Thoughts of the Day: July 2, 2026

Vernell Brown III stretches for a deep throw against South Florida in 2025 (Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:

It may not matter who offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner starts at quarterback this fall. Whether it’s Aaron Philo, Trammel Jones Jr. or even freshman Will Griffin the task will be get the ball out quickly to what might very well prove to be the best wide receiver room in the Southeastern Conference. Athlon’s preseason magazine rates the Florida receivers No. 3 in the SEC and No. 10 nationally. They could be better than that.

The last time Faulkner worked with this much wide receiver talent he was coaching Stetson Bennett to get the ball out in a hurry to a collection of future pros like George Pickens. Bennett threw 56 touchdown passes while taking Georgia to back-to-back national championships. With incumbents Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson and TJ Abrams joined by stud transfers Eric Singleton Jr., Micah Mays Jr., Jaylen Lloyd and Bailey Stockton, the Gators have stretch the field vertically types to go with a very nice collection of slot guys who can keep the chains moving. Whoever is throwing the ball won’t lack for fast targets who can stretch the field vertically. If the quarterbacks can simply remember to avoid the cardinal sins of holding onto the ball too long and throwing the ball into double coverage, the Gators should be explosive and capable of lighting up the scoreboard.

Here are Florida’s wide receivers:

Eric Singleton Jr. (5-10, 182, SR):  He was misused at Auburn last year but still caught 58 passes for 534 yards and three touchdowns. Go back to the previous two seasons when he was the go to guy in Faulkner’s Georgia Tech passing game where he caught 104 passes for 1,468 yards and nine touchdowns.

Micah Mays Jr. (6-1, 195, RJR): In two seasons playing in a spread the ball around passing offense at Wake Forest, Mays caught 34 passes for 520 yards (15.29 per catch) and four touchdowns.

Vernell Brown III (5-11, 177, SO): As a true freshman in Florida’s underperforming pass attack, VBIII caught 40 passes for 512 yards and also averaged 11.67 per punt return.

TJ Abrams (5-10, 194, RSO): Another under-used wide receiver whose blazing speed was never fully taken advantage of the last two seasons where he caught 16 passes for 236 yards (15.7 per catch).

Dallas Wilson (6-3, 218, RFR): In his first start in a season cut short due to injuries, Wilson caught six passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns to help the Gators upset Texas. In four games he caught 12 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns. Retaining Wilson and Vernell Brown III was a priority for Jon Sumrall when he arrived in Gainesville.

Kahliel Jackson (6-3, 220, GR): Injuries have cost him the last two seasons. Got a waiver from the NCAA to play in 2026. Career 24 catches, 307 yards (17.1) and one touchdown.

Jaylen Lloyd (5-10, 190, RJR): Spent his first two seasons at Nebraska then transferred to Oklahoma State last year where he played in one game before a season-ending injury. At Nebraska caught 19 passes for 492 yards (25.89 per catch) and three TDs.

Bailey Stockton (5-10, 182, RJR): A slot receiver at Georgia Tech where he caught 38 passes for 439 yards (11.6 per catch) and one touchdown.

Ace Ciongoli (5-10, 172, RFR): Spent his freshman season at Indiana where he took a redshirt.

Davian Groce (6-2, 197, FR): High school running back who won the state 200 gold medal in track as a junior. Four-star talent out of high school who was projected as the No. 8 wide receiver nationally.

Justin Williams (5-11, 195, FR): Listed as a 4-star athlete out of Gainesville Buchholz where he played both wide receiver and running back.

Marquez Daniel (6-5, 205, FR): Has size, speed and vertical hops who needs coaching but has the physical intangibles for the future. Four-star recruit who was listed as the No. 38 wide receiver in the country.

ALIJAH MARTIN SIGNS AN NBA (NOT 2-WAY) CONTRACT

Persistence has once again paid off for former Gator Alijah Martin, who signed a two-year deal worth $4.8 million to remain with the Toronto Raptors.Selected 39^th in the 2025 NBA Draft, Martin was on a two-way contract with the Raptors last season, playing 21 games with the Raptors G-League affiliate where he averaged 18.7 points and 2.2 in 23 NBA games with the Raptures. Martin was named to the All-NBA G-League Rookie team, the G-League defensive team and third team All-G-League.  

Year one of Martin’s new two-year deal is fully guaranteed. He has a partial guarantee for year two.

Martin could have turned pro and played in the G-League during the 2024-25 season but he decided to not only stay in school but transfer to Florida where he joined Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard to form one of the great backcourts of the last 25 years of college basketball. That move paid off with a national championship. Will this latest move pay off with increased playing time and an opportunity for a much bigger contract either with Toronto or elsewhere in the NBA.

SULLY LANDS TWO MORE TRANSFERS

Kevin O’Sullivan went to the portal again Wednesday, landing two more transfers as he begins to fill in the blanks for next season’s roster ahead of the Major League Baseball Draft where the Gators could lose several signees. The newbies are outfielder Drew Dickerson, a sophomore member of Oklahoma’s national championship team, and catcher Eddie Marshall from Samford.

Dickerson started 22 games for the Sooners, most of them as the designated hitter. He hit .281 with four doubles, two triples, four home runs and 21 RBI. As a freshman at OU, Dickerson got 17 starts, finishing the season with a .303 batting average with four doubles, a triple, four home runs and 17 RBI. Dickerson is a Missouri native with three years of eligibility remaining.

As a freshman at Samford, Marshall hit .247 with 10 home runs and 22 RBI in 36 games, 28 as the starting catcher. A Florida native who prepped at Cardinal Gibbons, Marshall has four years of eligibility remaining

Incoming (9): OF Drew Dickerson (from Oklahoma); C Eddie Mashall (from Samford); 1B Caden Davidson (from Gaston College, NC); RHP Zachary Edwards (from Oregon State); 2B Kyle McDaniel (from Utah Tech); RHP Maddox McDonald (from Jacksonville State); C John Embury (from Florida Gulf Coast); LHP Trey Morris (from Oregon State)

Outgoing (10): SS/3B Kolt Myers (to Grand Canyon); LHP Cooper Moss (to South Florida); RHP Cooper Walls (to Georgia); LHP Eli Blair; LHP McCall Biemiller (to North Carolina State); LHP Rivers Kurland; 2B Cade Kurland (to LSU); RHP Blake Brookins; RHP Christian Rodriguez; RHP Matthew Jenkins (to Charlotte)

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: One of my lasting memories is game two of the 1973 World Series between the Oakland A’s and New York Mets. In the top of the ninth with the Mets leading 6-4, John Milner singled to right field. Willie Mays, once the most terrifying baserunner in the game, missed second base then stumbled trying to get back to the base. In the bottom half of the inning, Mays lost a fly ball in the high sky then stumbled face first to the ground trying to catch the ball barehanded. It went for a double and the A’s went on to tie the game. The Mets prevailed in 12 innings, but likely would have won in nine if not for Willie’s mishaps.

Willie said he was trying to watch the ball in right field when he missed the base. “I don’t know it happened that I missed the bag,” Mays said. “I guess it was trying to do two things at the same time – watch the ball and touch the bag.” Nobody but nobody could ever remember Willie Mays making that kind of baserunning blunder. Even a couple of years earlier he would have made it to third standing up. When he was at his best Willie might have scored from first. That wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

Regarding the fly ball, Curt Gowdy, calling the game for NBC, remarked: “Ten years ago he would have put that ball in his back pocket.”

I bring that up because Willie Mays kept hanging on long after he should have hung up his spikes and called it a Hall of Fame career. Those last two seasons with the Mets, particularly the World Series, were painful to watch for those of us who grew up idolizing Willie. How we wished he had departed the game he loved so much with a measure of dignity. Young people who never saw Willie Mays at his peak saw an old man turning routine plays into adventures.

I got to sit with Joe DiMaggio in Fort Lauderdale when the Yankees were doing spring training there back in the 1970s. Joe retired at age 36 after an injury-filled season in which he failed to hit .300 for only the second time in his Hall of Fame career. Healthy he could have still played three or four more productive years but he walked away. I asked him why.

“I was making catches on the run in the outfield on balls I used to wait for” was his reply. He left the game because he couldn’t perform to the level of greatness that marked the previous 12 years in the big leagues. In a conversation I had at his museum in Beverly Hills, Florida a few years prior to his death, Ted Williams told me, “Joe DiMaggio was the greatest player I ever saw. He did everything gracefully, almost effortlessly.”   

Joe DiMaggio got out while people still remembered him for his greatness. They never saw him stumble, fall and look the part of someone who just couldn’t let go.

There have been others who got out while still on top. Bill Russell, Jim Brown and Sandy Koufax come to mind. Then there are others like Willie Mays, Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana whose sell by dates expired long before they faced the indignity of hanging on too long.

I watched highlights of Serena Williams and wondered why she came back to play at Wimbledon. She lost in the first round to an opponent half her age, someone she would have simply overpowered a few years back. Her legacy is tarnished but hopefully she got the hint and will call it a career. If she continues to play it won’t be pretty and people will forget how dominant she once was.

As The Byrds sang back in the 1960s, “To everything, turn, turn, turn; There is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Serena Williams’ season of greatness is in the past and hopefully it stays there so people can remember her the right way.