GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Jake Slaughter was caught off guard by the phone call. The Gators are preparing for this Friday’s Gasparilla Bowl against Tulane and the redshirt junior was consumed with the work. However, as a redshirt junior coming off of a First-Team All-American season, fans wanted to know what his future was.
He answered the call in his typical Southern gentleman way, “Hello, Mr. de la Torre.” (Nothing makes a 36-year-old feel more ancient than someone in their 20s calling you Mr.).
When I told him why I was calling he didn’t know what the fuss was. He’s seen other players announce their intentions to either leave school early or return, but he didn’t think he needed to. He doesn’t view himself in that light, as a player who needed to make a grand announcement about their future.
“I did not anticipate people being worried about it,” Slaughter said with a chuckle over the phone. “But here we are.”
To get a sense of the man, you have to know a little about him. Slaughter was born in Sparr, Florida, just 37 miles south of Gainesville. He grew up a massive Florida fan. He was briefly committed to Florida State during his senior season but shortly after getting an offer from the Gators, he flipped that commitment.
“I’ve said it plenty of times before. This was the dream,” Slaughter told Florida Victorious. “This is all I’ve wanted to do from the time I was a little kid.”
Slaughter spent the first several years in Gainesville playing a role. He redshirted in 2021 and played mostly on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2022. In 2023, he was set to be the backup center but ended up earning eight starts in place of the injured Kingsley Eguakun. Slaughter played well and went into 2024, his redshirt junior season, as the starter. It took patience, but Slaughter never wavered.
And now, as a 22-year-old, I asked Slaughter what the 12-year-old version of himself, the kid who grew up watching the Gators on television, would think of where they are now.
“I think he’d be excited for me. I really do. I think he’d be pretty dammed thrilled,” Slaughter said. “I don’t think he’d be surprised or shocked but he’d be beyond happy to know that it all came into fruition.”
As the season progressed, Slaughter started to garner recognition for his play. He was named a First Team All-American by Pro Football Focus. PFF graded Slaughter as the best center in the Power 4, posting an 82.6 grade. Slaughter’s 79.1 PFF run-blocking grade is also the best in the Power 4, and he has allowed pressure on just 2.3% of his pass-blocking snaps. Slaughter was also named to the Associated Press First Team All-SEC team. He is widely considered one of the best centers in the NFL Draft, yet, when I called him he was puzzled. Slaughter had made up his mind a long time ago.
He did, of course, consult his family and the Florida coaching staff. But at the end of the day, he couldn’t imagine leaving Florida early. There was more work to be done.
“The draft is always there but my thought was always that there’s so much more we have to do here before I’m done,” Slaughter said. “There’s so much improvement that can be made, not just in my own game but as a football team. That was a big reason. There’s so much left on the table for us.”
Slaughter put everything into the 2024 season. The way it started wasn’t how the team planned but they finished strong. Florida will return a young, experienced core of players in 2025 and Slaughter wants to be part of that.
“We were playing complementary football, winning games, going toe-to-toe with anybody in the country. That was a big part,” Slaughter said. “The belief that this team has. All the other guys that are in a similar position as me and are coming back next year. We want to do something pretty special.”
