Florida Football: O-line will have more depth and experience in 2024

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday t“He’s just a great leader, does everything the right way. Communicates. He has presence in there, takes a lot off Graham’s plate, calm up front, giving the mike ID, obviously Graham has the trump card to check the play however we want but Jake just does a really good job, makes everyone around him better, and communication from inside and out, and Rod (Kearney) is doing a really good job pushing him.”

Knijeah Harris, LG: “He's just a smart guy. He has instincts. He understands defensive patterns. He knows where his eyes are supposed to go. He communicates with the tackle. So if a tackle maybe might not be on the same page, he could tell him what to do. That might have been a bad example, but he just does a good job of all being on the same page. And just the way he comes in, he’s a really good kid and he’s a good Gator for us. We need more guys just like him.”

Damieon George Jr., RG: “He’s just a bigger guy has a lot of mass, I think right now he’s 350, 354 something like that but, he can knock a three-technique back right, can slide his feet and he can run so, when it comes to outside zone, doing the things we like to do, but he’s more suited there.”

Devin Manuel, LT, and Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, RT: “… I do like the two guys we got in the portal, Devin (Manuel) and Brandon (Crenshaw-Dickson) they got really character they are really good people and they are really good players, too.”

Depth at tackle even with Austin Barber out for the spring: “I mean even if Austin was back we have tackle depth now which we haven’t had in the past, which is, it gives you so many more variables to get a starting lineup. Who is the best five? Like last year, we had so many different lineups, it was what is was, you know and so right now we got six, seven tackles that we can count on to go play winning football. Caden Jones is a young guy that’s going to be a really good player. Bryce Lovett can play tackle, it’s just hard to play as freshmen, it really is, a small handful can do it but we’ve got more tackle depth. You’ve got Devin (Manuel), you’ve got Kam Waites who has done a good job losing weight right now he’s at left tackle, Brandon (Crenshaw-Dickson) is at right so, we have tackle depth.”

There were depth issues a year ago: “Last year was last year, you know. I just don't like to … it was what it was, you know. And look, we just, we had depth issues, right? It comes with it. When you take over a job, trying to recruit some guys and then there’s the new dynamics that we're in college football. But I really do like the guys that we signed. They're good kids, they got good character, but they're also really, really good players that we’ve hit on. It's a fresh breath of air in there, it really is. And you ask the guys, we’ve got guys that have each other's back, the togetherness, the five equals one that we talk about that we're trying to instill in these guys. I'm really excited about this group, really am.”

Impressions of the freshmen: “Let's see who we all got. Fletcher (Westphal), Noel (Portnjagin), Mike Williams. That’s the three we got on campus right now. Marcus (Mascoll) is still in high school. They're really going to be good players. You know, Fletcher's long. I mean, the guy’s like 325. I don't know if y'all see him out there. I mean, he looks 285, you know what I mean? And his muscle mass can go up, you know. He can put on more weight and carry it, but he can bend. He's flexible. He's really smart. Noel, you know, we hit on him. He's a really good football player. He's an inside guy that's going to play a lot of ball around here, and Mike Williams is a guy that is long and athletic, so we're excited about all of them.”

Potential of the Florida run game this year: “You know when you’ve got more length, you’ve got more tackles, more depth I mean when you got more bullets in the gun, you know, you’ve just got options. Who are the best five? We got a long time between now and the first game to figure that out but you’ve got more depth. I mean right now you’ve got five or six tackles that can play and you’ve got some inside guys that can play as well.  I mean there’s options if we need to move a tackle, whatever it may be, to get the best five. Last year, it was what it was. We had injuries, had to move guys around. We hung on the best we could but now it’s depth. We signed two really good classes that have good intangibles. They’re big, they’re long, they’re powerful and now they just keep growing up. Now we have layers in that room of old guys, guys that are in the middle and then young guys, so I really do like this group.”

UF BASEBALL: Midweek pitching woes as Gators fall to JU, 7-6

Despite two home runs from Jac Caglianone the Gators dropped a 7-6 decision to Jacksonville University at Condron Family Ballpark Tuesday night. Caglianone hit his eighth homer of the season as part of a 4-run third inning and hit his ninth in the bottom of the ninth when a Florida rally fell short of a come-from-behind win.

Ryan Slater got the start but gave up two first inning runs. The Gators fell behind 3-0 when Fisher Jameson gave up a run in the second. Caglianone’s homer and a 2-run double by Tyler Shelnut in the third gave the Gators 1 4-3 lead over the Dolphins, but freshman reliever Grayson Smith gave up two runs in the fourth and Alex Philpott and Frank Menendez gave up two in the top of the ninth. Following Caglianone’s homer in the ninth, Tyler Shelnut kept the inning alive with a 2-out single that was followed by an RBI single by Landon Russell but Armando Albert took a called third strike to end the game.

The bright spot with the pitching was Luke McNellie, who gave the Gators 2-1/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts. McNellie picked up a save Sunday when the Gators beat Texas A&M to clinch their first SEC series of the season.

The Gators (12-8, 2-1 SEC) travel to Baton Rouge to face 4th-ranked LSU for a weekend SEC series starting Friday.

UF SOFTBALL: Gators on the road at Florida Gulf Coast

The Gators (25-4, 2-1 SEC) will be in Fort Myers tonight to face Florida Gulf Coast in a non-conference game. The Gators will be home this weekend to face 23rd-ranked Kentucky (18-3, Gators continued their climb in the national rankings, moving up to 10th in three of the four major polls.

ESPN/USA Softball top 25: 1. Oklahoma 27-1; 2. Texas 24-3; 3. LSU 24-1; 4. Duke 22-2; 5. Georgia 23-4; 6. Oklahoma State 24-3; 7. Tennessee 22-4; 8. Stanford 22-5; 9. Washington 20-4; 10. FLORIDA 25-4; 11. Clemson 21-6; 12. Virginia Tech 21-4-1; 13. UCLA 17-6; 14. Texas A&M 25-3; 15. Alabama 22-5; 16. Missouri 22-6; 17. Arkansas 22-6; 18. Florida State 18-8; 19. Baylor 16-8; 20. Mississippi State 22-6; 21. California 21-7; 22. Oregon 16-1; 23. Kentucky 19-8; 24. Arizona 20-7; 25. South Carolina 21-7

USA Today/NFCA Coaches top 25: 1. Oklahoma 27-1; 2. LSU 24-1; 3. Texas 24-3; 4. Oklahoma State 24-3; 5. Georgia 23-4; 6. Duke 22-2; 7. Tennessee 22-4; 8. Washington 20-4; 10. FLORIDA 25-4; 11. Clemson 21-6; 12. Texas A&M 25-3; 13. Alabama 22-5; 14. UCLA 17-6; 15. Missouri 22-6; 16. Virginia Tech 21-4-1; 17. Florida State 18-8; 18. Arkansas 22-6; 19. California 21-7; 20. Mississippi State 21-6; 21. Arizona 20-7-1; 22. Baylor 16-8; 23. South Carolina 21-7; 24. Boston University 20-3; 25. Auburn 14-6-1

D1Softball top 25: 1. Oklahoma 27-1; 2. Texas 24-3; 3. Oklahoma State 24-3; 4. Stanford 22-5; 5. LSU 24-1; 6. Duke 22-2; 7. Georgia 23-4; 8. Tennessee 22-4; 9. Washington 25-4; 10. FLORIDA 25-4; 11. Clemson 21-6; 12. Texas A&M 25-3; 13. Virginia Tech 21-4-1; 14. UCLA 17-6; 15. Alabama 22-5; 16. Missouri 22-6; 17. Arkansas 22-6; 18. Mississippi State 21-6; 19. Baylor 16-8; 20. Arizona 20-7-1; 21. Charlotte 16-9; 22. California 21-7; 23. Florida State 18-8; 24. Boston University 20-3; 25. Texas State 22-7

UF LACROSSE: Gators extend winning streak to 8 straight

Paisley Egan’s career-best four goals led the 11th-ranked Gators (8-2) to their eight straight win Tuesday afternoon, a 23-7 decision over Furman. Egan also had an assist while Ashley Gonzalez helped the UF cause with three goals.

The Gators will be home Saturday for an American Athletic Conference game with Old Dominion (3-7, 0-1 AAC).

SEC BASKETBALL

Tuesday NIT scores: Georgia (18-16) 78, Xavier (16-18) 76; North Texas  (19-14) 84, LSU (17-16) 77

SEC in the transfer portal

Alabama: PG Houston Mallette (6-5, 180, JR) from Pepperdine

Arkansas: PG Keon Menifield (6-1, 150, SO); F Denijay Harris (6-7, 200, SR); WG Joseph Pinion (6-6, 195, SO)

Mississippi State: PG Andrew Taylor (6-3, 190, SR)

Missouri: PF Jacob Crews (6-8, 210, JR), from UT-Martin; SG Curt Lewis (6-5, 215, JR)

Vanderbilt: PG Paul Lewis (6-2, 170, SO); C Lee Dort (6-10, 245, SO); SG Tyrin Lawrence (6-4, 200, SR)

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Florida State has company. Clemson has filed a lawsuit in state court against the Atlantic Coast Conference in a move to secede from the league due to a grant of rights contract that has 12 years remaining and what Clemson sees as excessive exit fees if and when it elects to leave.

The Clemson suit claims the grant of rights contract is unenforceable and illegal. Under the grant of rights with the league, Clemson’s yearly payout from the ACC will be approximately half what the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten receive from their media rights deals. And, with the new College Football Playoff contract, both the SEC and Big Ten will get twice as much money as the ACC and Big 12.

Florida State and Clemson – and perhaps other ACC schools – believe they would be invited to join either the SEC or Big Ten if they were able to secede. Both schools believe if they weren’t encumbered by a grant of rights contract that they would be greeted with open arms by either the SEC or Big Ten.

That’s a gamble on the part of both FSU and Clemson. Neither one moves the television needle significantly, which is why the SEC has done nothing to encourage their leaving. Additionally, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey continues to stay the course, saying the league is quite content with 16 teams and sees no reason to expand further.

So what happens if FSU and Clemson win their lawsuits against the ACC and then there is no invitation to join the SEC? Freedom from the ACC might seem desirable, but there is that old saying – “Be careful what you wish for” – they need to think long and hard about before going any further.