Florida running back Jadan Baugh has been one of the most reliable anchors this season. The sophomore\u2019s steady output has kept the offense afloat through adversity from week to week.<\/p>\n
And while his production has pushed him within 96 yards of a 1,000-yard season heading into Saturday\u2019s rivalry matchup with Florida State, becoming the 10th player in program history to get there and the first since Kelvin Taylor in 2015 has never been the point for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s big,\u201d Gonzales said Monday. \u201cI think individual accolades are always nice to attain, but I think if you were to ask the team right now if we\u2019d rather win or a thousand-yard rusher, I think they\u2019d probably say both. But I\u2019d definitely lean more on a W.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baugh tends to run better at home, as his top five games with the most rushing yards came at The Swamp. With one game to go, he\u2019s more than capable of hitting the milestone, with 96 yards or more in four of the five home games.<\/p>\n
While a win for the first time since Oct. 18 is more crucial than individual accolades for the 3-8 Gators at this point, center Jake Slaughter said that his offensive line will do what\u2019s necessary to help him because his guys love to block for him.<\/p>\n
Slaughter also noted that Baugh never talks about this individual accolade.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think about it. We see it on the Internet and stuff, but I\u2019m not too much worried about it,\u201d Baugh said about approaching 1,000 yards after the Tennessee game. \u201cI\u2019m worried about finishing the mission, finishing with my teammates and sending the seniors out the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baugh, a sophomore from Atlanta, averages 82 rush yards a game. He ran 96 on 18 carries in the 31-11 loss to Tennessee<\/a>, contributing to Florida\u2019s 145 total rushing yards on 30 carries. He also scored the Gators\u2019 only touchdown, a 33-yard reception for his second receiving of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not just a strong power running back,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cHe\u2019s nimble, but he\u2019s got exceptional hands. I\u2019ve talked about that over and over, about the ability to set him on one-on-one against linebackers out of the backfield, which he had this past week.\u201d<\/p>\n Baugh received many offers from top-tier programs, originally committing to Arkansas in May 2023. After an official visit and offer from Billy Napier\u2019s Gators, he decommitted and signed with Florida on Dec. 20, 2023, enrolling a few weeks later to participate in spring ball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt means everything to me,\u201d Baugh said about being a Gator. \u201cComing into my recruitment, just knowing that Florida wanted me, stuck out a lot. Just because my pops, some of my uncles, we always grew up watching the Gators just play and be efficient and play like how Gators play. And so I think it gives me extra motivation just to know you\u2019re playing in one of the greatest places you can play in.\u201d<\/p>\n As a freshman in 2024, Baugh played every game and recorded 673 rush yards on 133 carries, including a 106-yard game against Kentucky. Now, his career high is 150 yards, against Mississippi State<\/a> on Oct. 18.<\/p>\n His tough mentality on the field continues to be a driving force for the Gators, as Baugh keeps his squad in games week after week. On top of the numerous injuries at the wide receiver position, DJ Lagway continues to struggle with passing. Baugh steps up as both a running back and receiver option amid the adversity this season.<\/p>\n Florida will rely on him once again, as the rivalry game with Florida State is set for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Gators have the opportunity to knock the Seminoles (5-6) out of bowl game contention for the second straight year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only a couple of plays that changes the game,\u201d Baugh said, \u201cand I always thought that the four to five plays that can change a game, somebody has to make them.\u201d<\/p>\n Category: College Football<\/a>, Feature Sports News<\/a>, Football<\/a>, Gators Football<\/a>, NCAA<\/a>, SEC<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida running back Jadan Baugh has been one of the most reliable anchors this season. The sophomore\u2019s steady…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10858,7385,28,6082,30,29,3691,9625,26932],"class_list":["post-61013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-billy-gonzales","tag-dj-lagway","tag-florida","tag-florida-gators-football","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-state-football","tag-jadan-baugh","tag-jake-slaughter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}