Gators’ Baugh Makes Major Heisman Case with ‘Jadan-Hare Stadium’ Dominance

Credit to Florida Gators assistant AD of recruiting strategy Katie Doeker for the idea, and credit to Jadan Baugh, who, after yet another 100-yard, multi-touchdown effort, may as well be the namesake of “Jadan-Hare Stadium” at Auburn.

An early contender for the Heisman Trophy, Baugh has made his strongest impression to date in 2026 with his 162 yards and three scores. He is now up to 458 yards — the second-most in the FBS — and eight touchdowns — the most in the FBS — leading Florida to its first 3-0 start since 2019.

“Another day at the office,” Baugh said.

Jadan Baugh 20 carries 150 yards 3 touchdowns

He should be the top Heisman Trophy candidate from the SEC after three weeks pic.twitter.com/7mdFp0IJJX
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) September 20, 2026

Baugh solidified himself as one of Florida’s best running backs in recent memory with his 1,170 yards and eight scores a year ago, making him the Gators’ first 1,000-yard single-season rusher in a decade. Now, he has a chance to put himself on Florida’s Mount Rushmore of running backs.

It’s why he returned to Florida despite notable interest from other Power Four schools, including Texas, in the offseason. CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer detailed Baugh’s whirlwind offseason with his father, Corey Bryant.

“You can go to Texas and have a great year, but it'd be just a great year," Bryant said of his conversations with Baugh. "If you stay at Florida and have another great year, you'll go down as one of the best running backs to ever come through the place. You'll always have a home in Gainesville. You'd put yourself in the same conversation as Emmitt Smith and Tim Tebow."

Baugh is now approaching being in those conversations.

He is nearly halfway to being Florida’s first back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher in program history. With his fourth straight 100-yard rushing performance, which includes the 266-yard game against FSU to conclude the 2025 season, he joins Fred Taylor, Errict Rhett and Emmitt Smith as the only players in program history to do so.

His 2,301 career rushing yards currently rank 13th in program history, while his 23 rushing touchdowns rank 10th.

Baugh has formed a particularly close bond with Taylor, who he calls “Uncle Fred.”

“Being able to put my name up there with him and a couple other guys, I feel like that's an honor,” Baugh said. “Those guys paved the way for me."

Florida Gators running back Jadan Baugh has begun celebrating touchdowns with a Heisman pose. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It's also not just that Baugh is putting up high yardage with plenty of touchdowns. It's also when he does it. His 33-yard touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter gave the Gators a 10-point lead, while a 53-yard touchdown came on fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter to effectively seal the win. His 13 missed tackles forced were the most in college football in Week Three, according to PFF.

Baugh, of course, was quick to credit his teammates and offensive coordinator Buster Faulker for the play and his recent stretch of explosive runs.

“I feel like my line, my o-line, they came out. They had a mentality that we were going to seal the game. And, that's what we wanted to do,” he said on the long touchdown. “So, I did what they wanted me to do."

Baugh’s ability to bounce back from rare mistakes is also a testament to his abilities as a running back. A rare drop in the first quarter landed in the hands of an Auburn defender and led to a field goal for the Tigers. After a quick conversion with head coach Jon Sumrall, Baugh recovered quickly.

157 of his 162 rushing yards came after the drop.

“Jadan Baugh did a great job responding,” Sumrall said. “That’s, really unfortunate play, should have caught the ball, bad, bad, bad play. I grabbed him and I said ‘Hey, around here, when something bad happens, we say good, and when something good happens, we say good’, and so I went over to him after the play and I said ‘Hey, good, you got a chance to redeem yourself now, go make another play next time’.

“I didn’t like it, but that’s our mindset: when something bad happens, we say good.”

The expected top running back in the 2027 NFL Draft, Baugh continues to make his case to be a Heisman Trophy candidate and one of the top running backs in Florida history.

The only questions will be how many yards and touchdowns he finishes with, and whether it will be enough to make him a Heisman finalist.

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