GATORS OPEN WITH BLOWOUT WIN OVER STONY BROOK

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY

By Franz Beard

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

When Alex Klatsky nailed a 3-pointer from the corner with 46 seconds remaining in the game and Jack May followed his own shot with a layup 32 seconds later, the entire Florida bench and the O-Dome crowd of 7,377 roared approval.

“The highlight of my night,” Belmont transfer guard Will Richard said. He wasn’t kidding. Even though he scored 15 points and grabbed three rebounds in his debut, Richard has a keen appreciation for the two walk-ons, who bust it daily in practice and never complain.

Klatsky (redshirt junior) and May (redshirt sophomore) have been with the Florida program for years, yet prior to Monday and Florida’s 81-45 season opening win over Stony Brook, neither of them had ever scored a point. But they show up every day at practice and give their best effort to help make their scholarship teammates better players.

The effort doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Those guys work really hard, everybody knows it,” Colin Castleton (13 points, five rebounds, four blocked shots, two assists and one steal) said. “Even though we all joke about it and stuff, everybody’s really appreciative of what the walk-ons do and they should get a share of their appreciation and how we appreciate them so it meant a lot. They got a little piece of the pie tonight.”

That the walk-ons could share in the win made Todd Golden’s debut as Florida’s that much sweeter. The Gators had a good, but not great, first game offensively, but defensively, they played at a very high level, especially for a first game. The Gators held Stony Brook to just 30.8 percent shooting for the night and only 6-28 from the 3-point line.

Stony Brook caught the Gators by surprise when they not only opened the game in a zone but stayed in it nearly the entire 40 minutes. The zone and some quick triggers were responsible for the Gators bogging down after getting off to a 22-3 lead in the first half, but the second half saw a more efficient offense.

“I think we did a really good job of playing with purpose for 40 minutes,” Golden said. “They obviously went zone for 40. We weren’t expecting that. We thought they would show it but we weren’t expecting it for 40 minutes. It just changed the complexion and kind of the way the game was started.”

Golden said the Gators did a much better job in the second half because they took good shots. After a 3-15 first half from the 3-point line, the Gators went 7-10 in the second.

“All of our threes in the second half were off catch and shoots,” Golden said. That’s a sign of the ball moving unselfishly to open shooters.

Florida’s defense seemed to get better as the game wore on. Alex Fudge, who came off the bench to lead the Gators with 16 points believes the Gators will be an elite team on the defensive end this season.

“I feel as if we take pride in defense and that’s something that we want to pick up in this program,” Fudge said. We want to build on that and probably be one of the national leaders defensively. It’s a good thing when you’re playing defense.”

The Gators will play host to Kennesaw State Friday night at the O-Dome.

UF women open with 83-55 win over FAMU

A 20-0 run in the fourth quarter broke open a tight game as the Gators (1-0) opened their season with an 85-53 win over Florida A&M. St. John’s transfer Leilani Correa came off the bench to lead the four Gators in double figures with 18 points. Correa also had five rebounds, two assists and four steals. Also in double figures were Jordyn Merritt, KK Deans and Ra Shana Kyle, all three with 15 points. Merritt was Florida’s leading rebounder with 10 while Deans had three rebounds, five assists and three steals.

While pleased with the overall effort for the first real game, UF coach Kelly Rae Finley thought the Gators “weren’t as sharp as we needed to be, or as we have been in practice with our transitions.” Still, the Gators were solid defensively, holding the Rattlers to 5-18 shooting from the 3-point line while forcing 28 turnovers.

The Gators will be at home Sunday against UNC-Asheville (2 p.m., SEC Network).

NFL scout: Richardson is a first round lock

A National Football League scout tells Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South that folks who think Anthony Richardson isn’t first round material aren’t playing with a full deck.

The scout told Hayes, “He has played 10 games. It’s absolutely crazy that I hear people say he’s not a natural quarterback or that he should play tight end in the [NFL]. Anyone who tries to play this kid at tight end should have their head examined. He’s a quarterback. He’s a quarterback who is still growing and understanding passing game concepts and he’s dealing with a number of injuries right now. He’s also dealing with a lack of talent on the outside. Think about what Florida had for (Kyle) Trask two years ago and compare that to now. His release is rare and he has the talent and physical ability to be a good, maybe great, starter in this league. He needs to stay one more season, but I’m not sure he will. If he comes out, he’s a lock first-day pick.”

Florida running back Montrell Johnson knows how talented Richardsoni is but he most definitely wants AR to come back again.

“I've just seen him approach practice with more confidence,” Johnson said at Florida’s Monday press conference. “He’s very – how can I say this? – he’s more like shaking the program if you know what I mean. He's gotten more comfortable in the program since he's played a couple of games. He knows the offense a little bit better. And you can see him growing throughout games. And he's going to be great. We need him back another year.”

With three games remaining in the regular season, Richardson is 131-235 passing (55.7 percent) for 1,839 yards (7.8 per attempt) with nine touchdown passes and seven interceptions. Richardson is 74-492 (6.65 per carry) running the ball for eight touchdowns.

Torrence named SEC O-Lineman of the Week

Florida guard O’Cyrus Torrence was named Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week after a dominating day in the trenches during the Gators’ 41-24 win over Texas A&M. The Gators ran for 291 yards, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. The Aggies only got to UF quarterback Anthony Richardson for one sack for -5 yards.

Torrence is the highest rated offensive guard in the country by Pro Football Focus, grading out at 88.6 percent and 91.4 percent on running plays. He hasn’t allowed a quarterback sack or even a quarterback hit in the eight games he’s played and started.

UF coach Bill Napier says, “The guy’s 6-5. He’s 335 pounds. He’s got 11-inch hands. He’s got long arms. He’s got more lean mass on his body than any player on our team. He’s a big time player. More importantly is he has discipline. He has character. He’s tough. He’s a very consistent worker. He’s durable and football comes easy to him. He processes really well. He’s a good communicator.”

SEC football

No. 10 Alabama (7-2, 4-2 SEC): Regarding quarterback Bryce Young’s tender shoulder, Nick Saban said Monday, “He is telling us he is fine. He said he was fine in practice relative to what he did. We need to do a better job around Bryce.”

Arkansas (5-4, 2-3 SEC): Following their Saturday night arrests for disorderly conduct, defensive backs Myles Slusher and Anthony Brown have been suspended for at least one week.

Auburn (3-6, 1-5 SEC): Auburn starting left tackle Paul Troxell will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury.

No. 1 Georgia (9-0, 6-0 SEC): Kirby Smart says the Mississippi State cowbells, which the Bulldogs will hear loud and clear Saturday, present a “huge competitive advantage.”

Kentucky (6-3, 3-3 SEC): Punter Colin Goodfellow suffered a season-ending injury on a play that resulted in a roughing the kicker penalty against Missouri.

No. 7 LSU (7-2, 5-1 SEC): Following Jayden Daniels’ touchdown in overtime and then again after his overtime pass to Jason Taylor for the game-winning points against Alabama, the seismograph on the LSU campus moved.

Mississippi State (6-3, 3-3 SEC): The Bulldogs are 16.5-point home underdogs to Georgia.

Missouri (4-4, 2-4 SEC): Former 3-star cornerback recruit Davion Sistrunk will be transferring out.

No. 11 Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1 SEC): After hearing Paul Finebaum’s comments about the curtain starting to close on Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin said, “I texted [Paul] Finebaum on the way over here when I saw his quotes when he normally does and he says the Nick Saban dynasty is over and all that. Every time he says this – which I tell him – all he does is, I call it, like, GOAT fuel. The opposite of rat poison. You’re just like, giving the GOAT fuel, which for him, that works. He goes and proves them wrong every time.”

South Carolina (6-3, 3-3 SEC): The Gamecocks are optimistic that leading rusher MarShawn Lloyd will be healthy enough to play this week. Lloyd didn’t play against Vanderbilt. He has 569 yards and 10 touchdowns this season.

No. 5 Tennessee (8-1, 4-1 SEC): Reece Davis of ESPN believes the Vols won’t slide too far when the College Football Playoff rankings are released tonight. “I think they’ll hang in there at No. 4 but we’ll see,” Davis tweeted.

Texas A&M (3-6, 1-5 SEC): Freshman Connor Weigman will be the starting QB at Auburn.

Vanderbilt (3-6, 0-5 SEC): Although they lost to South Carolina, the Commodores ran 226 yards and averaged 5.51 yards per carry.

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

Oklahoma (5-4, 2-4 SEC): A lack of discipline has been killing the Sooners, who rank dead last in the Big 12 in penalties. They were flagged eight times in their loss to Baylor.

No. 18 Texas (6-3, 4-2 Big 12): Although TCU is unbeaten and ranked fourth nationally, Texas opens as a 7-point favorite in Austin Saturday.

SEC basketball

No. 20 Alabama (1-0) 75, Longwood 54

No. 10 Arkansas (1-0) 76, North Dakota State 58

No. 15 Auburn (1-0) 70, George Mason 52

Georgia (1-0) 68, Western Carolina 55 No. 4 Kentucky (1-0) 95, Howard 63 Mississippi State (1-0) 63, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 44 Missouri (1-0) 97, Southern Indiana 91

Ole Miss (1-0) 73, Alcorn State 58 No. 11 Tennessee (1-0) 75, Tennessee Tech 43

Texas A&M (1-0) 87, Louisiana-Monroe 54 Memphis 75, Vanderbilt (0-1) 67

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

Sam Houston 52, Oklahoma (0-1) 51 No. 12 Texas (1-0) 72, UTEP 57

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: South Florida dismissed head football coach Jeff Scott Sunday after going 4-26 in a little less than three full seasons. Scott had a rather brilliant reputation as an assistant coach when he was the co-offensive coordinator at Clemson. It seems the Clemson offense and Scott’s career have taken a nosedive since he left. Given Clemson’s diminished offensive production in the past couple of seasons, Dabo Swinney definitely needs to hire Scott back although there is no question he will have his choice of coordinator jobs.

So where does South Florida turn? The program has been on a downward spiral ever since 2017 when they finished 10-2 and were within a last minute fumble of upsetting UCF. There is no on campus football stadium although there is a plan to build one that will open in 2026 at a cost of more than $300 million, but that’s three seasons from now. And who’s going to pay for it? USF will remain in the American Athletic Conference which has media deal worth less than $7 million per school.

This is a bad situation that could get worse.