Kirk Herbstreit views Florida as a “sleeper” in the SEC entering the 2025 season.
Herbstreit spoke glowingly about the Gators during his annual “Herbie Awards” show on ESPN on Friday evening. The longtime college football analyst said quarterback DJ Lagway is a big reason for his confidence in Florida, but also credited coach Billy Napier for how Florida responded over the second half of the 2024 season.
“I think it’s a lot to do with the quarterback, DJ Lagway,” Herbstreit said. “I think more than that, the fact that they didn’t quit last year … Think about last year. They had the hot seat of their coach, they start off slow, it would have been easy in this portal era to kind of shut it down. And if anything, they got stronger.
“I like the Gators as a sleeper.”
Florida is not necessarily viewed as one of the top contenders to win the SEC in 2025, so Herbstreit is going out on a bit of a limb here. The Gators are priced at around +2000 per the latest SEC Championship odds.
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Florida will begin the 2025 season against LIU on Aug. 30.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
