Thoughts of the Day: June 3, 2022 NCAA GAINESVILLE REGIONAL: THE ROAD TO OMAHA BEGINS TODAY FOR UF Rock bottom was back on April 24 when the Gators had just been swept by Tennessee to drop to 6-12 in Southeastern Conference play. It wasn’t just losing three straight to the Vols that was the problem, either. It was the way they were losing them. In the final game against Tennessee, for example, the Gators blew a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning then lost 6-4 in the 11th. “Well, you’ve seen it all year,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said Thursday morning. “I mean we’ve lost games in the ninth inning. I think four games in the ninth in the league alone. We were 6-12. I think we lost another game in the eighth. It’s been challenging for sure.” It isn’t like O’Sullivan hasn’t been there and done that before. He’s had young pitching staffs before although none quite as young as this one which is comprised mostly of freshmen with only two or three sophomores sprinkled in. Like most young pitchers in a league that is as good as the SEC, there is a learning curve so it takes a lot of patience for a coach to wait for what’s between the ears to catch up with arm talent. Fortunately, for Sully, he’s had an abundance of patience to see the Gators through from rock bottom to the 21 games they’ve played since the Tennessee disaster. Back in April, even getting to the NCAA Tournament seemed a longshot. Hosting a regional seemed well beyond th Florida’s capabilities, they’ve won 16 games since the Tennessee weekend and they played so well in Hoover at the SEC Tournament that the NCAA seeded the Gators 13th and gave them a regional. “We’ve gotten to Omaha nine times,” O’Sullivan said Thursday morning before the Gators (39-22) went through their final preparation for today’s Gainesville regional matchup with Central Michigan (42-17). “When you’ve had the success that we’ve had I don’t think there’s any other choice but to stay patient and confident. At the end of the day, the players have to go out and perform and they did. They figured it out.” So, the question now is can they continue to figure it out? Once NCAA play begins, at each of the three levels – regional, super regional and College World Series in Omaha – two losses ends the season. Home field advantage usually stands for something but a year ago the Gators were hosting and it was two and through with an unceremonious 5-3 loss to South Florida and a 19-1 kneecapping by South Alabama. There is a different feeling to this Florida team and the one that was dumped on in the regional last year. Last year’s team struggled all year to find some consistency with the pitching. This year, O’Sullivan keeps sending newbies out to the mound and they keep delivering. Last week in Hoover, Nick Ficarrotta was virtually untouchable for 6-1/3 innings in a loser goes home game against Alabama. Later that same day, Timmy Manning and Fisher Jameson combined to shut out Texas A&M on six hits. Sunday against Tennessee, O’Sullivan got a strong 4-2/3 innings from Timmy Manning to start the game. Now Sully has a starting rotation of Brandon Sproat, Brandon Neely and Nick Pogue, a closer in Ryan Slater and all these kids who pitched well in Hoover for middle relief. There is consistency now that wasn’t there before, but even when things weren’t going well it was a fun ride for Sully. “You know, the 2011 team was a really fun team to coach, too,” he said. “You kind of saw the progress. And 2010, all those kids were freshmen too and had to figure out a way to get to Omaha. Yeah, it’s been a lot of fun. It has. It’s been frustrating at times of course, but where we were not too long ago to where we are now, yeah, from my standpoint it’s been satisfying.” Today’s schedule: Oklahoma (37-20) vs. Liberty (37-21), 2:30 p.m.; Central Michigan (42-17) vs. FLORIDA (39-22), 6:30 p.m. LUGO TO THE RESCUE: GATORS ADVANCE AT THE WCWS Natalie Lugo seems to be channeling her inner Houdini these days. No pending disaster is too big for Florida’s escape artist to wiggle the Gators out of. The Virginia Tech Hokies found out the hard way back on Sunday when Lugo took over for Lexie Delbrey in the third inning and shut down the 3rd-seeded Hokies on one hit the rest of the way to advance the Gators to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Thursday night, against Oregon State in the top of the second inning of Florida’s first WCWS game, Lugo entered the game in relief of Delbrey once again. This time there was nobody out, the bases loaded and the Beavers led, 1-0. Getting out of the jam with minimal damage would have been quite an accomplishment, but as she’s been doing throughout the NCAA Tournament, Lugo went full Houdini. It took nine pitches for Lugo to induce a line drive out to right field, a strikeout and an inning-ending ground out to Hannah Adams at second base. With the threat ended, it was like a trigger mechanism for the Gators, who pushed across two runs in their half of the inning to take a lead they never relinquished. Pitching with a 2-1 cushion was all Lugo needed. Over the next five innings, the Beavers managed one harmless single. That’s it. No walks. No hit batters. No Florida errors. In earning the win to improve to 12-5 on the season (1.84 ERA), Lugo ran her impressive string of near perfect relief jobs in the NCAA Tournament to six games. Since pitching one perfect inning against Canisius in Florida’s first game in the Gainesville regional, Lugo has gone 14-1/3 innings, allowing just three hits, one walk and striking out 12 batters. When you’re throwing that well, you don’t need a whole lot of support but the Gators piled on another five runs Thursday night for a dominant win over the Beavers of the Pac-12. The Gators finished with 13 hits, their third straight game with at least 10 and their sixth in seven NCAA Tournament games. Typically, Florida’s hit parade has been led by the top of the lineup, but Kendra Falby, Hannah Adams and Skylar Wallace went a combined 2-11 against Oregon State. That didn’t matter, because Charla Echols (2-4 with a homer and a triple), Cheyenne Lindsey (3-3), Katie Kistler (2-3) and Avery Goelz (2-3, 3 RBI) picked up the slack. The win snapped a 4-game losing streak for the Gators at the WCWS dating back to 2018. Florida (49-17) will face Oklahoma State, a 4-2 winner over Arizona, Saturday night in a game that will match UF coach Tim Walton against his former assistant, Oklahoma State head coach Kenny Gajewski. Other WCWS games: Texas 7, UCLA 2; Oklahoma 13, Northwestern 2 Today’s schedule (losers go home): UCLA vs. Northwestern (7 p.m.); Oregon State vs. Arizona (9:30 p.m.) WILL THE SEC ANNOUNCE ITS NEW SCHEDULING MODEL TODAY? Amid all these reports that the athletic directors and presidents of the Southeastern Conference’s 14 schools can’t reach agreement on a new scheduling model, take this into consideration: SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wants a new model sooner, not later, and his preference is no divisions, nine conference games, three permanent opponents and every school guaranteed to play every other school in the league home-and-home at least once every four years. When Sankey was leaving a meeting of the presidents and athletic directors at the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin Thursday afternoon, he was asked specifically if there had been a vote on a new scheduling model. His response was, “Come back tomorrow. We’ll see.” Some reporters who have been following everything that’s been going on in Destin closely read that as no deal is imminent while others construe it as a hint that there will be an announcement that is favorable. Folks who know Sankey best believe that he favors adding one conference game (from eight to nine) and a 3-6 scheduling model where each team in the league has three permanent opponents with a guarantee that every team in the league will play every other team in the league home-and-home at least once every four years. That model does make the most sense but supposedly there are bottom tier teams in the league that favor staying with eight games but with one permanent opponent and seven other opponents on a rotating basis. In that you’ve got some long-established rivalries that would be knocked out if there is only one permanent opponent, so it seems almost certain that the league will go to nine games. But when? If not tomorrow, it certainly will be done soon because the SEC has big issues that have to be tackled quickly, among them adding Texas and Oklahoma to the league sooner and not later plus the expansion of the College Football Playoff. Sankey is a no-nonsense kind of guy and the last thing he wants is to leave Destin without a mandate from the presidents and athletic directors to do what is necessary to keep the SEC at the top of the heap. There is that old grandmother’s saying “strike while the iron is hot.” Well, the SEC iron is scorching hot these days both on the field and at the bank. SEC schools received a $56.4 million paycheck from the league for the 2020-21 COVID year. Compare that to the Pac-12 whose payout was less than $20 million per school or the ACC, whose payout was more than $20 million less than the SEC. Sankey clearly has power and momentum on his side. He can be the one who dictates the terms for what happens next in college football but only if the presidents and commissioners allow him to move now on the critical issues. Despite some reports to the contrary, I believe Sankey either leaves Destin with a vote to implement the 3-6 scheduling model or an agreement from the presidents and athletic directors that summer will not pass without making the move. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Arkansas: HBC Sam Pittman has been given a raise to a $5 million base salary in an incentive-laced contract extension that will run through the 2026 season. With incentives If he guides the Razorbacks to a 7-win season, it adds another year to the contract. Georgia: Kirby Smart expects an improved Stetson Bennett IV at quarterback this year largely because he got the starter’s reps in the spring. Smart told Paul Finebaum that last spring Bennett “wasn’t the guy. He was the third string last spring.” Kentucky: Defensive lineman Quentel Jones, a 3-star signee in the 2022 recruiting class, has been arrested and charged with battery in connection with the death of a 37-year-old man in Peach County. Also arrested and charged with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime was Tyler Jones, Quentel’s 26-year-old brother. Mississippi State: Point guard Jamel Horton, who averaged 12.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game at Albany last year, is transferring to Mississippi State. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, who is the chairman of the College Football Playoff, says the playoff’s governing body of presidents from the 10 Division I conferences and the president of Notre Dame, will meet in August regarding expansion. Ever the optimist, Keenum says he hopes something can be done within a year to expand the playoff, but we know what happened when expansion was on the table before. Keenum has spent the week in Destin at the SEC Spring Meetings. He’s had plenty of time to talk things over with commissioner Greg Sankey. My hope is that Sankey has given Keenum some sort of ultimatum for the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC that goes something like this: “We can have our own version of a playoff that includes 12 teams and not a one of them have to be from your leagues. Networks will gladly pony up and we’ll be splitting up more money that we do now. We’ll make more money if you join us, but we’ll done fine without you. You, however, won’t do so well. So, either get with the program and join us, or try explaining to your fans, boosters and creditors how it is you left multiple millions because of your foolishness.

For a small-town guy who got all of four at-bats the year before and was an enigma for the Florida coaching staff, which wondered where he could play, fall practice couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. “I remember the first day in practice I missed a ground ball that rolled all the way to the fence,” Langford recalled Thursday as the Gators (39-22) were about to enter their final preparations for their NCAA Gainesville regional first game encounter with Central Michigan (42-17). That missed grounder is one of the very few speedbumps Langford has encountered this season. If it seems he came out of nowhere to put together one of the better seasons any player has in the Kevin O’Sullivan era at the University of Florida, it might have something to do with where he comes from. Trenton, Florida, population 2,015 and the largest burg in all of Gilchrist County, population a tad more than 19,000. Given the season Wyatt Langford has had with the Gators, he might be more popular than the Burger Stop in the mind of most Gilchrist Countians. He ranks with Marty Malloy (played with the Atlanta Braves) and Hamp Cheevers (cornerback who made the Atlanta Falcons roster after playing collegiately at Boston College) the most famous athletes to ever come out of Trenton. Nobody seemed to notice when Langford spent most of his true freshman season at the University of Florida in the right field bullpen warming up relief pitchers. Nobody seemed to pay much attention when he got a chance to go up to Virginia in the summer of 2021 to play for the Charlottesville Tom Sox in the Valley League. He caught a little bit up there but spent most of his summer learning to play first base. You can find a lot of similarities behind the plate and in the field at first base, the two positions on a baseball diamond that see the ball most often. You spend most of your time on the receiving end of throws, quite often digging the ball out of the dirt. The outfield is a totally different animal but that’s where Langford found himself upon returning to Gainesville after the summer in Charlottesville. It had to be the outfield Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan had two experienced catchers – Mac Guscete and Coastal Carolina transfer BT Riopelle – plus one of the top freshman catching prospects in the country in former prep phenom Rene Lastres. Over at first, Sully had Kris Armstrong and Kendrick Calilao, who only seem as if they’ve been on the Florida roster since the Clinton administration. The one thing Sully knew about Langford was he could hit the baseball and that made it worth finding a place to play him. The former Home Run Derby king from 2019 on the Perfect Game travel ball circuit only had a single to show for 2021 at UF, but given a chance to play daily in Charlottesville the ball jumped off his bat. He made the Valley League all-star team while hitting .345 going against some of the best young pitchers in the country. When he wasn’t wearing the baseball out, Langford was busy transforming his body. He went from chunky – the kind of guy who more or less fit the stereotype of a catcher – into a lean, mean hitting machine. “I think that’s when it all started to be honest with you,” O’Sullivan said Thursday. “He came back, his body looked totally different. He had a really good summer up in Charlottesville. I think that’s really when it all started to come together for him.” There was still the matter of finding a position. Left field was open since Jacob Young had moved on to the pros but Langford had never played the outfield. Still, he hit so well that it was worth the gamble. Maybe, just maybe, he could account for more runs at the plate than he could give up as a defender. It was worth a shot. “That’s the main reason he had limited at-bats last year, because we couldn’t find a position for him,” O’Sullivan said. “Looking back, you don’t look very bright not having Wyatt in the lineup last year, but he’s got himself into much better shape. He’s a self-made player. In the fall, I still wasn’t convinced he was going to be able to play the outfield for us but he’s made himself a really, really good defender.” Langford put in the work to become a good outfielder, but he would have put the work in wherever O’Sullivan had asked him to play. “Coming into the season my only goal was to be a starter,” Langford said. “I didn’t care where I was going to play or where I was hitting in the lineup. I just wanted to start.” The Gators have played 61 games. Langford has started them all in left field. If your only perspective is what Langford has done at the plate this year – a .363 batting average, only 35 strikeouts in 234 at-bats, 85 hits, nine doubles, three triples, 23 home runs and 60 RBI – then you might be second-guessing O’Sullivan for not throwing the kid out there in 2021. But, if you take into account what he’s done in left field, then you do understand. For a rookie outfielder, Wyatt Langford has become a very good defender and he only gets better every game he plays. Through 61 games in the outfield this season, Langford has yet to commit his first error. With Langford in left, Jud Fabian, college baseball’s best outfield defender in center, and freshman Ty Evans in right, the Gators have an outfield that takes the gaps away and can make all the throws. It’s so good that Sterlin Thompson, who, like Fabian, figures to be selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft, has moved to second base where, like Langford, he plays like he was born for the position. The defense is good. The offense is great. You would be hard-pressed to find a better hitter the last six weeks or so. It was the Kentucky series, the weekend after the Gators were swept at home by Tennessee, that O’Sullivan made yet another gamble that involved Wyatt Langford. After spending the first 40 games of the season hitting anywhere from third to fifth in the lineup, O’Sullivan moved Langford to leadoff. How many former catchers lead off? “I never thought I would be moved to the outfield and get the leadoff spot,” Langford says, putting it all in perspective. In the 21 games since moving to the top of the batting order, Wyatt Langford has become a nightmare scenario for opposing pitchers. He has hit 10 of his Southeastern Conference-leading 23 home runs since the first game of the Kentucky series. He has had three 2-homer games since hitting leadoff, the most recent against Alabama at the SEC Tournament in Hoover. He has had 13 multi-hit games including four in which he’s reached safely three times. He has only struck out seven times in the last 21 games and has 15 games without striking out including the last three in Hoover. Not much has changed in Langford’s approach at the plate whether hitting in the middle of the lineup or leadoff. Opposing pitchers struggled to get him out when he was hitting fourth. They’re continuing to struggle now that he’s the first man to the plate. If anything has changed, Langford says it’s the way opponents pitch to him since he moved to the top of the order. “What has made me as hot as I’ve had is I haven’t changed much,” Langford said. “I’m just looking for my pitch to hit. I think moving to the leadoff spot I’m getting that more often than I was.” Langford doesn’t seem the least bit fazed by his success. If anything, it’s what he expected even after a four at-bat season spent as Florida’s bullpen catcher. When he went to the Valley League and was given a chance to be in the lineup on a daily basis, he delivered. It is what he expected. “I was really thankful to go up there,” Langford said. “It was really fun playing in Virginia. I wasn’t surprised by the success. I was always planning to do good. I knew I was going to be good and one of the top hitters. I played first base a lot and I caught some but I definitely like playing in the outfield the most. I like getting to run around.” So now he runs around. He hits laser beams to the gaps and when he sees the exact pitch he’s looking for, he sends it into orbit. It’s what he expects. It is what Kevin O’Sullivan has come to expect. For some reason, however, it wasn’t what the Southeastern Conference coaches did not expect. They voted Langford second team All-SEC even though he’s on the shortest of lists for the league’s most productive players whether we’re talking at the plate or in the field. Consider Kevin O’Sullivan miffed at the slight. “He’s a first-team All-SEC player in my mind,” O’Sullivan said. “But there’s some other really good players in our league, and it has nothing to do with any other players, but our player Wyatt, he is pretty darn good. If he’s not a first-team, I don’t know who is, but unfortunately, you only got so many spots and like I said, it’s not to take away anything from any other players in any other programs, but he’s certainly deserving I thought.” Langford doesn’t seem to care about the awards. He just wants to get out on the field this weekend and help the Gators atone for last year’s regional disaster when the Gators went two-and-through, losing the second game 19-1 to South Alabama. None of the players who were on that team have forgotten what happened. “I think we learned a lot last year,” Langford said. “I did have to sit in the bullpen and watch it all or warm up every pitcher we had. We’re definitely not going to let something like that happen again.” A year ago Langford’s perspective was seeing the game from the right field bullpen when he wasn’t getting another pitcher ready to try to be the tourniquet capable of stopping the bleeding against South Alabama. Now his perspective is to do whatever he can to help the Gators win and advance. Florida is a hot team. Since Langford moved to the leadoff spot in the lineup, the Gators have won 16 of their last 21 games. They’ve gone from a team that was 6-12 in SEC play and teetering on the verge of not making even the SEC Tournament much less the NCAA into that team nobody with a functioning brain wants to play. The Gators are a very hot team right now, but so is Wyatt Langford. “Personally, I’ve played better than I have all year in the last month so I’m living out my dream,” Langford said. “As a team we’ve been playing at our best so it’s pretty exciting.” When you’re hot, you’re hot and neither Wyatt Langford nor the Gators are ready to cool down.

Kevin O’Sullivan’s 13th Seeded Team Made A Historic Run BY KYLE CURTIS GatorBaitMedia.com After a heroic performance in Hoover as unsung heroes, from their bullpen to their bats, Florida’s Gators earned the #13 national seed along the honors of NCAA Regional hosting. Amidst a roller coaster of a season, Kevin O’Sullivan and his squad put together a historic run to end the season and make it all the way to the SEC Championship. Their tournament run lifted the Gators to a regional hosting along with becoming one of the nine teams in the SEC selected to the tournament field. Among the players to emerge in the season were now-ace starter Brandon Sproat and catcher Mac Gusette, who’s bat exploded when he was finally inserted into the lineup. Sproat will be on The Bump Friday vs The Chippewas. Now that the Gators made it, they have to prove they deserve it. The Gainesville NCAA Regional which opened Thursday night consisted of Florida, Central Michigan, Liberty and Oklahoma. Depending on weather, the Gators were scheduled to open up against Central Michigan Friday night. Central Michigan Chippewas Central Michigan, the Mid-American Conference champions, concluded its regular season -- a consecutive tournament appearance. After defeating Ball State 11-7 in the conference championship, the Chippewas boast a record of 42-17, which is the best record in region. CMU is ranked fourth in double elimination regional play. Central Michigan has a strong starting pitcher in Andrew Taylor. Taylor, a 6-foot-5 righty, was the National Freshman Pitcher of the Year and preseason first team All-American. Florida all-time is 7-0 against Central Michigan. Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma comes into Gainesville with a 37-20 record coming off of a Big 12 championship run where the Sooners defeated Texas 8-1. Oklahoma had a similar finish to the season as Florida, closing the season by winning 10 of the last 13. Many across the nation felt that Oklahoma was robbed out of a regional host. The Sooners no doubt feel as if they have something to prove this weekend. Peyton Graham leads the Sooners with 16 home runs along with .339 batting average. The Sooners will start off their weekend against the Liberty Flames noon on Friday. Liberty Flames Liberty is no stranger to Gainesville. The Flames won the opening series at Condron Park back in February where they beat the Gators 2-1. The Flames made the field as an at-large bid after they lost the MAC tournament championship to Kennesaw State. Brady Gulakowski leads Liberty with 16 home runs on the year, while Joe Adametz III is the ace with a 6-3 record this season. Liberty will look to make its mark on the weekend starting Friday at noon when it faces the red-hot Oklahoma Sooners. The Gators will have their hands full if they want to move onto a super-regional field. A region full of hot bats, great pitching and streaks the weekend will be jam packed.

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: FLORIDA ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SCOTT STRICKLIN FROM DESTIN Here are some excerpts from Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin’s press conference and an interview with Paul Finebaum from the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin. A hint that the 3-6 scheduling model is inevitable “I don’t know where we’re going to end up or what happens going forward, other than it does appear we’re going to have a lot more rotation and have the ability to see everybody in every stadium once in a four-year period.” On why he favors the 3-6 scheduling model “I think the SEC should lean into competing against one another as often as possible in all sports. Those are games fans want to go to and the ones they want to watch on TV. We should maximize that.” On future scheduling, particularly after the SEC goes to a 9-conference game model “We all need to be nimble. The fact that we schedule games a decade out now is kind of ludicrous in and of itself, but we’re in a model that forces us to do that. You’d love to see the model adapt over time and maybe we could make a little smarter decisions.” On so much coaching turnover in the SEC (only four coaches at the same place since 2019) “Good leaders are hard to find, and not just really good leaders, but ones who can be adaptable. If you don’t have the right one, you want to make a change and go see if you can find the right one. And, we’ve all seemingly taken our turn at trying to do that.” On NIL and roster building “With NIL, we essentially are outsourcing the opportunity to directly benefit student-athletes … The Supreme Court ruling really highlighted the fact that college athletics is a free market and this is a league that seems to understand free markets pretty well if you look at some of our coaching contracts.” On Finebaum regarding the hiring of Billy Napier “I spent three years on [the College Football Playoff] selection committee and Louisiana was a school that was ascendent under Billy so those of us on the committee were paying attention to what their success looked like. He was someone that all of us in college football were aware of. Obviously his past and where he had been at Clemson, Alabama and Arizona State, it’s a great story. How organized and disciplined, the humility and intelligence … there’s a lot of intriguing pieces to him so whenever we got in a position where we were gonna do a search he was really high on the list, to the point where it just seemed like it made a lot of sense and he would be a fit for what we need at the University of Florida. Billy was the only coach I actually spoke to.” On what Napier has been able to do since arriving in Gainesville “One of the impressive things he did in Lafayette was he basically built a Power Five football program in the Sun Belt Conference, by that I mean the infrastructure he was able to put in place with the available resources. He was incredibly resourceful with how he did that. Coming to Gainesville and being back in the SEC he was able to take the knowledge he had at the other places he worked and implement that. It is incredibly detailed as far as the people the wants within the program, the rules they’re gonna have, the attention to organizational structure, how it all flows and works together.” GATORS AT THE WCWS: IT’S OREGON STATE TONIGHT Okay, let’s face it. The Gators aren’t supposed to even be in Oklahoma City. They were seeded 14thnationally which meant a road trip to 3rd-seeded Virginia Tech for the super regional. That’s where they were supposed to crash and burn, yet here we are and Florida (48-17) opens up play tonight (7 p.m.) in the Women’s College World Series against unseeded Oregon State (39-20). As for Virginia Tech, the Hokies, like 2nd-seeded Florida State, 4th-seeded Arkansas, 6th-seeded Alabama and 8th-seeded Arizona State went down in flames so this WCWS final eight probably has more surprise entries than any year in recent memory. The Gators find themselves in a rather good bracket. The opposite bracket features No. 1 seed Oklahoma, No. 5 UCLA, No. 9 Northwestern and an unseeded Texas team that is one of two teams that owns a win over Oklahoma. In the Florida bracket, Oklahoma State (no. 7) is the only top eight national seed. Also in the bracket is unseeded Arizona. It’s double-elimination, so every team in the field is guaranteed two games. Should the Gators get past Oregon State tonight, they’ll face the winner of Oklahoma State-Arizona in a winner’s bracket game on Saturday (7 p.m.). Lose and they play the loser of Oklahoma State-Arizona Friday at 9:30. Skylar Wallace selected NFCA second team All-America: Skylar Wallace, who spent the bulk of the 2022 season at shortstop although she did dabble a bit at second base and started the season at first base, was selected to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association second team All-America as the designated player/utility player (DP/UTL) Wednesday. Wallace leads the Gators in hitting (.406), runs scored (79), home runs (8), slugging percentage (.669), total bases and stolen bases (51 in 55 attempts). Her 51 stolen bases are a University of Florida school record. Additionally, Wallace drove in 53 runs, which ranks second only to Charla Echols. Hannah Adams wins Rawlings Gold Glove Award: Slick fielding Florida second baseman Hannah Adams, who has played the entire season error-free for the second time in her career, was named a winner of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award for collegiate softball. If Adams can play error-free in Okie City, she will become only the first middle infielder in SEC history to post two perfect seasons with the glove. UF TRACK AND FIELD: JASMINE MOORE, MIKE HOLLOWAY HONORED Jasmine Moore, who has a chance to become only the first woman in NCAA history to win eight high jump and triple jump championships – four SEC indoor, four SEC outdoor/four NCAA indoor, four NCAA outdoor – in the same calendar year, was named Southeastern Conference Field Athlete of the Year Wednesday. UF coach Mike Holloway, who led the Gator women to the NCAA indoor national title and the SEC outdoor titles, was named SEC Women’s Coach of the Year. So far this year, Moore is 6-for-6 on championships, having won the SEC indoor high jump and triple jump championships both indoors and outdoors and the NCAA indoors in both events. She will have a chance to make it 8-for-8 next week in Eugene, Oregon at the NCAA outdoor championships. Holloway, who has won 10 NCAA championships coaching both men and women at the University of Florida, was named the Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year for the third time in his career. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Arkansas: Former Arkansas running back Trelon Smith, who had committed to TCU, has changed his mind. Now he’s off to UT-San Antonio. While at Arkansas, Smith gained 1,308 yards and scored five touchdowns. Auburn: Allan Flanigan will withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to Auburn. Coming back from an Achilles injury in 2022, Flanigan averaged 6.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Missouri: When discussing what transfer QB Jack Abraham brings to his team, head coach Eli Drinkwitz said, “Our QB room has two younger guys in it and we’re looking for someone with some experience. In our first six games we have three on the road in really difficult environments … Manhattan, Kansas; Auburn, Alabama; and Gainesville, Florida. We wanted to have some experience in that room.” Abraham was a starting QB at Southern Miss before spending the last two seasons at Mississippi State. South Carolina: Wide receiver Jalen Brooks, who has been away from the football program since October, is reportedly back in the good graces of HBC Shane Beamer. A two-time transfer (Tarleton State and Wingate), Brooks has played in 12 games for South Carolina with 25 catches for 281 yards and a touchdown. Texas A&M: Asked if he would like the Longhorns to be one of the permanent opponents when the SEC ditches divisions and goes with a new scheduling format, Jimbo Fisher replied, “Yeah, I would love to play Texas.” It does make you wonder, however. The Aggies left the Big 12 for the SEC specifically to get out from under the shadow of Big Brother up in Austin. JIMBO FISHER ON THE RELATIONSHIP WITH NICK SABAN After telling the media that he’s “moving on” from a feud with Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher was pressed to further discuss the relationship with his former boss dating back to their days at LSU where Saban was the head coach and he [Jimbo] was the offensive coordinator. “We were good. I was on offense, he was on defense,” Fisher said. “We had a lot of success, did well. There wasn’t many issues at all. Normal staff issues ... Nothing – we had a great relationship. “Let me ask y’all: you ever argue with your brother? Do you love your brother? Did you support your brother? That’s the way coaches are. You can’t get to where you’re trying to go on a staff if you don’t have disagreement. If everybody’s yes people and everybody says the same thing, you don’t ever get nowhere. You can’t get better. That’s part of our nature and our competitive nature.” NICK VS. JIMBO: FINEBAUM SPEAKS At the SEC Spring Meetings, Paul Finebaum observed the tension between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher and offered this: “He treated Jimbo Fisher yesterday like a fly on your potato salad at the Memorial Day company picnic. Like shoo! Get Away!” ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Brian Kelly may have botched his attempt at a Southern accent and some of those videos he’s done when he’s dancing are downright creepy, but give Kelly credit for one thing – he does have a sense of humor. In Destin, while addressing NIL and how college football seems to be moving toward players as employees with professional contracts, Kelly fired back with this: “I don’t think they [players] want contracts. I don’t think they want to be traded. I’m sure they don’t want to be cut. I’m sure they’re not going to like getting a call at 3 p.m. in the afternoon saying, ‘Hey, I don’t know but we traded you today to St. Bonaventure. Oh, they don’t have a football team.’” Kelly isn’t the only coach sounding the alarm about the future of college football. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin pointed out that the combination of NIL and the transfer portal are a bad match that has the sport heading toward a disaster: “So now you have and will have a lot more people going in the portal than now because of NIL because they’re gong go in to get better deals. I’ve said it before: you now have a system that does not exist in any professional sport I’ve ever heard of where at any point you can opt into free agency. At any point. You don’t have a four-year contract, you just ‘I’m gonna go into free agency, test the market. I can come back or I can go somewhere else.’ I think you’re gonna see a ton of kids in the portal because the ones that used to go in the portal, it’s because they weren’t happy how it was going. They weren’t playing enough. That was really what the portal initially [was]. Now you’re gonna have players playing great but want to go in and get better deals other places, so if you’re not playing enough you’re going in. If you’re playing great, unless you’re at one of those places that has those resources to pay you like that, you’re going in the portal. We just saw it with the Pitt receiver.”

"I didn't say that anybody did anything wrong. OK?" — Nick Saban. Can Greg Sankey Keep A Lid On It In Destin? The SEC coaches are at meetings in Destin where feathers are still ruffled and pokes may still be taken despite Sankey’s previous warning to Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher to cool it after their tiff over possible NIL irregularities. Here are some of the commissioner’s comments before arriving in Destin: “What we have to do is turn the page. Because we have to think about what we see as the future, rather than the frustration that exists around the pace of change that’s happening. And really that’s at the heart of a lot of issues. “What are the solutions? What is the structure that can be helpful to support young people competing in college sports? That’s the conversation. Not what happens between two people. We have to elevate our dialogue.” Hmmm. You buying that? Who Me? When he arrived in Florida, Saban began claiming innocence and re-iterating that his comments should not have been aimed at Fisher and A&M: "I didn't say that anybody did anything wrong. OK?" Saban said. "I've said everything I'm going to say about this." He went on to add: “I have no problem with Jimbo … I have no problem with Jimbo at all.” Nothing like a family feud … to keep the pot stewing and the back channels of gossip crackling. Saban outright said Fisher “bought” his 5-Star Studded recruiting class for ‘22. Did he? Yeah, but others pointed out, isn’t that legal under the new rules? Jimbo took umbrage with his old boss’s semantics. Did you hear Saban say anybody was wrong? Will they kiss and make up in the Florida Sun? Stay tuned. Free Lane Kiffin! The ugliest episode may have happened earlier in the week when Sankey issued a semi-gag order, dissuading Lane Kiffin from appearing on The Dan Patrick Show. He didn’t go but Kiffin said this later: "If you are advising Bryce Young, why do you not go into the portal and walk into Nick Saban’s office and say, ‘Hey, I want to be here, but I’ve got to protect myself so I’m going to go into the portal. And I want to come back as long as it’s matched with what I get out there.’ The kid would make 10 times what he would have made. How’s that not going to happen all the time? It should. It will," the Ole Miss coach said. Scott Stricklin Comments On UF’s Approach To NIL “We’re not going to cut a corner. We’re going to do things the right way. We don’t want the boosters involved in the recruiting process.” Eat, Pray, Watch Baseball/Softball and Sleep. That’s what I did over the long holiday weekend and it was exquisite! I am invoking the Nickname “Diamond Bud” for all the tag team TV between baseball and softball I watched. All Gators should be ecstatic about Tim Walton’s flyers bouncing back after losing the opener vs Virginia Tech and sweeping the last two vs. the Hokies to earn a trip to the World Series. As for Kevin O’Sullivan’s baseball team making a comeback after a 10-run rule loss to Texas A&M then crushing the Aggies 9-0 in the return match to earn the right to host a region, I simply ask: Can we make a case for this as one of his best coaching jobs ever? He kept telling he had some impressive young arms under the radar. And they surfaced. Now these questions: 1. Does Sully start Brandon Sproat in game one vs. Central Michigan or hold him in anticipation of the 13th seeded Gators meeting Oklahoma in the final? 2. Who was the idiot who kept insisting on posts and shows a few week ago that O’Sullivan be fired? Can we fire fans? And: 3. Clemson is coming after Kevin O’Sullivan. Will he go? Gators In The Big Leagues: Update from John Romano of Tampa Bay Times on Mike Zunino of the Rays • “Mike Zunino’s career has often been an all-or-nothing proposition. Unfortunately, we are in one of those ‘nothing’ cycles. A year after hitting .216 with 33 homers, Zunino is on pace to hit .152 with 14 homers. Plate discipline seems to be an issue. His walk rate is 4.7%, which is about half of last season’s 9.1. According to Fangraphs, he’s swinging at 51.9% of the pitches he sees, which is his highest rate since he was a 23-year-old in Seattle in 2014.” “Uncertain Times Bring Opportunity” Calling himself the “Rookie in the Room” at his first SEC meeting in Destin, Billy Napier appeared to be blown away by the commissioner’s acumen. “Sankey is a phenomenal leader,” Napier said upon emerging from meetings. “He’s years ahead of his decision making (and) thought process. Very impressed overall … and we’ve got some very accomplished people in the room.” As for reaction to the Saban-Fisher Dust-up, Napier responded: “We’ll let those gentlemen handle that … very accomplished coaches. Coach Saban in particular hired me on two different occasions — wouldn’t be here today without him. The wisdom and experience there.” He may be “the rookie in the room,” but Billy also says he’s wise enough “not to get in the middle of their conversation.” As for the NIL challenge: “Very uncertain times, but with uncertainty comes opportunity.” Gator Ben Shelton 4th NCAA Tennis Champion Ben Shelton joined Mark Merklein (1994), Jeff Morrison (1999) and teammate Sam Riffice (2021) as the only players in the program's 90-year history to win the NCAA singles crown. "Happy to go out with a bang” he said. Tweetsville —From Scott Carter of Floridagators.com: “Former #Gators standout Al Horford turns 36 on Friday. Averaged 10.1p, 9.7r as 21YO rookie in 07-08. Averaged 10.2p, 7.7r in 15th season. Rooting for him to win first ring.” From Matt Baker, Tampa Bay Times: “Mizzou HC Eliah Drinkwitz said he got carried away when he made comments about reaping jackass ability and sowing jackass ability after the Gators fired Dan Mullen.” Today’s Quote Worth Remembering: “Belief is easy. Knowledge is difficult.” —J.D. Landis

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: BILLY NAPIER: “WE’RE LIVING IN A LAND OF NO LAWS” The land of no laws Florida football coach Billy Napier was talking about Tuesday was what the NCAA has created by throwing the transfer portal and NIL out there at the same time minus any guidelines. Some call it the wild, wild west. Others say it’s worse than that. Napier, attending the Southeastern Conference Spring Meetings in Destin for the first time, isn’t jealous of the schools with boosters who have more money than brains buying players left and right. It’s about putting some structure to a situation that threatens to spiral out of control and damage the game beyond recognition. Football will survive, but at what cost and what will it look like if something isn’t done. That’s the problem. Not kids getting money. Napier doesn’t have a problem with college football players getting a share of the money that is generated every year thanks to the NCAA v. Alston Supreme Court ruling. “If you go back to 1990 – I think I did some research the other day – each SEC institution got like $1.3 million a year from the league, right?” Napier said Tuesday in Destin. “1990? Just 13 years ago I think it was right around $6 or $7 million. I think this ’24 deal (ESPN TV contract) is in the high 60s, low 70s per year. One of the things about my career is I’ve been in the profession and observed this explosion and I think that it’s foolish to think the players don’t deserve a piece of the pie. If there’s no players in these stadiums, no one is showing up to watch and they’re certainly not sitting in their home watching it on TV. It all leads back to the money and I think the TV industry holds the key to the castle so to speak. You’ve got to get a lot of people to the table and there’s a lot of dialogue and a lot of conversations that have to happen.” Napier is right. There is a lot of money out there and there is a way to make sure the players can share it without bankrupting the system or making the monster that has been created one that turns the current system into one that can’t be sustained. What we have is free agency. They have it in professional sports, too, but professional sports have structure and rules, which college football hasn’t. Right now, college football isn’t even working diligently to come up with an owner’s manual. Combine NIL with a transfer portal that is well-intentioned but poorly implemented and there is chaos. “Every player that hasn’t used their one-year transfer exceptions is a free agent,” Napier said. “There’s no contractual obligation right now for the current student-athletes so if you draft a player in the sixth round in the National Football League, you’ve got that player for a few years at that price point. They’ve solved the rookie wage scenario. There’s tons of dynamics here that you can earn from but the reality is we have no contracts and we have no cap number. There’s things that you can learn from that systematically but there’s also things that have become very apparent. One of those is that you’ve got a little bit of a conflict when you don’t have a consistent cap. You have no contract and the combination of NIL and portal has created this.” NICK SABAN ON THE NEED FOR NIL RULES After making it perfectly clear, at least in his own mind, that he hasn’t even an itsy-bitsy urge to slap Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher silly – “I have no problem with Jimbo Fisher” – Alabama’s Nick Saban pointed out the need for a uniform set of NIL rules that will apply nationally. “Some kind of uniform name, image and likeness standard that supports some kind of equitable, national competition I think is really important in college athletics and college football and we’ve always had that whether it’s equal scholarships, equal Alston money, whatever it might be,” Saban said. “So, that’s kind of Point 1. Point 2 is we need some sort of transparency in name, image and likeness. And, believe me, I’m all for players making as much money as they can make, okay, but I also think we’ve got to have some uniform, transparent way to do that. Our players did extremely well last year in name, image and likeness because they got agents, they had representation, they had people who wanted them to actually endorse something for them and they did very, very well. That’s public record and you can see how well they did. “And I think that, also, student-athletes need some protection from unfair name, image and likeness representation or deals. You could have a player – and we’ve had this happen to us in the past – that thinks he signing one thing and he signs something else and gives up his freedom of choice in the future as to who represents him. We have no oversight right now for players when it comes to this, and I also think that boosters should continue to be precluded from recruiting, including use of name, image and likeness offers prior to enrollment.” THE COMMISH ON SCHEDULING AND THE PLAYOFF Forget divisions. They aren’t long for the SEC. While you’re adjusting to that, you might contemplate the end of the eight game conference schedules. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wouldn’t come right out and say what is next for the league Tuesday, but he offered up some hints. There are some that are holding out to keep eight games, largely because they can schedule a cupcake that will be helpful to ensure a trip to an exotic bowl location like Shreveport or Birmingham. The 8-game model would have one permanent opponent and then rotate the other teams in the league but that would force elimination of some traditional rivalries. Alabama, for example, plays Auburn and Tennessee while Georgia’s two rivalry opponents are Florida and Auburn. So, the 1-7 format wouldn’t work. That leaves the 3-6 model – three permanent opponents, play six home and home with every team in the league doing a home and home with every other team every four years. Tuesday night, Sankey said the league’s athletic directors have moved closer to a scheduling format that he expects to announce “sooner rather than later” but for now the primary focus is to eliminate the divisions. “We’ve focused more on the single division model,” Sankey said. That is as strong a hint as you would want for the 3-6 model. If the intention is to stay with an 8-game schedule, it makes little sense to eliminate divisions since when Oklahoma and Texas join the league it will be 16 teams, so seven divisional games and one against a team from the other division. That is not the idea that is favored by ESPN, which has been pressing for better scheduling for more and better games for when they take over the league television contract completely in 2024. As for the playoff, Sankey has rigidly held the stance that the SEC was just fine with four teams but would prefer a 12-team model. The 12-team model was shot down by “the alliance” (Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12). ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, who probably was dropped on his head way too many times as an infant, wants an 8-team playoff that guarantees the champions of the five power conferences but offers no guaranteed spot and little opportunity from a team from the Group of Five. There is one circumstance in which Sankey would go for eight teams but no, he hasn’t softened his stance one bit. Brett McMurphy of the Action Network reports Sankey said, “An 8-team playoff without automatic qualifiers is something we would consider.” In other words, the top eight teams get in but that might leave out conference champs from the Power Five conferences. Memo to “the alliance:” You aren’t going to get your way. Period. End of story. Either go with the 12-team model that guarantees the champion of the six highest rated conferences and six at-large teams or discover what life is without the SEC earning you big bucks in the playoff. The SEC will forge its own path if necessary. Sankey said that plan is “still in a folder somewhere” and it’s not a threat – “wasn’t created as a threat; wasn’t intended as a threat.” No. It’s no threat at all. It’s a promise. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Georgia: Forward Jailyn Ingram, who played only nine games last season before an injury ended his season, has been given a waiver from the NCAA to come back and play another year … Georgia’s board of directors has approved an operating budget of $162.3 million for next year as well as $90.2 million toward renovation of Sanford Stadium and adding an indoor facility to their tennis complex. Kentucky: Forward Jacob Toppin, who averaged 6.2 points and 3.2 rebounds for the Wildcats last year, has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and will be back next season. Missouri: Eli Drinkwitz on his goal at the SEC Spring Meetings: “The goal is not to say anything ridiculously stupid so I don’t get yelled at in this coaches’ meeting.” Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin on what happens when all the SEC football coaches including Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher meet behind closed doors: “Our group is more professional when they’re in a room together than they are when they’re on camera by themselves. People like say things texting they don’t in person.” ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Now that we made it through day one of the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin without needing a steel cage so that Nick and Jimbo can have at each other with the first one to bite an ear off declared the winner, it should be noted that it’s going to be a great weekend to be a Gator. Tim Walton has the Florida softball team in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City where they will face Oregon State Thursday night (7 p.m.) in the first round. Kevin O’Sullivan has the Florida baseball team playing Central Michigan in the Gainesville regional of the NCAA Tournament Friday (6:30 p.m.) at the Condron Family Ballpark and Mike Holloway has the 2nd-ranked Florida women and the No. 6 Florida men competing at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Walton and the UF softball team have sort of sneaked up on everyone. Well, if you can call a team that essentially turns an infield hit, a walk or a hit batter into a double and routinely scores from second base on an infield grounder sneaking. The Gators have stolen 131 bases in 147 attempts this year. That’s 49 more steals than Northwestern and Texas, which have 82 coming into the WCWS, and 72 more than No. 1 Oklahoma. If the Gators make a deep run in Oklahoma City, it will be because of the team’s remarkable speed which not only shows up on the base paths but defensively where the Gators rank 4th nationally. O’Sullivan and the Gators have won 16 of their last 21 baseball games. They’ve done it the Earl Weaver way – “Baseball games are won with good pitching and 3-run homers.” The Gators have hit 110 home runs, second most in the SEC and 8th nationally. The pitching staff is the youngest in the SEC and one of the youngest in the nation. The Florida women won the NCAA Indoor championship and with the dynamic duo of heptathlete/400 meter hurdler Anna Hall and long jump/triple jumper Jasmine Moore, the Gators have a chance to pile up a lot of points early that could pave the way to Holloway’s 11th national championship. With only nine entries, the UF men will rely on their ability to win relays and score points in the sprints for a top five finish.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: GATORS EARN A NO. 13 NCAA BASEBALL SEEDING Florida’s NCAA Baseball Tournament journey will begin Friday with Oklahoma, Liberty and Central Michigan completing the bracket for the Gainesville regional. As the No. 13 seed, the Gators are paired up with No. 4 seed Virginia Tech (41-12), which hosts the Blacksburg regional that includes Gonzaga, Columbia and Wright State. The Gators (39-22), whose RPI improved 12 spots to No. 12 by virtue of a 4-2 showing at the Southeastern Conference Tournament, are one of four SEC teams to host regionals. The SEC placed nine teams in the tournament, the only surprise being the choice of Ole Miss, which lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament, over Kentucky or Alabama, which both made it to the semifinals. This is the 18th time in school history that the Gators have hosted a regional. It is the 14th consecutive year Florida has made the NCAA Tournament field, the second longest streak in the SEC (Vanderbilt 16 years). The rest of the Gainesville regional field: 2 Oklahoma (37-20): The Sooners (RPI 19) went 4-0 to win the Big 12 Tournament, knocking off Texas, 8-1, in the championship game. They own a 3-0 regular season win over Auburn, but lost to LSU, 5-4, and Tennessee, 8-0. The Sooners are 14-14 against teams that made the NCAA Tournament. 3 Liberty (37-21): The Flames (RPI 31) opened the season by winning the weekend series with the Gators in Gainesville. They went 19-11 in Atlantic Sun Conference play but lost to Kennesaw State in the league championship game. Other than Florida, their best win of the season was 1-0 over ACC champion North Carolina. The Flames are 11-12 against NCAA Tournament opponents. 4 Central Michigan (42-17): The Chippewas (RPI 71), who won the Mid-American Conference championship, have the most wins of any No. 4 seeded team in any of the 16 regionals. The Chips won the MAC Tournament by coming out of the loser’s bracket to defeat top seeded Ball State twice. The Chips played 37 games against MAC teams (30-7 record) but were 12-10 in non-conference games, 0-2 against teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament. Friday’s games 1 p.m.: 3 Liberty (37-21) vs. 2 Oklahoma (37-20) 6:30 p.m.: 4 Central Michigan (42-17) vs. 1 FLORIDA (39-22) SEC in the NCAA field Hosts/national seeds: 1 Tennessee (53-7); 5 Texas A&M (37-18); 13 Florida (39-21); 14 Auburn (37-19) Others: Georgia (35-21, 2 in Chapel Hill); Arkansas (38-18, 2 in Stillwater); Ole Miss (32-22, 3 in Coral Gables); LSU (38-20, 2 in Hattiesburg); Vanderbilt (36-21, 2 in Corvallis) LINDY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKS UF NO. 31 Lindy’s College Football preseason magazine is on the news stands with the Florida Gators ranked 31stnationally, which is ninth among SEC teams. In the SEC East Division, the Gators are predicted to finish fourth behind Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. O’Cyrus Torrence was selected first team All-America on the offensive line. He is listed as the top offensive guard in the country. Anthony Richardson is listed as the No. 17 quarterback in the country while Gervon Dexter is the No. 9 defensive tackle and Ventrell Miller is the No. 10 inside linebacker. The top 25: 1. Alabama; 2. Ohio State; 3. Georgia; 4. Clemson; 5. Texas A&M; 6. Michigan; 7. Utah; 8. Notre Dame; 9. Oklahoma State; 10. Oklahoma; 11. Oregon; 12. Baylor; 13. Arkansas; 14. Miami; 15. North Carolina State; 16. Wisconsin; 17. Ole Miss; 18. Wake Forest; 19. BYU; 20. Michigan State; 21. Cincinnati; 22. Southern Cal; 23. Houston; 24. Kentucky; 25. Texas The rest of the SEC: 26. Tennessee; 29. LSU; 31. FLORIDA; 38. Mississippi State; 45. South Carolina; 46. Auburn; 57. Missouri; 87. Vanderbilt Other notables: 37. UCF; 40. Florida State; 92. Florida Atlantic; 102. South Florida; 127. Florida International Overrated 5. Texas A&M: The Aggies have too many questions on defense and two of their first three SEC games are Arkansas and Alabama. 8. Notre Dame: Sophomore QB Tyler Buchner is unproven, there’s no one at wide receiver who will scare any secondary and the back seven on defense is a bunch of newbies. The Irish could get their doors blown off by Ohio State game one. 11. Oregon: The quarterback will be Bo Nix. Enough said. 14. Miami: The defense was bad last year and will probably be worse this year, plus Kevin Steele is the DC. The bubble will burst game three at Aggieland. 21. Cincinnati: Desmond Ridder, Sauce Gardner and six other Bearcats were drafted. Even with a pansy schedule this team isn’t top 25. 24. Kentucky: People are talking about Will Levis as the first QB to go in the 2023 NFL Draft. Okay, who’s he going to throw it to? Road trips to Florida, Ole Miss and Tennessee plus Georgia is on the schedule. 25. Texas: I’m not sold on Quinn Ewers as the next great thing at QB and the defense, which was atrocious last year, might be worse this year. The bubble bursts September 10 against Alabama. Underrated 12. Baylor: The defense is good enough that soph Q Blake Shapen has time to grow up. 15. North Carolina State: Nearly everyone is back on both sides of the ball from a team that won nine games last year including QB Devin Leary. 18. Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin reloaded in the portal and the front end of the schedule is a gift from the football gods. 23. Houston: Remember the name Clayton Tune. He’s the QB and the real deal. The schedule says 12-0. UF SOFTBALL: OREGON STATE SCOUTING REPORT The Gators (48-17) open play in the Women’s College World Series with Oregon State (39-20) Thursday evening (7 p.m., ESPN) in Oklahoma City. It is the 11th time the Gators have made the trip to Okie City for the WCWS, the first since 2019. For Oregon State, it’s the first time to Oklahoma City since the 2006 season. Oregon State’s head coach is Laura Berg (268-230-1). The Beavers have never posted a winning record in Pac-12 play in her 10 years on the job. Oregon State went 9-15 in the Pac-12. In non-conference play, they lost to Alabama, 5-1, but earned a 5-2 win over Tennessee in the Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs. They won their Pac-12 series with Arizona and were swept by UCLA. They won the Knoxville regional by coming out of the loser’s bracket to beat Tennessee twice on Sunday afternoon. In the Stanford super regional, the Beavers took down the host in two games to earn the trip to Oklahoma City. Oregon State is hitting .274 as a team with 59 home runs and 37 stolen bases in 49 attempts. Leading hitter Frankie Hammoude (.386) has 15 homers and 39 RBI while Mariah Mazon (.366) has 12 homers and a team-leading 40 RBI. The Beavers have a team ERA of 2.33 with 18 shutout wins. They’ve struck out 449 batters in 394.2 innings. The ace of the staff is Mariah Mazon (17-11, 2.05 ERA), who struck out 220 hitters in 184 innings while pitching 17 complete games. The No. 2 is Sarah Haendiges (13-6, 1.97 ERA) who struck out 131 hitters and pitched seven shutouts. UF MEN’S GOLF: GATORS DON’T MAKE IT TO MATCH PLAY The Gators missed the cut for match play at the NCAA Tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona, finishing 40 shots over par and in a tie for 10th place. Only the top eight teams make it to the match play portion of the tournament. Florida finished seven shots behind Texas Tech for the eighth and final spot for the match play. Fred Biondi shot a final round 72 to finish 7-over par (287) for a tie for 20th place on the individual leader board. Yuxin Lin shot a final round 75 to finish at 289, 9-over par and in a tie for 32nd. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL NEWS Auburn: Dylan Carwell, who averaged 3.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per games, is withdrawing from the NBA Draft and will return to Auburn next season. Georgia: Former Georgia defensive lineman Cameron Kinnie, a former 3-star recruit, is transferring to UCF. Kentucky: Former Kentucky basketball great Mike Pratt, a long time color analyst on the UK radio network, has colon cancer that has spread to his liver. John Calipari has pledged to match $50,000 in donations to help Pratt’s family in this time of trouble. Ole Miss: Corner Dashaun Jenkins, who had 144 tackles and three interceptions in three seasons and 30 games at Vanderbilt, is transferring to Ole Miss. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: When all the Southeastern Conference football coaches, basketball coaches, athletic directors, school presidents and league honchos arrive at the Sandestin Hilton today everybody will be watching to see if Nick Saban sends a peace offering to Jimbo Fisher as a public gesture of good will. Donkeys might fly first. Publicly, Nick may regret what he said about Jimbo and the Aggies buying players. Privately? He meant every word. If you’ve followed Nick Saban through the years, he rarely says anything that doesn’t have a purpose. The purpose of this dust-up with Jimbo served the purpose of getting into Jimbo’s head and alerting the NIL folks who are tied to the Alabama program that they better pony up or else the Aggies will outspend them by a gazillion or so dollars. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey might arrange for Nick and Jimbo to have a make nice appearance for the hordes of national media who have made the SEC Spring Meetings a big event once again, but if you think he’s overly concerned about it, then think again. In the immortal words of Phineas T. Barnum, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Sankey knows it. He doesn’t really mind if Nick and Jimbo smear each other as long as he doesn’t come across like Vince McMahon. Even in a room full of academics, Greg Sankey will be the smartest guy in the room. Count on it. Oh, the PhD’s who are in charge of the league’s 14 campuses are all smart guys in their own right, but Sankey will forget more about collegiate sports while he’s standing at a urinal today than the SEC presidents will learn in a lifetime. This is why Sankey will get his way in Destin and when everybody goes their own way later in the week, the commish will have a mandate to do whatever he needs to do to keep the SEC at the top of the college sports heap. Figure an end to divisional play and a 9-game football schedule once Texas and Oklahoma officially join the league with three permanent opponents that will allow every team in the league to play every other team in the league home and home at least once every four years. The Gators will play Texas A&M in College Station this year, the fourth time they’ve met the Aggies since 2012 and the third in College Station. Meanwhile Georgia and the Aggies have only played one time in that span. There is no way to rectify the scheduling inequities with an 8-game schedule, plus ESPN isn’t shelling out big bucks without a guarantee of a lot of good games. Alabama at Texas and Oklahoma at Florida gets ratings. Vandy at Mississippi State does not. By the way, the 3-6 format will also work dandy for basketball. It’s highly doubtful we’ll hear anything about the future of the College Football Playoff, but you can bet the farm that it will be discussed and there will be unity among the league presidents and athletic directors that if “the alliance” (Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12) aren’t willing to expand the playoff to 12 teams that Sankey can forge ahead with a plan for an SEC invitational. There is no such thing as a national championship in football without the SEC. There is such a thing as a national championship without the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: OKIE CITY: HERE COME THE GATORS The Gators (48-17) are on their way to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series after their 12-0 clubbing of Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon. The Gators will face Oregon State (39-20) in their first round game Thursday at 7 p.m. This is the 11th time since Tim Walton became Florida’s softball coach that the Gators will make it to the WCWS, but it might very well be the best coaching job of a career that includes two national championships and three other championship finals. All the other Florida teams that made it to Okie City had at least one dominant pitcher and multiple people who could hit the ball out of the yard with a measure of frequency. For this Florida team, it’s called pitching by committee since there isn’t one single pitcher you can count on to shut folks down and doing it with speed since the team has hit only 36 home runs, which is only slightly more than Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo. Walton spent most of the regular season patiently putting all the pieces together to get this team ready to go beast mode in the post season. Unlike most of the teams he’s had at UF, there were far more unknowns coming into this season and not just the pitching. He’s got new faces in the lineup at catcher (freshman Samantha Roe), first base (sophomore Avery Goelz), shortstop (Alabama transfer Skylar Wallace), left field (sophomore Katie Kistler), center field (freshman Kendra Falby) and DH (freshman Reagan Walsh) and it took awhile to settle in on the right batting order. Walton also had to go 13 games without Hannah Adams, the best second baseman in the country, who broke a bone in her hand. Since Adams came back to the lineup the offense has averaged 6.7 runs and 11.1 hits per game. The speed dynamic – Gators have stolen 131 bases in 147 attempts – has allowed Walton to compensate for the lack of power. A walk, hit batter or a single is the equivalent of a double. It’s not uncommon for the Gators to score from second on infield hits. With Falby (.401, 36-40 stolen bases), Adams (.379, 15-17 stolen bases) and Wallace (.406, 51-55 stolen bases) batting 1-2-3 in the order, the pressure on opposing defenses is immense. Florida’s ability to beat out infield hits and take the extra base has turned this into a dangerous offense. In the two super regional wins over Virginia Tech, the Gators hit only one home run but the speed enabled UF to outscore the Hokies 19-2. Defensively, the Gators are top five nationally with only 35 errors in 65 games (.981 fielding percentage). The outfield threesome of Falby, Katie Kistler and Cheyenne Lindsey haven’t committed a single error all season. Adams has played error free at second base. The only question for UF heading into Oklahoma City is the pitching. Can it hold up? In the first game against the Hokies in Blacksburg, Elizabeth Hightower lasted only two innings, giving up four runs. Hightower throws high 50s, low 60s. Does she have the velocity to deal with the big bats she could see in Oklahoma City? In the two wins in Blacksburg, it took Natalie Lugo coming in to rescue Lexie Delbrey twice. Delbrey can be dynamic when she is throwing strikes, but that’s the issue. She walked seven Saturday when Lugo came on to shut down the Hokies on one hit in 2-2/3 innings. Sunday, Delbrey gave up only one hit but she walked four before Walton gave her the hook and brought in Lugo, who went the final 2-2/3, again allowing only one hit. Rylee Trlicek didn’t pitch in Blacksburg, but she has picked up four saves and was very effective in relief late season. She throws up to 68 miles per hour, so along with Delbrey, that gives the Gators two power pitchers that they will need to succeed in Okie City. Just getting to Oklahoma City makes this season a success, but when you consider the relative youth of this team, Walton is playing with house money. Nobody figured the Gators would win in Blacksburg, but here they are going to the Women’s College World Series. Oklahoma is a prohibitive favorite but so were the 2008 Gators who went 70-5 but lost in the finals to Washington. Anything can happen in Okie City. The Gators are definitely longshots to even get out of their bracket (with Oregon State, Oklahoma State and Arizona), but stranger things have happened. They were longshots to get out of Blacksburg, too, and now look at them. Thursday schedule 12 noon: No. 5 UCLA (44-8) vs. Texas (43-19-1) 2:30 p.m.: No. 1 Oklahoma (54-2) vs. No. 9 Northwestern (45-11) 7 p.m.: No. 14 FLORIDA (48-17) vs. Oregon State (39-20) 9:30 p.m.: No. 7 Oklahoma State (46-12) vs. Arizona (38-20) FLORIDA BASEBALL: GATORS PLAYED THEIR WAY TO A REGIONAL HOST IN HOOVER Heading into Hoover for the Southeastern Conference Tournament, the Gators knew they would need to get to 38 wins to have a chance to host an NCAA regional. They did one better. By knocking off Texas A&M (37-18), 9-0, Saturday night, the Gators got to 39 wins including 19 in SEC play, which was good enough for the NCAA, which named Florida as one of 16 regional hosts on Sunday night. The brackets will be filled out and announced today at noon, but consider this mission accomplished for a team that seemed dead in the water at 23-17 and 6-12 in SEC play after getting swept by Tennessee back in April. That the Gators lost to Tennessee (53-7), 8-5, Sunday afternoon in the SEC Tournament championship game, 8-5, was inconsequential as far as the NCAA was concerned. The Vols are the No. 1 team in the nation and they’re guaranteed to host a regional and a super regional. By going 4-2 in Hoover and getting to the SEC Championship Game, the Gators improved their RPI from 24 to 13 which solidified the Gators as a host. The Gators aren’t going to finish as a top eight seed which would guarantee hosting all the way through to Omaha and the College World Series, but just earning a regional host is a credit to Kevin O’Sullivan, who won two games Saturday using only four pitchers – one sophomore (Timmy Manning), one redshirt freshman (Nick Ficarrotta) and two true freshmen (Anthony Ursitti and Fisher Jameson). Ficarrotta pitched 6-1/3 innings of shutout baseball in relief to get the win over Alabama while Manning, who hadn’t pitched since April 5 held the Aggies scoreless and to five hits in five innings. Jameson went the last four against A&M, holding the Aggies to a single hit. When the Gators took the field for the championship game Sunday, the starter was Carsten Finnvold, a true freshman who had pitched only 4-1/3 innings all season. Going 4-2 in Hoover and finishing the season winning 16 of 21 says plenty about O’Sullivan having the patience to let his young pitching staff grow up. Even before Hunter Barco’s season came to an end, the Gators were way too young and inexperienced, but now the Gators go into the post season with three solid starters – Brandon Sproat, Brandon Neely and Nick Pogue – to go with Ficarrotta, Jameson, Manning and Finnvold for spot starts or long relief and Ryan Slater as the closer. What Wyatt Langford did in Hoover pretty much gave the middle finger to the coaches who didn’t put him on the All-SEC first team. All he did in Hoover was nine hits (most of any player in the tournament), two homers, two doubles and five RBI. Langford is currently hitting .363 with 23 homers and 60 RBI. Other NCAA regional host sites: Auburn (37-19); Austin (Texas 37-19); Blacksburg (Virginia Tech 41-12); Chapel Hill (North Carolina 38-19); College Park (Maryland 45-12); College Station (Texas A&M 37-18); Coral Gables (Miami 39-18); Corvallis (Oregon State 44-14); Greenville (East Carolina 42-18); Hattiesburg (Southern Miss 43-16); Knoxville (Tennessee 53-7); Louisville (38-18-1); Stanford (40-14); Statesboro (Georgia Southern (40-18); Stillwater (Oklahoma State) UF MEN’S TENNIS: BEN SHELTON WINS NCAA SINGLES TITLE Ben Shelton did what only three other Gators in history have done, which is win the NCAA singles championship. Shelton, the No. 1 seed, rallied from a set down to take out 6th-seeded August Holmgren, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 Saturday in Champaign, Illinois for the title. To reach the championship match, Shelton downed Tennessee’s 3rd-seeded Adam Walton 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 on Friday. With the win, Shelton is the second straight NCAA singles champ from UF. Sam Riffice won the title last year. The other two Gators to win the NCAA championship were Mark Merklein in 1994 and Jeff Morrison in 1999. Mat Cloer named associate head coach: Mat Cloer, who has worked as a USTA Player Development coach since 2017, is joining the UF program as associate head coach. UF GOLF: GATORS MAKE IT TO FINAL ROUND OF STROKE PLAY The Gators made the third round cut at the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona on Sunday with a 6-over par 286 that moved them up three spots to 11th overall. The Gators are five shots behind 8th-place Arkansas, important because only the top eight teams after Monday’s final stroke play round will advance to the match play portion of the tournament. Florida’s top individual performer is Yuxin Lin, who shot a 69 Sunday to move up 15 spots into a tie for 17that 4-over for the tournament. Fred Biondi shot a 67 to move up 40 places into a tie for 25th at 5-over. SEC teams: 3. Vanderbilt (+5, 6 shots off the lead), 8. Arkansas (+26), 11. FLORIDA +31; 12 Georgia (+32) and T14. Ole Miss (+37). SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Arkansas: Jaylin Williams (6-10, 250), who averaged 10.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 blocks per game last season, has elected to remain in the NBA Draft. Georgia: Former player Sheldon Dawson is joining the Georgia staff as assistant defensive backs coach. Last season he coached corners at UT-Martin. Kentucky: Former UK head football coach Hal Mumme was arrested at the Hyatt Hotel in Lexington and charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest. Missouri: Defensive end Jonathan Jones, a member of the 2021 recruiting class, is no longer with the program … Cornerback Snoop Reeves has transferred to Coastal Carolina. Tennessee: Shooting guard Santiago Vescovi, who averaged 13.3 points and 3.2 assists per game while hitting 40.3 of his 3-pointers, has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and will return to Tennessee next season. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The SEC Spring Meetings begin tomorrow in Destin and while every eye will be on commissioner Greg Sankey to see if he can keep the peace between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher, there will actually be some important issues discussed, such as the threat that the SEC might thumb its nose at the College Football Playoff to have its own SEC invitational playoff and the scheduling format for when Texas and Oklahoma join the league. Although there are some folks out there who think the SEC is on the verge of expanding to perhaps 24 teams to form its own super conference (FSU, Miami and Clemson have callouses on their knees from time on the prayer bench asking God to please make it so), file this under doubtful. Seriously doubtful. This is Sankey’s way of telling the Big Ten, Pac-12 and Almost Competitive Conference that either be good boys and support the 12-team playoff expansion or we’ll kick you to the curb. Sankey, Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick, Big 12 commish Bob Bowlsby and Mountain West commish Craig Thompson came up with the 12-team format and they’re going to get their way. Count on it. And there’s nothing “the alliance” can do about it except join the party. As for scheduling, there may be some opposition to a 9-game schedule with three permanent opponents when everyone arrives in Destin, but when everyone heads home this will be the agreed-upon format. Nobody will be discussing it in public, but you can bet the farm that there will be discussion under double secret probation privacy to add Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC starting in 2023. It will take some manipulating and some concessions by ESPN, but this needs to happen, not only for the SEC, but for the SEC and Notre Dame to preserve the Big 12 as a power conference to keep the alliance from getting the upper hand when it comes to votes.

“…the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls. --Teddy Roosevelt, “The Man In The Arena.” In the pantheon of the competitor, winning is exhilarating. Losing sucks. There is no such thing as a tie. The problem is that winning is addictive. Losing becomes unbearable. Good fortune may feel like an entitlement, but it can never be owned. It is cyclical. When the reality of fluctuation sets in, it feels like a betrayal. Despite the powerful mantra, it is not always great to be a Florida Gator. Another way of saying it: Everybody needs a mulligan sooner or later. Especially after a shank, which golfers know as a sudden, painful and unexplainable erosion of their motor skills, an errant shot way off target. There was a recent shank in Hogtown. I love that Gator fans recklessly wear their emotions on their sleeves and care so deeply. They’ve got blood and money in the game. Their passion drives the program. They are coming off a 33-year run of prosperity with six different national championships called by Mick Hubert. What else should be expected of them? They feel like they’ve been riding shotgun with “The Man In The Arena.” And while a reality check might soon be in order, may it never blunt their enthusiasm. Believe me, I grew up in Church of Orange and Blue, so I sing from the same hymnal and get their deep conviction. They must dig deep about now, however. Coming off that recent shank, in these trying times of promiscuous matriculations and legal cash transactions – egad, that even sounds a bit unsavory! – athletic directors are challenged way beyond their skill set. So are the coaches. And the fans. In Scott Stricklin’s game of Florida Hold ‘Em, this is the hand they are dealt. Things are trending upward, but at this moment, only trending, with about 100 days before the first card on the river is turned. “Trending” is the operative word here. The players appear to be buying into the new football program as we’ve heard from multiple sources. Somewhere around October 2021, things began to trend downward for the Florida Gators. By the end of the year, Florida had lost its football coach -- shortly thereafter its men’s basketball coach. The women’s basketball program was being run by an interim. The soccer coach was fired. And even the Voice of the Gators was about to be silenced, or at least put on hold. Stricklin has filled all but one vacancy, replacing everybody but Mick Hubert. Stricklin's chips are pushed to the middle of the table. He has teed up his mulligan and the odometer is set at 000000. These next 100 or so days will be like testing laps at the Daytona International 500, with Billy Napier and Todd Golden at the wheel. What's their top speed? That’s why it felt like a command performance Thursday night in the doubleheader media event at Ben Hill prior to the Fightin’ Gators Touchdown Club gathering. The first Napier-Golden public twinbill. A little peek behind the curtain, perhaps, before you decide to buy UF stock in the auction? Both coaches also expressed concern for the impact NIL has had on the college sports landscape since being implemented. “We’re finding ourselves like an NFL free agency scenario,” said Napier. “We’re living in a land with no walls.” But Napier went on to acknowledge while a solution needs to be put in place, he is confident that, in the end, NIL will be a “slam dunk” for the Florida Gators. Napier and Golden also expressed their excitement for the summer programs they have in place, along with optimism for success. Football has just begun its summer regimen phase while basketball will begin its first half of summer workouts starting next week. Good news? While there is a temptation to chase sunbeams in speculating about the future -- maybe even buy a MFGA cap? -- take a cue from Napier and measure twice, cut once. In other words, buffer those expectations a bit before The Big Reveal on Sept. 3. But never stop being your Gator Self. Even I can see reason to wax optimistic about what appears to be progress, but without any data applicable for analytics to back it up yet. The odometer still says 000000. Yet there is hope and hunch. How do we measure progress? Against past performances, both recent and historically. Unfortunately, Florida is still a member of the nouveau riche, having achieved virtually all its success since 1990. That coordinate puts us right on the precipice of what I shall call “The Platinum Era” of Gator sports. It started with Steve Spurrier in 1990 which led to his six SEC titles and national championship and the sparkling 122-27-1 record. So impressive they put his name on the stadium, after placing his statue out front. Even more impressive was his ridiculous 68-5 home record. He'd just returned from the training room to pick up some stickum for his golf glove Thursday and, in the process, ran into a guy named Anthony Richardson whom he met for the first time. I find it remarkable that such a meeting took so long to happen. ("Nice young man. I told him how much I thought of his potential as a quarterback.") I asked Spurrier what it was like in the early days of “The Platinum Era,” winning all the time at Florida. "Well, you expect to win," Spurrier said matter of factly. "You win a game. And you play another one and you win. And you just keeping winning." Until you don't. And then you become an ambassador/consultant and open a restaurant. Beginning as a 29-year-old baby-faced coach the same year of that football natty, 1996, tacking on multiple SEC titles, countless trips to the NCAA (two national championships, four Final Fours), Billy Donovan racked up a record of 467 wins 185 losses before leaving for the NBA on 2015. And they put his name on the floor. Overlapping in those back-to-back national championships, Florida reached the pinnacle of football/basketball supremacy with the two football national titles under Urban Meyer sandwiched in between, while he was carving out a 65-15 record. The music died after 2008, so it's been a minute since those days of glory. That’s coming up on 14 years. The expectations of a championship legacy don’t die easily, however. You knew all that. But there are promising signs. That change we talked about could be impactful if you choose to believe the players. I’ve been talking to them directly for almost three months. And I’m hearing encouraging updates. I believe them. At least I believe that they believe. The narrative of those 14 players with whom I have conversed has been how they feel they are being heard, treated well, coached hard, properly conditioned and nutritioned properly. Excellence is preached and attention to detail is demanded. The flip side of that is what was revealed by one player about the previous regime under Dan Mullen -- but even that offers hope. According to a piece by John Carosiella, with whom I talked, defensive back Mordecai McDaniel came out strong with his feelings. McDaniel said he and his teammates have already felt the positive impact of Napier’s staff after reeling from what they felt was benign neglect and disingenuous conduct (my words) by the previous regime. “Man, you should see us at practice! We got guys flying all over the place now.” He went on to say they are being taught to “master the fundamentals.” And that this Gator team is much closer to each other. There were other tales of inner strife and disillusionment In the Mullen era. I fought hard against the kick-a-guy-when-he’s down syndrome because Mullen has already gotten his share of the blame for the Humpty-Dumpty fall. But one cannot ignore what sounds like new truth. And perhaps new beginnings. Another reason to put a little credence in what the players are saying? Yes. Does that mean they’ll win more games than expected? Perhaps. Too early to tell yet. But does it feel a little better to be a Florida Gator? Yes. It’s certainly trending that way. Deal the cards Scott Stricklin. GatorBaitMedia reporter Kyle Curtis contributed to this blog.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: BILLY NAPIER ON TODAY’S STATE OF THE UF FOOTBALL PROGRAM Prior to a speaking engagement with the local Gator Club in the Touchdown Terrace at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Thursday, Billy Napier spent 20 minutes answering questions from the media. Here are a couple of interesting answers: On the summer program that has just begun “I think summer is phase five, we just finished up with the discretionary, reload period where they have some time off. They were off for 35 days. We had exit meetings. We have lots of work to do relative to developing a plan. Regimen is essentially a 9-week training block. It’s a four week, 28 day workload, one week off, four weeks, 28 days. We have some time between that and training camp. We have a weekly routine Monday to Friday. What that entails is we get eight hours a week with the players. Strength and conditioning, skill development, simulated training. Film review. It’s by the minute. There’s also lots of opportunities here for ownership at the player level and for leadership at the player level as we go into this. It’s essentially our nine-week — I’m not going to give you all of our stuff — but it’s essentially, to me, it’s where the team starts to develop. You’ve got a set of rookies who just showed up. Then you have a set of veterans that are in a position to lead. Summer creates leadership opportunities. There’s less time. The staff only has you eight hours, what are you doing with all that other time? We started yesterday and we’re off and running.” On adding some more players “I think most of the players you could acquire at this point in time would be graduate transfers, right? They would be players that were already in the portal, you know? And, you know, I would say this, I think that there's junior college players that become available and that's another way that you can acquire a player at this point in time. So, we're gonna operate [on a] case by case basis. You know, if we find a player that we think can make our team better, we'll pursue that player." TODD GOLDEN ON THE UF ROSTER REBUILD “I think we’re in good shape. I would more say we’ve added on to more of what we were able to keep. As a lot of you are aware, when we got here – specifically me and my staff – it was really important to me to make a run at Colin (Castleton) to see if we could get him to use his fifth year. We had a lot of success last year at San Francisco with Jomaria Bouvea, a different position but the same idea of keeping a really talented, mature player that had experienced a lot of success in the program to build around and obviously it helped for us. I thought that Colin could be that piece for us if he was willing to buy into what we are doing and had a great attitude about coming back, which he did. And that really got us off to a really good start. “We’ve talked a lot about the five other guys besides Colin that we on the team last year that we were able retain – Kowacie (Reeves), Niels (Lane), Myreon (Jones), Jason (Jitoboh) and CJ (Felder). I think all those guys have potential to be impactful players for us this year and then on top of that, adding the guys we did, we feel really good about our roster and the depth we have now. We’re still a little thin inside. I would say we have really good players in the front court but we’re susceptible to an injury or two of being really a big issue for us going into next year with the roster being the way it is. So, we’ll try to add one more big to give us some depth in the front court.” On adding Riley Kugel (6-5, 185, Orlando, FL Dr. Phillips) to the class: “We obviously wanted to add Riley to the program because he’s a really good kid and a really good talent, but it’s important to us that they want to be here. That was something Riley exhibited from the first moment I reached out to him, that he was passionate about coming to Florida if it worked out for him. Making sure he did what he had to do in the classroom and then checked some boxes and made sure we did our due diligence to make sure he was the right piece to add, I think we did enough and both sides are really glad it worked out.” AGGIES RUN-RULE GATORS AT SEC TOURNAMENT; DO OR DIE VS. ARKANSAS TODAY The Gators (36-21) must have left their bats at the hotel Thursday afternoon. After enduring a rain delay for the third straight day, the Gators managed only one hit off the Texas A&M (36-17) duo of Micah Dallas (5-3) and Joseph Menefee, who combined to strike out 11 as the Aggies won a 7-inning, 10-0, run-rule win in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Alabama. With the loss, the Gators face do-or-die this morning against Arkansas (38-17) at 10:30 a.m. (SEC Network). Win and the Gators keep on playing, lose and they go home and wait to find out where they’ll be going for the NCAA Tournament. Florida got its only hit in the top of the second inning when Jac Caglianone singled on an 0-2 pitch. The Gators managed only two more baserunners, Sterlin Thompson in the third when he was hit by a pitch and Ty Evans in the fourth, who managed the only walk of the day off Dallas. The Aggies touched UF starter Brandon Neely (3-2) for a 2-run homer in the third by Trevor Werner and added one in the fifth. All hell broke loose in the sixth when Ryan Targac hit a solo homer of Fisher Jameson, Jordan Thompson hit a 2-run homer off Phil Abner and Austin Bost hit a 3-run homer off Tyler Nesbitt as part of a 7-run inning increased the lead to 10-0. Florida will throw Nick Pogue (3-3, 4.91 ERA) against Arkansas today while the Razorbacks will counter with their ace, Connor Noland. UF SOFTBALL: GATORS TAKE ON VATECH AT 2 P.M. Will the ninth time be a charm for the Gators (46-16)? When the Gators take on No. 2 seed Virginia Tech (45-8) today (2 p.m., ESPN2) in the Blacksburg, it will be the ninth straight time they have played in an NCAA super regional. It’s best two of three to win the super regional to advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. The Gators haven’t advanced to Okie City since 2019. The Gators are 3-0 in NCAA Tournament play after outscoring Canisius, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin 28-2 last weekend to advance to Blacksburg. The Gators are hitting .461 and have a team ERA of 0.82 in tournament play so far. Virginia Tech had its share of problems with Kentucky last weekend. The Wildcats scored a 5-4 win over the Hokies on Saturday, but dropped two games on Sunday, 9-2 and 5-4. Kentucky connected for four homers against the Hokies in the three games but the pitching gave way in the two Sunday games. Florida is 21-10 all time in super regional play and 94-47 in the NCAA Tournament. The Gators are 6-0 all time against Virginia Tech including a 2-0 win over the Hokies in the 2008 Women’s College World Series. Elsewhere in the SEC: SEC champ and No. 4 seed Arkansas (48-9) opened super regional play with a 7-1 win over Texas. Chenise Delce (19-2) pitched a 6-hitter with six strikeouts to pace the Razorbacks. Mississippi State (37-25) plays host to Arizona in the other NCAA super regional involving SEC teams. UF MEN’S TENNIS: SHELTON, RIFFICE MAKE FINAL FOUR Ben Shelton and Sam Riffice both made it to the final four of the NCAA Tournament Thursday. Shelton, ranked No. 2 nationally but seeded No. 1 for the tournament, took out 15th-ranked Arthur Fery of Stanford, 6-3, 6-4, for his fourth consecutive straight set win. Riffice, the 28th-ranked player in the country, beat 39th-ranked Inaki Montes de le Torre of Virginia, 6-3, 7-6. Shelton and Riffice lost their quarter-finals doubles match to Cleeve Harper and Richard Ciamarra of Texas, 5-7, 2-6. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Georgia: Sanford Stadium will undergo $68.5 million in renovations which will include new luxury suites and a renovated press box … Offensive coordinator Todd Monken has received a $600,000 raise to $2 million per year. Co-defensive coordinators Will Muschamp and Glenn Schumann will each be paid $800,000. Kentucky: Former Alabama wide receiver Javon Baker will not be transferring to Kentucky after all. At Alabama, Baker caught nine passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in two years. Missouri: Mabor Majak (7-2, 230) is transferring from Cleveland State to Mizzou. He’s the fourth former Cleveland State player to follow head coach Dennis Gates to Missouri. Tennessee: The Vols landed a basketball commitment from 2023 4-star forward Cade Phillips (6-8, 200, Gadsden, AL Jacksonville HS), the son of former Alabama QB John David Phillips and nephew of former Alabama QB Brodie Croyle. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: There was Billy Napier, looking sharp in his blue jacket and blue-striped shirt with an open collar. He wore socks and didn’t talk about his hound, unlike a former Florida football coach who always wanted us to believe he was just a grown up version of the cool kid who drove a convertible back in high school. He also didn’t give us the kind of answers like another former coach who left us scratching our heads while wondering if it’s necessary to prove to everyone within earshot that he’s the smartest guy in the room. What we got was Billy Napier, head coach and CEO of the University of Florida football program. He looked like a CEO, sounded a lot like a CEO and gave us the kind of measured, thoughtful responses to questions that make you wonder if this isn’t the single most organized human being, if not on the planet, at least in Alachua County, Florida. Steve Spurrier or Lane Kiffin he isn’t. There is no shoot from the hip and beware of ricochet with Billy Napier. He’s not going to win any one-liner contest, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a personality. He’s got one, it just comes across like someone who not only anticipates the question but has an answer that will say plenty without really saying a lot. Napier praises good people like Trey Dean, who used some of his NIL money to buy a jeep for his mama on Mother’s Day. He likes to talk about the need to develop leaders and how good it is that 28 freshmen (17 scholarship, 11 walk-ons) are already enrolled. Given a chance to express his support of the current 8-game SEC schedule or a move to nine once Texas and Oklahoma join the league, he defers to the older, veteran coaches in the SEC and says he is too consumed at this point with the Florida Gators to offer his two cents. Asked what he thinks about Nick vs. Jimbo, he says he isn’t about to get in the middle of that spat. It's the summer, a time when no news is good news. If the players are doing their work both in the classroom and training to get ready for August camp, and staying off the police blotter, then Billy Napier will get exactly what he wants. Maybe there will be time in the future for the world to see a fun side of his personality, but right now he is too busy as the CEO getting the Florida football program well enough organized that it can go toe-to-toe with Southeastern Conference opponents in the fall. For now, that will have to do.

Leading the Gators “softball relay team” is the duo of Junior Skylar Wallace and freshman Kendra Falby. Wallace and Falby are the dominant base stalling duo in the conference with 85 combined stolen bases. By Loren Meadows GatorBaitMedia.com You can’t teach speed. The ability to run fast and play with quickness is a skill that many teams long for as they prepare to begin season in their respective sports. Florida softball has taken that speed and harnessed it into weapon that could enhance the Gators’ post season run. While the Florida Gators track team has been chewing up the track in 2022, the Florida Softball Team has been chewing up the dirt on the diamond. In a season where power reigned supreme in the SEC, the record 938 Home Runs hit during the 2022 has been offset by a relay team on the base paths with the Florida Gators. The Gators rank last among SEC teams in the long ball race with a team total of 35 homers. However, the .315 team batting average and .397 on base percentage have allowed the Gators to even the playing field by utilizing exceptional speed and aggressiveness on the base paths. In what can be called “instant doubles,” the Gators have been able to quickly put runners in scoring position to the tune of 129 stolen bases. This total led the SEC and was 73 more stolen bases than the Gators accumulated all last year and 41 more steals than the next team in the SEC (Tennessee). A certain base runner on first leads to a runner on second within two to three pitches. Leading the Gators “softball relay team” is the duo of Junior Skylar Wallace and freshman Kendra Falby. Wallace and Falby are the dominant base stealing duo in the conference with 85 combined stolen bases. Both execute base stealing with a combination of aggressiveness, elite speed, and efficiency. It is this efficiency that allows both to have only been caught stealing four times each between the two of them. Falby, whose mother ran track, is lightning quick with a quick first step out the box and the ability to get the jump on the opposing pitchers which puts immediate pressure on opposing defenses. Wallace, the school’s single season record-holder in stolen bases (50), has speed reminiscent of a 200 or 400m sprinter with a consistent stride which allows her to cover the distance between bases with minimal steps. Both are weapons that Coach Tim Walton has at his disposal to instantly breathe life into his team’s offense. Not to be outdone by Wallace and Falby, the Gators have three others who join the 7-inning track meet. Infielder Hannah Adams (15), outfielder Cheyenne Lindsey (8) and outfielder Katie Kistler (11) have 34 stolen bases between them while failing to reach base safely only seven times. Although the trio has been extremely successful on the base paths, they are quick to defer to Wallace and Falby for the title of “Fastest Softball Gator.” Coach Tim Walton has stated that he believes Kendra Falby to be the fastest out of the batter’s box to first base while Skylar Wallace is the fastest overall. Falby and Wallace do not necessarily agree with the assessment of their coach and have expressed interest in a possible race in the fall of 2022 to settle the debate for charity. For now the Gators take the Softball “track team” on the road for a Super Regional showdown with the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies have two of the top pitchers in the ACC in opponent batting average in Emma Lemley and Keely Rochard. Opponents are batting less that .200 against both so base runners will be at a premium. The cooler air of Blacksburg should allow the Gators to be aggressive on the base paths and utilize the running game to put runners in scoring position. Florida leads the remaining teams in the tournament in stolen bases and it has been this infusion of speed that has allowed the quintet of Wallace, Falby, Adams, Lindsey, and Kistler to quickly turn nothing into something and continue the run to Oklahoma City.

The 21 home runs by Langford were good enough to be tied for first in the SEC, along with being second with 61 runs scored. On top of it all, he has been the leader on a Gator team many people wrote off after the first half of the season. By KYLE CURTIS GatorBaitMedia.com Growing up just 30 miles away from Gainesville, orange and blue DNA has always been in Wyatt Langford’s blood. Being a six-year varsity starter for Trenton High School’s baseball team earned him the No. 144 overall prospect by Perfect Game before taking his talents to Gainesville. Since his arrival in 2021, Langford’s freshman season allowed for him to take some time to settle in and establish his role on a star-studded Gator roster. Langford broke out of his shell in his sophomore campaign. This 2022 season will go down in the books for Langford as one of the best seasons in recent memory for a Gator. After a sluggish start to the season for a Gators team that had high expectations, Langford has been a key part of the resurgence of this team. Going into the SEC tournament, he had a .363 average along with a staggering 21 home runs. He joins teammate Jud Fabian as the sixth Gator player ever to record 20 home runs in a season. The 21 home runs by Langford were good enough to be tied for first in the SEC, along with being second with 61 runs scored. On top of it all, he has been the leader on a Gator team many people wrote off after the first half of the season. Is it good enough though? Langford was recognized, along with two other Florida Gators (B.T. Riopelle, First Team All-SEC; Brandon Neely, Freshman All-SEC Team), as an All-SEC player. With the kind of season Langford had put up many people recognized him as an SEC player of the year candidate. Langford made the second team as an outfielder. In what may have been a snub in the eyes of many, the SEC home run leader was also top 10 in total bases (152), slugging (.716), RBIs (55) and batting average (.363). While getting it done at the plate, Langford has also gotten it done in the field for Florida. Boasting a perfect fielding percentage on the season, Langford has had highlight-reel robberies in leftfield, saving runs left and right. Along with SportsCenter-worthy catches, Langford is not afraid to show off his arm. He most recently saved a run in the opening round of the SEC tournament against South Carolina when he rifled a ball from left field and beat the runner home to hold the game at 1-0. Nonetheless, this gives Langford and the Gators another chip on their shoulder heading into the postseason, although they ran into a home run binging Texas A&M on Thursday. While many in the Gainesville baseball community felt his lack of accolades was a robbery, there is no lack of appreciation for his greatness this season. Langford, along with many others on the team refused to give up on the season when many others did.