Florida's Jadan Baugh is a 'violent runner' with a knack for making defenders miss

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Jon Sumrall and running back Jadan Baugh had a brief exchange during warmups before the team’s season opener.

“Thank you for staying here,” Sumrall said.

“I love being a Gator,” Baugh responded.

It probably would have been a more emotional conversation had it taken place after the game.

Baugh ran 14 times for 160 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Gators to a 66-21 victory against Florida Atlantic and establishing himself as the team’s top playmaker in 2026.

The 6-foot-1, 225-pound junior from Atlanta was a one-man highlight reel , juking several defenders between the tackles, running away from others in the open field and even leveling one at the goal line. He also twice struck a Heisman Trophy pose after scoring runs.

“He’s the best back in the country,” Florida receiver Bailey Stockton said. “If you have him in the backfield, you are going to win a lot of football games.”

The Gators have a good chance to start 2-0 for the first time since 2021 — Dan Mullen’s last season in Gainesville — when they host lower-division Campbell (2-0) on Saturday. Baugh surely will be involved early, maybe not late.

He played just 25 snaps against the Owls and was done for the night early in the third quarter. He had little else to prove after finishing the longest run of his college career (61 yards) by stopping on a dime, making two would-be tacklers miss and gaining a few extra yards.

“Man, he is a powerful, sudden, violent runner who can stick his foot in the ground,” Sumrall said. “He just runs with such conviction. The way he runs, you feel his runs."

That wasn’t always the case. When Sumrall arrived on campus late last year, he broke down every player on the roster, offered feedback on what each could do better and told Baugh he was “too much of a cutter at times.”

“’Hey dude, you’re a big, physical man, Like, go that way and you’re going to be hard to deal with,’” Sumrall said.

Maybe impossible.

Baugh totaled 1,170 yards rushing and eight TDs in a lower-tier offense last season, becoming just the 10th player in school history and third underclassman — joining Emmitt Smith and Errict Rhett — to top the 1,000-yard mark in a single season.

He was at his best in the finale against rival Florida State, running for 266 yards and two scores in a 40-21 victory. It was the second-most single-game rushing yards in program history, trailing only Smith’s 316-yard performance against New Mexico in 1989, and helped make Baugh one of five priority retention targets for Sumrall and general manager Dave Caldwell.

Even though Baugh never entered the transfer portal, he was in demand. Texas courted him in part because of his relationship with former Florida running backs coach Jabbar Juluke, who landed with the Longhorns after four years in Gainesville.

But Sumrall kept him at Florida with an in-home visit on Christmas Eve, just five days after Sumrall’s dad died. Sumrall flew to Atlanta with his wife, his four kids, his mom and his mom’s dog and spent an hour and a half hanging with Baugh and his parents.

“For him to bring his family to come see me and to say that his dad wanted to be here, that meant the most to me because that shows that you really, really care about your job,” Baugh said. “You really, really care about what’s going on with your players that you want.”

Florida ended up paying Baugh roughly $1.3 million for the 2026 season, making him one of the highest-paid players on the Gators' roster. After one game, it looks like money well spent.

“For a guy his size, his lateral quickness and twitch are easily what’s off the charts,” offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said. “To be a great back, that’s probably the No. 1 trait you got to have: to be able to make guys miss in the hole. ... We didn’t even block a guy, and he made him miss. That’s where coaching’s overrated.”

Added Sumrall: “Really, really glad he’s on our football team.”

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