Florida Football’s Gumbs Jr.: From Walk-On To Defensive Leader

George Gumbs Jr, an EDGE, from Chicago, Illinois, a Redshirt Senior, at 253 pounds. That is the superficial description, but his work ethic and profound urge of wanting to get better, surpasses the superficial level.

Coming out of high school, Gumbs Jr. was a 3-star recruit and was playing wide receiver. With only two D-1 offers, he elected to be a preferred walk-on at Northern Illinois.

There he started as a wide receiver, not much after earning a scholarship switched to TE, and ended there as part of D-line. The switch from offense to defense happened due to coaches communicating that he was most likely not starting.

Gumbs Jr. said “I felt I was still developing and could be a good player.” Next season he went on to be one of the top performers with (6.5) tackles for loss and (3.5) sacks.

After two seasons, Gumbs Jr., decides to enter the transfer portal to look for the “next chapter.”

Welcome to the Swamp

In his first season with the Gators, Gumbs Jr. appeared in all the games for the orange and blue and started three of them. He had eight tackles-for-loss and five sacks, second on the team for both. He also had 35 tackles (20 solo) and placed fourth on the team in stops with 21.

By the end of the 2024 season, Gumbs Jr. just kept getting better. With his best game yet at the end of the regular season against FSU, he had his best graded outing by PFF with an 81.1 grade. Gumbs Jr. had three solo tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a sack with a fumble recovery in that game.

He was recognized as one of the four defensive players of the game against in-state rival FSU.

Offseason & Year Two

Gumbs Jr. fully embraces what bleeding orange and blue means. On Nov. 30, after beating FSU, he took it upon himself to plant the Gators flag on FSU logo on the middle of the field.

Florida Gators edge George Gumbs Jr. on if he would plant the flag on FSU's midfield Seminole logo again:

“I would do it again.” pic.twitter.com/DytKkANEQw

— Isaac Edelman (@IsaacEdelman) March 11, 2025

In a recent press conference by Gumbs Jr., he expressed that during the offseason while preparing for year two with the Gators, his main focus has been ‘finding things’ to critique himself.

He then explains that ‘footwork and hand placement’ are two of his focuses, continuing to improve on pass rush defense. Gumbs Jr. said his EDGE coach Mike Peterson points out a lot of the ‘little things’ that he would not notice he can improve on.

Still, Peterson likes to describe Gumbs Jr.’s kind of leadership as a “quiet leader” who leads by the amount and quality of work that he puts in at practice. Furthermore, Peterson mentioned Gumbs Jr. “gains respect from the whole team,” and is the type of player to make coaches proud.

His style of play is known to be “violent, and everything he does is at 100 miles per hour,” says Peterson.

Now that he has been with the Gators for a full season, he has accepted the role to be a leader, and his focus is on ‘taking in the younger guys’ and most importantly ‘leaving a platform before I leave.’

His unusual path to play at the highest level in college football allows Gumbs Jr. to say he ‘develops, evolves, and changes’  no matter the surroundings.