Florida is Building a Monster Rooted in Loyalty

When All-American Thomas Haugh announced his return to Gainesville, the Florida Gators cemented themselves as national championship favorites heading into the upcoming season. Florida, set to return 10 rotation players, has its sights set on a second national title in three years in 2027.

To address the elephant in the room— yes, I know money is a major reason many of these guys are coming back, not purely loyalty. Regardless, Florida, in an era in which the transfer portal rules roster building, will be title favorites with a squad of homegrown prospects and three-star recruits.

This is the deepest roster I can remember since the legendary 2015 Kentucky platoon system team. In addition to depth, all but two Gators have now been in Todd Golden’s system for at least a year. Nine of the 12 possible rotation players are Florida commits out of high school/international, while Boogie Fland, Reuben Chinyelu and AJ Brown were freshman portal adds.

Florida’s rotation next year, assuming Chinyelu returns, will look like this:

• Boogie Fland (second year with UF)

• Denzel Aberdeen (fourth year with UF)

• Thomas Haugh (fourth year with UF)

• Alex Condon (fourth year with UF)

• Reuben Chinyelu (third year with UF)

• Isaiah Brown (third year with UF)

• Urban Klavzar (third year with UF)

• AJ Brown (second year with UF)

• CJ Ingram (second year with UF)

• Alex Lloyd (second year with UF)

• Arturas Butavejas (freshman, first year with UF)

• Jones Lay (freshman, first year with UF)

Despite Michigan pulling off an incredible, national championship-winning season with a team full of newcomers and transfers, returners and system familiarity are typically keys to success in this sport. When Florida struggled this season, it was usually due to its two newcomer guards, Fland and Xaivian Lee, who were both in their first year under Golden. That won’t be an issue this season; every starter and every guard has now spent at least a year in this system. The Gators retained the coaching staff, too. Last year, they had to replace a few coaches, including what was the basketball equivalent to an offensive coordinator. This team’s chemistry should be off the charts.

Todd Golden and his staff has done a fantastic job recruiting. This team was not built on five-stars like Duke or UConn, and it won’t be stacked with portal stars like Michigan’s title-winning team was.

Haugh, Condon, Aberdeen, Isaiah Brown and Klavsar, the core of the guys who drove this team to an SEC title, were all three-star recruits. Not four stars, THREE-STAR recruits. On paper, these guys have no business contending for titles. On the court, it’s a different story.

Here’s the full breakdown. I will use transfer star ranking if the player transferred, and the high school ranking if the player committed to Florida out of high school.

• Five-stars: Fland (Fr. transfer)

• Four-stars: Ingram, Lloyd, AJ Brown (Fr. transfer), Chinyelu (Fr. transfer)

• Three-stars: Haugh, Condon, Aberdeen, I. Brown, Klavzar, Lay

For comparison, Michigan’s title-winning squad’s nine-man rotation featured just three three-star recruits; everyone else was a four or five-star.

The Gators’ high school recruiting patterns are fascinating; the staff is doing a great job with both in-state and international recruiting. Five guys in the rotation are native Floridians, while four are from outside the US. Whatever Golden prioritizes when recruiting, it’s working. His teams play hard and improve year after year.

We all know about Florida’s incredible title-winning 2024-25 team. The 2025-26 team, despite the shocking loss in the second round against Iowa, was just as, if not more dominant than the championship team in conference play. The Gators won the SEC by three games and won their conference games by an average of 17 points per game. The 2026-27 team will feature six national champions and nine SEC champs, and that’s just counting the rotation players, not the walk-ons/benchwarmers.

Florida will be welcoming back star guard Denzel Aberdeen, who was a Gator for three years before transferring to Kentucky for a pay day last year. After Kentucky’s season crashed and burned and the Gators struggled with guard play, both Aberdeen and Florida were more than ready for a reunion.

“We missed him last year and he missed us,” said Golden when asked about the senior guard.

Now in his fifth season, Aberdeen is a plus player on both sides of the ball, has the ability to play at the point or the two and is a capable shooter, something Florida needs badly to complement its dominant play down low.

While Florida is among the wealthiest athletic programs in the country, the Gators haven’t compiled this roster solely based on money. Other programs, such as Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, BYU and North Carolina are paying/have paid more for rosters (reportedly) that will not be nearly as talented or loyal.

Haugh, despite being projected to make millions this year, could have made even more as a lottery pick. Condon has opted out of two consecutive NBA Drafts. Coach Golden is reportedly rejecting NBA openings to come back and coach this group again. Multiple players who are good enough to start at high-major programs chose to instead come back and develop and come off the bench for the Gators. In the portal era, having a team made up almost entirely of home-grown guys who have developed in the same system is as rare, and valuable, as gold.

It reminds me of the Florida teams from two decades ago. The 2006-07 team won the national championship and, amazingly, all five starters chose to come back. The 2007-07 team went on to win the SEC and a second-straight national championship. Now, that was pre-NIL, so those guys returning was even more amazing, but both instances are shocking to a degree and signify a strong, loyal program.

Barring injuries or a catastrophic collapse, I expect the Gators to be favorites in every game they play next season. They will begin the year with traditional rivalry games against Miami and Florida State and will be apart of the 32-team Players Era Invitational in Las Vegas. I wouldn’t be shocked if Florida plays Michigan in a battle of the last two champs or Duke or UConn again in non-conference play.

In the SEC, the Gators are the clear favorites, with Arkansas and Texas trailing behind. John Calipari has done it again, his Razorbacks have locked up the best recruiting class in America with three five-star freshmen and Georgia’s top scorer, Jeremiah Wilkinson, through the portal.

I’m a big fan of what Sean Miller is doing in the portal. Texas’ class is headlined by TCU star David Punch and Colorado guard Isaiah Johnson. The Longhorns will also bring in a talented freshman class.

Despite those impressive additions, I don’t see either team stacking up to Florida. The Gators will be favored over the 15-team field. Buckle up Gator fans, it should be a fun season in Gainesville.