Even though 2025 wasn’t a great year for Florida Gators football, there were still plenty of success stories across all sports in Gainesville. Lacrosse made the Final Four, softball made the WCWS, women’s cross country was 5th at nationals, and men’s basketball won it all in April and won the third national title in program history.
Given it is Christmas and Santa spent the night deciding who was naughty and who was nice, these are the Gators we would have to imagine Santa thought were nice in 2025.
Walter Clayton Jr. – Men’s Basketball
The run men’s basketball had through the NCAA Tournament is one of those runs that probably couldn’t be repeated again if given 100 tries. But all Florida needed in 2025 was one try and at the center of it all was Walter Clayton Jr.
The All-American and Final Four MOP was there every step of the way to make the big shot when it seemed like Florida was down and out. He had so many iconic moments during the tournament alone that it is hard to pick just one, but his Steph Curry-like three to pull ahead in the final minute against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight is the one that stands out the most.
Jake Slaughter – Football
For the second year in a row, Jake Slaughter was named an All-American. At times, it looked like Slaughter had to do it all by himself along the offensive line, and he did everything he could to hold down the fort on an otherwise inept offense…