Nine Florida Gators named to Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators had nine players — including a pair of third-year juniors — named to the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List, as announced by the organization Wednesday.

Improving on its six selections from last year’s Watch List, Florida’s nine players represented are redshirt junior center Kingsley Eguakun, redshirt junior defensive back Jaydon Hill, junior defensive lineman Cam Jackson, redshirt junior quarterback Graham Mertz, redshirt senior linebacker Teradja Mitchell, junior safety R.J. Moten, senior receiver Ricky Pearsall, junior EDGE Princely Umanmielen and redshirt senior tight end Dante Zanders.

Third- or fourth-year juniors are eligible to play in the all-star game if they graduate by December 2023. Florida has produced 114 Gators all-time to have competed in the Senior Bowl with Richard Gouraige and O’Cyrus Torrence being the latest participants in February.

The Reese’s Senior Bowl is widely regarded as the preeminent college football all-star game and the first stage in the NFL Draft process. The longest continual-running all-star game has taken place in Mobile, Alabama the past 74 years.  More than 900 NFL personnel, including key decision-makers from all 32 teams, and over 1100 media members from around the country were credentialed this year. This past April, the game produced 100 total picks for the third straight year, representing 40 percent of the entire NFL draft, including 40 selected on the first two days.

Last season, Eguakun started all 13 games at center and helped the offense average 5.5 yards per carry, which ranked fourth in program history and sixth in the FBS. Florida’s 17 sacks allowed in 2022 tied for the 27th-fewest in the Power Five and fourth in the SEC. The Jacksonville, Fla. native has never allowed a sack in 40 games played and has only allowed three QB hits in 26 straight starts at center, according to PFF.

After missing the 2021 season due to an injury and the beginning of the 2022 campaign, Hill started the final nine games for the Gators at cornerback. In his second start, he recorded two interceptions, including a 49-yard interception return touchdown in the first quarter vs. Missouri. The Huntsville, Ala. native became the first Florida player with two INTs and a pick-six in the same game since CJ Gardner-Johnson vs. Michigan in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 29, 2018. His performance earned him his first-career SEC Defensive Player of the Week honor. Hill, who has moved to STAR, finished last year with 24 total tackles, four pass breakups, one fumble recovery and half a sack.

A transfer from Memphis, Jackson started all 13 games for the Tigers last season totaling 41 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, four quarterback hurries and one pass breakup. A 2022 Third Team All-AAC honoree per PFF, the Haynesville, La. native will step and start along Florida’s defensive line following the loss of Gervon Dexter Sr., a second-round pick by the Chicago Bears.

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Mertz transferred to UF after 34 career games played at quarterback for Wisconsin, having started all but one of the Badger’s 33 games to total over 2,000 snaps across the past three seasons from 2020-22. He has completed 460 passes out of 773 career attempts (60.0 percent) for 5,405 yards and 38 touchdowns against 26 interceptions. Mertz is tied for third-most career starts among active SEC quarterbacks and ranks seventh in attempts and completions while sitting eighth in yards and passing touchdowns.

Transferring in from Ohio State, Mitchell played in 44 games for the Buckeyes from 2018-22 and registered 63 career tackles with seven TFLs. A team co-captain in 2021, the Virginia Beach, Va. native had his best season statistically that season with 45 total tackles, including 4.5 TFLs totally 11 yards. Prior to 2021, Mitchell was a key special teams player for Ohio State.

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Another defensive transfer from the Big Ten, Moten had 15 career starts and 1,033 snaps played at Michigan, which is the third-most by a defensive player on the UF roster. He started 10 games last fall and played in all 14 games for the second straight season. The safety made 31 tackles with 2.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks, one interception among two breakups and two quarterback hurries.

The Gators top pass catcher from last year, Pearsall hauled in 33 catches for 661 yards and five touchdowns in his first season as a Gator in 2022. His 661 receiving yards were UF’s most since Kadarius Toney’s 984 in 2020. Additionally, Pearsall’s 20.0 yards per reception finished fourth in the FBS and were the third highest in a season in program history. Proving to be one of the most dynamic playmakers in the country, 27 of the Chandler, Ariz. native’s 33 receptions went for first downs, while 28 were for double-digit yards. Also, Pearsall was one of six FBS wide receivers with 110-plus rushing yards and 650-plus receiving yards.

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Breaking out last season, Umanmielen finished as the team-leader in sacks (4.5), TFLs (9.5) and second in quarterback hurries (5) last season. Playing in all 13 games and starting in 11, the Manor, Texas native also posted 39 total tackles, 16 solo and two forced fumbles. In his last five starts, Umanmielen had 17 total tackles, 5.5 TFL (loss of 29 yards), 2.5 sacks, four quarterback hurries and one forced fumble. The Manor, Texas native returns as the top-ranked SEC EDGE by PFF with a grade of 82.1.

Entering his sixth season in the Orange & Blue, Zanders played in all 13 games with seven starts in 2022. He set single-season career highs in receptions (10), receiving yards (75) and yards per catch (7.5) last year.