half a year from when they’ll take the field for true snaps?
At receiver, UF features a band of new contributors: J. Michael Sturdivant, a redshirt senior transfer from UCLA, and Dallas Wilson, a 6-foot-3, Michael Thomas-esque freshman. Both looked the part of their four- and five-star statuses.
However, nearly a decade ago, it’s likely neither would’ve stepped on the turf under the gaze of the Heavener watch towers. Back then, Wilson would’ve been walking out of Tampa Bay Technical High School, far from the gaze of media members. On Thursday, though, he generated buzz about how much of a contributor he could be in his freshman season.
“Dallas Wilson is a mutant,” Florida strength and conditioning coach Tyler Miles said on Thursday. “[He’s] going to make massive gains, massive strides in everything.”
Over the last decade, early-enrolling freshmen have become vastly more prominent, especially in skills positions. Last year, Florida benefited from the early arrival of Lagway, as Napier credited his quick adjustment to starting to the length of time he’d been at UF.
For receivers, that time is even more crucial. While not apples-to-apples to Wilson, Ohio State freshman All-American Jeremiah Smith, who was second nationally in receiving touchdowns, enrolled early last year. He shined in the Buckeyes’ spring game and never seemed to need an adjustment period in the fall. Wilson could see similar benefits from his early arrival, something he likely wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do previously.
Sturdivant, on the other hand, represents the final, more notable trend: the rise of transfers. Before 2021, the NCAA would've required that he sit a year when transferring from Los Angeles. Instead, due to adjustments in the transfer portal’s rules and windows, the receiver has taken the field immediately at UF.
With players weaving in and out of programs at will, the redshirt senior is just the most recent example of the changes coming to college athletics. He also likely won’t be Florida’s last offseason transfer when the portal opens again on April 16.
So, despite the eagerly written notes and the far-too-early position group predictions typed in the cool air of Florida’s facilities, nothing about Florida’s team, or the sport itself, is set in stone.
However, we’ll all (myself included) crowd around the gate again on Saturday as the music trumpets, prepared to predict the unpredictable once again.
Contact Noah White at nwhite@alligator.org. Follow him on X @noahwhite1782.
Noah is a Spring 2025 Assistant Sports Editor and Copy Desk Chief. He's a second-year journalism major who enjoys reading and shamefully rooting for Tennessee sports teams. He is also a Liberty League Women's Soccer expert.
