Singleton Adds More Than Speed to UF's Offense

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — They were three kids from the Atlanta area with the same goal – to play big-time college football. If you look at a map and draw a line connecting their high schools, you can sketch a triangle.

Gators running back Jadan Baugh played at Columbia High, east of downtown off Interstate 20. Safety Bryce Thornton played at Milton High in the northern part of Fulton County. And the newcomer, receiver Eric Singleton Jr., played at Alexander High School west of downtown in Douglasville.

Baugh and Thornton have been teammates at UF for the past two seasons, and Baugh lobbied the previous coaching staff to add Singleton last year before the talented receiver transferred from Georgia Tech to Auburn.

"I knew what type of player he was,'' Baugh said Wednesday. "I knew what he was going to bring to the offense."

A year later, Baugh got his wish when Singleton, after flirting with the NFL Draft, opted to return to college for his final season of eligibility. He signed with the Gators, which instantly sent a message to Thornton.

Thornton had better be on top of his game in practice to keep up with Singleton, a 5-foot-10, 182-pound speedster who arrived with 162 career receptions for 2,002 yards and 12 touchdowns in two seasons at Georgia Tech and the 2025 season at Auburn.

"When you see Singleton play, you know he's the best,'' Thornton said. Baugh said he first played against Singleton when he was 7, and Thornton spent time as Singleton's teammate on an Atlanta-area 7-on-7 team called Hustle Inc.

Singleton recalled Wednesday a trip the team took to Myrtle Beach, S.C., when he and Thornton happened to be seated next to one another. They didn't know at the time that one day they would be fulfilling that long-ago goal as teammates at Florida.

"We were just talking the whole ride,'' Singleton said. "It's crazy."

In first-year head coach Jon Sumrall's reshaping of the roster in the offseason, Singleton's addition created as much buzz as any player the Gators added.

After playing at Georgia Tech for two seasons under offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, Singleton decided to transfer to Auburn prior to last season. In his only season on the Plains, Singleton caught a career-high 58 passes for 534 yards and three scores.

He began working out for the draft, but had second thoughts and landed at Florida when Sumrall hired Faulkner to run the offense and Marcus Davis, who coached Singleton at Auburn, to take over as UF's receivers coach.

"It was a tough decision,'' Singleton said. "I don't know, I just wasn't really satisfied with how my last season went. I feel like I have a lot more to prove."

The familiarity with Faulkner's offense helped Singleton swing Florida's way as other teams showed interest in signing him out of the transfer portal.

"Me and Buster, it's a very tight connection,'' he said. "Even when I declared [for the draft], he kept emphasizing to me on still having a chance to come back to Florida. He knows how to use me, especially with the two years I have under his wing at Georgia Tech. He knows what I'm good at, and what are some of my weaknesses. So that played a factor."

Singleton's a proven commodity and has caught at least one pass in all 36 games of his college career, the sixth-longest active FBS streak entering the 2026 season. In his two seasons at Georgia Tech in Faulkner's offense, Singleton caught 104 passes for 1,468 yards and nine touchdowns.

Faulkner didn't need to watch film when he made the initial contact with Singleton, who was named to the FWAA Freshman All-American at Georgia Tech in 2023.

"He came in as a true freshman, got there in June when we had a chance to coach him a few years back, and he learned the offense, and this is not an easy offense to learn, as far as terminology goes, and all the different positions that you gotta be able to play in," Faulkner said. "It's like he never left."

Singleton's name has surfaced often since the Gators opened their first spring camp under Sumrall last month.

The topic of conversation is often centered on s-p-e-e-d.

"He's a home-run threat all the time,'' said Sumrall, who delivered Singleton's first scholarship offer coming out of high school when Sumrall was head coach at Troy University. "Top-end speed is elite."

Singleton wowed his teammates during offseason training by reaching 23 mph in speed drills.

"He actually hit that when we were racing. Me, him, TJ Abrams,'' sophomore receiver Vernell Brown III said. "Yeah, he won, he won."

While Singleton's wheels draw attention, Faulkner knows he offers more than a track star in football cleats.

Singleton joins a young receivers room headlined by sophomores Brown and Dallas Wilson and brings experience and veteran savviness that takes time to develop.

And Singleton makes it seem easy.

"I tell him all the time, he's one of the smarter players that I've ever gotten the opportunity to coach," Faulkner said. "Super intelligent, he knows the game. And so, at this point, I'm just challenging him to bring somebody with him. You know, bring one of those younger guys with him."

Davis coached a trio at Auburn last season that had three players with over 25 receptions and 450 receiving yards in Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons and Singleton.

Davis has watched Singleton blow by defensive backs, but he said there is much more to his game.

"If it's a zone play, and it's a cover two corner and he got an out route, he knows to sit,'' Davis said. "The dude just picks up the football game quickly, and I think that's what helps him protect himself from hits, or knowing when to get extra yards or when to go down. He just got a really good feel for the game."

And that's why Baugh, when he heard Singleton was joining the Gators, flashed back to those days growing up in Atlanta and first crossing paths with Singleton. He had watched him develop in the years since and couldn't wait to see him in a Gators jersey.

"I knew what I was getting,'' he said. "As soon as they told me he was coming to Florida, I was very excited."

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