Christmas Eve, Chick-fil-A and a cell phone's burden: How Florida kept Jadan Baugh out of the transfer portal

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Jadan Baugh is used to carrying things with ease.

Thirty-eight carries in Florida's season-ending win over Florida State -- no problem. He'll give you 266 yards and two scores.

"Honestly, I didn't too much notice," Baugh said of his 38-carry day.

Carrying his phone around amid a transfer portal frenzy, however, that burden got heavy.

Amid a whirlwind December at Florida, which saw the Gators hire Jon Sumrall to replace Billy Napier -- after a very public pursuit of Lane Kiffin -- one of Sumrall's immediate goals became retaining a very talented roster.

No piece was more important than Baugh.

A 6-foot-1, 231-pound bruiser from Atlanta, Baugh emerged as one of the FBS's top running backs in 2025 thanks to a 1,170-yard, eight-touchdown season.

Florida wanted to keep him. Everyone else wanted to get him.

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"Oh, my goodness, it was something else," Baugh's father, Corey Bryant, said. "Me and Napier were friends. I played against him in high school. When (he got fired) it was like, 'Well, what do we do from here?'"

"My phone rang from eight in the morning to nine at night. Every day."

Baugh did not have a typical agent. His dad handled that stuff for him. Bryant said he heard from basically every coach in the SEC and the ACC, as well as half the coaches in the Big Ten.

They all wanted Baugh.

Baugh just wanted time. He's always hard to reach by phone. It's not his thing. In December, ahead of the transfer portal window, he'd do everything to get away from it. He'd lift. He'd practice. He'd fish. Text? Not so much -- not even for Sumrall. Multiple program sources described Baugh as incredibly difficult to get a hold of in December.

It was by design.

"When I put my phone down, I feel like I'm at my best," Baugh said.

A fortuitous Christmas Eve visit

That meant Florida's new staff went to drastic lengths to communicate with Baugh. That included scheduling a visit to Baugh's grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. Sumrall and his family -- just a few days after the death of Sumrall's father -- along with several other staffers, attended.

Florida's contingent, which included offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and running backs coach Chris Foster, went early in the morning. The meeting was held at Bryant's mom's house because he was having his floors redone. Bryant supplied the most Georgia meal possible, bringing a tray of Chick-fil-A chicken minis, donuts and fruit.

Grandma loved it. She asked Baugh, "Are all these people coming to my house?"

When he said yes, she just responded: "OK, let me get ready."

Sumrall and his family stayed an hour or two. The first half of the conversation was, in Baugh's words, "just chilling." Then it shifted to football and his plan for Baugh.

When Sumrall and his family departed, Faulkner and Foster stuck around to present Baugh with a plan.

The Gators hired Faulkner from Georgia Tech a few weeks earlier, but Baugh and Faulkner had not had a chance to really dive into Baugh's fit. Faulkner had tried to schedule it via a video call, but in the words of Bryant: "Jadan was still dealing with all that back and forth with Texas. He told (Buster) he needed to shut it down for a few days."

The Longhorns were one of the main options for Baugh if he were to enter the portal.

Many schools ahead of the portal viewed Baugh as a potential RB1 for the transfer class, and Texas had a natural connection with its new running backs coach, Jabar Juluke, who recruited Baugh to Florida. Juluke and the Baugh family were very close. There was a major pull toward Austin.

That's part of what made the trip so important for the Gators -- Faulkner could present his strategy for Baugh.

Faulkner recruited Baugh in high school. The family had liked his offense then. Getting to hear Faulkner present his plan for Baugh in front of them made an impression. It helped that Georgia Tech's offense averaged 2,683 rushing yards per season under Faulkner's play-calling.

"It was a most impressive presentation," Bryant said.

Still, Baugh had a decision to make. It did not come quickly.

Florida running back Jadan Baugh (13) runs for a touchdown against Florida State in 2025. Getty Images

Florida or Texas?

Baugh remained hard to reach in the days following Christmas, per sources, as teams aggressively pursued him via his dad. The offers, in the words of Bryant, were "substantial." The running back market on the high end this transfer cycle dipped into seven figures, per multiple sources.

When Bryant thought everything was too much for his son, he'd take Baugh to eat. It's usually pasta or soul food. As the days dragged on, Bryant gave his recommendation to his son over one of those meals.

"You can go to Texas and have a great year, but it'd be just a great year," Bryant recalled. "If you stay at Florida and have another great year, you'll go down as one of the best running backs to ever come through the place. You'll always have a home in Gainesville. You'd put yourself in the same conversation as Emmitt Smith and Tim Tebow."

Baugh liked the idea of being the face of a program, helping to pull Florida where he believes it should be in the college football landscape.

He made a pros and cons list with Bryant. Ultimately, one question defined his decision: Where's home?

"I knew it was going to be home when Coach Sumrall came to my grandmother's house on Christmas," Baugh said. "For him, coming around at that time, even though his dad had just passed. That was the main thing.

"He showed he cared. I know you're trying to get Florida back to the top. That's something I wanted to be a part of."