The Florida football defense was hoping to ride the momentum from how it closed the 2024 season into the 2025 campaign. But a training camp injury to preseason All-SEC Florida Gators defensive tackle Caleb Banks hindered that progress. Florida played well defensively in its first four games, pitching a shutout against Long Island and holding its first four opponents to an average of 16.0 points.
Still, UF couldn't get key stops when needed in the second half in losses against USF, LSU and Miami. Injuries mounted, as Florida lost sophomore edge rusher LJ McCray to a broken foot against USF and cornerback Dijon Johnson to a torn ACL against Miami. The 6-foot-6, 330-pound Banks re-injured his foot against LSU and wound up appearing in just two more games (Tennessee and FSU) the rest of the season.
Overall, Florida surrendered an average of 376.8 yards per game, which ranked 13th out 16 teams in the SEC. In scoring defense, though, UF ranked 12th in the league, giving up 24.0 points per contest.
Florida was unable to get teams off the field on third down throughout the 2025 season, ranking 15th out of 16 SEC teams in third-down defense in allowing opponents to convert 44.4% of the time.
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