Napier Details Facing former Gators Running Back Trevor Etienne

The Florida Gators took a hit at the end of the 2023 season after losing running back Trevor Etienne to the transfer portal. Now, they'll face the now-Georgia starter for the first time since his departure.

Oct 12, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Georgia Bulldogs running back Trevor Etienne (1) runs the ball against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the fourth quarter at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida Gators' annual matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs is already one with a storied history, bittersweet memories for both sides and the occasional pure hatred between the two fanbases and players.

This season, however, sees all of those traits move up a level as the Gators face someone that used to be one of their own in now-Georgia starting running back Trevor Etienne, who transferred to the Bulldogs after two seasons with Florida.

After back-to-back 700-yard seasons with the Gators, Etienne has totaled 422 yards and seven touchdowns with Georgia and is coming off a three-touchdown performance in the win over Texas two weeks ago.

For Gators head coach Billy Napier, it's about moving forward rather than dwelling on what happened.

"I think for me, it's gotten to a point where you just move on to the next one. I think we've done what we needed to do to be productive at running back," he said on Monday. "Obviously Jadan (Baugh), Ja'Kobi (Jackson); Montrell (Johnson Jr.) has been very productive for us this year. That position for us is at the centerpiece of our offense and I couldn't be more proud of the guys that we have there. And Coach (Jabbar) Juluke in particular has done a nice job."

Alongside Montrell Johnson Jr., whose status remains up in the air after a lower-body injury suffered against Tennessee forced him to miss the Kentucky game, Baugh has quickly become a fan-favorite and a top contributor on offense after a 100-yard, five-touchdown performance two weeks ago against the Wildcats.

"Jadan will get better. You can see he's getting comfortable," Napier said. "I think early in the year you saw there was some ability there, but just the overall, what's it like out there performing at that level. I think he's improved in his pass protection. He and Ja'Kobi both need to continue to grow in that area. Yeah, played well with the ball. And he's a big guy. He's slippery. Obviously he has showed to be very productive. So we're hopeful he continues in that direction."

Baugh, who was one of Florida's latest additions to the 2024 recruiting class, was almost immediately zeroed-in on by the Gators following Etienne's departure. An Arkansas commit, the four-star Georgia native also considered Alabama before ultimately flipping to Florida.

A call from Napier's brother, a high school coach in Georgia, is where Florida first learned about Baugh.

My brother actually played their team in a scrimmage, and at that point he was committed to Arkansas, and he picked up the phone after that scrimmage and called me and said, 'Hey, you need to get on that Jadan Baugh guy,'" Napier said. "We turned it up after that scrimmage."

However, he was actually being evaluated as a linebacker before the Gators saw he could fill the void left by Etienne at running back.

"It just goes to show how much we knew," Napier said. "But we knew he played running back. He was a kind of hybrid Wildcat quarterback. He played receiver. Just to see how big he was, you know, you are watching the tape and you meet him and you're like, okay, this is a little bit different cat here."

Overall, Florida facing a former player isn't unique to just Saturday's matchup against Etienne and Georgia. The Gators already faced a multitude of former players and commits in matchups against Texas A&M, Mississippi State, UCF and Kentucky.

"It's become the norm of college football," Napier said. "It's already happened a handful of times this year that we played against players on the other side that were on our team in the past. Look, feels like there is a story each week about scenarios like that. It wasn't the first and won't be the last, unfortunately."

Florida will look to upset Georgia, which was recently ranked No. 2 nationally in the most-recent AP Poll, on Saturday in Jacksonville at 3:30 p.m.