The Florida Gators not only return standout Jadan Baugh in 2026, but seem to have depth — and talent — behind him. Former NFL offensive tackle Blake Brockermeyer, who writes for CBS Sports, is bullish on UF’s backfield. When naming “college football’s top 10 RB rooms” he placed Jon Sumrall’s team at No. 6 and wrote the following:

“Jadan Baugh leads the Gators’ rushing attack after averaging 5.3 yards per carry. He excels in inside-zone runs with good patience, vision and the ability to break arm tackles. Baugh had almost 800 yards after contact and should be featured even more in Jon Sumrall’s scheme. 

Florida also has quality depth behind Baugh with Evan Pryor and London Montgomery, who were productive starters at Cincinnati and East Carolina, combining for 1,300 rushing yards last season. Duke Clark is also expected to have a role after gaining limited experience last season.”

Who topped the list? To Brockermeyer, Miami is No. 1.

“The Hurricanes return a deep stable of backs with different skill sets, led by Mark Fletcher Jr., who enters the season as my No. 2 running back. Fletcher is elite in all areas and a leader who can take over games, as he did in the College Football Playoff last season. Fletcher rushed for almost 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is a nice blend of power and speed, understands blocking concepts and is rarely tackled for a loss. 

“CharMar Brown is a nice blend of power with good vision and scored seven touchdowns while rushing for nearly 500 yards. Jordan Lyle started the season as RB1 and has good speed, but got in the doghouse early and disappeared. Gerard Pringle is more of a smaller speedster who excels on outside runs and has excellent speed. He rushed for 375 yards on limited touches. Those three all have the ability to start at many college programs and each brings a unique skill set to complement Fletcher.”

The complete top 10 looks like this:

Miami

Texas Tech

Oregon

Louisville

Southern California

Florida

Missouri

Texas

Ohio State 

Georgia

A look at the Florida Gators’ running backs …

*Jadan Baugh, JR: In 2025, Baugh became the first Gator to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in 10 years, with Kelvin Taylor being the last UF running back to reach that milestone in 2015 (1,035 yards). Baugh, who started all 12 games, now has 1,843 rushing yards in two seasons. He’s on pace to become one of the all-time rushing leaders in school history.

*Duke Clark, RS-FR: Clark played in four games last year and it would have been more had he not been injured vs. Texas. He finished the season with 15 carries for 58 yards and two catches for 14 yards. Has a chance to be RB2 for the Florida Gators and is coming off a strong spring.

*Evan Pryor, SR (Cincinnati): Pryor began his career at Ohio State, then spent the past two seasons at Cincinnati. He has 1,087 career rushing yards with a long of 65 yards. Of that total, 940 came with the Bearcats. Additionally, Pryor has 28 catches for 298 yards in college.

*London Montgomery, RS-JR (East Carolina): Montgomery started his college career at Penn State, but transferred to East Carolina and found success with the Pirates. He rushed for 742 yards and seven touchdowns last season on 4.8 yards a carry.

*Byron Louis, RS-FR: Louis played in just one game and had two carries on the season. He was not an early enrollee so he got a little bit of a late start compared to Clark. Yet, he has reshaped his body in his one year in Gainesville and appears to have a bright future.

*Anthony Rubio, RS-JR.: Rushed for 27 yards on five carries last season. Former walk-on.

*Kelvin Jimenez, RS-SO: Walk-on who did not see any game action in 2025.

*Brian Case, RS-FR: Joined the Gators as a walk-on last fall. Did not see game action.