Jordan Castell leading secondary and other takeaways from Florida football practice

Florida football held its eighth practice of fall camp on Friday afternoon at the Sanders Practice Fields.

In all, the Florida Gators will hold 17 practices over a 22-day stretch to prepare for the 2024 season, which opens Aug. 31 at The Swamp against Miami.

UF will hold its first intrasquad scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday at The Swamp, which is closed to the general public.

Florida football coach Billy Napier said performances in both fall scrimmages will weigh into decisions made on the depth chart.

"The scrimmage is an opportunity to get on the field and actually play in sequence," Napier said. "It challenges the situation awareness, the football intelligence of the player, I mean we’re playing the downs as they fold out, right, so I think that part, real interaction with the staff, with their teammates, no coaches on the field, and then you’ve got to play the game as it unfolds.

" You’ve got the opportunity to gain some experience. That’s were typically experience will help itself sometimes but yeah, it’s really a great opportunity for every single part of the organization, equipment to video to the headset crew, offense, defense, special teams, all parts of our team will get a little bit of a dry run in a game."

Here are three observations from the open portion of practice on Friday:

Jordan Castell remains a leader on the Florida football secondary

Napier said sophomore free safety Jordan Castell has picked up where he left off last season, when he started 11 games as true freshman and led the Gators in tackles (60).

"Jordan made a great play (Tuesday) night," Napier said. "He’s in the post, we throw an inside fade to the slot, he breaks out of the post and gets both feet in on the sideline and makes the catch.

"He’s playing faster. He’s got better coverage of the system, he’s communicating better. You see him barking out calls and I think he would probably tell you that the veteran safeties that we’ve added to the team have made him a better player."

Castell also had an interception and three pass breakups last season and Florida is counting on him to make more big plays in the secondary in 2024.

"I’m fully confident now," Castell said. "I’ve got experience. I feel a lot better, and I think a lot of guys in my grade feel a lot more confident out there.” 

Florida football QBs go through passing drills with RBs

Florida quarterbacks went through passing drills with running backs on Friday, with the goal to get them more involved in the passing game.

Sophomore running back Treyaun Webb and freshman running back KD Daniels made nice catches on wheel routes. Starting running back Montrell Johnson Jr. (knee) remains out and wasn't on the field on Friday.

Florida football offensive line starting to take shape

Florida football's offensive lineman continued to work out Friday, with Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson and Dameion George Jr. working out together on the right side at tackle and guard, with Knijeah Harris and Austin Barber working out on the left side. Those project as the starters for the season opener, with Jake Slaughter at center, though sophomore former Under Armour All-American Rod Kearney has worked out some at right guard as well. Kearney also is working out at center behind Slaughter.

"We’re all pushing each other," Barber said. "I mean, it’s competitive out there, and I love it. It’s great to have guys that are pushing each other and working hard."