Florida Gators’ Amir Jackson a Possible Key to Transforming Florida’s Offense

GAINESVILLE, Fla.– Heading into the 2025 season, the Florida Gators roster, on paper, is the best it has been in a long time. On top of impressive talent at impactful positions, Florida’s depth has fans excited about a make-or-break season under head coach Billy Napier in his fourth year with the program.

While the roster as a whole has seen a lot of hype, a crowded tight end unit has become somewhat underappreciated.

“We’ve got four or five guys who could go out and play. And we’re all healthy for the first time… It’s crazy, you know, I think this is our first year of five or six tight ends,” tight end Hayden Hansen said this spring. “I don’t have to take reps with the 1s and 2s, I can take a little break and really focus on the reps that I need to be worried about. It’s like that with all the positions.”

Hansen, a redshirt junior with 357 career receiving yards, is the Gators’ starting tight end for the third-straight season. Last year, he received a 59.4 PFF grade while catching 15 passes and one touchdown.

While the veteran is an impactful player expected to stay on the field for a majority of every game, Florida’s tight end two on the depth chart seems somewhat up for grabs between junior Tony Livingston, who saw extensive playing time in 2024, alongside redshirt freshman Amir Jackson and true freshman Micah Jones.

Of the three, Jackson seemingly has the best chance to give Florida the receiving upside from the position they haven’t had in years.

“Amir is a freak. I think he ran a 4.4, 4.5, something like that. His technique is not even there. When it gets there, it’s going to be crazy,” Hansen said about the 6-foot-5 target. “He’s always going to be a guy you’ve got to worry about when you split him out. He’s just a big receiver. He’ll make his plays. He’s got a long wingspan and I’m excited to see how he turns out. He’s a freak, now.”

While not recording a catch in his first year on campus and dealing with an injury lingering into spring of this year, Jackson has still made noise this offseason. On top of being one of the recipients of the Channing Crowder Headhunter Award during the spring game, the athletic pass-catcher continues to get better.

“He has taken a million strides since we first took him… as a person and as a leader, to be so young is pretty remarkable, his story, I kind of get choked up thinking about it, to be honest with you. He’s unbelievable,” tight end coach Russ Callaway said. “On the field, he’s been very much improved in the run game. He’s always been a really good receiver, but I would say he has taken the most strides in the run game and physicality, putting on weight, route details…the best is yet to come.”

With the departure of Arlis Boardingham, an athletic tight end who accounted for over 43% of Florida’s receiving yards from the position the past two years, Jackson quickly has a chance to become the Gators go-to pass-catcher in the unit. Despite that, he will have to overcome a Napier scheme that shies away from targeting the position.

In 2023, Florida came in at 5th on ESPN’s top 10 tight end producing schools after sending star Kyle Pitts to the NFL as a top pick in the draft. Since then, the unit has only averaged under 16% of the team’s total passing production in the last two seasons.

Under head coach Billy Napier, no Gators tight end has recorded over 300 yards in a season, while only one Florida tight end has reached over that mark since Pitts’ departure in 2020. Florida’s starting tight ends since Napier took over averaged just 7% of the team’s passing yards in a season.

Spanning over his time at Louisiana, a tight end has yet to finish the season with over 300 yards in Napier’s offense in the seven years he has been a head coach.

Regardless of an uphill battle towards elite production at the position, Jackson will head into fall with a strong shot at winning the second tight end slot and seeing targets this season. His emergence can make Florida’s unit the best it has been in years.

“He has taken a million strides forward from what he’s got here, and he still has room to grow,” Callaway said. “I think offensively, we have a chance to be really special… Just trying to get all the guys that we have here that are gonna be finally healthy, get them involved and get them going.”