2020 Florida Gators Season in Review: Special Teams

Capping off the Florida Gators positional review for the 2020 season, the special teams unit rounds out the pack as an underutilized piece.

A unit that saw minimal usage in 2020 and will see a lot of turnover going into 2021.

Due to the prolific offensive attacked sported by Kyle Trask and company throughout the season, the special teams unit was one that majorly remained on the sidelines.

Led by placekicker Evan McPherson, who went 15-for-19 (51-51 PATs) with a long of 55-yards versus Ole Miss in the Gators season opener, UF was in relatively good hands where the field goal kicking department was concerned.

Attempting the most field goals in his career again Georgia with 4, making three of them, two of which coming from 50 yards or beyond, McPherson would play a major role in the Gators dethroning of the Bulldogs from atop the SEC East, eventually resulting in a punch ticket to Atlanta.

Starting in all but one game since his true freshman season, McPherson has been a consistent piece for the Florida Gators special teams unit during head coach Dan Mullen’s tenure in Gainesville that began in 2018.

Sitting as the fourth-most accurate kicker in school history (minimum 10 kicks), McPherson made 85% of his attempts and 99.3% of his extra points, missing just one during his Florida career.

Announcing his intentions to move onto the NFL draft following the season, the Gators will have large shoes to fill at the placekicking position.

With a position battle set to take place between newcomer from Mississippi State Jace Christmann and Jacksonville (Fla.) native Chris Howard, the position is one that should progress into the future smoothly from one all-time accurate kicker to what they hope to be another.

Likely to be doing so without their starting long snapper from 2020 in Brett Dioguardi — who earned 2nd team All-SEC honors following the conclusion of the season — the turnover in the special teams' room stems from top to bottom.

Extremely honored to be named 2nd team All-SEC. #GoGators 🐊🏈 https://t.co/WkWctTCLw4

— Brett DioGuardi (@BrettDioGuardi) January 7, 2021

Where the punt team is concerned, a competition was held throughout the longevity of fall camp between Jeremy Crawshaw and Jacob Finn due to the departure of Tommy Townsend following 2019.

Now playing with the Kansas City Chiefs, Townsend created a major void in the Gators special teams unit due to the consistency both as a punter and holder that he would take with him.

As a result, Florida would evaluate the talent at the position until the last possible moment to ensure opposing teams would be given long fields on the rare occasion that the offense didn’t score.

Crawshaw — a member of the 2020 recruiting class from Australia — was widely expected to win the Gators' starting punter for the season, coming as a surprise when Florida elected to go with the senior, Finn.

Finn, who had only punted twice in-game prior to 2020, saw a limited workload throughout the season despite being the premiere Gators punter. Booting 26 balls for a 46.3-yard average and a long of 67 yards, Finn was sufficient in the time he did see in the field despite lacking the same verve that made Townsend such an asset to the Gators team.

Following the season, Finn — similarly to McPherson — announced his departure from the Florida program, but his announcement came by way of the transfer portal, leaving Florida with both special teams spots to fill in 2021.

Likely giving the nod to the Aussie after a year of acclimation to the game, the Finn-McPherson kicking tandem will shift towards the Crawshaw-Howard duo when next season rolls around.