An owner’s manual would be a nice thing to have about now for Billy Napier and Todd Golden. They’re dealing with NIL on a daily basis and it’s like sitting in the cockpit of a plane trying to figure out how to get it off the ground after an introductory lesson or two. While most coaches agree it’s great that players have a chance to cash in and make some money – Florida safety Trey Dean, for example, used some of his NIL money to buy his mama a Jeep – the lack of a defined set of rules makes it next to impossible to know what’s right, what’s wrong and how to deal with it properly. Napier, who has taken a very pro-active NIL approach since taking over as Florida’s football coach last December, would like to compare what’s going on with NFL free agency except the NFL has rules, regulations and contracts. Those things don’t exist in college football, largely because the NCAA just tossed it out there with few, if any, guidelines. Prior to speaking to a Gator Club meeting at the Touchdown Terrace at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Thursday evening, Napier offered this explanation for how he’s navigating through these shark-infested waters: “I find, I think we're finding ourselves in, much like an NFL team during free agency. I mean there's a lot of scenarios here that are very comparable, right? And I'm really, to be honest with you, there's no manual for this in college football. I mean I've been studying the National Football League, because I think there are some things to learn. Now, every player on our team that hasn't transferred before is a free agent every year, truth be known. So that's the one thing that we lack that the National Football League has, right? There is free agency, but there is no salary cap and there is no contractual obligation, right? So there are things that we can learn from the NFL, but there are a lot of things that don't apply as well.” Combine NIL with the transfer portal and recruiting takes on a whole new meaning. Not only are coaches dealing with kids who are shopping their services and selling to the highest bidder, but they have to re-recruit players on their current roster. Recently, Miami point guard Isaiah Wong went into the transfer portal and said the only way he would return to the Hurricanes, who made the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament back in March, would be to get an NIL deal equal to or better than the one Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack got, estimated at $750,000. “It was really when the whole Miami story broke that it really got hot in our world of recruiting,” Golden said prior to the Gator Club meeting. “It hasn’t been a very big part of the discussions we’ve had with recruits, but we definitely anticipate over the next three to six to nine months that it’s going to be very important and very present. I’ll just say I’m excited to get down to the SEC Meetings next week and hear what the commissioner and the rest of the coaches have to say about it.” There has always been a shady side to recruiting where coaches get calls from someone’s “uncle” or AAU coach or 7-on-7 coach trying to broker a back-room deal for a kid who is being recruited, but with the advent of NIL, players are using a representative to shop their services. Golden says it adds “another layer in terms of recruiting and sifting through what’s important for the student-athlete and the people supporting them through the process.” In the past, Golden and Napier would typically deal with the athlete, his parents and perhaps the high school or AAU coach. Now, players like Baylor Scheireman, who transferred from South Dakota State to Creighton, have agents. Most, however, use someone who isn’t exactly a professional. It all adds up to players using someone else to broker NIL deals to get them to sign or transfers. “I do think that players, because there is an opportunity to have representation for NIL, you've seen that trend, and I think there’s some wisdom to that but I also think that there's a lot more to these decisions than NIL,” Napier said. “I think that going forward, the third party, there's a lot of gray area here relative to representation: What I can say, what I can't say, what the third party can do, what they can't do. Right now we're living in a land with no laws, if that makes sense.” It doesn’t make sense and that’s the problem. Supposedly, NIL collectives, corporations and individuals/boosters aren’t allowed to recruit high school kids for a certain school. That had everything to do with Nick Saban – and before him Lane Kiffin – calling out Texas A&M for its 2022 recruiting class, which some experts call generational. Back in February, Kiffin asked out loud if the Aggies were going to be charged a luxury tax amid rumors that upwards of $30 million in NIL deals helped Jimbo Fisher land the nation’s No. 1 class. At a meeting in Birmingham a week ago, Saban went so far as to say the Aggies “bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness.” When Kiffin called out the Aggies, Fisher responded angrily but his angry words were news for about a couple of days. Maybe it was because it was Kiffin, who some in the media don’t take seriously. When Saban called Fisher out, Jimbo responded with words like “narcissist” and “despicable” to describe Saban. Fisher also said Saban thinks he’s God. None of that happens if there are rules in place to deal with NIL. Currently there are none. Napier looks to how the NFL handles free agency, which is essentially what we have now, for guidelines but he doesn’t have the structure the NFL has. Golden can’t wait for someone in charge to give him some direction because where he is now with NIL is going to be changing. What seems to apply today isn’t going to be what applies months from now, not unless someone steps in with a set of rules that everyone can agree to and abide by. In the meantime, coaches like Napier hope their players who benefit from NIL will use their money wisely like Trey Dean did when he took care of his mother. Dean has already earned his University of Florida degree. This will be his fifth year with the team as he is taking advantage of the NCAA rule that allows athletes who participated during the COVID year (2020-21 academic year) to have an extra year of eligibility. Dean came back, got an NIL deal, and now he’s using it to help someone he loves. “Trey's one of the hardest-working guys we have on the team,” Napier said. “Unbelievable effort in all areas of his life. Certainly comes from a great family. Cares significantly about his parents, and certainly NIL in these days, if you create value for yourself, you work hard and you put yourself in position where you can earn a wage, it creates opportunities like that. So I'm hopeful that we'll have more players that continue to improve, that work hard, that represent themselves the right way to get NIL opportunities."

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: NAPIER DOES SEEM LIKE THE LONG TERM SOLUTION Billy Napier is Florida’s football coach. The way he’s going about the process of organizing the entire program and making sure all loose ends are tied up, it seems the Gators have found the guy who can re-establish the University of Florida as a football power that the rest of the country automatically pencils into the short list of national championship contenders. A fine line separates the good football coaches from the great ones. Steve Spurrier, a great football coach, was an innovative swashbuckler who turned the Southeastern Conference and all of college football on its ear. When we think of Spurrier we think of those everybody out for a pass offenses but overlook the fact that in 1997 when he didn’t have the personnel he did things like alternate quarterbacks and let Fred Taylor run the ball. Remember the win over Penn State in the 1997 Citrus Bowl when Fred carried the ball 43 times for 234 yards? Steve Spurrier was able to handle the CEO aspects of the job as well as the coaching and the recruiting. Recruitaholics swear to this day that he could have been greater if he had ever embraced recruiting, but the Gators still went 122-27-1 in his 12 years on the job (only Nebraska and FSU won more games). Spurrier won six SEC titles including four in a row (1993-96), one national championship (1997) and had the Gators in the national championship picture for all or most of 10 seasons. Contrast what Spurrier accomplished with the coaches who have followed him. Ron Zook was a good man, an exceptional recruiter and totally ill-prepared for all the responsibilities of being a head coach. Zooker had no head coaching experience and obviously no one gave him an owner’s manual to take him step-by-step through handling all the off-the-field situations that popped up on a regular basis or dealing with the alumni. Three years and he was gone. I don’t blame Zooker for taking the Florida job when it was offered – how do you turn down a million dollar deal (2002 money) when you’re an NFL assistant coach? – but he should have spent at least three or four years learning the ropes of head coaching in the Mid-America Conference or the Sun Belt before taking on a job the magnitude of Florida in which he was charged with following one of the great coaches in the history of the game. Urban Meyer was a great coach until the pressure of the monster he created got to him. Meyer won national championships in two of his first four years on the job and had the Gators on track for a third in 2009 when Alabama and Nick Saban won the SEC Championship Game. Meyer melted down, resigned one day, then two days later rescinded his resignation. The emotional stress of the monster he recruited got to him and it showed the next year. His health wasn’t the same and the Gators went 8-5. He resigned again. Since Meyer, the Gators have gone through three head coaches – Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen – all of whom were fired before their final season came to an end. Muschamp was a great defensive coordinator who should have taken a cue from Ron Zook by getting some head coaching experience. Muschamp can recruit and he’s great with the kids he coaches, but the head coaching job requires far more time as a CEO and less time to coach and be with the players. Jim McElwain was a fine coordinator for Nick Saban, but that does not mean he was ready to be a head coach in the SEC, even if he had success at the Mountain West level at Colorado State. Old Yeller – if you’re making more than $4 million a year you can afford to get your teeth whitened – just wasn’t cut out for being a head coach in the SEC. I’m convinced to this day that his death threats story was completely made up because he wanted out. He’s at Central Michigan now and he’ll be successful at that level. I’m still miffed about Dan Mullen, but I tend to agree with my friends Rob Browne and Jimmy Hodge of the very successful “Sidelines” podcast that Mullen is the Peter Principle personified. Dan was at the peak of his head coaching abilities at Mississippi State where winning eight or nine games a year thrilled the base to the marrow. He should have stayed in Starkville although I was convinced Mullen had Florida on the right track through his first 35 games on the job at UF. When Mullen was 29-6 we could overlook the lack of success on the recruiting trail, but that began to catch up with him. At 29-6 we could overlook the inadequacies of his coaching staff. When the Gators started losing games it was obvious that Mullen lacked the personnel and the staff to play at a championship level. When he started losing, for all practical purposes he checked out. Although he didn’t lie his way into a firing as did Old Yeller, like his predecessor, it seems clear that Mullen wanted out and got his wish. That brings us to Billy Napier. He hasn’t coached a single game at Florida but there is a far different feel to this situation than there has been in years. What convinced me that Scott Stricklin had found the right guy was watching Napier tackle issues that had been festering for years such as parking problems, bad food for the players and lousy living arrangements. One by one Napier has systematically eliminated the issues that the three previous coaches either couldn’t handle, wouldn’t handle or weren’t given the resources to handle. Whatever the case, he's a can do kind of coach who has won the trust of the players and is going about the business of winning the trust of the boosters who pay the big bucks to support Florida athletics. Players love him and the boosters I’ve talked to think he’s the real deal. Based on the success he had at Louisiana – 40-12 record in four years – I am convinced he has the coaching part of the job figured out. Add that to what we’ve seen of his first six months on the Florida job and it’s not outlandish to think Florida may have finally found that Spurrier-like coach who can be both CEO and head coach without melting down or checking out. What a concept. RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY: GATORS, AGGIES RESCHEDULED As if a six-hour weather delay before the Gators (36-20) got their opening game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament with South Carolina played wasn’t enough, the Gators’ second round game with Texas A&M (35-17) Wednesday night was delayed because of a weather front passing through Hoover. The game has been rescheduled for 10:30 a.m. this morning. The one-day delay may actually prove a godsend for righty Brandon Neely (3-1, 3.38 ERA) as well as the entire Florida pitching staff. Neely, who struck out 10 and allowed just three hits in seven innings against South Carolina back on Friday, will be pitching on a full five days of rest. Closer Ryan Slater (5-3, 4.66 ERA, 4 saves), who got the win Tuesday in 1-2/3 innings of relief of Brandon Sproat also gets a day of rest. Against the Gamecocks in their series last weekend the Gators went to the bullpen eight times, so Kevin O’Sullivan has well-rested relief ready to go. UF SOFTBALL: THE ROAD TO OKIE CITY GOES THROUGH BLACKSBURG The Gators (46-16) find themselves in the unusual position of having to go on the road for NCAA super regional play Friday when they journey to Blacksburg to take on No. 2 seed Virginia Tech (45-8). The Gators have made an NCAA regional every year since Tim Walton took over in 2006 with the exception of the 2020 COVID season when the season was canceled at the midway point. This is, however, the first time since the 2007 season that the Gators have had to earn their way to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City away from Gainesville. The Gators go to Blacksburg having won six of their last seven games including a 3-0 record to win the Gainesville NCAA regional when they outscored Canisius, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin by a 28-2 margin. At the SEC Tournament, the Gators clobbered Kentucky, 9-3. That’s the same Kentucky team that forced Virginia Tech to come through the loser’s bracket to win the Blacksburg regional. Kentucky beat the Hokies once and then blew opportunities to win the championship game. UF MEN’S TENNIS: SHELTON, RIFFICE IN NCAA QUARTERFINALS Although the Gators saw their hopes of winning a second consecutive NCAA team championship end last week, Ben Shelton and Sam Riffice are still very much alive in the individual and doubles championships. Shelton, the overall No. 2 seed, advanced to the singles quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ohio State’s JJ Tracy, while Riffice, the No. 28 seed, advanced to the quarters with a 6-4, 6-3 win over LSU’s Ronnie Hohmann. In doubles play, the 5th-seeded team of Riffice and Shelton beat Ohio State’s Justin Boulais and James Trotter in a third-set tiebreaker to advance to the quarterfinals. Today, Shelton will take on 15th-seeded Arthur Fery of Stanford and Riffice will face Virginia’s Inaki Montes de le Torre. In doubles, the Riffice-Shelton team will face Cleve Harper and Richard Ciamarra of Texas. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Besides keeping Jimbo and Nick separate at the SEC Spring Meetings which begin in Destin on Tuesday, one of the priorities for Greg Sankey will be to move closer to a decision on what the league will do from a scheduling basis once Texas and Oklahoma join the league, whether that’s the 2023 season as some predict or 2026. At issue will be keeping or ditching divisions and moving from an 8-game schedule to nine games. I’ve had conversations with Sankey and while the commish has been non-committal, I’m left with the opinion that he favors a 9-game schedule, ditching the divisions and going with a system of three permanent opponents that will allow every team in the league to play home and home at least once every four years. Although going nine games will eliminate a paycheck game that is almost certainly a guaranteed win, the added league game with a pod system will eliminate the ridiculous current scheduling. When Florida hosted Alabama in 2021, it was the first time the Gators and Tide had met during the regular season since 2014. When we talked at the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Sankey pointed out that game as one of the problems of the current system that has to be eliminated. Instead of divisional champions, the teams with the two best records will play for the SEC championship. That would eliminate a 3-loss or 4-loss team making the SEC Championship Game, scoring an upset and then winning the automatic berth when the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams, which you can bet the farm it’s going to do. Sankey wants to be sure the best team in the league gets in the playoff, not a team that perhaps won on a fluke. Here is one look at a 16-team SEC with the three permanent opponents for each team and preserving traditional rivalries: Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee, LSU Arkansas: Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State FLORIDA: Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina Georgia: Florida, Auburn, Kentucky Kentucky: Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia LSU: Alabama, Ole Miss, Missouri Mississippi State: Ole Miss, Auburn, Vanderbilt Missouri: Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU Ole Miss: Mississippi State, LSU, Vanderbilt Oklahoma: Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas South Carolina: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida Tennessee: Alabama, Kentucky, Florida Texas: Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas Texas A&M: Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri Vanderbilt: Mississippi State, South Carolina, Ole Miss

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: HEART ATTACK CITY! GATORS WALK IT OFF IN 10 AGAINST GAMECOCKS It shouldn’t have come down to South Carolina catcher Colin Burgess losing the baseball as Ty Evans slid home in the bottom of the tenth inning but it did. Evans should have scored standing up on Kendric Calilao’s slow single up the middle the play before. For reasons only Florida third base coach Craig Bell knows for sure, the stop sign was put up as Evans rounded third. He would have scored easily even if Gamecock center fielder Evan Stone hadn’t air-mailed the throw home. So what do you do when you’ve goofed up the play before? Well, of course, you send Evans racing home on Colby Halter’s line drive to short center that Stone catches on the move so he has plenty of momentum with which to make a perfect throw home. It was an absolute strike and Evans was clearly out at the plate except for one teensy little detail. Talmadge LeCroy didn’t hold onto the ball as Evans slid by. Game over. Gators win, 2-1, and advance to the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Alabama where they will face the No. 2 seeded Texas A&M Aggies sometime this afternoon. Sometime, because for a second straight day, thunderstorms are expected. Florida’s game was supposed to start at 2:30 Tuesday but it didn’t start until after 7 p.m. because of thunderstorms. By winning Tuesday night, the Gators (36-20) move into the double-elimination portion of the tournament. It’s a similar situation they were in last year when they won three games in Hoover before losing in the semifinals (the tournament reverts to single elimination at that point). Going 3-1 in Hoover earned the Gators a top 16 national seed so they hosted a regional. It’s probably going to take two more wins to host again, but UF is one-third of the way there after the win over South Carolina. The Gators had a chance to clinch the win without going into extra innings but starting pitcher Brandon Sproat, who had a no-hitter going for 6-1/3 innings, gave out of gas in the top of the ninth when he gave up a pair of one-out singles. Ryan Slater came on to induce a bouncer to shortstop that got the force at second, but the relay was not in time so the run scored to tie the game at 1-1. With one out in the Florida half of the tenth, Evans hit a bouncer down the third base line that hit the base and bounded down the left field line. This was a ball that Jalen Vasquez probably snares and makes the throw to first easily for out number two except the tricky hop sent the ball over his head. Then came Calilao’s pinch-hit single that should have scored Evans followed by Halter’s line drive sac fly. This was a classic pitching duel between Sproat and South Carolina starter Will Sanders. Sproat went 8-1/3 innings, giving up just four hits while striking out seven. Sanders gave up four hits and struck out 10 while giving up just one run in seven innings. The only run Sanders gave up came on another rather weird play that involved Bell in the third base coaching box in the fourth inning. Josh Evans doubled down the right field line with two outs and Jac Caglianone followed with a high chopper that shortstop Michael Braswell fielding moving to his right. Braswell threw off balance and a little high to first baseman Kevin Madden. Madden knocked the ball down and recovered it into his glove. That split second was the difference because Rivera rounded third, sped home and scored when Madden’s throw to the plate was late. Florida is expected to go with freshman righty Brandon Neely (3-1, 3.38 ERA) against the Aggies today. Because Sproat was able to go into the ninth, Kevin O’Sullivan was able to save all but Slater (5-3, 4.66 ERA), which means he’ll have a full bullpen ready to go today. DEL RIO-WILSON TRANSFERS TO SYRACUSE Carlos Del Rio-Wilson has found his transfer destination. The former Gator quarterback who was a 4-star recruit by Dan Mullen in the 2021 recruiting class, will be moving on to Syracuse where he will have to battle last year’s starter Garrett Shrader for playing time. Del Rio-Wilson didn’t accumulate any stats at UF in 2021. Shrader, who began his career at Mississippi State, threw for 1,445 yards and nine touchdowns while rushing for 781 and 14 TDs for Syracuse last year. SEC FOOTBALL: PROJECTED O-LINE STARTERS Alabama (46 career starts): LT Tyler Steen (6-5, 317, GR/TR); LG Javion Cohen (6-4, 305, JR); C Seth McLaughlin (6-4, 295); RG Emil Ekioyor Jr. (6-3, 307, RSR); RT JC Latham (6-6, 326, SO) Studs: Emil Ekioyor Jr. has 29 career starts and Cohen 14. Tyler Steen was a 3-year starter at Vandy, playing in 45 career games. Arkansas (86 career starts): LT Jalen St. John (6-5, 334, RSO); LG Brady Latham (6-5, 303, RJR); C Ricky Stromberg (6-4, 318, SR); RG Beaux Limmer (6-5, 300, RJR); RT Dalton Wagner (6-9, 337, RSR) Studs: Stromberg (32 career starts) will be the favorite to win the Rimington Trophy. Wagner is an absolute monster with 15 career starts. Auburn (63 career starts): LT Kilian Zierer (6-7, 312, SR); LG Brandon Council (6-4, 328, SR); C Nick Brahms (6-4, 300, SR); RG Keiondre Jones (6-4, 340, JR); RT Alec Jackson (6-5, 321, SR) Studs: Nick Brahms (24 career starts) is one of the best in the SEC. FLORIDA (52 career starts): LT Richard Gouraige (6-5, 310, RJR); LG Ethan White (6-5, 334, JR); C Kingsley Eguakun (6-4, 305, RSO); RG O’Cyrus Torrence (6-5, 335, JR/TR); RT Michael Tarquin (6-5, 301, RSO) Studs: Gouraige has started 24 games at left tackle and has 29 career starts. Torrence was a two-time All-Sun Belt performer who has 35 career starts at right guard. Georgia (58 career starts): LT Broderick Jones (6-4, 315, RSO); LG Tate Rutledge (6-6, 320, RSO); C Sedrick Van Pran (6-4, 310, RSO); RG Warren Ericson (6-4, 305, SR); RT Warren McClendon (6-4, 300, JR) Studs: McClendon has 24 career starts at right tackle, while Ericson has 14 at right guard and Van Pran 15 at center. Kentucky (30 career starts): LT Deondre Buford (6-3, 295, RSO); LG Kenney Horsey (6-3, 300, SR); C Eli Cox (6-4, 293, JR); RG Tashawn Manning (6-4, 344, GR/TR); RT Jeremy Flax (6-6, 356, RJR) Studs: Horsey has 21 career starts. Manning had 14 starts at Auburn. LSU (9 career starts): LT Will Campbell (6-6, 310, FR); LG Tre’Mond Shorts (6-5, 340, RSR/TR); C Charles Turner (6-4, 285, JR); RG Garrett Dellinger (6-5, 317, SO); RT Cameron Wire (6-6, 307, SR) Studs: Tre’Mond Shorts was a D1AA All-American at East Tennessee State. Mississippi State (48 career starts): LT Kwatrivous Johnson (6-7, 315, RSR); LG Nick Jones (6-3, 295, RJR); C LaQuinston Sharp (6-3, 305, RSR); RG Steven Losoya III (6-4, 305, RJR/TR); RT Kameron Jones (6-5, 315, RSR) Studs: Kwatrivous Johnson has 19 career starts and Sharp has 17 at center. Missouri (52 career starts): LT Javon Foster (6-5, 320, SR); LG Xavier Delgado (6-4, 333, SR); C Connor Tollison (6-4, 311, RFR); RG Connor Wood (6-4, 325, GR/TR); RT Hyrin White (6-7, 333, GR) Studs: Javon Foster has a legitimate chance to play quite awhile in the NFL. Ole Miss (50 career starts): LT Jeremy James (6-5, 305, JR); LG Nick Broeker (6-5, 315, SR); C Caleb Warren (6-5, 310, JR); RG Eli Acker (6-5, 295, SO); RT Mason Brooks (6-6, 315, SR/TR) Studs: Broeker has started every game at left guard the last two seasons and will be on a lot of All-America preseason lists. Brooks was All-Conference USA and had 25 career starts at Western Kentucky. South Carolina (104 career starts): LT Jaylen Nichols (6-5, 322, SR); LG Vershon Lee (6-4, 309, JR); C Eric Douglas (6-4, 297, GR); RG Jovaughn Gwyn (6-3, 300, RSR); RT Dylan Wonnum (6-5, 305, RSR) Studs: Wonnum is back for a fifth year with 32 career starts while Gwyn has made 34 starts in four years. Tennessee (82 career starts): LT Darnell Wright (6-6, 335, SR); LG Jerome Carvin (6-5, 321, SR); C Cooper Mays (6-3, 296, JR); RG Javontez Spraggins (6-3, 325, JR); RT Dayne Davis (6-7, 325, RJR) Studs: Carvin has 30 career starts – 17 at right guard, 8 at left guard and 5 at center. Texas A&M (31 career starts): LT Trey Zuhn III (6-6, 315, RFR); LG Jordan Spasojevic-Moko (6-5, 340, RSO/TR); C Bryce Foster (6-5, 325, SO); RG Layden Robinson (6-4, 320, JR); RT Reuven Featheree II (6-8, 320, SO) Studs: Foster started all 12 games last year as a true freshman. Vanderbilt (36 career starts): LT Gunnar Hansen (6-5, 317, SO); LG Ben Cox (6-5, 310, JR); C Julian Hernandez (6-4, 304, SR); RG Delfin Xavier Castillo (6-5, 330, SO); RT Bradley Ashmore (6-6, 290, JR) Studs: Hernandez has allowed only one sack in 14 career starts. PAC-12 DISTRIBUTED LESS THAN $20 MILLION IN FISCAL 2020-21 There was a pandemic in 2020 but you wouldn’t know it necessarily by the Southeastern Conference, which distributed $56.4 million to each of its 14 schools during the 2020-21 fiscal year. Even the ACC bumped about $4 million during the pandemic year to $36.1 million. The Pac-12? Less than $20 million. COVID certainly hit the Pac-12 hard, but so did a complete lack of foresight and leadership. First the league canceled its 2020 football season, but when the SEC, ACC and Big 12 announced they were going ahead with a modified business as usual approach, the Pac-12 was left scrambling. When it finally did get its 2020 football season under way it was the last conference to do so. Only two teams played seven games while Colorado, Arizona State, Washington State and California only played four each because of COVID cancellations and no contingency plan. The SEC, on the other hand, scheduled 10 games for every team in the league and played all but two, in large part because Greg Sankey put in midseason open dates that allowed him to reschedule COVID cancellations. The moral of the story: When leaders lead, good things happen. Larry Scott, who was the Pac-12 commissioner in 2020-21, was clueless and now his schools are sucking wind financially. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: I stumbled across an article written by Chris Dudley, a senior wealth advisor/director of sports and entertainment at Boston Private Wealth. A graduate of Yale, Dudley spent 16 seasons in the NBA so he’s seen his share of former players who make enormous salaries bankrupt or even penniless soon after their careers are over. Dudley points out that within five years of leaving the NBA, 60 percent of former players are broke. Within two years after retiring from the NFL, 78 percent of all former players are in some sort of serious financial distress. Those numbers are mind boggling. They point to this one basic fact: Far too many professional athletes never got any kind of direction when they were in college so they are clueless when suddenly they are making more money in a few short years than 99 percent of all Americans will ever make in a lifetime. The fortunate athletes who have good representation and a plan for lifetime success with their money are overwhelmingly outnumbered by those who run through money like it was in a sieve. What I see with professional athletes is what is concerning me about NIL with the college kids. I see far too many collectives and rich people throwing money at kids who just days or weeks before thought they were in great financial shape if they had enough to go through the drive-thru at McDonald’s a couple of times a week. How long before some kid who has run through a large sum of NIL money is “befriended” by gamblers who will gladly pay off debts, etc. in exchange for a few small “favors”? How long before kids who have run through a lot of NIL money experience serious mental health issues or commit suicide? I believe NIL is here to stay and there isn’t anything that can be done about it. I think the way to get any measure of control will be through regulating the collectives, corporations and individuals who get the athletes under contract. Make the athlete ineligible if he/she signs with an unregistered collective, corporation of individual. Fine the collective, corporation or individual heavily that (a) gives money without registering and (b) doesn’t provide guidance to make sure athletes aren’t blowing every penny they receive. If we don’t get a handle on the people who give the money, then I think it’s only a matter of time before NIL implodes and we’ll have a mess in college athletics that will take years to clean up.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: RILEY KUGEL PICKS GATORS OVER LSU AND GEORGIA The commitment of wing Riley Kugel (6-5, 185, Orlando, FL Dr. Phillips) not only adds one more piece to the roster puzzle new Florida coach Todd Golden is putting together but it is a very big win for Golden as he builds relationships with high school coaches in a state that produces a lot of high-level talent. In landing Kugel, who originally signed with Mississippi State only to back off when Ben Howland was dismissed as the head coach, Golden beat LSU and Georgia for the commitment. Kugel, a 4-star recruit who is a top 150 national recruit, averaged 16.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for Dr. Phillips, which won the state championship his junior year and finished runner-up in 2022. Kugel was a high school teammate of longtime Gator commitment Denzel Aberdeen, who will be joining him as a freshman at UF. Kugel is a very good spot up shooter who can get to the rim off the bounce. He is a high level defender capable of locking down three positions on the floor. With the commitment of Kugel, Golden has one roster spot remaining which is expected to go to a big man. Right now, most eyes are on former Washington State transfer Efe Abogidi (6-10, 225), who announced last week that he has Florida, Maryland, Arizona and a return to Washington State on the list that he will choose from. Abogidi averaged 8.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game last season at Wazzoo. The Florida roster as of May 23, 2022 Big guys (3): Colin Castleton (6-11, 240, 5th YR); Jason Jitoboh (6-11, 285, 4th YR); CJ Felder (6-7, 231, 4thYR) Wings (4): Niels Lane (6-6, 206, JR); Kowacie Reeves (6-6, 182, SO); Alex Fudge (6-8, 190, SO/TR); Riley Kugel (6-5, 185, FR) Guards (5): Myreon Jones (6-3, 175, 5th YR); Kyle Lofton (6-4, 185, GR/TR); Trey Bonham (6-0, 170, JR/TR); Will Richard (6-5, 195, SO/TR); Denzel Aberdeen (6-4, 180, FR) CAN THE GATORS GET TO 38 WINS? A year ago, having lost their last four games heading into the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, the Gators were 35-19, looking very much like a team that was going to hit the road for the NCAA regionals. Once in Hoover, the Gators took care of enough business by going 3-1 with one of the wins a 13-1 smashing of eventual national champion Mississippi State, that instead of going on the road, they hosted a regional. Can the Gators do it again? They’re 35-20 (15-15 SEC) and one of the hotter teams in the SEC with 12 wins in their last 15 games including four consecutive series, but like last year, they have work to do in Hoover. The Gators are projected by D1Baseball to be the No. 2 team in the Coral Gables regional when the NCAA announces its 64-team field. That is probably a reasonable assessment, but everything could change in Hoover if the Gators win three games. At 38 wins, the Gators could be very attractive as hosts for the selection committee. The quest to get to 38 wins starts today at 2 p.m. when the Gators face South Carolina (27-27, 12-18 SEC) in the SEC Tournament first round. The Gators beat South Carolina two out of three to win their most recent weekend series. If the Gators who won the first game 14-5 or the second game 8-0 show up, then UF will be in good shape. If the Gators who managed only three hits while taking it on the chin 4-1 Saturday show up, then get ready for a regional road trip. Even though he will be going with only four days rest since his game one win over the Gamecocks, righty Brandon Sproat (8-4, 3.87 ERA) is the probable starter. Against the Gamecocks, Sproat went 6-1/3 innings, giving up four hits and only two earned runs. South Carolina is expected to counter with righty Will Sanders (7-3, 3.72 ERA), who pitched only the first inning of the game three win over the Gators. The other games: 10:30 a.m.: No. 11 Alabama (29-25, 12-17 SEC) vs. No. 6 Georgia (35-20, 15-15 SEC) 5:30 p.m.: No. 9 Ole Miss (32-21, 14-16 SEC) vs. No. 8 Vanderbilt (35-19, 14-16 SEC) 9 p.m.: No. 12 Kentucky (30-24, 12-18 SEC) vs. No. 5 Auburn (37-18, 16-13 SEC) Riopelle makes first team All-SEC, Langford second team: Catcher BT Riopelle (.306, 14 HR, 50 RBI) made first team All-SEC while left fielder Wyatt Langford (.360, 21 HR, 55 RBI) was named to the second team. Righthanded pitcher Brandon Neely (3-1, 3.38 ERA) was Florida’s lone player named to the All-SEC Freshman team. D1Baseball top 25: 1. Tennessee 49-7; 2. Virginia Tech 40-11; 3. Stanford 37-14; 4. Oregon State 41-13; 5. Texas A&M 35-17; 6. Miami 39-16; 7. Louisville 38-16-1; 8. Texas Tech 36-18; 9. Oklahoma State 36-18; 10. Maryland 44-10; 11. Texas State 44-11; 12. Gonzaga 34-15; 13. Arkansas 38-16; 14. Southern Miss 41-14; 15. Virginia 38-15; 16. Notre Dame 33-13; 17. UC-Santa Barbara 40-12; 18. TCU 35-18; 19. Texas 39-17; 20. UCLA 35-20; 21. LSU 37-18; 22. Oklahoma 33-20; 23. East Carolina 38-18; 25. Grand Canyon 39-17 Collegiate Baseball top 30: 1. Tennessee 49-17; 2. Virginia Tech 40-11; 3. Stanford 37-14; UC-Santa Barbara 40-12; 5. Oregon State 41-13; 6. Texas A&M 35-17; 7. Louisville 38-16-1; 8. Arkansas 38-16; 9. Texas State 44-11; 10. Miami 39-16; 12. TCU 35-18; 13. UCLA 35-20; 14. Texas Tech 36-18; 16. LSU 37-18; 17. Oregon State 35-21; 18. Cal Poly 35-20; 19. Maryland 44-10; 20. Southern Miss 41-14; 21. Notre Dame 33-13; 22. Virginia 38-15; 23. Auburn 37-18; 24. Georgia 35-20; 25. FLORIDA 35-20; 26. UConn 43-13; 27. Ole Miss 32-21; 28. Grand Canyon 39-17; 29. Gonzaga 24-15; 30. Iowa 33-17 SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Georgia: Kirby Smart on what NIL is doing: “Right now you’re chasing your own players, you’re chasing players that are in the portal and then you’re chasing recruits. So you’re getting pulled in a lot of directions. There’s a lot of demands. It’s 24/7 all the time. I got in this business because I like the relationships and coaching. Not the chasing.” Kentucky: Keion Brooks (6-7, 210) has withdrawn from the NBA Draft process. He remains in the transfer portal but has not ruled out a return to Kentucky. If you wager on such things, put your money on a return to UK … Punter Colin Goodfellow has withdrawn from the transfer portal and will be returning to Kentucky. Mississippi State: Alden Applewhite (6-7, 205) is transferring to Portland. South Carolina: Shane Beamer on NIL and what it should be doing: “I’m all for guys being able to [profit]. Dakereon Joyner, for example, after that bowl game – I think he’s brought in over six figures since that bowl game. He used it to put on a camp back in his hometown, which he did last weekend. Our players used some of that money to take underprivileged kids shopping on a shopping spree before Christmas. That’s how the rule was intended to be used … What I don’t like is it’s turned into buying recruits and that’s not what the rule was intended to be.” Texas A&M: Jimbo Fisher accused KSAT TV-12’s Greg Simmons of believing Nick Saban and the stories that the Aggies spent millions luring their 2022 recruiting class: “He’s not news, you’re news. You’re media. Do you guys not research? I’m asking you: Did you do your research? No, no, see you can’t answer so you just assumed and that’s the way this world goes now. Something’s written on social media and someone says it, you believe it. So where does that put you guys as reporters? It’s because social media put it out … nothing’s changed. You want a story and a click and a hit. See, I threw you off your game right now.” PAUL FINEBAUM ON SABAN VS. JIMBO Paul Finebaum of the SEC Network offered this salvo: “What Saban said was a 2-by-4 to the head but what Jimbo did was take this from a serious skirmish to nuclear war.” PGA CHAMP JUSTIN THOMAS ON SABAN VS. JIMBO PGA champion Justin Thomas, who played collegiately at Alabama, was reminded after winning the tournament that Nick Saban has a 24-hour rule for celebrating by Taylor Zarzour of Sirius/XM. Asked by Zarzour how long he will celebrate his victory, Thomas shot back: “Yeah, I got a 24-hour rule. I’m not sure what Jimbo Fisher’s rule is, but I guess he’s got to win something first before he figures out his rules.” PETE THAMEL OF ESPN ON SABAN VS. JIMBO “I didn’t think what Nick Saban said was all that bad. He said they were buying players. Well, guess what? You can buy players now. In a way, I took it as an admission that Texas A&M had a better apparatus in place. It was like 10 years ago when Nick Saban complained about where offensive football was going. He eventually went out and got the best offense and ran the rest tempo. It was sort of an admission that – willfully or not – was behind Texas A&M. Texas A&M was doing a better job of procuring players through – as far as we know – the rules as they are written … For him [Fisher] to go scorched earth on his old boss, it hints there’s probably more to this and probably more in the undercurrent.” ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: You might have missed it over the weekend, but the Atlantic Coast Conference announced it distributed $36.1 million to its member schools for the 2020-21 fiscal year. That’s a record for the ACC, which distributed $32.4 million the year before. By comparison, the Southeastern Conference distributed $54.6 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year, a jump of $9.1 million per year over the 2019-20 fiscal year ($45.5 million). The numbers will jump significantly for 2023-24 when the SEC/ESPN deal kicks in, adding another $17 million to each SEC school. Bowl games, corporate sponsorships and other revenue deals will probably increase the amount distributed to way more than $75 million per school. And this is before Texas and Oklahoma join the league. At the very latest, they’ll join the SEC after 2025, but it could happen sooner, perhaps as early as the 2023 football season since the Big 12 is in the awkward position of being a 14-team league for a couple of years. With BYU, UCF, Houston and Cincinnati joining the conference in 2023, scheduling would be a beast for a 14-team league that drops down to 12 teams when Texas and Oklahoma leave. What is likely to happen is a deal that involves the SEC and ESPN combining to offer some ransom money that will free Texas and Oklahoma to leave early and perhaps a TV deal with ESPN which will keep the Big 12 in better shape financially. Whether Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC sooner or whether it’s later, there will be a revenue adjustment with ESPN that could increase the SEC per team distribution to somewhere in the $90 million range. You have to wonder what schools like Clemson, Florida State and Miami are thinking when they ponder numbers like that, particularly since the ACC won’t come anywhere close to $50 million a year distributions for several more years. More than a few schools from other conferences have reached out to Greg Sankey through back channels to inquire if the commish and the SEC would entertain the possibility of further expansion beyond the additions of Texas and Oklahoma. Texas and Oklahoma will give the SEC a 16-team league with a workable, sustainable model for football and basketball for three permanent opponents while playing all the other 12 teams home and home every four years. It’s understandable that schools from leagues that generate less money will want to join the SEC, but the SEC just doesn’t need them.

In the third heat of the first event, Hall would hit a hurdle causing her to fall and break her foot while also tearing a muscle in her shoulder. The broken foot would require surgery, while Hall’s hopes of representing her country in Tokyo were gone. By LOREN MEADOWS GatorBaitMedia.com Anna Hall is a future star in Women’s Track and Field. A BIG star. In an event that turned Jackie Joyner-Kersee into a legend over a 12-year period, Anna Hall is poised to take Kersee’s place in the first half of the 21st century. The Heptathlon is Women’s Track and Field’s answer to the worlds’s greatest athlete. A grueling two-day competition of seven disciplines. The 100m Hurdles, High Jump, Shot Put, 200m Dash, Long Jump, Javelin Throw, and 800m Run put the athletes to the test both mentally and physically. Whew! It makes you tired just saying it! It is the balance of these tests where Hall seems to have found her Zen, but not without some falls along the way. The place was Heyward Field at the U.S Olympic Trials in June of 2021. Hall was set to make a strong push to make the U.S Olympic Team shortly after finishing her freshman year at the University of Georgia. In the third heat of the first event, Hall would hit a hurdle causing her to fall and break her foot while also tearing a muscle in her shoulder. The broken foot would require surgery, while Hall’s hopes of representing her country in Tokyo were gone. Hall would find a new outlook in transferring to the University of Florida. Arriving in July, Hall would begin her rehab in Gainesville both mentally and physically. “It was pretty hard, honestly,” Hall stated. Hall described being mandated to non-weight bearing activities for three months. “There was a lot of swimming and rehab exercises. I had never had an injury before so it was all new.” Athletes crave comfort, stability, and support. Florida has been able to give that and more to Hall. “I wasn’t that happy outside of track," she said, "So I decided to come here and it has worked out really well.” Hall credited the Florida coaches and trainers at Florida for their unwavering support and creativity during her recovery. “That’s what made me realize Florida is so special. I don’t think I would have come back as fast as I did anywhere else.” Special to Hall is also the relationships she is building with her fellow students and athletes. Hall is friends with other student-athletes and students alike and has enjoyed exploring the diversity of Gainesville with them as well. “I just like being in the state of Florida!,” she stated with excitement. Hall brings that same excitement to the track when she competes. Reserved in person, the soft-spoken athlete hits a switch and brings palpable intensity to all of her events. “Growing up my parents thought I would be a troubled kid.” However, what may have been viewed as a mean streak was actually a self-described “competitive edge” that makes her one of the nation’s elite multievent athletes. As with many multi-event athletes Hall has dabbled in many sports and hails from a family of athletes. Her father David was a multi-sport athlete at the University of Michigan while sisters Kathryn and Julia played tennis and ran track at Michigan. “I started track at seven because my older sisters were doing it, so I always was trying to catch up with them and do what they did. I [also] played soccer, volleyball, lacrosse and field hockey,” all sports that transfer very well to the diverse physical requirements of the Heptathlon. Fast forward to May of 2022. Hall has rehabbed herself to the tune of one of the greatest seasons in Florida history. Less than a year from the fall in Eugene, Ore. she has already redeemed herself by winning the national title and earning a place on the U.S. World Championship Team in the Heptathlon. In pure movie-like fashion the World Championships will be held at the very same track where Hall experienced her first injury. Also held in Eugene, Oregon will be the 2022 NCAA Outdoor National Championships where she will compete in the Heptathlon and the 400m Hurdles. This should give Hall plenty of opportunity to reflect on how far she has come and how much she enjoys representing the Florida Gators. It will also give her a chance to “flip the switch” and come full circle. A big circle.

By KYLE CURTIS GatorBaitMedia.com The last time the Florida Gators hosted the Florida State Seminoles in baseball, it ended in a historic fashion. Kendrick Calilao had a line drive sail over the leftfield wall in the bottom of the 10th en route to a historic walk-off followed by an even better picture of Calilao celebrating with his teammates shirtless. When Sterlin Thompson stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday night with a tie ball game, every Gator fan was having flashbacks. No way this could happen again?! Boom! Queue the bat flip. Delivering the most memorable hit in Condron Family Ballpark’s short existence, Sterlin Thompson sent his walk-off home run all the way back to Tallahassee. An absolute no-doubter had the fans in the stadium on their feet along with a shell-shocked Seminole dugout. Thompson’s moonshot secured the season series for the Gators, along with 19 of the last 23 matchups favoring Florida. “It was a blur, honestly. I saw enough, I knew it was gone and I threw my bat,” said Thompson. “That’s something I dreamed of as a kid, especially against FSU, a big-time rival. It was amazing going around the bases… It was something I’ll never forget.” The win adds to the hot streak the Gators have been on this last stretch of the season. They have now 10 of their last 12 games and heading into the final series vs. South Carolina, sit in a good position to make a run at hosting a regional tournament. A large part of this hot streak has been thanks to the bats of Wyatt Langford and Sterlin Thompson. After Thompson’s heroics on Tuesday night, he has now extended his on-base streak to a staggering 22 games. Langford had a night of his own with two home runs along with a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth to allow Thompson to get to the plate before the walk-off. Additionally, Langford has accumulated a streak of 14 games of getting on base and nine straight with a hit. The Gators are now 13-14 in the Southeastern Conference and with a series win over South Carolina this weekend with a chance to finish in sole second place of the SEC East. This is a feat most Gator fans could never have imagined a few weeks back after it felt like the Gators hit rock bottom with the loss of their ace starter Hunter Barco. Rather than falling farther, they have rallied to become one of the hottest teams in the country over the past month. “We were fortunate enough to win some games recently, so we’ve kind of built some momentum. It’s important,” said Gator’s head coach Kevin O’Sullivan. “We’re getting in the part of the season where every win is magnified, and I’d like to think that we’re hopefully playing the best baseball this time of year… It was a big win. It was a fun win, too.” All in all, another momentum win for the Gators and Sterlin Thompson’s first collegiate walk-off. Certainly, one Thompson and Gator fans will not forget for the foreseeable future, if ever.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: UF SOFTBALL: ON TO THE NCAA SUPER REGIONALS Funny, but the idea that the Gators (46-16) could get to the Women’s College World Series doesn’t seem quite as preposterous as it might have three weeks ago. After winning the Gainesville Regional in dominating fashion (10-1 over Canisius, 7-1 over Georgia Tech and 11-0 over Wisconsin), the Gators are one of three SEC teams still standing and the team they face in next weekend’s NCAA Super Regional doesn’t look nearly as frightening as we once thought. While the Gators were having their way with the Gainesville Regional field, Virginia Tech (45-8) struggled up in Blacksburg. That same Kentucky team the Gators beat in the SEC Tournament, beat Virginia Tech on Saturday and gave the Hokies all they could handle Sunday before losing twice. Kentucky wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Hokie pitching, which leads the nation in strikeouts and ranks among the nation’s best in ERA. Either the Hokies were playing tight or maybe they’re not as good as the hype. That bodes well for a Florida team that head coach Tim Walton believes is starting to grow up and mature at just the right time. “As soon as finals were over this team really turned up the dial a little bit,” Walton said. “Getting Hannah (Adams) back (from injury) has been the cherry on top to make us almost believe this could happen as opposed to trying to be the positive psychologist and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to get better’ and now we are.” The Gators aren’t without flaws. They don’t have a dominating starting pitcher and they don’t have much power (33 home runs all season), but the pitching is good enough and when combined with good defense, it keeps them in games. When Kendra Falby (.398, 35 stolen bases), Hannah Adams (.386) and Skylar Wallace (.394, 48 RBI, 50 stolen bases) are getting on base, their speed puts enormous pressure on opponents. In the three weekend games, Falby (7-11, 5 runs scored), Adams (5-10, 3 runs scored) and Wallace (6-10, 5 RBI, 3 stolen bases, 1 HR, 5 RBI) kept getting on base and that opened things up for the rest of the lineup. The Gators had at least 10 hits in each weekend game (35 total). Three weeks ago, the idea the Gators could make it to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series might have seemed a crazy notion. Right now, it seems entirely possible. The rest of the SEC in the NCAA Softball Tournament Alabama (44-13): The streak of advancing to a super regional ended at 16 when Stanford eliminated the No. 6 national seed Crimson Tide. Arkansas (47-9): The SEC champions and No. 4 national seed won its regional with a 3-0 record and will unseeded Texas in a super regional next weekend. Auburn (40-17): The Tigers went 1-2 at the Clemson Regional. Georgia (43-18): The Bulldogs didn’t get out of the Durham Regional. They beat Duke once Sunday, but were run-ruled in the decisive game. Kentucky (38-19): The Wildcats only had to win one game Sunday to advance to a super regional, but they dropped two straight to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. LSU (34-23): The Tigers were an early casualty in the Tempe Regional, losing to San Diego State and Cal State-Fullerton. Mississippi State (37-25): The Bulldogs pulled off the biggest shocker in the country when they went into Tallahassee and beat No. 2 national seed Florida State to win the regional. The Bulldogs will host unseeded Arizona next weekend in the first super regional in school history. Missouri (38-22): The 15th-seeded Tigers lost their regional at home, dropping 2-0 and 1-0 decisions to Arizona. Ole Miss (41-19): The Rebels got to the championship game of the Los Angeles Regional where they were eliminated by 5th-seeded UCLA. Tennessee (41-18): The 11th-seeded Vols split with Oregon State Sunday and were eliminated. Texas A&M (31-28): The Aggies got to the championship game of the Norman Regional where they were blown out by No. 1 Oklahoma, 20-0. GATORS WILL FACE GAMECOCKS IN HOOVER TUESDAY The Gators (35-20, 15-15 SEC) didn’t sweep South Carolina (27-27, 13-17 SEC) over the weekend, but considering where they were a month ago, winning two of three against the Gamecocks to finish the regular season at .500 in league play is a serious accomplishment. Had the Gators swept South Carolina, it would have meant a No. 6 seed at the SEC Tournament in Hoover. Instead, they’re the No. 7 seed and that means a Tuesday rematch with the Gamecocks in the first round. Florida’s strong finish all but guarantees the Gators will be playing in the NCAA Tournament, but there is work to be done in Hoover to assure of no worse than a No. 2 in somebody else’s regional. Because the Saturday loss to South Carolina dropped the Gators 10 spots in RPI to No. 24 nationally, they will need at least two wins in Hoover to even get into the conversation of hosting a regional although 38 wins seems to be bare minimum. Heading into Hoover 1. Tennessee (49-7, 25-5 SEC): The Vols have the top RPI in the country so they are probably the No. 1 seed in the country no matter what happens in Hoover. UT plays the winner of Tuesday’s Vanderbilt-Ole Miss game on Wednesday. 2. Texas A&M (35-17, 19-11 SEC): By winning the SEC West title, the Aggies will certainly host a regional. They need to do some damage in Hoover, however, to get a top eight seed and a super regional since they have a No. 20 RPI. The Aggies will play the winner of Tuesday’s Florida-South Carolina matchup on Wednesday. 3. Arkansas (38-16, 18-12 SEC): The Hogs spent most of the year ranked in the top five but they lost their last two series and that dropped their RPI to 33. The Hogs got the Tuesday bye so they’ll play the winner of Alabama-Georgia on Wednesday. Figure they’ll host a regional no matter what happens in Hoover. 4. LSU (37-18, 17-13 SEC): By winning the final series of the regular season against Vanderbilt, LSU (RPI 23) gets the fourth seed and the Tuesday bye. The Tigers will face the winner of Auburn-Kentucky on Wednesday. Because LSU leads the country in attendance every year, the Tigers are probably going to host a regional even though their RPI is No. 23. 5. Auburn (37-18, 16-13 SEC): That rainout against Alabama that was never made up cost Auburn the No. 4 seed in the tournament, which went to LSU. During the regular season, Auburn took two out of three so if the records had been equal, Auburn would have gotten the No. 4 and LSU the No. 5. The Tigers have a No. 6 RPI so they’re in good shape to host a regional if they win a game or two in Hoover. 6. Georgia (35-20, 15-15 SEC): Georgia (RPI 12) will make the NCAA Tournament, but after losing its last four series hosting is out of the question unless the Bulldogs win it all in Hoover. The Bulldogs open up with Alabama on Tuesday. 7. FLORIDA (35-20, 15-15 SEC): The Gators need three wins in Hoover to have a shot at hosting a regional. 8. Vanderbilt (35-19, 14-16 SEC): The Commodores’ losing record in the SEC offsets a No. 5 RPI. They need three wins in Hoover to even be in the picture to host a regional. Vandy plays Ole Miss on Tuesday. The two teams didn’t play during the regular season. 9. Ole Miss (32-21, 14-16 SEC): The Rebels were once ranked No. 1 in the nation. They will make the NCAA Tournament you can all but forget a chance to host a regional (No. 36 RPI) unless they win it all in Hoover. 10. South Carolina (27-27, 13-17 SEC): The Gamecocks have one chance and one chance only to make the NCAA and that is to win the SEC Tournament. RPI is 67. 11. Alabama (29-25, 12-17 SEC): Barring a miracle of parting the Red Sea proportions, Bama’s season will come to a merciful end in Hoover. The Tide (RPI 48) opens on Tuesday with Georgia. During the regular season, Georgia took two out of three from Alabama. 12. Kentucky (30-24, 12-18 SEC): The Wildcats (RPI 53) shocked everybody by winning two out of three with Auburn to make it to Hoover. They get Auburn again Tuesday in the first round in Hoover. RICKY PEARSALL TRANSFERS TO UF FROM ARIZONA STATE Billy Napier added wide receiver transfer Ricky Pearsall from Arizona State over the weekend. Pearsall (6-1, 200) caught 48 passes for 580 yards (12.1 per catch) and four touchdowns last season. He had 61 catches for 794 yards (13.0 per catch) and five touchdowns for his Arizona State career. The scouting report on Pearsall is that he’s fearless over the middle, has excellent hands and is great for yards after the catch. His 2021 stats are a bit deceptive. He was the leading receiver on a team whose quarterback threw as many interceptions as touchdowns, in part because he was running for his life due to an offensive line that was a sieve. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Alabama: Defensive lineman Stephon Wynn, who was a 4-star recruit in 2018, is transferring to Nebraska. He played in 21 games in his Alabama career and could play two seasons at Nebraska due to the NCAA Covid rule ... Small forward Dominick Welch (6-5, X), who averaged 12.3 points per game last season, is transferring in from St. Bonaventure. LSU: Defensive tackle Joseph Evans, who had 28 tackles in three seasons, is transferring to UT-San Antonio. Missouri: Sean Durogordon (6-7, 220) is transferring to Austin Peay. He played in 12 games last year at Mizzou, averaged 3.2 points and 1.2 rebounds. South Carolina: Keyshawn Bryant (6-6, 197), who averaged 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last year, is transferring to South Florida. Bryant is a native of Winter Haven. Tennessee: There are reports that Josiah-Jordan James is withdrawing from the NBA Draft and return for his senior season at Tennessee. James averaged 10.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game last year. Vanderbilt: Terren Frank (6-8, 240), a former 4-star recruit, is transferring to Idaho. At Vanderbilt last season, Frank averaged 2.1 points and 1.7 rebounds per game for the Commodores. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Take a moment to ponder this statement Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey made to the people at Yahoo Finance: “There are some concerning trends. We’re not seeing name, image and likeness activity – we’re seeing just straight payments. And, I think it’s important that we recenter ourselves on what’s supposed to be happening here and the desire to keep that activity out of recruitment to benefit young people economically but to do so in a healthy way.” If you followed the Jimbo Fisher-Nick Saban fiasco – how could you not? It’s dominated the college sports news cycle since Thursday – then you have already figured out that Nick was accusing Fisher and the Aggies of using NIL deals to buy recruits and Jimbo was doing his best Jimmy Carter – “I’ll never lie to you” – impersonation with his response. Nick says Jimbo and the Aggies bought every 2022 recruit. Jimbo, of course, denies everything. It is not like Nick Saban to call out a fellow coach but he did. Some folks tend to think it was all about getting into Jimbo’s head but Nick can get into the heads of other coaches without accusing them blatantly of cheating. No, for Saban to take it as far as he did, he knows. And for Sankey to make a statement that includes the words “straight payments,” then you can bet the farm he knows also. Saban is concerned. The commish is concerned. If you’re a college football fan, you should also be very, very concerned. Right now it’s just buying players to come win championships, but what happens when one or more of the buyers gets his/her hooks into a player for six or seven figures and then entices that player with another million or so to throw a game? Don’t think it can or will happen? If you’re looking for a book that will enlighten you of what could happen, then pick up a copy of “The Scandals of ’51: How the Gamblers Almost Killed College Basketball” by Charley Rosen. Or watch the ESPN: 30 for 30 series “Playing for the Mob.” If you do, you might find yourself agreeing with Nick Saban.

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” – Queen Gertrude, Act 3, Scene 2 of “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, who was born a few centuries too early to weigh in on the spat between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher The difference between being taken seriously and being thought of as a drama queen who protests way too much is found in the won-loss column. Nick Saban is 183-25 with six national championships since he has been at Alabama. Jimbo Fisher is 34-14 since he became the head coach at Texas A&M in 2018 and he doesn’t even have an SEC West Division championship to show for it. Nick Saban’s unprecedented success at Alabama has earned him the GOAT label. He’s the Greatest Of All Time so we take him seriously when he says what everybody thinks – that the Aggies bought their No. 1 recruiting class. Jimbo, whose greatest claim to fame since he took over in Aggieland is a win over Alabama and a recruiting class that some “experts” are calling “generational,” could have simply said, “We didn’t cheat so I invite Nick and anyone else who thinks we did to put us under the microscope.” But did he? Noooooo. Instead Jimbo protested too much. He called Nick a “narcissist” and said it’s downright “despicable” that anyone would think that he – “I don’t cheat. I don’t lie.” – would bend a rule or two for the sake of landing seven 5-star recruits to a school that hasn’t won a national championship since 1939 and hasn’t won a conference title since 1998 when the Aggies were members of the Big 12. Lest we forget, Jimbo also got a show cause from the NCAA for recruiting violations in 2018-19. Say what you want about Nick Saban, but in all the years he’s been a head football coach, whether at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU or Alabama, he’s never been sanctioned by the NCAA. Some might say it’s because Alabama is a sacred cow, much the same way Duke basketball is beyond the NCAA’s reproach, but Alabama football has been on probation a bunch of times, just none of them during the rein of St. Nick. This is a very serious family feud – family because Jimbo is a prominent branch on the Nick Saban coaching tree – and the only thing missing is Gordon Solie and Mean Gene Okerlund giving us a blow-by-blow account down to the last atomic elbow drop and spinning toe hold. It’s fabulous drama that has transformed the SEC Spring Meetings from ho-hum to can’t miss for every prominent sports writer and broadcaster in the country. In private, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has to be enjoying the theatrics because the league will dominate the sports news cycle for at least the next two weeks and the October 8 A&M-Alabama matchup in Tuscaloosa is likely to be the most-watched college football game in the last 10-12 years. Publicly, however, Sankey has to do the stiff upper lip thing so he’s put a gag order on all the coaches in the SEC, forbidding them to offer their opinions of this spat to any newspaper or network. Sankey was unable to get the ban in place before Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin was able to offer this zinger: “Did this really happen? First time I can remember being speechless … I haven’t moved from my seat. That should’ve been on Pay-Per-View.” Lane might be speechless and the rest of the SEC coaches gagged, but fortunately for us, Steve Spurrier still has opinions that he’s happy to share with the civilized world. Spurrier is the kind of coach that if you don’t want to hear his opinion, you’re smart not to ask the question in the first place. He is, after all, the same coach who once responded to word that a fire in the Auburn library had destroyed 20 books with “the real tragedy was 15 hadn’t been colored in yet.” Spurrier was asked by Mike Griffith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s DawgNation site to offer his take on this feud of Hatfields-McCoys proportions from a couple of former West Virginia hillbillies (Jimbo is from Clarksberg, Nick from Fairmont). Spurrier, Florida’s GOAT and on the short list of the greatest coaches all-time in both the SEC and college football, didn’t disappoint with this 9-inch stiletto to the heart of the matter: “I don’t know why [Fisher] is mad at Saban. Did Saban say something that wasn’t true?” If you go back to February, Kiffin essentially said the same thing as Saban only he offered it in a humorous way: “I joked the other day I didn’t know if Texas A&M was going to incur a luxury tax on how much they paid for their signing class.” When Lane says something like that we tend to laugh. Folks don’t want to take him seriously although he’s turned into a rather fine head football coach. Everybody takes anything Nick says seriously. Can anyone recall something Nick Saban ever said that was remotely funny? When Lane called out Jimbo, Jimbo got all huffy, stuck his lips out just to prove how pissed off he was, and offered up his pure as the driven snow defense. Probably because it was Lane calling out Jimbo that it was swept under the rug and for all practical purposes forgotten until Nick said this to a gathering in Birmingham Thursday night: “We were second in recruiting last year, A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player but I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it.” There we go. It’s all about NIL and money and it’s the wild, wild west because there are so few rules although there are rules that are supposed to prevent boosters and collectives from offering cash deals as recruiting inducements. Judging by what Spurrier told Mike Griffith, the Head Ball Coach, he seems to think maybe Jimbo and the Aggies did open up their wallets a teensy bit. “I don’t think Saban told any lies in there, so I don’t know what he [Fisher] was mad about,” Spurrier told Griffith. “Since [Fisher] beat him last year, I guess he can talk now. He hasn’t beat much of anybody, but he beat Saban last year. But they haven’t won the division or anything since he’s been there.” Some radio talking heads and more than a few writers have taken shots at Saban for his comments, in some cases offering up a pot calling the kettle black defense of their criticism. Judging by some of the comments, some of these folks seem to think everybody cheats and Jimbo simply beat Nick at his own game. Most of the critics think Nick is threatened by Jimbo and those deep pocket Aggie boosters (God and the Longhorns are the only ones with more money than the Aggies). One 41-38 win and one recruiting class isn’t going to threaten Saban. Maybe if and when Jimbo ever wins the SEC and goes on to win a national championship Nick Saban might feel threatened. Until that happens we can use Dennis Hopper’s immortal line as Deacon in the movie “Waterworld” who said, “There’s two chances that’s going to happen. No way and no how.” Does Nick buy players? So far, there is absolutely no evidence that he cheats. Rumors? Sure. Evidence? None so far. Nor has there ever been an investigation or sanctions against a program where he was the head coach. The late great comedian Robin Williams once quipped, “Cats are like Baptists. They raise hell all the time, but you can’t catch them at it.” Critics use a similar analogy about Nick Saban but until he gets caught it falls under the category of professional jealousy. Spurrier, who has never incurred the wrath of the NCAA, has sided with Saban and that’s telling. As for Jimbo Fisher, there is a history with the NCAA, which is why he sounds a lot like Queen Getrude. He protests way too much.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: REPORTS OF THE GATORS’ DEMISE IS OBVIOUSLY EXAGGERATED Wasn’t it just a month ago that the Florida Gators were doing a dandy impersonation of a dead possum getting picked apart by a half dozen buzzards on the road somewhere between Bronson and Cedar Key? Don’t look now, but those same Gators who seemed destined for a last place finish in the SEC East are 14-14, tied with Georgia and Vanderbilt for second in the division. The Gators (34-19, 14-14 SEC) have won 11 of their last 13 games after Thursday night’s 14-5 blowout of South Carolina (26-26, 12-16 SEC) at the Condron Family Ballpark. The Gators have transformed from a team that looked like it was praying for the season to hurry up and end into one that no one in his right mind wants to play. Four baseballs left the yard Thursday night, bringing Florida’s season total to an even 100 home runs, third best in school history. Wyatt Langford, who hit two homers in Tuesday night’s win over Florida State, launched two more Thursday to take over the SEC lead with 21. As he did against FSU, Langford led off the bottom of the first inning with a rocket to dead center field that landed just to the right of the green monster. Also launching the ball out of the yard were freshmen Jac Caglianone (4) and Ty Evans (4). It was all part of a 16-hit Florida attack that saw all nine starters get at least one base hit. Colby Halter, who has been struggling lately, had three hits to lead the Gators while Langford, Sterlin Thompson, BT Riopelle, Caglionone and Evans each had three. Evans drove in four runs while Caglianone drove in three. Langford, who is working on a 10-game hitting streak, has 21 hits in his last 40 at bats with seven homers and 11 RBI. Starting pitcher Brandon Sproat (8-4, 3.87 ERA) went 6-1/3 innings to pick up the win. Only two of the four runs Sproat allowed were earned. Over the final 2-2/3 innings, Phil Abner, Blake Purnell and Anthony Ursitti allowed only one hit and one run. With a win tonight, the Gators can assure themselves of no worse than a break-even season in conference play. If they can manage a sweep with wins tonight and Saturday, the Gators can finish no worse than a second place tie in the SEC East. It was only a month ago that the Gators were 6-12 in conference play having lost five of their last six SEC games. O’Sullivan is expected to go with righty Brandon Neely (2-1, 3.86 ERA) in game two tonight. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. (SEC Network+). SEC East: 1. Tennessee (47-7, 23-5 SEC); 2. (Tie) Georgia (35-17, 14-14 SEC), Vanderbilt (34-19, 14-14 SEC) and FLORIDA (34-19, 14-14 SEC); 5. South Carolina (26-26, 12-16 SEC); 6. Kentucky (28-23, 10-17 SEC); 7. Missouri (27-17, 9-19 SEC) SEC West: 1. (Tie) Arkansas (38-14, 18-10 SEC) and Texas A&M (34-16, 18-10 SEC); 3. Auburn (36-16, 15-11 SEC); 4. LSU (35-18, 15-13 SEC); 5. Ole Miss (31-20, 13-15 SEC); 6. Alabama (27-25, 10-17 SEC); 7. Mississippi State (26-28, 9-19 SEC) UF SOFTBALL: THE ROAD TO OKIE CITY BEGINS TODAY The ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” It is not quite 1,000 miles from Gainesville to Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City – 971 to be exact – but the journey still begins with that first step, which the 14th-seeded Florida Gators (43-16) will take today when they face Canisius (32-16) at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in the first round of the Gainesville Regional of the NCAA Softball Tournament (4:30 p.m., ESPN+). This marks the first time since 2007 that the Gators go into NCAA regional play seeded lower than No. 5, but no matter where they’re seeded it still takes five wins over the next two weekends to advance to Okie City. It takes three wins for the Gators to advance from this regional, which also includes Wisconsin (32-19) and Georgia Tech (37-15). That would get the Gators to a super regional, most likely on the road in Blacksburg against No. 3 seed Virginia Tech (41-7). The only way the Gators would host a super regional would be to win this weekend while Virginia Tech is ousted in its own regional. Four All-Southeast Region Gators: A week ago, the Southeastern Conference coaches pretty much gave the Gators the cold shoulder when shortstop Skylar Wallace was the only Florida player selected first team All-SEC. Cheyenne Lindsey was a third team selection and Hannah Adams, the best second baseman in the country, only made the All-Defensive team. Obviously, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association sees things a teensy bit differently than Tim Walton’s cousins in the SEC. When the All-Southeast Region team was named Thursday, Wallace and Adams both made first team as did freshman outfielder Kendra Falby. Hightower, Florida’s ace pitcher (16-7, 2.30 ERA) was a third team choice. UF LACROSSE: GATORS’ SEASON ENDS IN NCAA QUARTERFINALS Florida’s lacrosse season and 14-game winning streak came to an end Thursday afternoon in the quarter-final round of the NCAA Tournament in College Park when the Gators dropped an 18-5 decision to 2nd-ranked Maryland, 18-5. The Gators finish the season 17-5 but for the 10th straight year they can’t get to the Final Four. A HILLBILLY STEEL CAGE MATCH … NICK VS. JIMBO, YOU GOTTA LOVE IT The state of West Virginia hasn’t seen anything like this since the Hatfields and McCoys went at it with a blood feud that lasted 28 years (1863-1891). West Virginia natives Nick Saban (hometown Fairmont) and Jimbo Fisher (hometown Clarksburg) have spent the last 36 hours or so taking shots at each other, Nick saying Jimbo and the Aggies spent millions to land all those dandy recruits, Jimbo saying the accusations are “despicable” and calling Saban a “narcissist,” as if Jimbo even knows what the word means much less how to spell it. Here is what kicked off the latest flurry that is going to make Texas A&M’s October 8 matchup against Alabama in Tuscaloosa a main event like we haven’t seen in years. Wednesday night in Birmingham, Nick launches this warning shot across the bow of the Good Ship Aggie: "We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn't buy one player. I don't know if we're going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it." While he was on a roll, Nick even took on Deion Sanders and Jackson State. Deion and Nick do commercials for AFLAC, not very good ones mind you because they let Deion and Nick be the stars and not the duck, but here goes: “Jackson State paid a guy $1 million last year who was a really good Division I player to come to their school. It was in the paper and they bragged about it. No one did anything about it.” Thursday, Jimbo responded with a cruise missile of his own directed at Nick on the Paul Finebaum Show: "It’s a shame that we have to do this. It’s really despicable. It’s despicable that somebody can say things about somebody and, more importantly, 17-year-old kids. You're taking shots at 17-year-old kids and their families. That they broke state laws, that we bought every player on this group. We never bought anybody. No rules were broken. Nothing was done wrong … Some people think they’re God. Go dig into how God did his deal. You may find out about a guy, a lot of things you don’t want to know. We build him up to be the czar of football. Go dig into his past.” By the count of ESPN reporter Pete Thamel, Jimbo’s rant included 15 despicables. He also said, “I don’t cheat. I don’t lie.” That’s debatable. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, who suggested the NCAA needed to “implement a luxury tax” back in February after the Aggies finished off their recruiting class by landing seven 5-star players, said, “I’m speechless for the first time in my life. This really can’t be happening … Is this real life? I still haven’t moved from my seat. This should’ve been on Pay-Per-View.” Thursday, Nick did offer an apology with this on Sirius/XM College: “I should have never singled anyone out. That was a mistake. I really apologize for that.” Jimbo said he didn’t bother to answer when Nick called. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey reprimanded both coaches. As if that’s really going to make everyone want so share a bowl of lime Jello with some whipped cream while listening to Melanie Safka belt out “I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates, you’ve got a brand new key.” Publicly, Sankey is lamenting that two of his coaches are taking shots at each other. In private and in between breaking out in uncontrollable giggles, The Commish is wondering what did he do to deserve something this rich that will dominate both print and broadcast media for the next 11 days before SEC Spring Meetings and throughout the summer. In 148 days, Greg Sankey knows he’ll have the most watched college football game of the 2022 season. He couldn’t have scripted this any better. SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL Auburn: Defensive tackle Morris Joseph, who had 117 tackles and 10.5 sacks in three seasons at Memphis, is transferring to Auburn. He previously was committed to Georgia Tech earlier in the spring. LSU: Xavier Pinson, who averaged 9.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists at LSU last year after transferring in from Missouri, is transferring to New Mexico State. Missouri: James “Boogie” Coleman, who averaged 8.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for Mizzou last year after transferring in from Ball State, is transferring back to Ball State. South Carolina: Freddie Kitchens, the former Alabama quarterback and NFL head coach with the Cleveland Browns, has joined Shane Beamer’s staff as an offensive analyst. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: This is Mick Hubert’s final broadcast weekend at the University of Florida. Barring a change in plans somewhere down the road, Mick will be saving his next “Oh my!” for wife Judi was they adjust to life on Longboat Key after 33 years in Alachua County. It’s been a good run for Mick, who was a May surprise for the late Bill Arnsparger back in 1989 when he was replacing David Steele, who left to become the voice of the Orlando Magic. With all eyes turned toward the bigger, better known programs in the country, Arnsparger chose Mick Hubert, who was the play-by-play guy for Dayton, which plays Division IAA football and is a mid-major in basketball. Back then we hadn’t heard our first “Oh my!” and didn’t know what we were in for. David Steele had one of those calm, no detail is too small to be mentioned broadcast voices. Mick? It was never let the details stand in the way of the excitement. Some might say a typical Mick Hubert broadcast comes across like a guy who chased his extra strong black coffee with a couple cans of Red Bull. You’ve heard that expression “wears his emotions on his sleeve”? Well, that’s what I think of when I listen to Mick Hubert. When he finishes a broadcast, whether football or basketball, you can bet the farm that he’s squeezed every bit of excitement out of the game and passed it on to the listening audience. The Gators will embark on a national search for Mick’s replacement – James Bates gets my vote – but no matter who Scott Stricklin picks, it’s going to be awhile before we forget THE VOICE OF THE GATORS for the past 33 years. Smooth sailing, Mick. You’ve earned your sunsets on the Gulf of Mexico.

Oh my! He’s riding off into the sunset. Actually, Mick Hubert and his wife Judi are just riding down I-75 to Sarasota where they plan to enjoy life on Longboat Key, far away from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the O-Dome and arenas throughout the Southeast where Gators fans know “Oh my!” as his signature line. Okay, so he borrowed “Oh my!” from the late, great Dick Enberg, but when Dick Enberg said, “Oh my!” it was soft, subtle, almost as if he were inviting you to admire what he was seeing as he called a game. When Mick Hubert said, “Oh my!” there was an elephant in the room, not just dancing to the music, but crashing into the china cabinet. When crowds roared, Mick roared with them and if the Gators did something well along the way, it was punctuated with a boisterous, “Oh my!” With Dick Enberg it was like he was sharing a private moment, just the two of you and not however many millions were tuning in. Dick Enberg described what was going on, never missing a detail. With Mick, it was more like there is a party going on and the details aren’t nearly as important as making us feel like we were sharing the excitement of the moment. Do you remember, “Doering’s got a touchdown! Doering’s got a touchdown!”? You probably don’t remember the down and distance or that there was still time left on the clock when Chris Doering caught the TDP from Danny Wuerffel, but you darn sure remember feeling like Mick was jumping up and down with you, hugging whoever was within grabbing distance to celebrate the Gators snatching a highly improbable win from the jaws of a defeat to the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington. Oh my what a night that was. What a call that was. Thirty years later, everyone who was alive and listening remembers Mick Hubert all but losing his mind and making us feel like it was not only okay, but expected that we should be losing our minds with him. Good announcers make us feel that way and Mick wasn’t just good at what he did, he was great at it because he knew how to take whatever electricity was in the air and send it through the airwaves so that we could have a Gator moment with him. That’s how I will choose to remember Mick Hubert on the mic of Florida football, basketball and baseball games the last 33 years. He was THE VOICE. He was the guy in charge of the excitement when the Gators did something well, the guy who understood our disappointment when the Gators bit the bullet. He was the perfect party host, celebrating with us when the Gators won, aching to the core with us when the Gators lost. A few months ago before a Florida basketball game, Mick and I talked about his job as a play-by-play announcer. I remember this comment in particular: “I want everyone to feel the excitement of the moment but I don’t ever want them to feel the moment caught me by surprise and was too big for me.” Excitement? Oh we always felt Mick’s excitement, but even when it seemed he was on the verge of total broadcast insanity, we never felt like he wasn’t prepared for just such a moment. So as I think about Mick leaving, I keep thinking do I have enough oh mys in this column? Mick Hubert will be on the mic for Florida’s final regular season baseball series with South Carolina this weekend, then it’s off to Sarasota with Judi. The house he’s called home has been sold and a new place awaits about three hours down the road. The games will go on at the University of Florida, and no doubt, Mick will be listening in, but it’s going to be different. It has to be different. It always is whenever an icon says sayonara, replaced by someone brand new whose voice we can’t hear in our minds when we close our eyes and shut off all outside interference. It was that way when Otis Boggs and his “high lazy spiral” called it a play-by-play career, replaced by David Steele, the play-by-play guy for the Western Carolina Catamounts of all people. David was a fine football announcer but he was so good calling basketball games that the Orlando Magic hired him to be their radio and TV voice when they came into existence in 1989. Magic fans know no other announcer. When David Steele retires there will be a void in the hearts and minds of the Magic fan base. Mick Hubert was hired by then Florida athletic director Bill Arnsparger in May of 1989. He’s taken us through Galen Hall, interim Gary Darnell, Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook, interim Charlie Strong, Urban Meyer, Will Muschamp, interim DJ Durkin, Jim McElwain, interim Randy Shannon, Dan Mullen and interim Greg Knox. And that’s just the football coaches. For basketball, it’s been Captain Ahab (Don DeVoe), Lon Kruger, Billy Donovan and Mike White. For baseball, it’s been Joe Arnold, Andy Lopez, Pat McMahon and Kevin O’Sullivan. He's been on the call for three national championships in football (1996, 2006, 2008), two in basketball (2006-07) and one in baseball (2017), plus countless ups and downs before, after and in between. And now he’s about to say his last “Oh my!” and spend his sunsets looking at the Gulf of Mexico from Longboat Key. As for the rest of us, it’s time to prep for the transition to a yet to be named voice. Those of us who have been around since the days of Otis have gone through this transition twice before, but it’s still going to feel indescribably weird to hear someone welcome us to their version of the Florida sports party starting in September. Mick, after all, is a legend who has been doing it his way for 33 years and legends just don’t grow on trees. So just who does Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin hire as THE VOICE of the Gators? When it came time to fire Dan Mullen as the football coach back in November, Stricklin already had a short list of coaching candidates he had been working on for months just in case Mullen opted to go somewhere else or in case he had to do the unthinkable and add Mullen to that very long list of former Florida football coaches. Billy Napier was hired in short order. Stricklin also had a short list already prepared for basketball. Mike White’s neck wasn’t on the chopping block, but Stricklin was well aware that White was growing increasingly uncomfortable with a fan base that expected more than simply making the NCAA Tournament as a mid-to-low level seed. The sweat had barely dried on the Florida basketball uniforms after the Gators took it on the chin to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament in Tampa when Stricklin was drawing a line through the names on his short list except one – Todd Golden. Mick Hubert retiring may have caught Stricklin by surprise when Mick confided that he felt it was time to call it a career a few weeks ago, but when the retirement announcement was released Thursday morning, you can bet the farm Stricklin was already going through his list of potential replacements. The Florida job is attractive, no doubt about it. Billy Napier and Todd Golden are young coaches who all the experts believe will bring back a measure of greatness that was once synonymous with Florida football and basketball. Kevin O’Sullivan has one of the youngest teams in America so the baseball team should be back among the top five or six in the country very soon. The thought of calling games for the Gators and in the Southeastern Conference, the best college sports league in the country, is going to draw some serious inquiries. Amid the inevitable national search for the successor to Mick, one name should be given consideration in the event he’s called basketball and that is James Bates. He’s done football play-by-play and color analysis when for the Mountain West Conference broadcasts. For the past few years, he’s been with the Atlantic Coast Conference Network. Batesy is as Gator as it possibly gets. Always has been and always will be a Gator dating back to when he sent shockwaves through his entire family and the Tennessee Vol nation when he came to Florida to play for Steve Spurrier. From the day he was born, James Bates was SUPPOSED to be a Tennessee Vol. His dad played for Doug Dickey at Tennessee, then served as a grad assistant for Dickey (1968) and as the defensive coordinator for Johnny Majors (1989). Jim Bates was Steve Spurrier’s first defensive coordinator (1990) at Florida, but even with that Florida connection, nothing was supposed to detour James Bates highway from Sevierville to Knoxville when it came time to play college football. But, a funny thing happened on the road to Knoxville. It detoured to Gainesville and Bates became an All-SEC linebacker and a vital member of four SEC championship teams plus the 1996 national championship. Gainesville felt so much like home that Bates married UF All-America swimmer Tina Hinton. Their daughters Talia and Georgia swim for the Gators. You don’t get more all-Gator all the time than that. James Bates is no stranger to the broadcast booth for football. Pair him with Shane Matthews, a two-time former SEC Player of the Year and 14-year NFL veteran who will be taking over as the color analyst for the retiring Lee McGriff (Shane did the road games last year), and Florida would have a unique Gator perspective. The only drawback to hiring Bates would seem to be basketball. There is time between plays in football, so an announcer has a chance to catch his breath a bit while the analyst does the talking. In basketball, the action is non-stop and the play-by-play announcer is talking constantly. Unless he has picked up some basketball experience along the way or unless Scott Stricklin is willing to have separate play-by-play announcers for football and basketball, James Bates would seem like a longshot. However, it should be noted that former South Carolina quarterback Todd Ellis does the play-by-play for Gamecock football broadcasts while Derek Scott does play-by-play for basketball. Ellis has a day job as a lawyer in Columbia. Batesy’s job when it’s not football season is painting. Although he didn’t study art at UF, his paintings are hot ticket items. Would Scott Stricklin be bold enough to hire an announcer for football and one for basketball or will this be a national search for someone experienced who does football, basketball and an occasional baseball broadcast when Jeff Cardozo is doing television work? We’ll find out in a hurry because the Gators play their first college football game on September 3.

Billy Napier stealing some of the "Secret Sauce" at Spurrier's Gridiron Grille Photo courtesy of Spurrier's Gridiron Grille “I’m just making fun of Billy Napier as an outsider coming in from Louisiana and bringing a lot of the Nick Saban stuff to Gainesville when you’ve already got the greatest coach in Florida history right there.” By BUDDY MARTIN GatorBaitMedia.com Editor There is this myth among some college football illuminati that a special sauce recipe can be passed on from one coach to another. It’s not necessarily true. Just like the Italian grandmothers, coaches don’t always share those secrets. Besides, knowledge doesn’t always beget wisdom, which must be learned and not taught. And even if you can copy something, you can’t always successfully emulate it. I bring that up because of an incident that happened the other day when an agitator accused Billy Napier of snubbing Steve Spurrier and neglecting an opportunity to seek the advice from a Hall of Famer. As if the HBC had the nuclear codes that could be shared simply for the asking. As we know, Spurrier had a knack for designing and calling ball plays brilliantly -- and at just the right time -- as we can see from the evidence in the trophy case. You can even observe the sketchings of some of those plays on the wallpaper in the men’s room at Spurrier’s Gridiron Grille – which Mike Griffith was quick to suggest on the Paul Finebaum Show that the new Gator coach should do. More like goading than suggesting. “I’m glad he (Billy Napier) finally got Steve Spurrier’s phone number and decided to include him,” said the gas-lighting Griffith of Dawg Nation. Then explaining, “I’m just making fun of Billy Napier as an outsider coming in from Louisiana and bringing a lot of the Nick Saban stuff to Gainesville when you’ve already got the greatest coach in Florida history right there.” Well, check the above photo, Mike. It would seem to indicate Billy Napier is way ahead of you. While all of us would agree that the HBC would make a wonderful mentor for Napier – hey, Spurrier’s offensive genius changed the game of college football – it’s highly improbable that the new 42-year-old Gator coach will be running his game plan past the guy down the hall. Griffith, who covers Georgia -- some would say he's virtually imbedded with Kirby Smart’s program -- was very transparent in his motive. No doubt in the future, every time Georgia beats Florida – which may be far too frequent for Gator fans in this Kirby Smart era -- the Dawg Nation writer will admonish Napier for not consulting Spurrier’s playbook. BTW, Griffith is also the writer who insists on referring to Florida’s program as being armed with a “Nick Saban Starter Kit.” (A slap in the face of Napier.) He even went to the extreme of suggesting that Napier look at the HBC ball play sketches on the bathroom of Spurrier’s Gridiron Grille. (Which as you see, he already has done!) All that rhetoric aside, and as much as we all respect Spurrier’s football acumen, we could see through Griffith’s attempt to patronize the HBC and set him up as a straw man to be weaponized against Napier. So I decided to call up and ask Spurrier about his relationship with the new head coach. “You can tell Mike Griffith,” Spurrier told me, “that I don’t have anything to do with coaching football. Coach Napier has a good plan and doesn’t have to ask me. Just as I didn’t ask Coach (Ray) Graves when I was at Florida.” Spurrier showing former Gator Head Ball Coach Doug Dickey the "writing on the wall." Photo courtesy of Spurrier's Gridiron Grille Furthermore, as for “copying” somebody else’s playbook, Spurrier said that almost never works. “It’s something I read in the book by Sun Tzu (the Art of War). Go ahead and try to duplicate other people do, but good luck in trying to execute the plan.” It's not that Spurrier was being arrogant, that’s just what is meant by “Secret Sauce.” The Plan is one thing, The Method is another. Successful play calling was almost sleight of hand by Spurrier. Ever since he was a young sophomore at Florida, calling his own plays, Spurrier put his own stamp on it, quite often improvising in mid-play. Anyway, if Spurrier was still calling ball plays, it wouldn’t be the Fun’NGun. “I don’t think I’d run four wideouts,” he confessed. “We’d play more under center. Run an occasional jet sweep.” In other words, the bathroom wallpaper wouldn’t be the same. Actually, Spurrier says he’s talked very little strategy with Napier. But he likes what he’s heard. Also for the record, Spurrier DOES have Napier’s number and they sometimes converse, but not much about ball and not often, since Billy has been on the move a lot lately. We don’t know much about Napier’s coaching yet, but we like what we see and here. So does the HBC. “I notice his car is gone a lot when I pull in to work,” said Spurrier. “So that means he’s out there on the road a lot, recruiting and so forth.” Indeed, Napier has been making the rounds on the rubber chicken circuit, north to Atlanta, south to Fort Lauderdale and points in between. He’s playing to large, curious Gator crowds who want to press the flesh and hopefully pick up a good vibe. His message is resonating without making solicitous comments. They seem to love hearing about his plans. He also looks like, sounds like and IS a family man. Furthermore, he’s telling people that his confidence in the job is trending upward. "I've got more confidence and conviction about what can be done here than ever before," he told Gators in Atlanta. In this volatile world of college football where things are changing by the minute, Napier has plenty to keep up with when it comes to transfer portals and NIL deals. At the same time, he’s administering a massive support staff. There is no official head coach of Napier’s Army, but one inside source estimated it totals 114! That must include everybody from the grounds crew to the Uber drivers. At least so far, Napier isn’t embroiled in a screaming match with a fellow coach, or busy bailing players out of jail at midnight. He seems to be embracing the other challenges. Them's got to be fighting words there, Coach Saban (Photo courtesy Steve Spurrier) Which is not the case with Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher and Deion Sanders. Basically, Alabama’s coach accused Texas A&M’s coach and Jackson State’s coach of cheating. You knew it was coming one day and Nick just decided to light it up now with the accusation that Jimbo “bought every player” in his 2022 recruiting class. Then he ripped Deion for “paying one player a million dollars last season.” As a former Saban staff member who claims to have learned more football in Tuscaloosa than all his other years, it will be interesting to see what Napier's take will be on Nick's inflammatory comments. One thing so far Billy hasn’t done is get into hissing a match with another coach. You think he might? I don’t know, maybe he can take the advice of Mike Griffith on that one and go call the Head Ball Coach.

By KYLE CURTIS GatorBaitMedia.com O’Cyrus Torrence is a 6-5, 335-pound transfer from Greensburg, LA. Torrence played and started at Louisiana under Billy Napier and has yet to allow a sack in his three years playing. Torrence was a 2021 Sun Belt First Team Offense recipient. Growing up in Louisiana, Torrence was surrounded by the bayou and famous Cajun food New Orleans. He decided to take his talents to Gainesville via transfer portal when Billy Napier and company came to town. Aside from a few changes from his hometown in Louisiana, he has settled nicely in Gainesville. He mentions how he appreciates the football atmosphere he experienced during the spring game along with all the people here. A seamless transition for someone who has lived their whole life in Louisiana. There is one thing Torrence misses from his Lousiana home cookin’: Hot sauce. Torrence mentioned that as the main thing he misses from Louisiana. His favorite? Louisiana Hot Sauce. In honor of Torrence’s roots Terry Bradshaw, along with the help of Gator Collective and The Buddy Martin Show, has vowed to provide Torrence with a supply of Louisiana’s original hot sauce soon. Question: Do the nutritionists help bring your food from home (Louisianna) to you? Answer: “They do their best and make sure it is healthy. I have my trust in them and they have helped me with good and healthy food.” Question: What is it about you and your mentality when game time rolls around? Answer: “When I was growing up I was bigger than the kids my age so I was always around my older brother and older cousins so we would always wrestle and play and I would lose. I didn't like to lose. When I started playing football and started playing with kids my age it was just easier to get the mentality you don’t want to lose. I’m not going to let one person beat me.” Question: If you spent your whole life in Louisiana what’s it like spending your senior year here in Gainesville? Answer: “It’s different for sure. At first, it was kind of hard to explain, but then just the people and the environment made it easy. I don’t want to say the people in Louisiana are ruder, but it is more of a home feeling football-wise here. The spring game and feeling of the fans are just different. I didn’t think I liked the area but I actually love it and the community and it ended up being a good difference.” Question: Tell us some things about Billy Napier that you know that we may not? Answer: “He is a man of discipline. Everything he does is a plan. He would always show us his notepad pregame, and he had everything marked up from the moment he woke up to the moment he went to bed, so that’s how he’s kind of rubbed off on us. He has a plan for everything, you know what you’re going to get from him every single day, just consistency. I feel the same with the coaches he brought in, they all just have a plan. He just brings around good people just like him. As a player, you can’t do anything but respect him.” Question: What are the advantages of having two offensive line coaches? Answer: “No players ever block the same so you can always teach it differently. Both coaches have a different style of coaching, but it goes together with the offense. They are coaching the same thing just in different ways so all the players can understand it. And for us offensive linemen it gives us all the answers we need because the more answers we have the more comfortable I am going to feel during the game. Having two coaches going into the game, any question I have they will always have an answer and make it easier to play allowing us to play better and faster.” Question: How was it playing in the Sun Belt and how has it helped prepare you? Answer: “When I originally committed there, I did not think it was going to be as hard, then as we went through practices I started seeing these dudes look just like the dudes at the power 5 schools. These dudes are grown men too. I must come with A-game every day. There’s not much of a difference if you know how to play football you know how to play, if you know how to play in G5 you can play in power 5.” Question: How can you play on the offensive line for three years and not give up a sack? Answer: “I just apply what my coach says and then after a while, I started to get a feel once I learned how to watch the film. It then got easier when I figured out the offense and what we are trying to do in the offense and the offensive line. It’s knowing the defensive rotations and the calls, so knowing the shifts and stuff like that and playing together. Props to the quarterback too because there were a few times I got a beat, and they ran away.” Question: What are your thoughts on Anthony Richardson? Answer: “At first I didn’t even think he was the quarterback. I was like this guy must be a wide receiver or a running back he is too big to be a quarterback. At the end of one of the first practices, he was throwing the ball and I was like, shoot, that is the quarterback come to find out. Just from watching him practice and how he carries himself, he is just a different dude. I am excited. Once we got to scrimmage then I saw him run the ball and he turned into a running back when he ran the ball. He can throw the ball 50 yards and run like a running back, all we need to do is block and something special will happen. Question: Why do you think you are such a productive run and pass blocker? Answer: “I think some of it comes to my approach to it. Since I started playing seriously and giving the game all, I got, I realized I could be great at this. Once I realized I am a big enough size and if I can get my technique down perfectly it is going to be hard for me to lose run blocking or pass blocking. That’s what I work on now my technique, I feel like physically I am good. Having a good coaching staff is all helping me to get where I want to go.” Question: During Spring scrimmages, who impressed you the most on the D-line? Answer: “Gervon Dexter is probably one of the best D-lineman I’ve ever gone against. He’s too big to be going that fast in those small areas. Whenever I am going against him, I must make sure I know exactly where to go. He is a monster.” Question: How has Gator Collective benefitted you and how has the process been? Answer: “I like it. They make the process easy. It’s kind of like a bridge between them and the people who may want to give us deals. It is like Gator Collective is a safety net for us. They even reach out to friends, and I get to go talk to a bunch of fans and do experiences. It is neat because we get to get a cool interaction opportunity with the fans. I am appreciative of the Gator Collective.”