Would you believe it if you were told the first Florida football touchdown of the 2025 season came on defense?

With apologies to Maxwell Smart, the Florida Gators made believers out of the 90,000 in The Swamp in their opener on Aug. 30 against Long Island University. After Florida deferred and kicked off to start the game, it took just three plays for Florida linebacker Jaden Robinson to deliver a jarring hit to LIU quarterback Chris Howell. The ball popped loose, and safety Bryce Thornton was there to scoop it up and race 37 yards to the end zone to give UF a quick 7-0 lead.

"We've been preaching takeaways, take the ball over, get as many turnovers as we can to get the offense the ball back," Florida sophomore linebacker Myles Graham said. "But to go home and score, that's even be

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