Few freshmen on Florida’s roster have made an impact like EDGE Jayden Woods. Right from the start, Woods was handed the keys to the car, took off running and never looked back — taking advantage of every opportunity that crossed his way.
Arriving in the spring, everyone around the program took notice Woods might be a little different than your average freshman edge-rusher. Described by many coaches and teammates as explosive, freakishly talented, strong, quick and just a downright special player. Woods came to Florida ranked as the No. 7 EDGE rusher, No. 3 player in the state of Kansas, No. 75 player overall in the Class of 2025 by 247 Sports and ranked No. 40 on Bruce Feldman of the Athletic, ‘Freak’s list’.
Originally a Penn State commit, Florida stayed on Woods’ heels the entire recruiting process, and even when they could not get him down for an official visit until the fall of 2024, it was still enough for the four-star recruit to change his mind and commit to the Gators. Woods credits the coaching staff for staying persistent and giving him the chance to compete in the SEC, which he calls “The best competition in America.”
As for any freshman making the jump from high school to college, there is an adjustment period that can encompass a wide range of things. For Woods, it was realizing that the speed of the game in the SEC and college football is much faster than in high school. Someone who helped Woods with getting adjusted to the every day flows of collegiate football was EDGE George Gumbs Jr. Not so long a year ago, Gumbs Jr. made the jump from Northern Illinois to Florida, where he also had to find that switch. Now seen as one of the vital leaders on the defense, Gumbs Jr. took Woods under his wing to show him the ropes.
“He’s kind of been my guy this year. He’s a guy I’m gonna remember for the rest of my life,” Woods said. “He’s a guy I look up to, ever since spring ball.”
While Gumbs leads the way on the field, his veteran leadership carries off the field as well. He serves as an every-day mentor for Woods, giving him pointers on anything that comes across the way. At other moments it might be something Gumbs overhears Woods talking about in regards to preparing or explaining something in the past. There, Woods says the biggest piece of advice Gumbs told him was staying even keel — not getting too high or low.
“He helps keep level-headed,” Woods said. “We’ll be in the hotel I remember earlier in the season, I would be rambling about the call, or something like that and he’ll be like ‘You’re good, just focus on this and this will happen.’ I’m like all right, kind of put my mind at ease, so great all season.”
As far as being on the field, Woods has impressed all season, earning playing time in the 10 games this season. After logging just 13 snaps on defense in Week 1, Woods started seeing his playing time go up and contributing more as a key rotational piece at the EDGE position. Some notable milestones were getting his first-career tackle against USF, first sack against Miami, logged a season-high six tackles against Texas A&M and made his first start in the loss against Georgia.
Woods believes that all the playing time he is receiving in his first year has been beneficial to his development and transition from high school to the college level. Woods said the pace of play is slowing down for him, which was one of his early concerns when he first arrived. With his comfort level now in check, it’s allowed Woods to play with a bit more pep in his step.
“It’s been great to have just seen him progress during the season just with reps and just being out there and get more comfortable just seeing him play faster,” Gumbs Jr. said.
Just last week, Woods achieved another milestone — recording his first interception in the first half of the Ole Miss game. The pick set up a touchdown that put Florida ahead momentarily. Woods said he kind of blacked out during the play and relied on instincts to make a play on the ball to give his offense a chance to score. Despite the loss, Woods’ 75.7-PFF grade was the highest out of any Florida defender.
Woods has recorded 16 total tackles (six solo), 1.5 sacks, one fumble recovery and one interception. His production has Woods receiving praise from interim coach Billy Gonzales and he believes the sky’s the limit with how far Woods can go as a football player.
“He’s done a fantastic job; he’s only getting better, he’s learning the little techniques that coach Mike Peterson does an incredible job as far as mentoring him,” Gonzales said. “He’s an explosive, explosive, explosive athlete. And I think that’s probably one of the unique things when you start talking about some of his traits. He plays at a high level, his energy level is extremely high and the will to compete is at a high level as well.”
As Florida continued to prepare for Saturday’s opponent, Tennessee, the team announced Wednesday that Gumbs Jr. would be undergoing knee surgery that will force him to miss at least one game, if not the remainder of the year.
With Gumbs Jr. going down, Woods’ role in the lineup is expected to a big jump. With only one start, Woods won’t have to worry about those first-time nerves, but he cannot let the moment get the best of him. When Woods met with Peterson and Gumbs Jr. this week, the message became clear — stay true to who you are.
“I need to step up,” Woods said. “So, really just hammering home the details, the fundamentals, what got me here and to this level.”
Woods and the rest of the Gators will prepare for a tricky Tennessee offense that relies on going fast, but wanting to establish the run to setup explosive passes down the field. For Florida to have success in this game, the Gators must shut down a Volunteers running game that uses three running backs and a physical offensive line to overwhelm opposing defenses.
Florida (3-7, 2-5 SEC) has had trouble the last few weeks at stopping the run, allowing an average of 235 yards between the last two games. If Florida, which has 10 consecutive wins at Florida Field vs. the Vols, cannot stop the run, No. 20 Tennessee (7-3, 3-3) should find success through the air, led by quarterback Joey Aguilar, who is eighth in the nation with 2,941 passing yards, has thrown for 22 touchdowns and averages 9.2 yards per completion. With a passing attack this lethal, Florida must make it a priority to slow the run game down.
“We’ve got to reduce them,” Gonzales said. “One thing their explosives come off of, they do a really good job and the majority of them, they’re at a higher rate with their explosives in the play action game, much higher than the average across the country. So they do a really good job of setting up their explosives off the play action game. So they do a good job.”
Coverage will start at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN 98.1-FM, 103.7-FM/850-AM WRUF and at 7:30 p.m. on ABC at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
