Florida football will enter the 2026 season with one of the best running backs in the SEC, if not the country.
Gators junior Jadan Baugh rushed for 1,170 yards and 8 TDs last season, ranking third in the SEC and becoming UF’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Kelvin Taylor in 2015.
What can Baugh do for an encore? Under new Florida coach Jon Sumrall and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, the possibilities are limitless. Faulkner recruited Baugh out of Columbia High in Atlanta when he was at Georgia Tech and understands the strengths of the 6-foot-1, 228-pound running back who began his high school career as a linebacker.
“He always told me these are the things we can do with you, play can play running back, quarterback, receiver, whatever you want to do,” Baugh said, “Being with an offensive coordinator like that, to have so much creativity and being able to put players in great positions, I feel like it’s very exciting.”
At 1,843 career rushing yards, Baugh has a chance to surpass 3,000 career rushing yards with a big junior season. That would put him among the top five UF rushers of all time, a list that includes Fred Taylor, Earnest Graham, Neal Anderson, Emmitt Smith and Errict Rhett.
Creating a legacy factored into Baugh’s decision to stay at Florida for his junior season rather than enter the transfer portal.
“My dad, my mom, everybody in my inner circle felt that, too,” Baugh said. “It was like, you can do something special and in the next 15 or 20 years have records that your kids and their kids will look at.”
Here’s three questions for UF’s running backs entering the 2026 season.
Can Florida football RB Jadan Baugh rush for 1,000 yards again this season?
Baugh appears determined to cross the 1,000-yard plateau again for the Gators in 2026. The Atlanta native has prepared his body to handle the rigors of 20-30 carries per game and improved his speed during the offseason.
“Each and every day I try to be in the weight room, try to put my body in certain conditions where I’m at a disadvantage so I can just overcome it,” Baugh said.
Baugh averaged 18.3 carries per game last year. When Baugh was asked if he could take on a bigger workload this season, he replied: “Any time the ball is my hands, coach Buster knows, that we already have a game plan as a team, running the ball. Everyone knows that. We’re fixing to run the ball and you’re gonna know it.”
Can quality depth emerge behind Florida football RB Jadan Baugh?
Redshirt freshman Duke Clark is coming off a strong spring and showed flashes as a true freshman running back (58 yards on 3.9 ypc in four games) before going down with a collarbone injury.
“Duke is going to bring a different element for us in that backfield,” Florida running backs coach Chris Foster said. “Duke is very explosive. Duke, right now, doesn’t know how good he can be. But he’s a guy that I have to challenge every day. He’s a guy that has all the ability and tools, but he has to be consistent. And that’s something we’re working on.”
Evan Pryor (Cincinnati) and London Montgomery (East Carolina) were added as transfers during the offseason. The 5-10, 190-pound Pryor, who began his career at Ohio State, brings a home run element to the run game with his speed. Pryor rushed for 940 yards over his last two seasons with the Bearcats on 7.1 yards per carry and had four TD runs of 55 yards or more in 2024.
Redshirt freshman running back Byron Louis, a former Under Armour All-American from Miami, also showed promise this past spring.
How much will Florida’s RBs be utilized in the pass game?
Baugh has displayed a good set of hands since arriving on campus, with 37 catches for 243 yards and 3 TDs over two seasons. Foster is confident that Baugh will continue to get targets in Faulkner’s offense.
“This offense is an NFL style offense, in which it allows him to showcase his ability in all phases of the game, blocking, catching, all the different run schemes,” Foster said.
Pryor also showed he could make plays catching the ball out of the backfield at Cincinnati with 25 catches for 288 yards and 2 TDs over two seasons with the Bearcats.
“He’s pretty natural at catching the football,” Foster said.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football 2026 running backs position breakdown
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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By Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun | USA TODAY Network
