Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Cornerback

All Gators is reviewing, and previewing, each position on Florida's roster during the 2024 offseason. The cornerback group is up next.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The winds of attrition breezed through The Swamp again this winter, with Florida making 30 total scholarship roster additions and 21 subtractions via the NCAA transfer portal, along with several departing players heading toward the NFL Draft or their post-football careers. 

All Gators is breaking down each position on Florida's roster as the team approaches spring training camp, reviewing the performances of each group in 2023 and previewing their makeup for the 2024 season.

Following our analyses of the quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, interior defensive line, edge rusher, linebacker, and safety and STAR units, our final defensive position of focus is the Gators' outside cornerbacks. 

If required, All Gators will revisit positions affected by the spring transfer portal window later this offseason. We will offer final depth chart projections during Florida's fall training camp in August.

2023 Season in Review: Florida's Cornerbacks

As outlined in our breakdown of the safety and STAR positions, Florida struggled greatly in coverage for the second season in a row in 2023. 

The Gators improved marginally in this department from a statistical standpoint, allowing 226.7 yards per game through the air compared to 235.8 in 2022. But the secondary was prone to allowing explosive plays and experienced a significant dropoff in turnover production, posting three interceptions compared to six the year before.

Florida's cornerback room offered some promise throughout the 2023 campaign, but was not innocent in Florida's struggles to halt opposing pass-catchers.

Jason Marshall Jr., the Gators' top corner since the beginning of the 2022 season, had an up-and-down year. 

He posted a single-season career-high 10 pass breakups and his completion percentage allowed in coverage dropped significantly from the season prior, from 56.3% to an impressive 44.7% over 48 targets. But Marshall allowed 421 yards to the receivers he defended, per Pro Football Focus. the most he's given up in one year to date. Receivers averaged 24.2 yards per catch against him.

Opposite Marshall for the most part was Jalen Kimber, a former Georgia transfer who occupied a rotational role throughout his debut season with the Gators in 2022. 

During his first campaign as a college starter in 2023, Kimber was a serviceable contributor early in the year but fell off as Florida took on SEC competition. 

He gave up a completion percentage of 58.3% and 389 yards over 36 targets over 12 games, but quarterbacks went 19-of-30 for 375 yards against him between Weeks 5-12. On the year, Kimber allowed 18.5 yards per catch. 

According to PFF, the duo allowed eight touchdowns in coverage last season, with Marshall giving up five and Kimber giving up three.

Previously covered in our safety and STAR analysis, former outside cornerback Jaydon Hill moved into the nickel cornerback role within the Gators' defense last season. The position change paved the way for a trio of underclassmen to log snaps on the outside.

Sophomore Devin Moore impressed across his limited action, posting one interception, four pass breakups and a completion percentage allowed of 41.7%, giving up only 30 yards in coverage. 

He sporadically appeared in just seven games, though, as an upper-body injury, an illness and a concussion ruled him out of multiple stretches of the season. After logging 167 defensive snaps in 2022, he posted 194 reps in 2023.

True freshmen, Ja'Keem Jackson and Dijon Johnson, took the field for 113 and 22 defensive snaps, respectively, with 60 and 10 in coverage.

Jackson allowed six-of-11 targets in coverage to be caught for 151 yards, but broke up an impressive three of those five incompletions. He also generated two quarterback pressures while blitzing. 

A marquee class of 2023 recruiting addition who flipped his commitment from Ohio State, Johnson appeared in every game on special teams but was limited to three appearances defensively, against McNeese State, Charlotte and Georgia. He allowed one completion for 10 yards over three targets in coverage.

Out and In

Scholarship players only

• Out: Jalen Kimber (transferred to Penn State)
• In: Jameer Grimsley (freshman transfer from Alabama), Teddy Foster Jr. (freshman)

Looking Forward

One of 15 players remaining who signed scholarships to attend Florida under Dan Mullen, its previous head coach, Marshall returns for a fourth and final season at Florida in 2024. Far and away the most experienced player in the Gators' cornerback room, he should be considered a lock to start in Week 1 for a third year in a row.

The opposite cornerback position's outlook is a bit less transparent, although it is clear that Florida is leaning on its young talent to step up and fill the vacancy created by Kimber's transfer to Penn State. 

Each of Moore, Jackson and Johnson signed with Florida under its current head coach, Billy Napier, over the past two years and some change.

Napier's first defensive commitment in charge at UF, Moore is thought of highly inside the building and likely would have contributed far more in 2023 if not for his multiple hurts. 

So long as he is fully healthy, Moore, now a junior, should be considered the top candidate to snag the second first-team role at cornerback.

But with their rookie utilization in mind, Jackson and Johnson, specifically the former after his meaningful playing time logged in 2023, shouldn't be counted out of the competition to start. 

At a minimum, both should see an increase in rotational defensive snaps in 2024. 

Teddy Foster Jr. and Jameer Grimsley joined the Gators from the 2024 recruiting cycle, although one took a less traditional route to Gainesville than the other. 

Foster committed to and signed with UF; Grimsley committed to, signed with and enrolled at Alabama, but transferred to Florida after Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban's retirement in January. 

Alongside redshirt junior Ethan Pouncey, a career depth piece, Foster and Grimsley are likely to spend the 2024 campaign in a reserve role, while they adjust to the speed and physicality of college football. 

Each could field a position on special teams, with Grimsley, a consensus top-200 recruit, potentially cracking the cornerback rotation as Jackson and Johnson did in 2023. 

Early 2024 Gators CB Depth Chart Projection

Outside cornerback

Starter: Jason Marshall Jr.

Backup: Dijon Johnson

Reserve: Teddy Foster Jr.

Outside cornerback

Starter: Devin Moore

Backup: Ja'Keem Jackson

Reserves: Ethan Pouncey, Jameer Grimsley

Florida 2024 Positional Outlooks

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Quarterback

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Running Back

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Wide Receiver

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Tight End

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Offensive Line

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Interior Defensive Line

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Edge Rushers

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Linebacker

Gators 2024 Positional Outlook: Safety and STAR

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