The Florida Gators’ transactions in the transfer market are not yet complete, since the school continues to expand its 2026 squad. Ace Ciongoli, an Indiana transfer receiver who just won a College Football Playoff national title with the Hoosiers, signed with the Gators on Monday.
Ciongoli (5-11, 190 pounds) played one season at Indiana, earning no snaps, and will have all four years of eligibility remaining after redshirting in 2025. He will be a walk-on preference at Florida.
Ciongoli is Florida’s 30th incoming transfer this offseason, and fifth receiver, joining Bailey Stockton (Georgia Tech), Micah Mays (Wake Forest), Eric Singleton Jr. (Auburn), and Jaylen Lloyd (Oklahoma State).
Singleton Jr. projects as the group’s instant-impact player, joining veterans Dallas Wilson and Vernell Brown III, while the other newcomers vie for spots in the rotation.
New head coach Jon Sumrall has all but completed his first squad for the program, and is now adding the final touches to the team with what remains in the transfer portal. Despite the official closure of the gateway on Jan. 16, the Gators can still recruit players presently in the portal to their squad.
However, with the roster almost complete, the additions, if any, will be rare, putting Sumrall in a position of uncertainty as he prepares for his first season.
According to Sumrall, you never truly know until you go through spring training and enter the season. I believe we had certain needs that we may have met. I believe we had certain areas of need where we had to figure out where we were. You never truly know.
There’s also the question of not having a second portal window following spring practice, which was abolished due to NCAA legislation changes last year. Sumrall has utilized this method to finish building rosters at both Troy and Tulane, and he believes that not having it makes the process somewhat more difficult.
“I won’t have the chance to see this squad practice and then fix it in the second portal,” he said. We just need to watch them practice it and attempt to correct it if it’s wrong, make someone better, or shift people about. So that’s a little more worrying. I wouldn’t be furious as a first-year head coach if we had the second portal window.
