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Gators OL Damieon George Jr. to Enter Transfer Portal

Florida's starting right guard for most of the season leaves after two years with the Gators.

Cam Parker

Sep 7, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators offensive lineman Damieon George Jr. (70) and quarterback DJ Lagway (2) celebrate after a touchdown against the Samford Bulldogs during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Sep 7, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators offensive lineman Damieon George Jr. (70) and quarterback DJ Lagway (2) celebrate after a touchdown against the Samford Bulldogs during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
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GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida Gators starting guard Damieon George Jr. plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, his agents on Friday told On3.

George Jr. leaves Florida after two seasons with one year of eligibility remaining.

Originally at Alabama, George Jr. spent the first three seasons of his career with the Crimson Tide where he earned a COVID-19 redshirt in 2020 and a true redshirt in 2022. He joined Florida in 2023 as the starting right tackle, but struggles in pass protection forced George to move inside to right guard.

At the new position, he experienced a long-awaited breakout after not giving up a single sack, which was an improvement from the four he gave up in 2023, and seven pressures, which was an improvement from the 29 he gave up a year ago.

George Jr., however, did battle injuries in the back-half of the season, which thrust redshirt freshman Bryce Lovett into the starting spot. Lovett was recently named to the SEC All-Freshman team.

"When you play our schedule, you play in this league, you got to have depth, and there's always going to be critical pieces of the puzzle that got to play good ball for you down the stretch," head coach Billy Napier said after the team's win over FSU. "So and look, I'm hopeful that in the future here, we still got a couple games left. So we're learning that depth of your roster is really important that you go into a playoff, imagine playing a conference championship game and then playing a playoff game. So we have to continue to add good players to the team, and we got to develop those players all throughout the offseason, so when we do need them, they're ready to play."

George Jr. is the 18th total player to announce his departure from the program and the 12th on scholarship. He is also the third offensive lineman joining Christian Williams and Mike Williams.

Gators Illustrated is tracking all of Florida's portal moves here and is keeping count of the Gators' roster numbers here.

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Cam Parker
CAM PARKER

Cam Parker is a contributing writer at AllGators.com of FanNation-Sports Illustrated and is a recent graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in journalism. He also covers and broadcasts Alachua County high school sports with The Prep Zone and Mainstreet Daily News. When he isn't writing, he enjoys listening to '70s music such as The Band or Lynyrd Skynyrd, binge-watching shows and playing with his cat, Chester.

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