Ahead of the 2025 college football season, ESPN released its first-round mock for the 2026 NFL Draft on Wednesday, and the Gators have a pair of players projected to be selected within the first 13 picks of next year's Draft.
The first Gator projected to be selected is UF's starting left tackle, Austin Barber, heading to the Cleveland Browns (via Jacksonville) with the 12th overall pick.
We got a new QB for the Browns at No. 1 in this mock draft. Now, they have to improve the protection with their other pick, courtesy of the Jaguars via the Travis Hunter trade. Insert Barber, who has excellent length and extensive experience as both a right and left tackle. Barber can really bend and pass protect, something he'll do at a high-stakes level this season in manning the blind side for 2027 QB prospect DJ Lagway. He allowed three sacks last season over 13 starts. The Browns need to get younger along the offensive line; they allowed 66 sacks last season, second most in the league.
ESPN projects the 2026 NFL Draft seeing two Gators selected back-to-back, with Caleb Banks being selected 13th overall by the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys enter the 2025 season looking to right some of the wrongs from their forgettable 2024. One big area of concern is the interior defensive line. Their porous run D (4.8 yards allowed per carry, tied for third worst) cannot continue if they want to keep contending in the NFC. Banks could help fix it. He has outstanding size at 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds, but he also displays the quickness and power to be a disruptive interior rusher. He began his career at Louisville, but his best college season came in 2024, when he had 4.5 sacks for the Gators -- including 2.5 in his dominant game against Ole Miss.
Barber's inclusion as an early first-round selection is notable, considering the Jacksonville native was not included in the outlet's ranking of the top 100 players in college football ahead of the 2026 season.
Banks, considered to be one of UF's top defensive players in 2025 after opting to return for his third season at Florida despite considerable buzz as an early-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, is ranked No. 47, a year removed from being unranked prior to the 2024 campaign.
Florida redshirt senior center Jake Slaughter checked in at No. 37 after being ranked No. 92 prior to the 2024 season.
Slaughter, who finished the 2024 season as Florida's top-graded run-blocker and pass-protector among linemen who logged at least 75 offensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, receiving 80.2 (out of 100) and 84.2 grades in those respective categories, has received considerable preseason acclaim, with three placements on preseason award watch lists along with making the Preseason All-American team for five outlets, including the Associated Press after he was named a First-Team All-American by the AP after the 2024 season.
Florida's highest-ranked player on ESPN's list is sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, who checks in at No. 25 in the rankings. The Willis, Texas native has recently elevated his practice workload, taking first-team repetitions in 11-on-11 portions of practice for the first time as UF's season-opener on Aug. 30 against Long Island University nears.