Florida helping OL Chase Stevens find new home after NCAA reduces walk-ons

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators had 44 walk-on players on their 2024 roster, including true freshman offensive lineman Chase Stevens. That number will be reduced to 20 this year, and Stevens is one of the roster casualties of the new rule.

The NCAA has proposed a roster limit of 105 athletes for football programs, and SEC schools will maintain an 85-scholarship limit in 2025 with 20 extra roster spots for walk-ons. Stevens put his name in the portal on Tuesday with four years of eligibility.

The 6-foot-3, 310-pound Stevens, who played all three interior positions for the Gators, has already received three offers since entering the transfer portal. While he’s grateful for the opportunities coming his way, and the UF coaches for helping him find a new home, he’s disappointed with the way the NCAA took away walk-on spots.

“They definitely could have done it better. Not just put it right out there and threw all of us under the bus,” Stevens told Gators Online. “But the game of football is changing, especially college football. And if we want to stay in it, then we got to change with it.

“Of course, I’m going to have a little bit of a bias, but it’s going to be so much different with less walk-ons in college football. I’ve talked to players on the team about it, even the scholarship guys. With less walk-ons, there’s less glue to hold down the foundation.”

Florida helping Stevens out

Within 24 hours of being in the portal, Stevens landed offers from Albany and Bethune-Cookman. Samford, one of the Gators’ 2024 opponents, offered him his third scholarship on Thursday.

Stevens said multiple Florida assistants and staff members have been working the phones on his behalf and using their connections to find some potential schools looking for linemen.

“My offensive line coaches have helped me out so much since this happened,” Stevens said. “They’re reaching out to everyone they know. They’re getting calls about me and referring them to me. So, they’ve definitely been helping a lot with the process of going through this whole thing and it definitely feels good to feel I have that support from them.

“Coach Kaleb [Johnson], Coach [Rob] Sale, Coach [Jonathan] Decoster. I even got Joe Hamilton, Mason Collins, just a bunch of guys. Coach [Chad] Lucas as well. Having a lot of guys trying to help me out, it’s definitely a blessing. At the end of the day, I can’t say anything bad about them. These guys have helped me out more than they can even imagine.”

Very few players in that building that works harder than Chase!! 5=1 https://t.co/ERhWXxT8uF

— John Decoster (@BALLCOACH_D) April 22, 2025

As an interior lineman, Stevens was coached primarily by Sale but worked with Decoster and former offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton as well. He also credited Johnson, a quality control offensive line coach, for helping him in the film room.

“To be able to have two coaches and Coach Kaleb, I’m thankful for the experience and their love of always wanting to make you better. Like, they truly understood their job and they truly understood how to do it and why we’re doing it. So, I think that experience of actually feeling a care of, ‘Hey, we want to take your game to the next level’, they really developed me and that’s what I wanted. They four eyes on what you have to fix.

“And I’ve spent a lot of time in the film room with Coach Kaleb. I remember literally sitting there hours just watching games of the past season, pressure looks, different plugs. Seeing all that and doing so many mental reps in the film, it really slowed the game down for me. I was able to see things that were happening. Just doing all that and basically building football IQ has really helped me so much in my game.”

‘The Glue Guys’

What Stevens will miss the most about Florida is the relationship he built with the other walk-on players. They have a group chat and lean on each other about football, school and life. Two of them, Stevens and long snapper Gannon Burt, entered the portal this week.

“The biggest thing that I’m gonna remember is the guys I was around. We got a group chat called ‘The Glue Guys.’ It’s a bunch of like people like me on the team and it’s definitely like the guys in the room that I’ll be able to talk to 30 years down the road,” Stevens said.

“One of them is a fellow portal hopper, Gannon Burt. We got Connor Homa, Bryan Rosenberg, the real gritty guys. The guys that really get after it. You got guys like me and Gannon who still have this heavy dream to go play college football.”

Stevens played at Vero Beach High School, where he was named the 772 Lineman of the Year and earned all-state and all-area honors. He turned down scholarship offers from Austin Peay, Bethune-Cookman, Bryant and Rhode Island to join UF.

In addition to Florida, Stevens had PWO offers from other Power 4 in-state schools. He will now evaluate his options in the transfer portal and figuring out the best landing spot. Despite the situation, he doesn’t regret his time with the Gators.

“It’s definitely been a little bit discouraging, especially putting so much time and effort into a community and a program that I loved to be a part of. I grew up always wanting to play for Florida and it truly was a blessing to be here,” Stevens said. “And I know that at the end of the day, God’s plan is so much better than anything I could ever imagine.”