Florida football WR Dallas Wilson still optimistic despite foot issues

Florida football wide receiver Dallas Wilson provided glimpses of his star potential in the Florida Gators spring game and UF's 29-21 upset of Texas at The Swamp.

But Wilson was limited for to just four games for UF in 2025 due to a foot injury he first suffered in fall camp and then lingered on and off throughout the season.

Wilson is back at Florida as a redshirt freshman, but the foot issues haven't entirely disappeared. He's not practicing so far this spring as UF coach Jon Sumrall is taking an "abundance of caution" to get the 6-foot-3, 218-pound Wilson right for the start of the 2026 season.

“My foot, don’t want to say it’s always been a problem, but just being cautious with what's going on around it.," Wilson said. "When I had my last foot injury last year, really just healing from that and then make sure you're not getting, like inflammation and everything.”

Wilson said he's seen a number of specialists during the offseason for second and third opinions and even explored the kind of cleats he's wearing.

“Just taking all the right precautions, really, like wearing the right shoes," Wilson said. "Players usually weat hard-toed shoes, wearing slides all the time. But usually just wearing the right shoes and everything, that should be good.”

After setting UF spring game records with 10 catches for 195 yards and 2 TDs, Wilson displayed similar explosive receiving ability in his UF debut, with six catches for 111 yards and 2 TDs against the Longhorns. Overall, Wilson finished his true freshman season with 12 catches for 174 yards and 3 TDs.

"I made progress through all the games, really," Wilson said. "Just learning the offense we had and being out there with Coach (Billy) Napier and being out there with Coach Billy G (Gonzales) and all the receiver coaches. They’d be hard on you, but they want the best for you. So just going out there and just playing free, really, and then just playing to the best of my ability.”

With the coaching change from Napier to Sumrall, Wilson chose to stay at UF and not enter the portal.

“We had great coaches coming in, guys like Buster Faulkner, Coach Sumrall, a very energetic coach," Wilson said. "You see coaches like that and you would want to get behind them.”

Wilson said another motivation was to stay close to his native Tampa.

"My grandma’s a pastor in Tampa, so staying close to her, really," Wilson said. "She’s been having a lot of health conditions, so really just keeping her in my thoughts. And then my brothers and sisters, keeping them in my mind all the time.”

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football WR Dallas Wilson looks to get right in 2026 after foot problems in 2025