Florida Gators Starter Dismissed From Team

Florida Gators starting edge rusher Brenton Cox Jr. has been dismissed from the team, head coach Billy Napier announced during his press conference Monday (October 31), following an initial report from Gators Online senior writer Zach Abolverdi.

"Brenton, we've kind of decided to move on here," Napier said via Sports Illustrated. "I think that being a football player at the University of Florida is a privilege [and] there are certainly expectations that come with that. Obviously, he's done a lot of good things for the University of Florida and we wish him the best."

Napier didn't provide additional information regarding what led to the decision, instead saying, "we keep that in-house."

Cox ranked as a consensus five-star prospect for the 2018 national recruiting cycle before initially enrolling at the University of Georgia and transferring to Florida in 2019, redshirting during his first season in Gainesville in adherence to the NCAA's transfer rules at the time.

The Georgia native was a second team All-SEC selection in 2020, recording a career high 42 tackles, as well as 3.5 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss, before recording a career best 14.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks during the 2021 season.

Cox recorded 35 tackles, two sacks and eight tackles for loss during the 2022 season.