DL Joseph Mbatchou returning to Florida for his sophomore season
Florida Gators defensive lineman Joseph Mbatchou is returning to school for his sophomore season. He has signed a new NIL deal to remain in Gainesville under new head coach Jon Sumrall. His return will give the first-year Gators’ head coach a young defensive lineman who still has a ton of upside ahead of him.
Joseph Mbatchou earned valuable snaps in year one
Though Joseph Mbatchou didn’t enroll early at Florida ahead of his freshman season, that didn’t keep him from seeing game time in year one. As a true freshman, Mbatchou appeared in a total of 9 games for the Orange and Blue and recorded a total of 135 snaps this past season between the defensive line and on special teams. Mbatchou finished his first season at Florida with 11 tackles, with one of those being a tackle for a loss.
Injuries on the defensive line this past season opened the door for UF’s young defensive linemen to earn early snaps. Joseph Mbatchou was one of the recipients of those snaps, and the biggest bulk of his workload came in Florida’s win over Mississippi State. Mbatchou finished that game with a career high 32 snaps, and it was also the game where he recorded his first tackle for a loss at the collegiate level.
As a recruit, Joseph Mbatchou was the No. 227 overall prospect, No. 25 defensive lineman, and No. 29-ranked player in the state of Georgia. That is according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted algorithm that compiles all major recruiting media services. He arrived at UF after playing high school football for Loganville (Ga.) Grayson.
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Despite his 4-star ranking coming out of high school, Joseph Mbatchou is still fairly new to the game of football. Mbatchou was a former basketball player, but switched to football. He played his first season on the gridiron as a senior. Florida’s previous staff offered Joseph Mbatchou in June of 2024 when he was still relatively unknown on the recruiting front. That led to more offers, and Mbatchou eventually de-committed from UF. A few months removed, he committed to Texas, but ultimately flipped back to Florida ahead of the Early Signing Period last year.
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