Vernell Brown III did not treat his preseason All-SEC third-team nod as a finish line. He treated it like a challenge, saying the honor is fuel for him as he heads into 2026 and wants to do more with the chances Florida gives him.
That reaction is coming from a player who already made his mark in the return game. Brown ranked sixth in the SEC in punt return yardage last season at 11.7 yards per return and finished with 261 return yards across 18 kick and punt returns. He was also one of just two freshmen in the FBS with five punt returns of 20-plus yards, and one of 18 players in the FBS to hit that mark.
Brown said he wants to take advantage of his opportunities, and that is why the preseason recognition matters to him. He said the third-team label is not the best team, and that alone was enough to push him. For a player who had a breakout freshman season, the message was simple: keep building, and make the next return count.
Florida is planning to use Brown mainly as a punt returner in 2026, which makes the size of his workload part of the story. Punt return chances are never plentiful, and the number depends on how often opponents kick away from him and how often Florida can force those kicks in the first place. Brown said he would return kickoffs again if needed, but J'Vari Flowers and London Montgomery are penciled in for that job, which should leave Brown concentrating on the one area where he already showed he can change field position fast.
He also has a bigger target in mind. Brown said one of his goals this season is to return a punt for a touchdown, something Florida has not done since Kadarius Toney went 50 yards for a score against Kentucky on Nov. 28, 2020. Brown said he always wants to take everyone to the house, and that kind of play would turn preseason praise into something far louder once the games count.
Florida football coach Jon Sumrall has made special teams a priority since arriving at UF, adding Johnathan Galante and special teams analyst Greg McMahon to the staff. McMahon spent 2008-16 as special teams coordinator with the New Orleans Saints, a move that shows how serious Florida is about that part of the game. For Brown, that matters because the staff change gives him a clear lane, but it also raises the bar: if Florida is going to lean on special teams, he is one of the players expected to make it matter.
The next step is simple enough to say and hard to do. Brown is being asked to turn a strong freshman season into a bigger role, and the season will tell whether the preseason honor was a preview or just the start of the chase.
