Wyatt Langford hits for the cycle

Former Gator All-American Wyatt Langford hit for the cycle Sunday night with the Texas Rangers

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

Former Gator All-American and Texas Rangers rookie outfielder Wyatt Langford hit for the cycle Sunday night as the Rangers pounded the Baltimore Orioles, 11-2. Langford is the 11th player in Rangers history to hit for the cycle and just the second rookie.

Langford, who went 4-5 with four RBI, led off the fourth with a triple off the left field wall. In the fifth he hit an RBI double, then legged out an infield single in the sixth. With two on in the eighth, Langford hit his fourth home run of the season, 404 feet down the left field line.

Langford is hitting .260 with four home runs and 35 RBI. In the month of June, Langford hit .309 with three home runs and 22 RBI. He has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games.

After a redshirt freshman season at UF in 2021 in which he had four at bats, Langford became one of the most dominant players in all of college baseball. In 134 collegiate games, Langford hit .363 with 37 doubles, six triples, 47 home runs and 120 RBI.

Other UF baseball news: In its latest mock draft, MLB.com projects Jac Caglianone to be selected with the second pick in the June 15 draft by the Cincinnati Reds. There is a slot value of $9,785,000 for the No. 2 pick. Caglianone finished his collegiate career at UF hitting .355 with 28 doubles, two triples, 75 home runs and 189 RBI in 165 career games.

Florida signee Kellon Lindsey (Wauchula, FL Hardee County) projects as the No. 30 draft pick by the Texas Rangers in the mock draft.

Listed in the top 250 draft eligible players by MLB are: 133. SS Colby Shelton and 193. RHP Brandon Neely. High school players in the top 250 are: 29. SS Lindsey; 156. SS Brendan Lawson (Toronto, Canada/Lexington, SC P27 Academy); and 160. RHP Josh Whritenour (Hudson, FL/Tampa, FL A3 Academy).

Jasmine Moore made the US Olympic team in both the triple jump and long jump (UAA photo)

JASMINE MOORE MAKES US OLYMPIC TEAM IN TWO EVENTS

Jasmine Moore made US Olympic track and field history this weekend when she finished second in the long jump. Already on the United States team that will participate in Paris after winning the triple jump earlier in the week, Moore is the first woman in US track and field history to qualify for the Olympics in both the triple jump and long jump.

Also qualifying for the US team on Sunday was hurdler Grace Starks. The NCAA 100 meter hurdles champ both indoors and outdoors, finished third, but her 12.31 time was an Olympic qualifier so she’s on the team.

Gators on the US men’s team are hurdler Grant Holloway and long jumper Malcolm Clemmons. Starks and heptathlete Anna Hall will represent UF on the women’s team.

Parker Valby finished second in the 10,000 meters but missed by 0:49 of an Olympic qualifying time. Valby finished fourth in the 5,000 meters. Is it possible that by not making the Olympic team that Valby will return to the University of Florida for her senior season? She does have the option of running on the professional circuit.

Leanne Wong is on the US Olympic Gymnastics team heading to Paris (Photo by Chris Spears)

WONG MAKES OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS TEAM AS A REPLACEMENT

 Leanne Wong will be traveling to Paris, but as a replacement athlete. Should there be an injury, Wong is one of two American athletes who will be considered for the fifth spot on the roster.

Wong also made the 2020 team as a replacement athlete.

PULLIN SIGNS 2-WAY CONTRACT WITH MIAMI HEAT

Florida point guard Zyon Pullin has signed a 2-way NBA contract with the Miami Heat. With a 2-way contract, Pullin will spend most of the season with the Heat’s G-League team but he can be brought up to the NBA team for as many as 45 games. With the 2-way contract, Pullin will make more than $500,000 as a rookie with the heat.

Tyreese Samuel signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Phoenix Suns. The Exhibit 10 contract is a 1-year minimum salary deal. A player can be waived without the team taking a salary cap hit.

TEXAS, OKLAHOMA OFFICIALLY JOIN THE SEC

The college athletics world as we know it now did not come to an end at 12:01 a.m. when Texas and Oklahoma officially became members of the Southeastern Conference. Nobody’s seismograph moved. No registry on the Richter Scale. Just an SEC that was already the strongest and most powerful conference in all of college athletics becoming even stronger and more powerful.

So much for the doom and gloom predictions of Kevin Warren, George Kliavkoff and Little Jimmy Phillips back in 2021 when the SEC voted unanimously to accept Texas and Oklahoma, expanding the conference to 16 teams. Warren, Kliavkoff and Phillips hit the panic button when instead they should have recalled the immortal words of Peter Warrick, who, after getting arrested for his part in fleecing a Tallahassee department store said, “It’s not like I shot the president or nothing.”

Folks tend to forget that Texas and Oklahoma petitioned the SEC to join the league, not the other way around. What was Greg Sankey supposed to do? Turn them down and let them join the Big Ten or the Pac-12? They were determined to leave the Big 12. The Southeastern Conference seemed like the best option and Sankey wasn't about to turn them down when they came calling.

Now, the college sports landscape has indeed changed dramatically since Texas and Oklahoma were unanimously approved to join the SEC, but for reasons not entirely the fault of either Sankey or the SEC.  

In the three years since it was announced that Texas and Oklahoma would be leaving the Big 12, think about what has happened to Warren, Kliavkoff, Phillips and their leagues:

1. Kevin Warren, who screwed up the Big Ten badly during the COVID year when he only let the teams in his league play AFTER the SEC announced a 10-game schedule, invited Southern California and UCLA to join the league, then bolted to become president of the Chicago Bears. He is in the process of turning the Bears into the NFC Central’s version of the Washington Communists. 

The Big Ten, meanwhile, not only raided the Pac-12 for Southern Cal and UCLA but further decimated the Pac-12 by inviting Oregon and Washington. Everyone in LA is pleased as punch over the thought of a November night game in Minnesota, which doesn’t have a domed stadium. The volleyball team and baseball team are also thrilled at the thought of flying cross country to face Rutgers.

2. George Kliavkoff oversaw the demise of a more than 100-year-old league so steeped in tradition and winning that the late, great Bill Walton labeled the Pac-12 “the Conference of Champions” and it stuck. When Southern Cal and UCLA left for the Big Ten, KLiavkoff promised one deal after another. The ten remaining schools were willing to stick together until they finally figured out that despite all his promises of an imminent big deal, donkeys would fly before Kliavkoff made something happen. Colorado, sensing the inevitable, left for the Big 12. Oregon and Washington got on their knees, had their prayers (and begging) answered and joined the Big Ten. Arizona, Arizona State and Utah joined Colorado in the Big 12.

Kliavkoff did his best Alfred E. Neumann – “Who me?” – and was left with a 2-team league. He was dismissed, naturally, as the commish. Washington State and Oregon State are officially the Pac-12. Because they actually own the Pac-12 and the Pac-12 Network, they will get a full share of the College Football Playoff and for at least two more years, the league’s NCAA Basketball Tournament revenue. Expectations are that with the cash they’ll leverage what they have with the Mountain West to form a new league capable of competing for the place in the College Football Playoff guaranteed to the Group of Five.

3. Then we have Little Jimmy Phillips and an ACC in the throes of a revolt. Florida State and Clemson want to secede because the ACC has a rather lame media rights contract that seems rather ironclad through 2036. If FSU and Clemson can find a loophole that allows them to leave, Virginia and North Carolina are sure to leave also, but there is a difference. Virginia and North Carolina are coveted both by the Big Ten and by the SEC. Florida State and Clemson don’t move the TV needle enough and they are perceived as academic weaklings by a Big Ten whose 18 schools include 17 that are members of the prestigious American Association of Universities.

And here is a real gem for you. A league that already has members grumbling because in two years they will be getting about $50 million less than their SEC and Big Ten cousins expanded. Not just any expansion, mind you, but all the way to the Left Coast to bring in Stanford and California, plus to Texas to bring in SMU. Stanford and California assure the ACC that it will dominate in men’s soccer, water polo and field hockey. As for SMU, it plays football in a 32,000-seat stadium, doesn’t field a baseball team, and has six (count ‘em) men’s varsity sports teams. They do great in equestrian and their cheerleading team won a national championship.

The ACC seems to be forgetting its history is forged in basketball. For that reason it is baffling that Little Jimmy hasn’t figured out that the ACC would have been far better off to invite UConn instead of SMU. UConn has won six national championships in men’s basketball since 1999, the same number North Carolina and Duke have combined to win. UConn plays in a 40,000-seat football stadium, has natural rivals nearby in Syracuse, Boston College and Pittsburgh and it has a women’s basketball program that has won 11 NCAA championships.

Meanwhile, the Big 12 landed on its feet despite the loss of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. With Texas and Oklahoma gone, the league will be far more competitive top to bottom in football. Utah could emerge as a national contender in football this season. By adding Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado, the strongest basketball league in the country got stronger. The new Big 12 media deal is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $35 million which isn’t that big a drop from what the payouts were with Texas and Oklahoma. For schools like UCF and Cincinnati, which got $5 million or so from membership in the American Athletic Conference, they must feel like they have won the lottery. For Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah, if Kliavkoff could have delivered that much money they probably would have stayed in the Pac-12.

That brings us back to the SEC, which is a 16-team league as of today as well as the strongest, most competitive and stable conference in the country. For that we can thank Greg Sankey. While the rest of college sports are going nuts, the SEC just keeps plugging along at the top.   

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Phil Steele is out with his preseason college football magazine that rates everything except teams by shoe sizes. Although Mr. Steele thinks the Florida Gators are going to be improved this year, he still ranks them 10th in the Southeastern Conference. That is actually an improvement over Athlon (11th) and Lindy’s (12th). However, both Athlon and Lindy’s have the Gators higher-rated nationally. Athlon projects the Gators as the No. 35 team nationally, while Lindy’s has UF at No. 37. As for Phil Steele, the Gators are listed No. 48.

Steele does rank Florida’s schedule the most brutal in the nation, which probably makes it difficult to go out on a limb and predict the Gators will have a breakout season. So, since everyone else is hesitant to go out on a limb here are five predictions that I will make:

1. Florida will win at least seven games. Eight is do-able.

2. The Florida offense will average more than 33 points per game as Graham Mertz has an even better season behind the league’s most improved offensive line.  

3. Florida’s defense will be four first downs and seven points per game better than it was in 2023.

4. The following freshmen will have an impact: RB Jaden Baugh; LB Myles Graham; EDGE LJ McCray and CB Jameer Grimsley.

5. S DJ Douglas will be one of the five most impactful transfers in the SEC.