Florida Gators Announce Captains for Miami Game

This is the fourth different group of captains for Florida after running back Ja'Kobi Jackson, edge rusher George Gumbs Jr. and long snapper Rocco Underwood  held the role against LIU and
corner Devin Moore, offensive lineman Austin Barber and corner Dijon Johnson  held the role against USF.

Last week, running back Jadan Baugh, edge rusher Tyreak Sapp and kicker Trey Smack were Florida's captains against LSU.

Head coach Billy Napier previously explained Florida's preference for rotating captains.

"I think we have lots of guys that are capable," he said. "You know, we allow the players to vote at the end of the year. That's our thought process is to observe the group within competition, within the adversity of the season, the ups and downs, and then over time, their body of work as a leader. We got, probably had more votes last year, you know, it was spread out. So I think that's a good thing."

Slaughter headlines the group as one of the most prominent leaders on the team after an All-American season last year.

Last week, Slaughter explained that the veterans are trying to take on a larger leadership role after the loss to USF.

"Yeah, there's always a calling to that, you know, as an older veteran player," he said. "You know, it's one of those things that everybody's frustrated after a game like that, everybody's embarrassed to an extent, nobody's happy with their individual and especially not with their team performance. So, you know, there's definitely a calling among older guys."

Graham, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the top playmakers on defense despite his youth. He currently leads the team with 17 total tackles and recorded a pair of pass breakups last week.

While the defense has played well this season, only allowing two touchdowns across three games, Graham wants to see more out of that side of the ball.

"I feel like we played well. We're still not perfect, still not perfect football, you know what I'm saying? It's closer to the standard but it's still not perfect," he said after last week's loss to LSU. And it wasn't good enough for the win, so it's not good enough. So it's not just on the offense, it's on us too. We could have made some plays, capitalized on more opportunities to make more plays and get off the field, give the offense more time with the ball. So it was a good performance but not good enough."

Meanwhile, Doman is one of the newest players on the roster, but after his success at Michigan, he's embraced being a leader on Florida's special teams will filling the big shoes left by Jeremy Crawshaw.

"Tommy has a lot of experience himself, he’s played in very critical games, won a national championship at Michigan so he has playoff experience," special teams coordinator Joe Houston said in fall camp. "Tommy is very talented, a hard worker, he’ll play a long time in the NFL as well. Definitely big shoes to fill relative to Crawshaw but Tommy is made for this, he’s gone over and beyond any expectations I’ve had of him and he’s actually improved tremendously from spring until now, he’s playing some of his best ball.”

Florida is looking to snap a two-game losing streak while also looking for revenge after last season's blowout loss to the Hurricanes. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. with television coverage on ABC.