Florida Gators 2025 Transfer Portal Profiles: EDGE Kofi Asare

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida Gators have made five additions to its upcoming 2025 roster, via the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Gators Illustrated is tracking all of Florida's portal moves here and is keeping count of the Gators' roster numbers here.

With entry to the portal closed, Gators Illustrated is taking a look at each transfer addition and where they could fit in the lineup for next season. Punter Tommy Doman was featured first as Jeremy Crawshaw's replacement with receiver J. Michael Sturdivant being featured after.

Up next is edge rusher Kofi Asare from UMASS.

Kofi Asare

Profile

• Former school: UMASS
• Height/Weight: 6-5, 240 pounds
• 2024/Career stats: 30 tackles (11 solo), 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble
• Years of eligibility: Two
• Replaces: Jack Pyburn
• Projection: Depth/rotational edge rusher, special teams

The Rundown

The Gators saw an exodus in the edge rushers room with Jack Pyburn, TJ Searcy and Kelby Collins, who moved inside to interior defensive line, all transferring out of the program, leaving the Gators with a void behind Tyreak Sapp and George Gumbs Jr.

Enter Asare, an under-the-radar transfer prospect who helps boost Florida's lost depth at the position, not to disimilar from what Gumbs Jr. was expected to provide when he joined the team a year ago.

With only one year of serious in-game experience under his belt at UMASS, Asare is still raw, but two years of eligibility remaining with the chance to develop behind Sapp, Gumbs, Kamran James and rising sophomore LJ McCray in 2025 gives Asare the potential to be a great long-term investment from head coach Billy Napier.

With the Minutemen, Asare recorded 30 total tackles with three sacks and a forced fumble. He saw his best success as a pass rusher with a 73.7 grade from Pro Football Focus.

He won't be asked to do too much in 2025 with Florida due to the experience and talent returning from last season. Not to mention, the Gators have a slew of talented freshmen arriving in Jayden Woods, Jalen Wiggins and Jeramiah McCloud that will be competing with Asare for a spot in the rotation.

Recently, Napier raved about Asare, explaining that he's already put on muscle and can provide value on Florida's special teams unit.

"Look, we haven't always signed the flashiest name out of there, but I think we've been pretty spot on in terms of the production that we get. So we're hopeful we’ve done that," he said. "But Kofi’s (Asare) off to a great start; he’s added probably 12 to 15 pounds, played really good against the three SEC teams.

"He's 6-4 ¾, he's 85 wing, a lot of length there and then just really good movements, good athlete, can play in space. He’ll have some special teams value. We got him for two years. So Gumbs-ish, a little bit different. But I like him so far. He’s brought a lot. He’s a worker."

Again, Florida won't need an all-conference caliber starter out of Asare, but if he finds a role in the edge rusher rotation and can consistently make plays when asked, he'll be another hit in Napier's portal evaluations.

Highlights