JOSH BRAUN WILL TRANSFER. THERE WILL BE OTHERS.

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY:

OCTOBER 19, 2022

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:

By Franz Beard

Josh Braun will no longer play football for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. A starter seven times last season, Braun has played in only two games this year. By stepping away now he preserves his redshirt year (he’ll have two seasons of eligibility remaining) and can focus on graduating in December, when he can officially enter the NCAA transfer portal as a graduate.

During this season, Braun has been listed as the backup right guard to O’Cyrus Torrence, the backup left tackle to Richard Gouraige and the backup left guard to Ethan White. A 4-star recruit out of Suwanee County High School in Live Oak, Braun was originally committed to Georgia before a last minute flip to Dan Mullen and Florida in 2019. A tackle in high school, Braun never caught on outside and spent nearly every snap of his UF career inside at guard.

Josh Braun takes a knee after the LSU game in the Swamp. Photo credit Chris Spears

When Billy Napier became Florida’s head coach, he brought in two offensive line coaches. Braun lost weight in the offseason to gain extra quickness to play outside, but he never could unseat Michael Tarquin at right tackle in the spring. When Tarquin went down with an injury, Austin Barber moved from the backup on the left side to the right. Braun had no luck moving past Torrence or White either.

Josh Braun is a good kid and a fine student. His dad was an offensive lineman at Army and his brother was an O-lineman at Georgia Tech. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining and will have very little trouble landing on his feet in the transfer portal.

While Braun’s departure somewhat hurts the depth on Florida’s O-line, it’s not a crushing blow. Tarquin is healthy again and Kamryn Waites is getting some snaps at tackle as well. When Torrence couldn’t answer the bell against LSU, Richie Leonard IV did an adequate job of filling in at right guard. That’s an 8-man rotation on a line that has performed well enough that the Gators rank third nationally in yards per carry (6.38) and has allowed only four sacks, which is tied for fifth nationally.

Braun may be the first, but by no means will he be Florida’s last departure. With 85 currently on scholarship and just four graduates/seniors on the roster, there will have to be room made to accommodate a recruiting class that has 21 commitments already and is expected to add another six or seven. If Napier dips into the transfer portal – as expected – the crunch will become even more severe.

UF assistant Kevin Hovde on the offense, Aberdeen and Kugel

Florida assistant coach Kevin Hovde, who is essentially Todd Golden’s offensive coordinator, spoke to the media Tuesday prior to practice. Here are comments about the offense and freshmen Denzel Aberdeen and Riley Kugel, who were teammates at Orlando powerhouse Dr. Phillips prior to arriving at UF.

Offensive progress: “I think our attitude and work ethic is really good, so that allows you to improve. “I think really over the last couple of weeks I feel like we’ve made a really big jump. Like I said before, we’re going to try to adapt our schemes and our offense to our talent, and really, over the summer, we didn’t play much five-on-five. So, we had a little bit of learning curve as coaches. Once we got back in the fall we started playing and getting a better understanding for just how guys played with each other and their general sense for the game. We kind of adapted at that point and tried to structure and tweak the offense to fit that. I feel like at first there was just normal guys developing and understanding and now I feel like they’re coming together and the ball is really starting to zip around. There’s more good plays, more assisted baskets, more good cuts. Those are normally pretty good signs.”

Aberdeen: “Denzel, from the beginning was way ahead of a normal freshman. As far as his worth ethic and how hard he goes and everything. A lot of times you can see a gap when guys come into a program and where guys have been here one or two years. From the jump, Denzel wouldn’t get fatigued in the workouts and he knew how to push through. Also he has a really good sense of the game as far as being an organizer. He wants to learn and he really wants to be good. He’s super coachable. I’ve been really impressed with him.”

Kugel: “Riley is a basketball savant. He didn’t have a summer with us. He picks things up really quickly on both ends of the floor. A lot of the numbers we keep, you notice especially younger guys that struggle with defense as far as being in the right spot, ring towards the ball, just bad habits that you can get away with in high school. He’s been pretty elite since he’s got here in those metrics we use and that says a lot about him. Offensively, he’s extremely talented.”

UF women’s basketball picked sixth by SEC media

Expectations are certainly higher for 2022-23 than they were last year for the UF women’s basketball team. Kelly Rae Finley embraced the uncertainty after the offseason dismissal of head coach Cam Newbauer, turning it into an us against the world mentality that resulted in a 21-11 overall record (10-4 SEC) and an NCAA Tournament bid. The Gators beat five nationally-ranked teams along the way.

With the regular season scheduled to tip off in three weeks, the Gators were picked to finish sixth in a preseason poll of the SEC media.

Preseason SEC poll: 1. South Carolina; 2. Tennessee; 3. LSU; 4. Arkansas; 5. Ole Miss; 6. FLORIDA; 7. Kentucky; 8. Mississippi State; 9. Georgia; 10. Alabama; 11. Texas A&M; 12. Missouri; 13. Auburn; 14. Vanderbilt

Associated Press preseason women’s top 25: 1. South Carolina; 2. Stanford; 3. Texas; 4. Iowa; 5. Tennessee; 6. UConn; 7. Louisville; 8. Iowa State; 9. Notre Dame; 10. North Carolina State; 11. Indiana; 12. North Carolina; 13. Virginia Tech; 14. Ohio State; 15. Oklahoma; 16. LSU; 17. Maryland; 18. Baylor; 19. Arizona; 20. Oregon; 21. Creighton; 22. Nebraska; 23. South Dakota State; 24. Princeton; 25. Michigan

SEC football

No. 6 Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC): Looking back on Alabama’s loss to Tennessee, particularly at the end of the game when the Tide gave the ball back to the Vols with enough time to drive for the game-winning field goal, Paul Finebaum said, “I think Nick Saban handed them a gift on a platter with his mismanagement of the clock.”

Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Led by Raheim Sanders (870 yards, seven touchdowns) the Hogs are averaging 240 rushing yards per game (4.99 per carry).

Auburn (3-4, 1-3 SEC): Although his team has lost three consecutive SEC games, HBC Bryan Harsin says, “Those guys know we’re a lot closer than what it seems.”

No. 1 Georgia (7-0, 4-0 SEC): Georgia’s injury list includes running back Kendal Milton (groin), wide receiver Ladd McConkey (toe), linebacker Smael Mondon (ankle), defensive tackle Jalen Carter (knee) and wide receiver AD Mitchell (ankle).

No. 19 Kentucky (5-2, 2-2 SEC): HBC Mark Stoops was particularly happy the Wildcats have a week off. “The bye week comes at a good time for us right now,” Stoops said. “The players need time to heal up.”

LSU (5-2, 3-1 SEC): LSU is a 1.5-point favorite for Saturday’s showdown with 7th-ranked Ole Miss.

No. 24 Mississippi State (5-2, 2-2 SEC): The Bulldogs are 21-point underdogs for Saturday’s game at No. 6 Alabama.

Missouri (2-4, 0-3 SEC): Linebacker Chad Bailey, corner Kris Abrams-Draine and wide receiver Barrett Banister are all probable for Saturday’s game with Vanderbilt.

No. 7 Ole Miss (7-0, 3-0 SEC): The Rebels are ranked seventh nationally, but their defense ranks 68thnationally against the run and 33rd against the pass.

South Carolina (4-2, 1-2 SEC): Safety RJ Roderick, who has started 34 games in his South Carolina career, will reportedly enter the NCAA transfer portal … The Gamecocks are 3-point underdogs at home against Texas A&M.

No. 3 Tennessee (7-0, 3-0 SEC): Paul Finebaum thinks the Vols have a chance to run the table this year because “Josh Heupel is the most innovating and creative offensive mind in college football.”

Texas A&M (3-3, 1-2 SEC): Quarterback Haynes King, who suffered a foot injury in the loss to Alabama a couple of weeks ago, is expected to be at full speed Saturday at South Carolina.

Vanderbilt (3-4, 0-3 SEC): The Commodores are 14-point road underdogs for Saturday’s game at Missouri.

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3 Big 12): Oklahoma’s defense ranks 115th nationally, allowing 447.1 yards per game.

No. 20 Texas (5-2, 3-1 Big 12): Texas is a 6-point favorite on the road against No. 11 Oklahoma State.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Speaking to The Advocate in Baton Rouge, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey let it be known he’s not the least bit happy with the NCAA and the amount of time it is taking to come to a decision about potential sanctions on the LSU basketball team. LSU has been charged with seven Level I violations that occurred under the watch of Will Wade, who was fired back in March.

The violations date back several years ago and were detailed in the college basketball corruption trials that sent people to prison and resulted in potential sanctions against numerous programs including Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina and LSU.

Speaking ahead of SEC Basketball Media Days in Birmingham, Sankey said, “It is enormously frustrating not to have all those matters nationally already brought to conclusion. Those actions took place – the actions at the center of any of these issues – took place five, six, seven years ago. Yet, we can’t bring those matters to conclusion. There are reasons for that, but part of the reason is the system.”

The NCAA has accepted what amounts to plea bargains by Auburn, Alabama and South Carolina. LSU’s case is a bit more complicated due to the number of Level I violations and wiretap evidence that was admitted in Federal Court with Wade openly discussing paying money to recruit players. Still, it shouldn’t take years to hear evidence and bring a case to conclusion. Based on the amount of violations, wiretap recordings and under oath testimony, LSU should have been sanctioned already and the sanctions should be harsh. Of course, we thought that when North Carolina was caught redhanded with the greatest academic fraud violations in perhaps all of NCAA history. The Tar Heels got a slap on the wrist that brought back memories of Jerry Tarkanian’s classic line, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they’ll probably slap a few more years or probation on Cleveland State.”

It will also be interesting to see what the NCAA will do since it basically allowed LSU to self-impose a year of probation for several Level II violations in football that occurred on the watch of former coach Ed Orgeron. The seven Level I violations for basketball added to football probation should result in lack of institutional control hung on the entire athletic program.

Meanwhile, up at Tennessee, the Vols have been hit with 18 Level I violations for football that occurred on the watch of Jeremy Pruitt. Although none of the violations amount to huge amounts of money, Tennessee did gain a recruiting advantage. Pruitt and his entire staff were fired as was athletic director Phil Fulmer and Tennessee has patted itself on the back for its cooperation with the NCAA. Still, 18 Level I violations should result in a lack of institutional control as well as other sanctions.

In both the LSU and Tennessee cases, there is no excuse for the NCAA to take its time to decide how much justice it should deal out. Sankey should be troubled by both situations. He should also use the power of his enormous office to force the NCAA to announce some sort of conclusion.