Three Gators Earn Spots on 247Sports All-Impact Freshmen Team

Florida fielded one of the youngest teams in the FBS last season. The Gators ranked top-five in the FBS for the 2,603 offensive and defensive snaps it distributed to rookies in 2023, with 17 such players appearing in at least one game during the campaign and seven participating in every contest. 

After signing six consensus top-200 prospects in the class of 2024 (including Alabama cornerback transfer Jameer Grimsley), consider it likely that Florida will once again deploy a significant number of freshmen this season. 

247Sports believes defensive lineman LJ McCray, and linebackers Myles Graham and Aaron Chiles, are in line to continue the trend, as each player earned spots on the outlet's 2024 All-Impact Freshman Team on Wednesday.

It considered McCray as the highlighting piece of Florida's six-player defensive line class, which includes three transfers to pair with three incoming freshmen.

Florida did a nice job of adding talent to its D-line this offseason with the additions of transfers Joey Slackman, Brien Taylor and George Gumbs. But the unquestionable highlight of the Gators' 2024 D-line class is McCray. He arrives at Florida with a massive 6-foot-5, 279-pound frame that has plenty of room to add weight.

McCray plays with plus effort and is as disruptive as any interior player this cycle. He's a long-term upside play for Florida — his ceiling is immense — but he also can come in right away and make an impact. Expect him to, at worst, be part of UF's D-line rotation this year.

A consensus five-star prospect from Daytona Beach (Fla.) Mainland, McCray finished his prep career totaling 133 tackles, 62 tackles for loss, 18 sacks, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, five pass breakups and one interception in 35 games over three years. 

Florida head coach Billy Napier teased a versatile role for McCray in orange and blue, but indicated during the Early Signing Period that he will primarily align on the edge of the Gators' defensive front.

"He's going to play over the edge for us. Mike Peterson has been recruiting him. We kind of see him in that F [defensive end] mode. He certainly has got a lot of position flex," Napier said on Dec. 20, 2023.

"One thing I'll say about LJ that I respect about him is he is up for the challenge ... LJ is an alpha. He's a leader. He's an elite competitor, and he's done very similar things at his high school. I think he's got that type of presence and that type of voice, and he's an impact player."

Alongside McCray in Florida's 2024 defensive line/edge rusher class are defensive tackles Michai Boireau and D'Antre Robinson. The trio of freshmen enrolled at UF ahead of the Gators' 2024 spring training camp. 

Graham and Chiles were unique in 247Sports' exercise as they split one of the three linebacker spots on the list, with Notre Dame's Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Clemson's Sammy Brown also making the cut.

Is it cheating to list two players from the same school at the same position? A bit. But we're doing it anyway, given the opportunity at linebacker for UF next season.

Scooby Williams is gone, which means only Shemar James returns as a full-time starter. It seems likely that South Carolina transfer Grayson Howard plugs in as a starter, too, but that still leaves a lot of reps for Graham and Chiles, both of whom project as potential early contributors.

Graham seems most likely to see the field quickly as an early enrollee, but there's a path for them both to play in Year 1. 

The son of former Florida running back Earnest Graham, the younger Graham joins the Gators after finishing his high school career at local Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz. 

There, Graham starred on both sides of the ball, tallying 600 yards and 17 touchdowns at running back and posting 82 tackles, nine tackles-for-loss and three sacks at linebacker, the position he will play at Florida. 

"It's in him, right? He cares about this place," Napier said about Graham. "I think he's an exceptional football player, but this guy's a leader, man. He's got presence. He's articulate. This guy is going to do a lot more than just be a great football player for the Gators."

Chiles, the reigning MaxPreps and Gatorade Maryland High School Football Player of the Year, produced totaled 122 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, two forced fumbles, two blocked punts and one blocked extra point during his senior season at Olney (Md.) Our Lady Good Counsel.

Chiles is expected to enroll at Florida over the summer, ahead of the Gators' preseason training camp.