24 for '24: Notable Florida Gators numbers & stats entering spring practice

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA — Finally, some football. Having last played in late November, the Florida Gators will be back on the practice field Thursday with the start of spring practice. Coming off a 5-7 season, there is angst among the fan base. But internally, there seems to be some optimism that better days are ahead.

We should learn more about the roster over the next few weeks.

But in the meantime, here are 24 notable numbers for Gators football in 2024.

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1: Where true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway finished in On3’s national QB rankings for the 2024 recruiting class.
4: Number of players the Florida Gators had on the 2023 All-SEC Freshman Team. That led the conference.
5:  Amount of true freshmen who started at least one game for the Gators in 2023.
6: Combined tackles recorded by transfer safety Asa Turner in Washington’s playoff games vs. Texas and Michigan. He also had a fumble recovery against the Longhorns.
7: Number of turnovers forced the entire 2023 season by the Florida defense. That ranked next to last in college football, per NCAA.com.
11.1: Rising sophomore Eugene Wilson scored a touchdown every 11.1 touches (6 of 67) as a true freshman.
12: Turnovers by the Gators in 2023, which ranked 14th-best (fewest) nationally.
12 Part II: Number of tackles for loss at Penn last year by defensive line transfer Joey Slackman. That was second best in the Ivy League.
16: Where Florida finished in red zone offense last season in college football. The Gators converted 44 of 48 trips (17 rush touchdowns, 15 passing touchdowns, 12 field goals) for a 91.7% conversion rate.
20-to-3: Quarterback Graham Mertz’s TD-INT ratio last season, by far the best of his career. His previous best was 19-to-10 in 2022 at Wisconsin.
24: Starts made by true freshmen at Florida in 2023.
25: Approximate percentage of snaps played by true freshmen on defense for the Gators last season.
31: Percentage of Florida’s total receiving yardage (965) produced by Ricky Pearsall in 2023 — his final season with the Gators.
32: Where the Gators rank nationally in returning production for 2024, per ESPN’S Bill Connelly.
47: Number of catches by receiver transfer Chimere Dike in 2022 at Wisconsin for 689 yards, when Mertz was his quarterback.
50: Combined tackles for loss (37) and sacks (13) by true freshman defensive end/edge LJ McCray, a 5-star recruit, as a high school senior.
72.9: Mertz’s completion percentage in 2023. That was No. 3 nationally.
92: Where Florida ranked nationally in sacks last season. The Gators finished with only 22 of them. Penn State, the national leader, had 49.
264: Number of career starts made by the players Florida added via the transfer portal this offseason at their previous schools. (With 11,591 snaps).
361.1: Yards per game allowed by Auburn’s defense last year under then-coordinator Ron Roberts, now Florida’s co-coordinator. Florida allowed 382.3 yards a game in 2023.
464: Weight of senior defensive lineman Desmond Watson. Florida listed him at 385 pounds on the day he signed with the Gators in December, 2020.
1938: The last time Florida finished with four straight losing seasons.
1,658: Combined rushing yards (on 5.4 yards per carry) the last two seasons by running back Montrell Johnson, a rising senior. That’s 186 more yards than his backup in 2022 and ’23, Trevor Etienne, who transferred to Georgia.
8,308: Career passing yards over five seasons for Mertz.