Korbe Otis is nothing but trouble to Florida softball opponents

Korbe Otis gestures to the Florida dugout after stealing vs. South Alabama (Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:

There will be a day in the future when Korbe Otis is opening up a chest to operate on someone’s heart or maybe repair the knee of some young woman who also plays softball. The junior from Littleton, Colorado dreams big dreams.

For now, however, the dream is to help the Florida Gators (49-12) not only return to the Women’s College World Series but bring home the Gators’ first NCAA championship since they did it back-to-back in 2014-15. Otis, a first team All-SEC outfielder who is a finalist for national player of the year, comes into today’s (12 noon, ESPN2) NCAA Super Regional game with Baylor (34-21) fourth nationally in hitting (.462) and No. 1 in on-base percentage (.592).

With a first five in the hitting order of Kendra Falby (.391, 84 hits, 19 SB), Otis, Skylar Wallace (.412, 14 HR, 66 RBI, 35 SB), Jocelyn Erickson (.391, 13 HR, 78 RBI) and Reagan Walsh (.373, 16 HR, 61 RBI), the Gators tend to score runs in bunches. Of the Gators’ 49 wins, 28 have been of the run-rule variety.

When it comes to the explosiveness of this offense, Otis says, “Like we’ve said before, it’s not a question of if, it’s when and who’s going to get the big hit. It’s really amazing to play with.”

Otis spent her first two years at Louisville before transferring to Florida. In her first year with the Gators she has become one of the nation’s most dangerous hitters with 12 doubles, five triples, eight homers and 52 RBI. She has walked 55 times and has struck out only 14.

She came to Florida with the goal of making All-America, getting to the College World Series and winning a national championship with the ultimate goal of “getting the best education I can to set me up for life later on.”

Serious stuff, but there is a not so serious side that has endeared Otis to teammates. It is her obsession with Elvis. She offers a glimpse when she steps to the plate. Her walk-up song is “Trouble” by Elvis. That’s a carryover from her time at Louisville.

“I feel like if I walked up to the plate with anything else it would seem really weird at this point … now it’s become kind of iconic, I guess,” Otis said Thursday.

She has been known to show up in the Florida locker room in an Elvis costume. Before she surprised her teammates, the Elvis costume had to pass muster with Erickson, the SEC Player of the Year and Oklahoma transfer who is her roommate.

“When I first saw it I was like, oh, yes, Korbe, like you’re doing this,” Erickson said. “It’s happening.”

It isn’t just the Elvis costume that’s happening. It’s Otis. It’s the Gators, winners of their last 11 games and 12 of their last 13. Like the walk-up song, Otis and the Gators are trouble for whoever gets in their way.

Todd Golden spoke to the Ocala Tip-Off Club Thursday night (Photo by Chris Spears)

UF BASKETBALL: Gators will fill final two roster spots with younger guys

Speaking at the Ocala Tip-Off Club Thursday night at the Golden Hills Country Club, Florida coach Todd Golden said the Gators will be adding two younger players rather than two more from the transfer portal in response to a question about the final two open scholarships. Golden said the Gators will be looking to add one perimeter player as well as one more big guy. One or both might be international players.

A few other tidbits from the UF coach:

Indications are that Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard will be announcing they will be returning to UF for their senior seasons next week. Both have gone through the NBA Draft evaluation process and have until Wednesday of next week to declare their intentions. Clayton was Florida’s leading scorer last season, averaging 17.6 per game, while Richard averaged 11.4.

Micah Handlogten continues to make good progress in rehabbing his fractured leg. To avoid trying to come back too soon from the horrific compound fracture suffered in the SEC Tournament championship game against Auburn, Handlogten will be taking a redshirt next season. Golden expects Handlogten to strengthen and be a real beast in the paint for the 2025-26 season.

Golden said he wants his team to be improved defensively next season. He pointed out that the Gators averaged a school record 86 points per game last season while playing “big and fast” but added that he expects the Gators to be “bigger and faster” in 2024-25.

Golden is very high on the three transfers (6-2 Alijah Martin from Florida Atlantic; 7-0 Rueben Chinyelu from Washington State; 6-9 Sam Alexis from Chattanooga) and he really likes incoming freshman Isaiah Brown (6-5, 190) from Orlando Christian Prep.

A potential starting lineup for the Gators: 7-0 Chinyelu; 6-11 Alex Condon; 6-2 Martin, 6-2 Clayton and 6-4 Richard.

Expected to make a huge jump in both playing time and productivity: Denzel Aberdeen. Golden foresees Aberdeen getting serious minutes at the point while also helping on the wing.

Interesting recruiting story: Golden tried to land Chinyelu as a freshman, but the big Nigerian instead signed with Washington State, coached by Kyle Smith, now the Stanford coach, but one of Golden’s mentors. Golden worked for Smith at Columbia and San Francisco. While trying to recruit Chinyelu, who was playing for the NBA Africa Academy, Golden started watching Alex Condon, who would go on to sign with the Gators. Now, both Condon and Chinyelu are Gators and expected to be starters.

Another recruiting story: Thomas Haugh, who had an excellent freshman season along with Condon, who is his best friend and roommate now, was being recruited to Richmond by Kevin Hovde, who joined the UF staff when Golden became the head coach two years ago. Golden discovered that Florida was Haugh’s dream school and that his room in his home in Pennsylvania was almost a Gator shrine complete with photos, posters etc. of Tim Tebow.

Golden already was involved in serious discussions with four Southeastern Conference schools for their head coach vacancies when UF athletic director Scott Stricklin contacted him. Golden said he immediately told Jonathan Safire, who came with him to Florida and serves as “my GM,” that if Stricklin offered him the job he would take it. Golden said he has believed in Florida’s potential to be an elite national program. He said he first started following the Gators during their back-to-back national championship seasons (2006-07) when he was playing collegiately at Saint Mary’s.

UF LACROSSE: Gators face No. 1 Northwestern in NCAA semifinals

It has been 12 years since Florida made it to the NCAA semifinals. Today, the Gators (20-2) have a chance to do what no UF team has ever done. With a win over No. 1 Northwestern (17-2) this afternoon (3 p.m., ESPNU), the Gators can advance to the national championship game as only the third unseeded team in tournament history to make the finals.

The Gators are the hottest team in the country with 20 consecutive wins during which time they have outscored opponents by an average of 11.5 goals per game. The offense has been exceptional, but what has propelled the Gators to the semifinals has been great defense. Florida is allowing only 8.33 goals per game during the streak while holding opponents to .280 shooting in NCAA Tournament play.

Florida is the highest scoring team in the country (17.9 per game) while Northwestern comes in at No. 2. Florida has nine players who have scored 20 or more goals this season led by Maggi Hall (60) and Danielle Pavinelli (54).

UF BASEBALL: Gators a No. 3 seed in Tallahassee?

In their Thursday field of 64 projections, Baseball America had the Gators (28-27) going to Tallahassee as the No. 3 seed in the regional hosted by Florida State. Southern Miss is No. 3 with Stetson as the No. 4 in this bracketology.

Baseball America projects 11 SEC teams will make the tournament field with Tennessee (1), Texas A&M (3), Kentucky (4), Arkansas (5) and Georgia (8) earning top eight seeds with Mississippi State (15) also hosting a regional. The other SEC teams making the field are Alabama (No. 3 Clemson Regional); LSU (No. 3 UC-Santa Barbara Regional); Vanderbilt (No. 2 Indiana State Regional) and South Carolina (No. 2 North Carolina State Regional).  

SEC Tournament

Thursday’s games: No. 2 Kentucky (40-13) 9, No. 5 Arkansas (43-14) 6; No. 1 Tennessee (47-11) 7, No. 4 Texas A&M (44-13) 4; LSU (39-20) 11, South Carolina (35-22) 10; Vanderbilt (38-20) 4, No. 15 Mississippi State (38-20) 3

Friday’s games:  4 p.m. No. 2 Kentucky (40-13) vs. South Carolina (35-22); 7:30 p.m. No. 1 Tennessee (47-11) vs. No. 15 Mississippi State (38-20)

MORE ON RASHADA: One prominent attorney’s take on the lawsuit

Hal Lewis, a prominent Tallahassee attorney with the firm Fonvielle, Lewis, Messer and McConnaugh, examined the lawsuit against Billy Napier brought on by Jadan Rashada and his lawyer, Rusty Hardin. Here is a tweet posted by Lewis that outwardly questions the legality of the suit against Napier:

“REMEMBER: The only WRITTEN agreement that ever existed was between "Jaden Rashada" and "The Gator Collective LLC." Yet, that LLC is NOT being sued? The actual individuals being sued were NOT parties to the agreement. There's the problem for Rashada, since people unaffiliated with a company cannot somehow bind or speak for the company. And once that written agreement was terminated on December 6th, everything became oral. Billy Napier can't make a promise to anyone that verbally binds a non-UF entity (Hugh Hathcock and his company) to fulfill a monetary obligation. That's ludicrous... and any lawyer would have told Rashada so. Which is why the lawsuit has to claim that Napier and Hathcock were "conspiring" to NEVER pay Rashada but only to trick him into signing. Think about how ridiculous this is. Napier would have LOVED for the deal to go through so that he could sign a top ranked QB when he desperately needed one. It makes NO SENSE at all to allege that Napier didn't intend for it to happen. The only WRITTEN agreement that ever existed was between "Jaden Rashada" and "The Gator Collective LLC." Yet, that LLC is NOT being sued? The actual individuals being sued were NOT parties to the agreement. There's the problem for Rashada, since people unaffiliated with a company cannot somehow bind or speak for the company. And once that written agreement was terminated on December 6th, everything became oral. Billy Napier can't make a promise to anyone that verbally binds a non-UF entity (Hugh Hathcock and his company) to fulfill a monetary obligation. That's ludicrous... and any lawyer would have told Rashada so. Which is why the lawsuit has to claim that Napier and Hathcock were "conspiring" to NEVER pay Rashada but only to trick him into signing. Think about how ridiculous this is. Napier would have LOVED for the deal to go through so that he could sign a top ranked QB when he desperately needed one. It makes NO SENSE at all to allege that Napier didn't intend for it to happen.”

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The five power conferences – or should we say the four and 1/16th (Pac-12 is now the Pac-2) – have signed off on an agreement that opens the door for players to be legally paid and for former players to receive compensation for their efforts when paying players wasn’t legal. It is complicated and while this is thought to be a major step, it’s not the end of the litigation.

There are other lawsuits out there and we have no idea what the government will do about Title IX. Essentially this new deal is only scratching the surface of dealing with the issues that will define the future of collegiate athletics.

The biggest question of all is how long will the NCAA be able to stay in business? The lawsuits aren’t going to end and the cost of litigation is going to be draining the organization of energy, the ability to effectively govern and of course, the finances.

There isn’t a single plan out there capable of addressing all the problems of the NCAA, but tossing the NCAA in favor of a new organization led by business people and not academics would be a pleasant beginning.