WATCH: Two Florida Gators freshmen squat 500 & 550 pounds
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A pair of Florida Gators can throw up some serious weight as true freshmen. As the team wraps up its offseason strength program for the start of fall training camp next week, two early enrollees ended the summer on a strong note.
Two separate videos made the rounds on social media Friday. The first came from the Florida Gators Football X account, which shared a clip showing safety Josiah Davis squat 500 pounds. That’s 300 pounds heavier than the 6-foot-0.5 Davis.
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Davis was topped in the weight room by fellow freshman Jadan Baugh. A video leaked on Friday showing the 6-foot-0.75, 237-pound running back squat a whopping 550 pounds. Judging by the reaction from his teammates, this wasn’t the first time.
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Florida coach Billy Napier made several changes to his strength and conditioning staff after last season, most notably reassigning Mark Hocke to director of player relations.
At SEC Media Days earlier this month, Napier touted the hire of director of football strength and conditioning Tyler Miles along with Jesse Ackerman and Rodney Hill.
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Miles joined Florida’s staff in 2023 and worked last year in a sports science role as the director of player athletic development before being promoted by Napier on Feb. 20.
“I think it’s going to prove to be one of the biggest storylines about this team. I think we made a philosophy change there. Tyler Miles has been phenomenal,” Napier said. “If you ask each one of the players, and really it would be the consensus amongst our team. The change in approach there, the whole strength and conditioning and sports science, nutrition, training room team, the discipline, the accountability.
“Just in January to April — we do DEXA scans at the beginning of a training block, and then at the end we gained 500 pounds of lean muscle, and we were 500 pounds leaner, as well. We made significant progress. Our team looks different. All the numbers, the metrics, the speeds, the strength improvement, not to mention the culture. I think it’s critical that your players believe in that part of your process, and I think right now, that’s one of the benefits of that change. It’s going to be a huge part of our success this year.”
