London Montgomery, Alec Clark Continue To Shine On Florida’s Special Teams
The improvements for Florida football from last year to this season are obvious across the board. The Gators hiring Tulane coach Jon Sumrall has paid dividends, the latest of the highlights coming in the form of a 52-28 win against Ole Miss.
While the overwhelming difference between 2025 and 2026 has been the offensive improvements, another unit has stood out in the early games of the Sumrall era.
One of the reasons that No. 8 Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC) took a lead and never conceded in the top-five win against the Rebels was the effort of the special teams. A band of unlikely heroes have turned a sore spot for the Gators last year into a key positive under Sumrall.
That shift has been partly caused by the influx of transfers who have revolutionized the group. Six players were brought in to fill the gaps left by players like kicker Trey Smack and punter Tommy Doman graduating to the NFL. In addition to those specific transfers that have shaken up special teams, another first-year Gator has come up massive when his name is called in the return game.
East Carolina transfer running back London Montgomery has spent time picking up new aspects of the run game alongside Heisman Trophy candidate Jadan Baugh. The one thing he never had to learn was the speed, a facet that has made him a potent kick returner at Florida.
“People would show up to his pee wee games just to see London play,” Terry Gallagher, Montgomery’s coach at Scranton Prep High School, said. “He played at a different level from a young age. You’d put the ball in his hand and a moment later, he’s 70 yards down the field standing in the end zone every time.”
Montgomery, who ran for 2,356 yards and 36 touchdowns in his junior year at Scranton Prep, took that trait that was signature throughout his childhood to the next level. The Pennsylvania standout played a year at Penn State before making the move to East Carolina where he excelled.
Montgomery totaled 737 yards rushing and seven touchdowns his junior year before betting on himself and his progress by entering the transfer portal. That decision has worked out after he joined the Gators in January and is now making a strong impact for Florida as of late.
The senior running back earned SEC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his breakout performance in the 24-point win against the Rebels last week in The Swamp. Montgomery returned three kicks for 128 yards, with two of those returns extended for 40-plus yards.
His output, which leads the SEC in single-game kick return yards this year, included a career long 74-yard return, which was the longest for the Gators since Solomon Patton’s 100-yard return touchdown in 2013. It also gave Florida great field position to score three plays later and begin to pull away as the third quarter winded down.
Adding Montgomery’s speedy, physical style to a return room that features wide receiver Vernell Brown III on punts has made the Gators dangerous in the return game. That feeling of fear for opponents is one that Montgomery relishes.
“All of our players are bought in to what the coaches are trying to coach us to do. We just take pride in special teams here,” Montgomery told WRUF’s Kevin Winter on the Gators Sports Network. “On the sidelines, before we go out for kick returns, my teammates are telling me that we’re gonna take it to the crib. You need players like that who take pride in special teams and want to see us succeed.”
Montgomery is not the only transfer who made his mark in the Ole Miss game. Former Tulane punter Alec Clark moved from New Orleans to Gainesville to follow Sumrall. It is safe to say that is not the farthest move he has made.
Clark calls Australia home, which is more than 11,000 miles away from Gainesville. Clark began learning American football punting through The Gridiron Company, a specialized training academy in Melbourne that helps Australian athletes earn U.S. collegiate scholarships for punting and kicking.
After playing Australian rules football his entire childhood, the Perth native made the decision to come to the United States and hone his skills by playing at the high school level in Atlanta. Clark would go on to play at Marshall before finding his wealth of action under Sumrall at Tulane.
In his time with the Green Wave, Clark developed into one of the best punters in the American Athletic Conference. He earned 2025 All-AAC First Team recognition for logging a career-best 46.5 average yards per punt across his 48 tries last season at Tulane.
The Aussie has already made his mark as a Gator despite only booting away five punts through four games, a testament to how strong Florida’s offense has been. His landmark moment, similar to Montgomery, also came in the Ole Miss game.
With Florida backed up near its own end zone inside the final minute of the first half, the Gators were forced to give the ball away after an unsuccessful drive. Ole Miss held three timeouts and it was a near certainty that they would have a scoring chance depending on their field position. That is where Clark stepped in.
The senior punter booted a 70-yard punt that tied a career-high and trickled out at the 2-yard line and pinned the Rebels deep in their own territory with no chance to score before halftime. While Clark has had limited opportunities to punt, he has made the most of the ones he has gotten.
What made the moment special for Clark is that his family got to watch it back home, despite the time difference. The 3:30 p.m. kick off meant a 3:30 a.m. watch party for his parents back home, who sometimes find the difference in rules between Australian and American football to be a bigger challenge than the time change.
“It’s crazy calling on the phone because my mom doesn’t really know too much of the rules,” Clark said. ”She’s like, ‘Was it good?’ My thought was, “Yes mom, I thought it was pretty nice.’ They were both pretty happy.”
Clark’s balance of the mental and physical aspects of American football is one that he learned and focused on through his coaching staff at The Gridiron Company. One of those key teachers in his development is former Australian NFL punter and Los Angeles Chargers Hall of Fame inductee Darren Bennett.
“If someone said to me, ‘I want a kid to go out and hit the most important punt in the season,’ I would say let Alec Clark do it,” Bennett said. “He’s as strong mentally as he is capable physically.”
Between the pair of rising transfers and a bonafide top kicker in Tulane transfer Patrick Durkin, who is a perfect 27-for-27 on all kicks this season, the special teams crew is in good hands. While the offensive and defensive units have held strong for the top-10 Gators early on in 2026, the special teams unit has helped put them in good positions to succeed.
What has also developed the special teams group into one of the SEC’s best statistically is the attention to detail that Sumrall has provided. He has frequently mentioned throughout the season that he does not overlook their contributions and how he focuses on preparing the unit for Saturdays at practice. That dynamic is what has made Florida into the complete team it has been through the first four contests and what could make the Gators a national threat.
“I think your players can tell what’s important by how many people are involved, and when the whole staff’s involved, I think they feel that,” Sumrall said of Florida’s special teams. “Our guys believe in it. They’ve bought into it, and they’re giving great effort.”
Category: Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Football
