The Florida Gators recently earned a commitment from four-star edge rusher KJ Ford, and after his commitment, he wasted no time hyping up his new team. In fact, on his X account, he made a bold claim that the Gators are “going to run the SEC”, taking the Georgia Bulldogs and the rest of the SEC by surprise.
Ford is a four-star recruit from the class of 2026. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound edge rusher from Duncanville, Texas is the No. 98 overall prospect and No. 11 edge rusher in the class of 2026.
There’s a lot of proof that Florida isn’t in any position to run the SEC, and some proof comes from the recruiting class. Ford doubles as Florida’s third-best recruit from their class of 2026, despite being a four-star. Overall, Florida has no five-star recruits, earning commitments from 13 four-star recruits and five three-star recruits from the class of 2026.
The Gators have the No. 14 recruiting class in the country, which is top 25, but is lower than Tennessee, Texas, LSU, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Georgia. All of those other SEC teams have at least one five-star recruit.
In terms of running the SEC in the past, the Florida Gators haven’t won the SEC since 2008, when they won the national championship. Ever since then, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Auburn have each won the SEC with Georgia winning two national championships and Alabama winning six.
Ever since 2008, Florida has a 76-60 record in the SEC, which lag far behind Alabama’s (119-17) and Georgia’s (106-30) record.
The Gators will have a tough SEC schedule in 2025. Six of Florida’s eight SEC matchups are against teams with winning records, so Florida may not be running the SEC in 2025 despite having a talented roster.
