Florida Gators Quarterback coach Garrick McGee met with local media on Thursday for the first time since being hired to replace Brian Johnson. McGee touched on Emory Jones, his coaching philosophy and the QB battle. As a valued GatorBait Magazine subscriber we are offering this transcript in full. Who were your influences on your offensive philosophy? “Well, I’ve been really fortunate. My dad is probably the biggest influence that I had. A lot of people know: my dad was a high school coach in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Booker T. Washington High School. He’s a guy that took a lot of pride in the way that we go about playing football. It wasn’t necessarily about the plays that we’re running. It was how we go about executing those plays, fundamentally sound, hard, with a lot of pride in it. That’s the biggest influence that I’ve had. It’s not about the plays. The technology’s moving. There’s people playing fast-break offense, there’s people having success running option offense. It’s all about how you go about running those plays and you being fundamentally sound and playing with the proper intensity level.” What are essential traits to being a successful QB? “Well, at this level, if you’re going to have a chance to be great, it starts with leadership. Your team needs to say to themselves, ‘We have a chance of winning because we have this particular guy on our team.’ And you build throughout the offseason and spring ball and in the weight room. Your guys go, ‘We got a chance to win any game because this guy’s on our team.’ That’s where it starts. You have to have the ability to be accurate with the football and anticipate things on this level because people are fast that we’re competing against. You have to have the ability to manage a lot of information in your head and know how to process that information. What I mean by that is the situations that come up in football, meaning it’s first and second down, it can be third-and-short, third-and-medium, third-and-long, red zone, 2-minute drill before half, 2-minute at the end of the game. All of these different situations are going to come up and we’re going to have a plan for each situation and you have to be able to have those slotted in your mind and know when to pull from it at each time. So you have to have the ability to manage a lot of information in your mind also.” See those qualities in Emory Jones? “Yeah, I think … I talk to those guys about the programs that stay on top and the programs that are built to keep moving forward, they can transition between quarterbacks, meaning we had Kyle here last year, for the last couple years. Kyle did a really good job for the program, almost went after the Heisman Trophy. Well, now he’s going to the NFL and we have to transition from one quarterback to another and the teams that can stay on top and compete at a high level are the ones that can do it. And that’s what we’re pressing for now. We’ve recruited well. We have two guys that are very talented kids, have arm talent, they can run, they understand the system, they have the trust and respect from their teammates. What we have to do is go from being Kyle’s backup to taking control of the team and getting the team to feed off our energy level and the way we go about out business.” What was your role last year? How did it help you make the transition? “I joke all the time that I have been on the defensive staff with Todd and Christian and that whole staff, so I know all the defensive players. I wasn’t able to work with them on the field or in the meeting room or anything like that, but you just get to know them when you’re watching their film every day. You’re studying them. You’re studying what they’re doing. And then, I got lucky, and the timing was right for me, and I got blessed and got to be the quarterback coach. So, now, I know all the offensive players and all the offensive coaches also. It’s a really unique deal that I really know all the guys on the team. So, I think the transition for me and the staff was an easy transition because I had been around and I understand how Dan wants to run the program, the expectations of each individual in our building, the culture that he has set up where we all enjoy coming to the office every day and grinding. We know what’s expected of us every day, and I already know that. There was no transition. And I was there at the Cotton Bowl. I was there at the SEC Championship, and I know what we felt like after the game in that locker room, and I know what we all committed to moving into this season, so the transition was simple for us.” What is the role of an analyst? “I was one of the guys in the basement watching the film. That’s what I did. What you do is you stay a week ahead. Meaning, if we’re preparing to play Georgia this week, then by the middle of the week on Thursday or Friday, I will transition on to the next program or the next team we’re going to compete against, and I’ll start there on Thursday, Friday, Saturday morning or Saturday night of the game. Then, when we come back Sunday and grade the film, I already have a head start on presenting that team to the defensive coordinator as we move forward. So, I’m trying to buy him more time so that he doesn’t have to look for some stuff. That’s the key to it. And then, as an offensive coach being on defense, if you look at it and you say, ‘Listen, if you show the safety here, they’re probably going to make the call and slide the protection to this side,’ or, ‘This is how the quarterback is going to see this particular coverage’. That’s part of it also.” Unique to have an offensive coach there. “Brilliant. I think it’s a brilliant deal.” Put your own spin on the offense? “That was an interesting question. I don’t know if you guys realize it, but I was at Toledo working when Coach Mullen was at Bowling Green. And we ended up winning the game that year, but they put up some major numbers on offense. And then, when they left and went to Utah, that same offseason, I left and went to UNLV. So, I was in the same conference with those guys again, and they were undefeated and pretty much unstoppable. Then, they came to Florida. I ended up at Arkansas. And they were winning the national championship and they were rolling. And we thought we were rolling at Arkansas, but they were winning the national championship. And then coach Mullen transitioned to Mississippi State, I was still at Arkansas and we had some battles there. So, I've watched and studied and had a lot of respect for the way that coach has run his offense, and the way he goes about game-planning and scheming. I was fortunate when I was the head coach at UAB, I was able to get my offensive staff with his offensive staff, and we all sit in the same room and shared some ideas and discussed some football ideas. That's kind of how, you know, our relationship ended up connecting. But, what I take pride in is being a quarterback coach, and recruiting great quarterbacks, training them, and ultimately getting them to perform on game day, and while you're doing that, there's a lot that goes on in regards to game planning. You know this staff has been, you know, John Hevesy, Billy Gonzales, Greg Knox, Tim Brewster was at Mississippi State before. I mean, these guys have been together a long time. They know the ins and outs of the offense and know how to manipulate the offense to get it to work versus any kind of defense. You know, so I'm really fortunate to be with them. I've learned the offense, I understand how to get it to work. It was good that I was here last year and got to see some of the practices and see how they go about their business, but we all coach it hard. We got a guy that's one of the best play-callers, best offensive coaches in the building, so he runs it and we get it to go for him." Any juice left in Oklahoma? "Well, it's not going to be my bread and butter. We're going to recruit Florida and I have a piece of South Florida. But, I mean, a guy told me a long time ago, I was working for him and he said 'Listen, if your dad's name is Larry McGee and he's from Booker T. Washington High School, you're supposed to be able to go to Tulsa and get some players in here.' So, you know, I still kinda, it's not going to be my bread and butter, but if they have players in that state, or especially in Tulsa, that are good enough to help us win a championship, then I'm going to go after them." What have you seen from Anthony Richardson so far in camp? "Um, I love him, he's a great kid, it was good that I was here, you know, so I got to see him and I know their strengths and weaknesses, know their personality. I had never met his mom until we started spring ball this year, so once I got to talk to her, I see where he gets a lot of it, you know, who he is from. But he's just an extremely talented kid, he's still really young. We got fortunate, the only thing you know, good about this COVID is that Anthony ends up with another year, so he's really a true freshman still. And that's, like wow, I can't believe, when I watch him at practice, I'm thinking 'This guy's a true freshman,' you know, it's amazing. But, just think he's an extremely talented kid. He's learning a lot, how fast the game is moving, how you have to throw on time, you have to stay on balance, so I'm just, the future is definitely bright for that kid." What is the competition like between him and Emory Jones? "Yeah, well, everybody wants to compete every day. But, to be truthful with you, we all are really, meaning all the quarterbacks, we're trying to just get one-day better, and make sure that we can put somebody on the field that can give our team an opportunity to win the game. And so they, they're best of friends, you know, and we're just trying to get one-day better. Trying to learn something else that's going to help us get another day better. Learn how to execute the offense better, manage the offense, get everybody playing better around them. So, never really talked about any competition, we're just trying to get better so that we can make sure we got somebody on the field that can get our team wins that we need." What has the growth in analyst positions meant for coaching profession? “I think that it’s a good role. NFL teams have had that forever. What you’re trying to do is try and have more guys in the building to study, because you’re looking for that one advantage, looking for that one percent that you have over the other team that you’re competing with. Then it gives you a chance to see other guys and get to know the personalities of other guys. It’s really helping people build their networking banks. Paul Pasqualoni he’s the other analyst, he was the other analyst, we were together last year, offense and defense. Coach P was the head coach at Syracuse when I played my first game for Oklahoma and we beat him that game. We all talked about that and I didn’t know that. We were talking and we kept coming together and he said, ‘were you the quarterback in that game?’, and I said ‘yes sir, I sure was’. Now, me and Coach P are connected because of the analyst position that was opened up for the both of us. So I think it really helps with relationships.” What about the two-year stint in Birmingham teach you about being in the bosses chair at a program like that? “That it’s a lot that goes on at that position. When you’re the head coach, it’s about managing people. It’s about motivating people. Not just the players, but everybody in your program and getting everybody connected. I really learned a lot, like on the job training for me. Then I was really fortunate to get to watch Coach Mullen do it here at a really high level. His ability to multitask and just offense… I was telling someone earlier about his ability to coach special teams is something that has really blown me away, the details, the knowledge of the angles, just every detail that goes along with special teams. He’s on it just like he is on offense. It’s really incredible being with him and watching him multitask and run a program like this every day.” Being an analyst and now fulltime gig, are you moved into a house now? “That’s exactly what I did. I went from apartment living to buying a house. That’s right, and it’s been great.” How many times do you get asked about Lamar Jackson in the course of a week and what it was like coaching him? “It was great. It’s always good when you’ve got a really good player that you coach. You tend to coach better when you gotta great player that you coach. That’s kind of how that works out. Lamar is one of the best teammates and the best people and one of the most humble kids that you’re ever going to see. That’s why people… his teammates love him. He doesn’t even realize how good he is because he’s been Lamar his whole life. He’s just a wonderful kid to be around.” What caught your attention from your time working with Todd Grantham? “That’s right. When those guys are playing, and, you know, the practice sessions here in spring ball, you can tell there’s a whole ’nother level of intensity on the field with those guys. In my opinion, what separates him is his ability to understand offensive protections. You know, a lot of defensive coaches, they understand defense. Todd understands protection schemes. Todd understands blocking schemes, and that’s how he’s able to produce so many negative-yardage plays. He doesn’t just send his guys forward and go attack the quarterback. He understands the protection schemes and builds things to attack the protection scheme. And when those guys are really on it, intense and playing hard, it’s pretty hard to move the ball on those guys. Because I was with them last year and I know Zach and I know Ventrell and Mohamoud and all those guys, and I’m watching them now, and they’re a little more intense than they were.” What will the play calling balance look like between you and Mullen? Have you discussed it? “No. Because I’ve worked with other coaches that were head coach play-callers, and my theory is that, when you’re trying to win the national championship, the best person in the building to do a particular job should do that job. And, I mean, like, I should not play quarterback because I’m not the best quarterback in the building. That’s Emory right now. Dan’s one of the best play-callers in college football. So, in my opinion, if we’re wanting to win a national championship, the best guy at calling plays in the building should call the plays. That’s how I see it because I want to win.” What are some things that you’ve learned from your players that you keep with you? “I was on the phone with Ryan Mallett one time, he was playing for the Patriots, he was backing up Tom Brady at the time, and we were talking about third down defense because, you know, first and second down is pretty basic. You get to third down, it gets exotic. And I said to him, ‘Let’s talk about protections in third down.’ And the first thing he said was, ‘Well, the first thing they got to do is they got to get you to third down.’ Now that is a powerful statement right there. That’s something, like, you can go down the field and get six yards on first down and six yards on second down, and you haven’t got to third down yet. So, it’s about managing the first and second down to get yourself either out of third down or in a manageable third down. That’s when – I call it reverse mentoring. He taught me something that obviously Coach Belichick had taught him, and it makes a lot of sense to me.”

Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen met with local media on Monday. He addressed the differences in quarterback Emory Jones versus Kyle Trask, improvements in the secondary and how the Gators first scrimmage of spring practice went for the team. As a valued GatorBait subscriber, we are happy to offer you this transcript in full. Opening Statement: "Another week, we got a couple good weeks of practice and got two weeks left of spring practice so big two weeks for us. To let you know, you're going to start cutting down on installation and really letting the guys go play and we got to do a great job of evaluating what guys do well, what we want to keep, what we want to get rid of and what direction we're continuing to move forward and getting into fall camp.” Just how different does this offense look to you and we're not seeing it; to you, if you're looking at it and how much are we going to recognize the offense based on what we saw the last couple few years? “Every year it's been a little bit different so this year, it'll be a little different again. I'm sure there'd be a lot of things that you recognize a lot of things, you know, and then some things that are going to be a little bit different for us. You know, I mean, right now we're still, you know, we're putting everything in and then we're gonna see what kind of fits, what our guys are most comfortable with doing and how they're most comfortable doing it. So I think that'll be, you know, what we figure out here through spring and then what direction we want to head going into summer and then we'll figure more of that in the summer as we get ready to get into season but there'll be a lot of similarities to what we've done. We're not gonna, we're not changing a whole lot.” There's gonna be more run based quarterbacks though right? “Probably have a couple more quarterback runs that we didn't have last year, you know, where we didn't run Kyle all that much. So, but that’s—to be honest with it's going to be pretty similar though I mean with what we do.” Can it be similar in terms of the explosiveness you think? I mean that was a tough act to follow last year. Most 20+ plays in the sec. Most 30+ and the most in your career. Your 2014 Mississippi State team at 86 of 20+. Last year was 87 and one fewer game, so you guys are pretty explosive. "Yeah. Let's hope so. Let's hope so. You know what I mean, I mean, well, you need to have explosive plays to be successful. We have some playmakers out here on the field. I think you know, I mean like, if you saw—to have that happen you have to do a good job of creating those matchups, of creating putting your guys in position to have explosive plays and to get the playmakers the ball in the right area. And in the right way. And we've always tried to do a pretty good job of that. You know, and we're gonna continue to do that, you know, it'll be different, be some different playmakers, a bunch of guys left. But there's a bunch of explosive guys that are here and so we're gonna do is continue to work to put them in the best position to create that. I mean when you have explosive plays you have the opportunity to score so they're important.” Speaking of explosive plays, you watch Bryson DeChambeau yesterday? "I missed it, you know I was kind of working, getting some work done, but I heard, I saw the one deal of like he was cutting the corner on the par five or something right so just Took more of an angle over the water- “I was looking at that. I didn’t see the coverage of it. I just saw the one shot over the water. That’s a high-risk, high-reward, because he’s basically, fi it kerplunks, where it crossed, you’re basically dropping three back on the tee box. You’ve gotta play it out of bounds, right? There’s no drop or no thought of where it went in. It’s the tee box is where it crossed the water.” Approach been any different this spring from other years? “No. I mean, for us, it’s about putting a bunch of things in, teaching a lot of foundation of the offense, defense and special teams and trying to evaluate what guys do well, you know what I mean? That’s a big part of it. A lot of teaching and a lot of evaluating goes on in the spring. That’s what we’ve always done, and that’s what we’re doing this year, as well.” Could your son have made that shot over the water? “I don’t know that there’s many people making that shot over the water. That was - what was it, like 330 carry or something like that?” Edgar: Like 340 something. If he drove the green, it would be like 355 in the air, whatever that means. Dan: “Wow.” Looks like you’re more hands-on with D. You feel more responsibility to be more involved there? “To be honest with you, if you ever watch us in the season, I’m probably evenly on both sides of the ball at practice. Even all during the course of the season on both things. Just kinda making sure I’m spending time equally. In the meeting rooms, I probably spend a little bit more time offensively, but on the field I try to be as balanced as I can be for the guys on the team.” Urban says best offensive coordinator should be great D coordinator, you and Ryan Day were the best. That true, and what’s the lesson look like? “I think that’s a very nice compliment from Urban. I do think you have to understand defense. You have to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. If you don’t understand your opponent or your opposition — if you’re an offensive coach, that’s the defense — you don’t understand not just what they’re doing, how they’re doing it but why they’re doing it as well, you’re not going to be successful. You can sit there and say … if there was just a perfect play, hey, these are the 10 perfect plays, right? Everybody would only run those 10 plays. So it’s always what works against the defense, how do you want to attack the defense. To do that, you better understand and know exactly what they’re doing. I’m sure that’s what he was implying.” First scrimmage? How’d it go? “It went pretty good. We were able to stay pretty healthy, which always makes you nervous, that part of it. There’s a lot of different situations now, kind of leading up to that, it’s been a lot of installation of just teaching the… from fundamentals to base plays to installing the offense and the defensive schemes. The first opportunity to kind of let that all kind of blend together. Then coach it through situations, there’s some really good situational things that we can teach off of that film.” Offering Emory Jones a scholarship like 10 years ago at Miss State? “You’re paying attention to guys and you look for a guy that has a … he’s got a really strong arm with a quick release and he’s got a great athletic ability. So early on you see that, the talent he has and the potential that he has. I don’t know. We always work trying to get into as many schools and talk to coaches, and the coaches recommend players to you and we trust our evaluation of their recommendations. Coach says, ‘Hey, I really this guy within our program. What do you think? And we go evaluate it. That’s kind of how it went about with Emory.” First time you thought he could be an SEC starter? “Here at Florida?” Yeah. “That would have been … when he got here, you saw the talent that he had, his ability, how the ball jumps out of his hands and the arm talent he has and then his ability to kind of extend plays. His athleticism, not just talking about quarterback runs, but his athleticism to scramble, extend plays and see things the defense really can’t account for because it’s kind of out of the scheme. That’s a huge plus that he brings to the table.” Is running back Demarkcus Bowman dealing a knee injury? “Uh, we’re not going into injuries of anybody right now.” Emory Jones throwing touch passes like Kyle Trask? “Oh yeah. A lot of that, though, comes from experience. The more you play, the more you get to understand the defense and you read the defense and then you understand the type of throws that you have to make to go beat it. Emory’s going to be a very different player than Kyle. There can be zero (comparison). But that’s every quarterback. Everybody loves to compare this guy to that guy. Well, there is no comparison. They’re all individuals and they all have their own strengths. It’s important for us to play to his strengths. But there’s a lot of throws that Emory can make that Kyle couldn’t make. That’ll allow us to tweak and change some things within the scheme.” Any players who’ve been depth pieces starting to stand out? “Nah. I think there’s a bunch of guys continuing to grow and develop. I don’t know, I’m probably very critical of guys. So I don’t sit there and say, ‘OK, this guy’s doing awesome.’ I’m looking at how are we getting everybody better and every individual better every single day at practice. So I am really pleased with the attitude of our guys and the effort in which they play with and really the effort of everybody as a team. I kind of like our approach and how we’ve been coming as a team more than just individuals jumping up and down.” Standouts from scrimmage? “A bunch of guys did. Quarterbacks did some things. We limit what they’re allowed to do in the scrimmage, so we really eliminate a lot of the quarterback runs and some of that stuff. We take away some of their strengths. When you take that away, they were solid. Receivers were pretty balanced across the board. O-line was pretty good. We rotate so many guys, that’s what’s hard. At the end of the scrimmage everybody kind of has equal reps, so it’s not like a game. There are game situations to teach off of, but you’re not going to get similar to a game feel. I thought running backs were really good, tight ends consistent at times. Defensive line, defensive front everybody was good. It’s hard when you look because there’s good and bad to everybody. But in a game you’re going to have guys that play 70 plays and guys that play 15. In the scrimmage everybody’s playing 40-50 plays on the entire roster, so it’s a little bit different that way. Think the defense will be in a better place this year than this time last year with having spring? “Yeah. I think it’ll help. I think last year, especially, offenses being ahead possibly, but especially experienced groups being ahead. And we had some experience on that side of the ball last year. But the fact that we’re young this year, it will be interesting to see for us. I think a lot of it is going to be, from that end of spring ball to the start of training camp is always such a critical time in every team’s growth and development. When we are limited as coaches in the things we can do and the contact we have with the players, when you start limiting all of their stuff and their growth and their development, what they do on their own to continue to improve is so critical. So, I think that has a lot to do with it. And obviously, you know, last year you didn’t have a spring practice. So, they didn’t have all the video. They didn’t have the ability to watch themselves on film. They didn’t have the ability to go learn and try to physically go do it. And then, you’re trying to figure out how to do all the Zoom stuff and learn through Zoom and not in person. I think there’s a lot more opportunity to develop at a much, much better rate this year, obviously, than last year. And I think development is critical, especially for young players, and we have a lot of young players. That end of spring to the start of training camp though is such a critical time in that growth and development.” What have you seen from Donovan McMillion? “He’s playing safety for us right now, but obviously, he’s got great size, so you never know with physicality how everybody grows into the backend of their career. But he’s playing safety for us right now. A high energy guy. He really plays hard. I mean, I like intelligent football players. He really, one of the things you see with him is, obviously, his dad is a coach, and you can see that with his attention to detail with all the little things. Whether we’re in special teams or whether we’re on defense, his attention to detail to try to do it right really stands out.” Can you talk about Diwun Black? "Yeah, he signed, right? [Yes] Yeah I can talk about him, it's fine. Making sure." What is that process like? You signed him two years ago, he went JUCO, do you keep recruiting him? "Yeah, you do. I mean, but he's a guy, he committed to us, was steadfast in his commitment to us the whole time, you know. So, a lot of the recruitment is making sure he's taking care of his business to get everything done academically he needs to get done to make it here. And, you know, give him a lot of credit because he was, he's worked hard to get that done, you know, and to take care of what he needs to get here, and I think that's a huge part of it all. You know, it'll be great to get him here on campus in, uh, you know, we're hoping in May." He's another guy, you could have him rush the passer or even drop him to safety. Where does he project? "We'll see when he gets here. We'll see when he gets here." Certainly versatile. "Oh yeah." Going back to the scrimmage, what are some of the biggest improvements you would want to see from scrimmage one to two? "Buy, I mean there's so many, I mean it's so individually based. Like I said, I thought our attitude in the, and how our guys approached the scrimmage was really good. So as a team, I don't know. I mean just keep that same attitude and that development, and then just make sure we're really understanding game situations, which I thought we did a pretty good job of, of understanding that, you know, where we are in the game situation. You know, I guess if anything, offense, we need to continue play with some good tempo out there, I think at times. You know, but I mean, happens in a scrimmage because you're coaching, you're stopping, you're teaching, you know, more than a game, to make it more game-like. Defense, you know, same way, but to me, it's all about the individual, of watching the individual growth from scrimmage one to scrimmage two, of how they're applying the installs into game situations. Say 'Hey, here's what we're installing, here's what we're installing it against today,' everything's in a small window. When you get into a scrimmage, it becomes a big window of your understanding of the picture of things, so that's one of the things of how guys cope and deal with all of the different adjustments that go on within a scrimmage." I know you've only had these young men a few days and you don't know that much, but what can you tell us that you know now that you didn't know when you started, and how do you feel about this core group? "Uh, I feel great. You know, I mean that's probably what I know now is, I mean out guys love to play football, it seems. I mean, we have great energy at practice, and they like each other as a team, you know what I mean? I think that you can see the older guys and the leadership trying to help with the maturity. That there's not just excitement and energy at practice, but it's channeled and focused into development of trying to do things the right way. And I think when something doesn't go right, you see that, instead of guys worrying about things that aren't important, you see the leadership, and guys within the program trying to get it corrected more than, you know, kind of, whether it's just hype, you know what I'm saying? Or one of those, you know, paying attention to every small detail more than worried about stuff that's not important. So, I've been pleased with that." Have your guys who came in under you, how much help? “There’s still a bunch of guys that didn’t. I don’t know. I always viewed it this way: they were all my guys, really, from Year 1. Once we got through that first offseason those guys knew I was committed to them and they were committed to me and how we were going to run this program. We’re all in this together, we’re all Gators. How we got here is not as important as we all believe in the same thing and that’s being part of the Gator family and being part of the Gator Nation. And so I don’t know if it’s any different now than it was then.” Specific throws Emory makes better than Kyle? “Emory’s got a much stronger, you know what I mean? So on certain deep balls, there’s certain deep balls he can throw, I think, because he has a stronger arm. It’s not a knock on Kyle. I think everybody sees with Kyle the accuracy, I mean, obviously Kyle’s probably a much more accurate passer. I think if you look at numbers he was close to 70 percent completions, I think (68.9%), which is one of the most accurate probably in school history. So, there’s been a lot of quarterbacks that have played here at Florida. So I just think they’re very different plays, so the key is, I think the key in coaching it get missed sometimes, I think people think, this is our system and this is what it is, if you’re a square peg and we’re a round hole just keep slamming it until you become round and fit in there. Our job is to mold it as coaches and kinda tweak around the strengths of the players. So we’ll build around the strengths of the quarterbacks that are here now, very much like the way we built around Kyle’s strengths over the last two years. I think one of things you’ll see, I’m excited for Kyle and his future. I think his game really translates well the next level. So I expect someone is going to be very fortunate coming up here in the draft, whenever that is … the end of April.” Based on offseason moves, secondary was primary culprit on defense, is that personnel or scheme and what seen to think get fixed? “I mean, it’s we really have a short time of deals. I don’t want to say, I don’t think it was one specific thing or issue. I think there’s some things as a whole that we needed, that we need to fix and adjust and as the year went on, I think at times last year we played really well, there are times we didn’t in situations. And then it’s ID-ing what those situations were, why we didn’t play well in those situations, and then what are the adjustments we make for when we see these situations in the future. How are we making the adjustments to that. I don’t want to pin it on one area. There were probably multiple, a bunch of things that we needed to kind of tweak and change and improve on. I think obviously certainly having a spring practice and hopefully a little bit more of a normal year will help us do that.” Can Emory Jones make some of the “off-schedule” throws better than Trask? “I think they’re different in how they make those throws. Kyle, I thought, Kyle was really a pocket guy. He could slide in the pocket and make this and arm angle and change, you know. Emory’s a guy that’s going to extend but he can extend outside and when you extend outside and have the threat of run because he’s so dynamic out in the open field with the ball in his hand. His ability to throw on the run and make use some arm talent to kind of be off balanced when you’re running one direction and be able to use the ball to flip the other direction. They’re just totally different players. We’re not going to change who we are offensively, like I said, you’re going to see a lot of the same offense we’ve been running but what’s funny is how they run the plays within the offense are going to look differently even though it’s the same type of offense, because they’re very different talent wise." Seeing a different Todd Grantham? Determination? Something to prove? "No, I've always had a lot of confidence in Todd. Todd's a great football coach. I think part of that, I don't know that it's a new edge or different, I think he's as competitive now as he was last year, the year before that, and the year before that. That's who he is. i think obviously having the opportunity to have spring to identify where our players are at and putting them in the best position with the right guys on the field to be successful against all the different things that we're going to see and that we're going to have to adjust to during the course of the season. I think there's a benefit to that, of having that time and that opportunity to see those things." Well I was wondering if you get to the stadium and he's like burning the midnight oil or something. "No, we just work really well together, have great communication, and spend a lot of time on the checks and balances. Are we putting guys in positions to be successful? You can look at anything, you can statistically look at anything the way you want to look at it. It’s simple. I’m guessing next year everyone will look and say ‘we’ve taken a huge step back throwing the ball.’ Well, maybe maybe not. Or ‘we’ve taken a huge step forward running the ball off of next year’s team than last year’s team. But last year we ran the ball very efficiently, we just didn’t do it very often. Statistically speaking you can say the explosive plays, where are they at? I think each team is different and our job is to put them in the best position to be successful. That’s something Todd’s, if I’ve seen, is that, us spending a lot of time making sure we’re putting the right guys in the right position and giving them the best chance to be successful.”

The Florida Gators football team is officially halfway through spring practice in this early 2021 offseason. Restrictions related to COVID-19 protocols means practices are closed to the public and media, with any access coming on Instagram Live. The peaks into the Gators practice days aren’t the ideal or normal, but have offered a unique look at how practices are conducted. Viewers and fans hear coaches running drills, see interaction with players—both current and former—and are practically inside some drills. So while our notes and observations might not be as extensive in the past, a few things have stood out. Read on for five observations from spring practice thus far, as well as a scrimmage report. The QB Battle Is Top Heavy To the surprise of no one, the quarterback “battle,” for what it’s worth, is led by Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson. The veteran that’s bided his time for three years and the hometown slinger are consistently at the top of the pecking order in practice. Every QB drill we’ve seen has shown two passers working at the same time. Jones and Richardson are always working together and the first in the rotation. As such, it’s been easy to compare and contrast the two. Both have flashed a great arm, getting balls deep downfield. Jones seems to have a little more velocity while Richardson possess more touch. Both are dangerous runners as well. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jalen Kitna are in the next group, both big guys—especially for true freshmen. And no, that isn’t Kyle Trask you’re seeing in the videos. It’s Kitna, rocking the No. 11 jersey for the next generation. The RB Unit Is Deep and Vast The running back unit didn’t get much work last season—except as backfield and wheel route pass catchers—as Kyle Trask and the Gators aired out one of the best offenses in the country. They still return their top three producers though in Dameon Pierce, Nayquan Wright and Malik Davis. Then Mullen added two former five-star transfers in Lorenzo Lingard (Miami) and Demarckus Bowman (Clemson). Practice footage has shown us a unit that is versatile, offering everything from power backs like Pierce and Lingard, to shifty guys like Davis and Bowman and then a do-it all guy like Wright. There’s no way to evenly distribute the ball to them all and one even wanders if Davis or Wright could become a slot receiver, given their ability as a receiver. Davis averaged 31.4 passing yards per game last season, and Wright averaged 19.9 a game. Desmond Watson The freshman defensive lineman has been hard to miss, even in a non-traditional lineman jersey (No. 21). He tips the scale at 432 lbs. and cast a shadow as he stands tall in drills. One of the perks with the Instagram Live practices is getting to see drills for units that are normally far from our viewing area. That means seeing Watson up close as he works with the line. For all of his size and pure mass, Watson has shown impressive agility. Coupled with his pure built in power, Watson is tearing up the field. Coaches want to get his weight down, understandably. The goal is the 380 range by fall. Once that happens, he’ll be even lighter on his feet. “The thing that impresses me about him for his size and where he is, he's really a good athlete,” Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham said of Watson. “He’s really got quick feet, he's got ability to change direction; he's obviously going to be a guy that can hold the point, do those things. But I think if he works to get in the kind of shape he wants to be—that we want him to be—you’re going to see a guy that that will be able to make some range plays, and maybe get from point A to point B, a little bit better than you may anticipate right now." Mullen Is Involved In Defense This is not to say that Watson is ready made to hit the field. He has some slimming down to do but also a need to catch up to the college game. That’s understandable of any freshman. We mention this because Head Coach Dan Mullen could be heard in videos yelling for Watson to do a drill again and “get off his block” faster. In fact, Mullen has been noticeably more involved in defense in each practice clip shared this spring. As the head coach, Mullen has always had a presence on the defensive side of the field. But it was typically more as an encouragement and over watcher. Now, he’s down in the drills with guys, working through instructions with the position coaches. After a season in which the defense was abysmal, Mullen was left with little choice but to get more involved, taking responsibility for the product on the field—and the job of his staff. Scrimmage Notes The Gators scrimmaged on Friday in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The plan was originally to go Saturday, but impending inclement weather pushed everything up for safety. It was a great day for the defense according to those with knowledge of the scrimmage. Overall the defense appeared much improved and the underclassmen in the secondary especially provided promise for the unit. A full game made it clear Desmond Watson needs to get his weight down for better stamina, but he is still un-blockable in the middle. He’s on track to be “a star.” Of course a good day for the defensive and secondary indicates it wasn’t a great day for the offense, and the stats back that up. Emory Jones threw two interceptions and struggled with some of the reads. Although he also threw two touchdown passes in the second half, one to Jacob Copeland. Anthony Richardson threw a pick as well, but also scored the first touchdown of the day. Reports state he appeared much more decisive and worked better through his progressions. Del Rio threw two touchdown passes. Bowman was held out with knee soreness, presumably what has also kept him out of the last few practices. The other transfer, Lingered, had a 90-yard touchdown run. Tight end coach Tim Brewster has praised freshman tight end Nick Elksnis and his scrimmage on Friday reportedly began to prove Brewster correct. The offensive line from left to right was Richard Gouraige, Ethan White, Stewart Reese, Josh Braun and Jean Delance.

They call him “The Most Improved Player” in the SEC. He was, in fact, named the SEC Player of the Week just a few days ago. The versatile sophomore has been on fast track toward stardom. Is Tre Mann about to become The Man? If Tre continues to blossom this March like the azaleas, he could still have a spectacular Spring -- despite Mike White’s team stubbing its toe Wednesday night in a painful 72-70 home loss to underdog Missouri. Certainly, Mann did his part vs. The Tigers, going 9x11 from the floor with a 21-point night. However, at the other end, he let fifth-year senior Dru Smith blow by him to score the winning bucket in the final minute. Full disclosure though – Smith also beat Colin Castleton and Anthony Duruji on that play. What made it stand out is that Mann is one of the team’s top defenders. Except that brief lapse on defense, Mann had been on a tear in wins over Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky. He was either first or second in minutes and points in his last four outings, averaging 18.2 points. The Tre Mann we’ve seen this season over last is markedly different – bigger, faster, stronger and more connected. The 18 extra pounds of muscle gained in the weight room and the inch he’s grown in height have made him more formidable, but his heightened understanding of the game is even more impressive. Mann is now literally capable of taking over a game with his dribbling, shooting, defending and passing. His decision to forgo the NBA draft last season was a wise one. And once he went back to the program, he was able to discern with more clarity what Coach Mike White expected of him. Anybody who observed him while he was under the tutelage of Colt McDowell at The Villages Charter School might have seen this coming – if they truly knew what Tre was about. The affirming adjectives flow off the tongue of Coach McDowell, mostly about Tre as a “great person.” Oddly enough, we’ve never seen the best “assist” Tre ever made. And it wasn’t even with a basketball. The story McDowell told me when I visited him at The Villages almost three years ago said everything we need to know about the then-17-year-old senior. Colt’s young infant son Taylor, who had come to the gym with dad as just a toddler, started crawling in the stands as daddy became pre-occupied talking. Meanwhile on the floor, the observant Mann quickly stepped away from a shooting drill to rush up into the stands and rescue his little buddy before he tumbled out on the floor. Quietly, Tre helped Taylor down, averting possible disaster, then deposited the child in the arms of his dad before returning to the court. “And he never said a word,” recalled McDowell. Not even Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson had that kind of peripheral vision. Since he wandered into the O-Dome as a skinny, reluctant and somewhat confused freshman last season, not really understanding what White expected, Mann has been transformed into a smooth, sharp-shooting guard who rebounds like a small forward and defends with zest. Mann’s main flaw is turning the ball over too much because he takes risks. But his high school coach points out that’s part of the risk-reward ratio. “Look at John Stockton – all-time assist leader, all-time turnover record-holder,” said McDowell. “Nolan Ryan? All-time strikeout leader, all-time record for walks.” As for his own world, Coach McDowell was disappointed to learn that one of his players recently suffered Covid and that The Charter School’s program was shut down without finishing the season. It was also a sad time for Tre’s brother Nasir, a talented 6-4 senior on that team who is likely to receive “at least 15 Division I offers.” Some of McDowell’s coaching is still kicking in even now. Tre’s decision to “hunt his shot” is exactly what you see when he glides down the key and hits a mid-range floater, or leans off-balance to land a wrong-footed bucket. He can take it to the rack or bury the three from the corner. Despite the difficult acrobatic shots, he ranks 9th in SEC field goal percentage. Some have called Tre “The Silent Assassin” because of his laid-back disposition. Most all of my basketball paradigms are ancient history. But if I had to give Mann a nickname, I’d call him “Clyde.” For whatever reason Tre’s style reminds me of Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, both of whom I covered in person. Two cool dudes. This has slowly evolved into Tre Mann’s team, not particularly a role he has relished, but one that he inherited after Keyontae Johnson’s tragic health setback. Mann has assumed that mantle with grace, becoming an even better player and learning how to lead as a teenager. It all makes you wonder how much better Tre Mann might become if he stays at Florida another season. “Right now he just loves being a Gator,” said McDowell. “I don’t think he even knows what he’s going to do.” As for the SEC and post-season, a lot will depend on Sunday’s showdown in Knoxville and if Florida can grab that coveted double-bye exemption for the SEC’s double round bye. "Clyde" may still have a little something to say about that.

Since Dan Mullen first arrived in Gainesville, he’s preached the same message to draft eligible Florida Gators. Do your research, make the smart choice, not just the most tantalizing one. As such, over the past few years less and less players have elected to leave school early for the NFL. Still, it was somewhat of a surprise when defensive lineman Zach Carter announced he’d return to the Gators for his final season. The big bodied end has all of the intangibles that make scouts salivate and tape to make him a possible Day 2 selection. Instead, he decided to make one more go round in the orange and blue, a decision Mullen believes sets the example for others. “He made a really good decision for his future to come back,” Mullen said of Carter on Monday. “The key is for guys to educate and when they go to make the decision, I think they’re just like ‘this guy came back or that guy came back’. Really more guys should come back if they educate themselves properly and make proper decisions on what they’re doing and how to put themselves in the best position for their future. “With all the information I had, he made a smart decision. Now it’s not for me to decide. It’s a very personal decision for guys to do what they want to do for their family, but I think it was a really smart decision for his part.” A smart decision for Carter is also an advantageous decision for a defense that is heavily laden with young talent. After the 2020 spring was lost to the global pandemic COVID-19, there are a bevy of Gator starters who have never even been through spring practice. “He’s tried to do a really good job of leadership and that’s a big deal. When you become an older veteran guy, more of the leadership falls on your shoulders too so that’s kind of one of the big things we’re looking for out of him this spring,” stated Mullen. Added Carter, “I've been in the same position as them before. I've been here, this is going into my fifth year. I've sat and watched a lot of older guys in front of me and learned a lot from those guys. Just taking a lot from them, so I want to do the same for a lot of these younger guys.” More importantly, for a defense that was anemic at times last season, Carter’s presence can be a game changer. During the first quarter of the 2020 season, Carter played inside while Kyree Campbell recovered from injury. Once Campbell returned and Carter was able to move back outside, the Gators front seven saw a palpable difference. In 2020, Carter finished with 36 tackles, 9.5 for loss, five sacks, 12 quarterback hurries, two pass break-ups and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. His time spent both inside and on the edge now means his impact in 2021 can be versatile, wherever needed most. “We’re going to move him around, try to create matchups like we always do with all of our personnel, especially when you become a veteran player,” explained Mullen. “The more experience you have, the more knowledge you have within the system, the easier it is to kind of move you around to try and create matchup advantages. You know he can play inside and he can play outside.” And maybe even on offense? Seen recently in a video released by the Gators football team returning a punt, there’s also a possibility to improve his standing on special teams and offense. Carter was the only one of four linemen who was able to haul in the punt and make at least somewhat of a return. “He was telling me he had the skill set,” joked Mullen. He was telling me what a skilled athlete he is so maybe we will have to put him at tight end or get him the ball in his hands sometime.” Wherever he plays, Carter feels the onus of improving what were clear problems with the Gators defense in the all-SEC 10 game season of 2020, that ended on a three game losing streak. “When I think back on last year, I’d say a couple of issues were communication issues and I also say just we had a lack of depth at some positions. But I think overall this spring we’re looking to improve those things,” explains Carter. Improving on them as a veteran is different than improving on things as an underclassmen, according to Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham. "If everybody’s moving up and working to improve themselves as a player individually and we take a team approach, then our team is better. So that’s a part of spring where you might give Zach a third of the reps say a young guy gets, like Justus Boone or Princely (Umanmielen). But yet in those reps he can work on things that maybe we’ve discussed to make him a more complete player, which makes your team better.” But that’s why Carter came back…among other reasons. His biggest reason for returning was not so much what can be improved upon on the field. While there are always strides to make, Carter’s game is already at a level that will get him drafted when he does head to the NFL. No, instead, he returned for a two-fold reason: his degree in journalism and his legacy. “I just know that this football stuff, it doesn't last forever. I'm excited that I could possibly have a future in the NFL, but everybody says it stands for 'not for long.' So it's just good to have that degree. I think more guys should have that attitude towards football and school, but everybody's in a different situation and positions, but that was a big thing for me. “So I really wanted to get my degree. I also just wanted, I really wanted to leave my mark and leave my legacy at this program.”

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: THINGS THAT MAKE ME GO HMMM ON FRIDAY SATURDAY DOWN SOUTH SAYS UF HAS SEC’S 6TH-BEST RECEIVING GROUPS Saturday Down South rated the receiving corps at each SEC program for the 2021 season this way: (1) Georgia; (2) Alabama; (3) LSU; (4) Arkansas; (5) Ole Miss; (6) FLORIDA; (7) Mississippi State; (8) Texas A&M; (9) Missouri; (10) South Carolina; (11) Kentucky; (12) Vanderbilt; (13) Tennessee; (14) Auburn. I wouldn’t pick Florida as my No. 1, 2 or 3, but I’ve been writing about college football for 50 years and I have learned to recognize what happens when talent combines with really good coaching. You would be hard pressed to find a better wide receivers coach in the SEC or even the nation than Billy Gonzales and all you have to do is look at how Kyle Pitts blew up after a year of being coached by Tim Brewster to know that Florida isn’t going to take too many steps backward in 2021. This is despite losing Pitts, who might be the highest drafted tight end in history, and Kadarius Toney in the first round with Trevon Grimes likely to go somewhere around mid-to-late third. Those are big losses but if you recall, the Gators lost four to the NFL (Van Jefferson, Freddie Swain, Tyrie Cleveland and Josh Hammond) in the previous draft and rather than take a step back, UF was even better in 2020. I’m not predicting that Florida’s receivers will be better than the two previous groups, but receivers coached by Gonzales and Brewster (a) make tough catches, (b) run great routes and (c) know how to block. The 2021 unit headed up by Jacob Copeland (23-435, 3 TDs), Justin Shorter (25-268, 3 TDs), Xzavier Henderson (9-148, 1 TD), Trent Whittemore (10-148, 1 TD), Kemore Gamble (10-160, 3 TDs) and Keon Zipperer (11-145, 2 TDs) will rank with the best in the league even though they may not have gaudy numbers. That has everything to do with the way the Gators spread the ball around – eight caught 10 or more passes in 2018, nine in 2019 and 12 in 2020. The Gators will be running the ball more in 2021, but that will force the safeties to play closer to the line and it will open things up for the receivers to make their share of very big plays. A Gator probably won’t lead the SEC in receiving but as a group, UF will be very, very productive and dangerous. My own rankings at this point of the spring: (1) Alabama; (2) Arkansas; (3) Georgia; (4) FLORIDA; (5) LSU; (6) Texas A&M; (7) Mississippi State; (8) Ole Miss; (9) Missouri; (10) South Carolina; (11) Kentucky; (12) Auburn; (13) Vanderbilt; (14) Tennessee. I would rank the top three returning wide receivers in the league as (1) John Metchie III (Alabama, 55-916, 6 TDs); Treylon Burks (Arkansas, 51-820, 7 TDs) and Kayshon Boutte (LSU, 45-735, 5 TDs). The top two returning tight ends are Jaylen Wydermyer (Texas A&M, 46-506, 6 TDs) and Jahleel Billingsley (Alabama, 18-287, 3 TDs). GATORS FIRST SPRING SCRIMMAGE IS SATURDAY There will be familiar faces although in different places on the first unit offensive line Saturday when the Gators hold their first spring scrimmage at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Moving from left guard to left tackle will be Richard Gouraige with Stewart Reese moving from right guard to center. Ethan White will move over to left guard although he may see some snaps at center. Right guard will be manned by Josh Braun with holdover Jean Delance at right tackle. Word out of spring practice so far is that the entire O-line is looking much improved with the biggest surprise of all the play of DeLance. Gouraige, who came to Florida as a highly-regarded 4-star offensive tackle, finally will be playing the position he was expected to play when recruited out of Tampa. Like Delance, he’s getting high praise from O-line coach John Hevesy. “He’s done a great job so far, a very knowledgeable kid,” Hevesy said. “To me, just very meticulous about his work ethic, everything he does. He’s studying film. He’s constantly on it. I feel very comfortable. He’s had a year, close to year and a half of playing time.” CAN THE GATORS BOUNCE BACK AT TENNESSEE Coming off a disappointing 72-70 loss to Missouri Wednesday night, the Gators (13-7, 9-6 SEC) find themselves in a must win situation Sunday (12 noon, ESPNU) in Knoxville when they face Tennessee (16-7, 9-7 SEC), which hasn’t played since last Saturday’s 77-72 loss at Auburn. At stake is a top four finish in the SEC regular season with the winner earning a bye into the Friday quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament next week. The Gators were originally scheduled to face the Vols in Knoxville back on February 10, but a Covid-19 outbreak on the UF team forced postponement. Because the Vols have one more SEC win than the Gators, if they win on Sunday, they will clinch fourth and earn the bye. Florida could have clinched that spot but the Gators dropped that game to Missouri Wednesday night. Florida owns a 75-49 win over Tennessee back in January when the Vols were ranked 10th nationally. Florida played that game without Colin Castleton, who was out with a sprained ankle, and Scottie Lewis, out due to Covid-19 protocols. Both Castleton and Lewis will be available Sunday. Florida is led by sophomore guard Tre Mann, who averages 15 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Thursday SEC score Vanderbilt (8-14) 78, Cincinnati (9-10) 64 Saturday SEC games South Carolina (6-13, 4-11 SEC) at Kentucky (8-15, 7-9 SEC) Mississippi State (14-12, 8-9 SEC) at Auburn (12-14, 6-11 SEC) #8 Alabama (20-6, 15-2 SEC) at Georgia (14-10, 7-10 SEC) LSU (15-8, 10-6 SEC) at Missouri (15-7, 8-7 SEC) Texas A&M (8-8, 2-7 SEC) at #12 Arkansas (20-5, 12-4 SEC) Vanderbilt (8-14, 3-12 SEC) at Ole Miss (14-10, 9-8 SEC) Sunday SEC game FLORIDA (13-7, 9-6 SEC) at Tennessee (16-7, 10-7 SEC) UF SPORTS WEEKEND Gymnastics: The top-ranked Gators clinched a share of the SEC title last week. They can claim the title outright tonight when they visit 6th-ranked Alabama (8:30 p.m., SEC Network). The Gators have the top team score in the country this year (198.275). Trinity Thomas, the all-time leader in SEC Gymnast of the Week selections (15), is coming off a meet in which she scored two perfect 10s, only the second Gator in UF history (Alex McMurtry was the other) to accomplish that feat. Baseball: The 3rd-ranked Gators (6-3) host Florida A&M for a three-game weekend set. Tommy Mace (2-0, 0.82 ERA) goes tonight (6:30) for the Gators with Jack Leftwich (1-0, 3.37 ERA) Saturday (4 p.m.) and Hunter Barco (0-1, 11.88 ERA) on Sunday (1 p.m.). Softball: The 5th-ranked Gators play host to 16th-ranked Florida State (10-3) at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium at 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network) and travel to FSU Saturday to face the Seminoles at 6 p.m. The Florida pitching staff leads the nation in ERA (0.81) and ranks second in shutouts with seven. The Gators have yet to give up more than five hits in a game. Lacrosse: The 5th-ranked Gators (2-1) will be in DeLand Saturday to face off with Stetson. Volleyball: Arkansas (11-5 SEC) is the opponent this weekend for the 8th-ranked Gators (12-2). Both the Friday and Saturday matches at the O-Dome will start at 6 p.m. (SEC Network Plus). Men’s Tennis: It’s a big weekend for the 10th-ranked Gators (8-1, 4-0 SEC) when they host 14th-ranked Georgia (6-2, 1-2 SEC) today (5 p.m.) and 3rd-ranked Tennessee (14-1, 3-0 SEC) Sunday (12 noon). Women’s Tennis: The 27th-ranked Gators (5-4, 3-1 SEC) are on the road this weekend when they face 3rd-ranked Georgia (7-1, 3-0 SEC) today and then 21st-ranked Tennessee (7-4, 1-2 SEC) on Sunday. TODD MCSHAY HAS A NEW MOCK DRAFT In his latest first round mock draft for ESPN, Todd McShay has Kyle Pitts going sixth to the Philadelphia Eagles and Kadarius Toney going 19th to the Washington Football Team. The following SEC players show up in this latest effort: (7) Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU, to Detroit; (8) DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama to the Miami Dolphins who trade down and still get their guy; (9) Mac Jones, QB, Alabama, to San Francisco which trades up to get him; (10) Patrick Surtain II, CB, Alabama, to Dallas; (11) Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama, to New York Giants; (16) Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina, to Arizona; (23) Azeez Ojulari, LB, Georgia, to New York Jets; (24) Najee Harris, RB, Alabama, to Pittsburgh; (27) Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU, to Baltimore; (31) Nick Bolton, LB, Missouri; to Kansas City; and (32) Jamin Davis, ILB, Kentucky, to Tampa Bay. First round quarterbacks taken are: (1) Trevor Lawrence, Clemson, to Jacksonville; (2) Zach Wilson, BYU, to New York Jets; (3) Justin Fields, Ohio State, to Carolina in a trade with Miami; (4) Trey Lance, North Dakota State, to Atlanta; and (9) Mac Jones, Alabama, to San Francisco. JAMEIS WINSTON TO NEW ENGLAND? ESPN NFL writer Seth Galina makes a case that Jameis Winston might be the perfect fit for Bill Bellichick and the New England Patriots. There is a slim chance that Cam Newton will return to the Patriots and Jarret Stidham has done nothing to make anyone believe he’s anything more than a career backup, but Jameis Winston? Yes, he has a very strong arm and is capable of making some throws that nobody else can make but unfortunately, he’s never quite figured out that you can’t help your team by completing passes to the other guys as he proved by throwing 30 interceptions in 2019, his last year with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Unless Bellichick is willing to hire a quarterback exorcist, he would be far better off to pass on the Publix Crab Legs King. Bellichick would be far better off to trade with San Francisco for Jimmy Garoppolo, who grew up in the New England system, and has proven when he’s healthy (see 2019) that he can be a quality NFL starter. Trade for Garoppolo and then draft Florida’s Kyle Trask in the second round. That would seem to be far smarter. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Georgia State athletic director Charlie Cobb has been named to the College Football Playoff Committee, replacing Terry Mojahir, who left Arkansas State to become the AD at UCF. Cobb is a former offensive lineman at North Carolina State, so I have no doubt he can form reasonably accurate opinions about who belongs and who doesn’t in the playoff. My question is why he’s in the position in the first place. Considering the playoff has all but locked out anyone but the Power Five teams, why be hypocritical and include someone from the Group of Five on the committee? Now, if the CFB decides it wants to be fair about things and truly give someone from the Group of Five a legitimate shot, that’s fine, but the way things are set up now, the Group of Five has as much chance as I have of breaking the Olympic pole vault record.

“My mama always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.’” – Forrest Gump Mike White can relate. When his Florida Gators basketball team takes the floor, he never knows what he’s going to get. It can vary from game to game because one thing we have learned about the Gators is that when everybody is on the same page, they can be formidable. Of course, they can also have a game like Wednesday night against Missouri when from one half to the next it was a totally different team on the floor. Team Gump, as we might call the Gators since we don’t know which team is going to show up, came into the Missouri game on the heels of three straight games won impressively, two of them on the road. They left the O-Dome on the short end of a 72-70 score that had everyone wondering – especially after the first half – who are these guys? This box of chocolates night saw the Gators turn the ball over 15 times in a first half that ended with Mizzou ahead, 36-29. Those 15 first half miscues were converted into 18 points, exactly 50 percent of Missouri’s pre-intermission offensive production. When put in proper perspective, those 15 turnovers represented an 18-0 run by Missouri fueled by 15 possessions in which the Gators failed to get off a shot. When the Gators did get off a shot there was a very good chance it was going in the basket. They shot a sizzling 61.9 percent in the first 20 minutes so if this had been a turnover-free half, it would equate to nine made shots erased if the percentages held up. The way the Gators were playing defense in the first half when they were giving up uncontested three-pointers and straight drives to the rim Missouri might very well have scored those 18 points even without the benefit of those giveaways. Even so, a simple slight reduction in the turnovers would have made a difference. Add five extra shots for a team shooting better than 60 percent and it’s highly unlikely the Gators would have trailed at the half. The Gators played a much cleaner second half, turning the ball over only three times while continuing to shoot at a high percentage and playing a better brand of defense. Florida trailed by eight with 2:27 to go in the game. With 18 seconds left they had tied things up at 70-70 on a pair of Tyree Appleby free throws. Those last 18 seconds, however, were a killer. It’s as if the defensive mindset that had gotten the necessary stops to power the comeback went brain dead. On the right wing, Missouri’s Dru Smith jab stepped left and then came back to his dominant right hand. Tre Mann took the fake, then crossed his legs, a cardinal sin for defending the perimeter. That created a blow by alley in which Smith took the ball baseline on his way to the rack. When Colin Castleton and Anthony Duruji rotated over to try to block his shot, Smith reversed to the other side of the rim and banked in the winning points with 0.7 seconds left in the game. That brief defensive lapse only added to the frustration of a game the Gators had no business losing not just because they’re a better team that Missouri but also because what was at stake. A win over Missouri would have ensured the Gators wouldn’t play until the quarterfinals in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville. Now, with a 13-7 overall record and 9-6 in conference play, they will have to defeat Tennessee in Knoxville Sunday to remain in the top four finishers in league play. A loss and the Gators are playing Thursday in the SEC Tournament. Beat Tennessee and UF doesn’t play until Friday. The importance of the extra day of rest prior to the first game in the SEC Tournament can’t be overstated. It’s hard enough to win the tournament and the automatic NCAA bid that goes with it starting with the Friday quarterfinal game. Finish outside the top four teams and it takes winning four games on four consecutive days. Fortunately, the Gators are considered locks to make the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens in Knoxville or in the SEC Tournament, but adding a few more wins before Selection Sunday could seriously enhance Florida’s seeding. Florida is quite capable of beating Tennessee in Knoxville. The Gators already own a 26-point blowout win over the Vols in Gainesville back in January, a game played short-handed because Castleton was nursing a sprained ankle and Scottie Lewis was sitting out due to Covid-19 protocols. Tennessee came into that game 10-1 and was the darling of national pundits who were fast tracking the Vols on a path to the Final Four. On paper the Gators were outmanned. On the floor, they swarmed all over the Vols defensively and owned the paint as Florida compensated for Castleton’s absence by Omar Payne, Osayi Osifo and Jason Jitoboh picking up the slack. Castleton and Lewis will be available Sunday but since the game is in Knoxville where the Vols are rarely beaten, it will be an all hands on deck type of game. White will need everyone to contribute much the way he got everyone involved in Florida’s most impressive win of the season on the road at Morgantown where the Gators beat a West Virginia team that won’t surprise anyone if they wind up in the Final Four. This is what is so frustrating about the Gators and why they are your basic box of chocolates team. You just never know what you’re going to get from them but when everybody shows up focused and ready to go, they do things like whack West Virginia. Those same Gators who destroyed the Vols in Gainesville and plunked West Virginia in Morgantown can dispose of Tennessee in Knoxville if they remember to take care of the basketball. The team that turned the ball over 15 times in the first half against Missouri and was outscored 13-1 in the final 6:37 against South Carolina can get steamrolled if the focus is not there and the effort on the defensive end isn’t intense. Questions are many for this Florida team but answers can be found with these two numbers – 18 and 13. Eighteen as in the 18-day layoff after Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the court in Tallahassee. In the time between that shocking event when the Gators lost to Florida State and the win over Vanderbilt in Nashville on December 30, the Gators were in a mild state of shock from seeing their best player, team leader and close friend fight for his life. With Johnson hospitalized in an induced coma in the days after Tallahassee, basketball was the last thing on the Gators’ minds. Four games were cancelled during the layoff and it would have been understandable had White had asked for more off while his team coped with the trauma. Most of the team went home during the layoff and the entire group didn’t return until after Christmas. Preparation for the Gators’ return to action following the layoff consisted of a couple of practice days just before traveling to Nashville where they got a 91-72 win. Although the Gators beat LSU at the O-Dome their second game back, the rust and lack of conditioning from that 18-day layoff showed, particularly on the defensive end when they lost by double digits to both Alabama and Kentucky. Those two losses made it appear that Florida’s season was on the brink, but they got their act together for five wins in the next six games including that impressive 85-80 win over then 11th (now 6th) ranked West Virginia. The West Virginia win has been described as the most impressive non-conference win by any SEC team this season. A team that can win on the road like that against a tough, physical team like West Virginia can beat anybody in the country when there is full focus and intensity. So how do the Gators go from playing like a team capable of a deep NCAA run and then three days later lose to a team going nowhere like South Carolina? Another one of those you never know what you’re going to get nights. That brings us to the second important number – 13. Immediately following the loss to South Carolina, the Gators had their up close and personal encounter with Covid-19. That forced a 13-day layoff most of which was spent with all team activities halted. Three games the Gators could have won were postponed and it was only two or three days prior to a road trip to Fayetteville that they were able to practice again, only one of which conducted with the entire team on the floor. An almost predictable loss followed to a very hot Arkansas team. Since the loss to Arkansas we’ve seen the Gators go into a three-steps forward, one step backward mode. The three steps were consecutive wins over Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky. The step backward was the Wednesday night loss to Missouri. Maybe we should have expected the Missouri loss since it fits the pattern of the way this season has played out. It would be hard for any team to sustain consistency with 31 days of layoffs that allowed only minimal practice, a lack of conditioning during the time away because of NCAA and SEC virus protocols and seven games lost to postponement, only one of which will be made up. There is no way to get a grip on how all this affected the Gators but nearly every team that has experienced protracted layoffs has had similar experiences. Mike White has probably dealt with the lapses better than most coaches, but while not making excuses for his team he would likely tell you it has been very difficult to get everyone on the same page mentally and physically. None of this takes into account what the Gators might be like if they had Keyontae Johnson healthy, either. Johnson was the preseason SEC Player of the Year for good reason and it isn’t a stretch to think he would have justified the hype. Keyontae was such a steadying influence and such a force at crunch time last year. With him in the lineup would the Gators be three or four wins better right now? We will never know the answer to that question. All we have to show for 16 games without Keyontae is an inconsistent body of work whose high points outweigh the low points enough that it will get UF into the NCAA Tournament. Currently the Gators are 27th in the latest NCAA Net Rankings and 28th at Kenpom.com, probably the two best indicators of how the NCAA Tournament Committee would see UF if this were Selection Sunday. The Selection Committee tries to balance out the wins with what it considers bad losses. Of the seven Florida losses, South Carolina is the only one outside the top 100 at Kenpom.com and the NCAA Net Rankings. Although there is no such thing as a good loss, some are better than others. Here are Florida’s seven losses complete with the NCAA Net Ranking and Kenpom.com ranking for each team to tell you why: Alabama: The 8th-ranked Crimson Tide are SEC champs and on the two seed line of every NCAA Tournament bracketologist. Alabama is 7th in the NCAA Net Rankings, 8th at Kenpom.com Florida State: The 11th-ranked Seminoles are headed for their second straight ACC title and are on the three line for most bracketologists. FSU is 10th at Kenpom.com, 14th in the NCAA Net Rankings. Arkansas: The Razorbacks are ranked 12th and considered by many to be the one team in the country not named Gonzaga that nobody wants to play under any circumstance. Everybody has them on a four line currently. Arkansas is 12th in the NCAA Net Rankings, 13th at Kenpom.com. Missouri: Since January the Tigers have spent most of their time in the top 25 and only a week ago were projected as a top four seed. Right now they’re on most eight lines. Missouri is 39th in the NCAA Net Rankings, 43rd at Kenpom.com. Mississippi State: This was a three-point loss in Starkville where the Bulldogs are extremely tough to beat. If they win a couple of games in Nashville no one will be surprised. The Bulldogs are 65th at Kenpom.com, 79th at the NCAA Net Rankings. Kentucky: Despite the record that says this is the worst Kentucky team in ages, the Wildcats are top four or five in the nation when it comes to talent. Odds are they won’t, but if they did go 4-0 in Nashville it wouldn’t cause heart attacks. Despite an 8-15 record, Kentucky is 55th at Kenpom.com and 65th in the NCAA Net Rankings. South Carolina: No way to defend it. The Gamecocks are 101st at Kenpom.com and 123rd at the NCAA Net Rankings. With one regular season game to go at Tennessee, the SEC Tournament in Nashville and the NCAA Tournament ahead there really isn’t an accurate way to predict the future for the Gators. It’s an end of the season that could go either way. SEC Network analysts Jimmy Dykes and Pat Bradley both believe the Gators are capable of making it to the championship game in the SEC Tournament and past the first weekend in the NCAA Tournament. That’s not analysis from a parallel universe. Florida is indeed capable of playing with and beating just about any team in the country but that’s only if they play like they did when they beat Tennessee the first time or took out West Virginia in Morgantown. If the Gators play like they did in losing to South Carolina, the last three minutes of the loss at Arkansas or in the first half of the Missouri loss, they will go home in a hurry from Nashville and from Indianapolis, where the entire NCAA Tournament will play out. There is absolutely no telling what we’re going to get from one game to the next or even one half to the next. Florida’s greatest consistency is its inconsistency. The Gators are very capable of beating Tennessee Sunday and making life a little bit easier moving forward but this is a team so full of surprises that Mike White doesn’t have a clue what is next. Good things can happen if he pulls the right chocolate out of the box.

Hull Road has been busy in recent weeks. The new Florida Ballpark and the recently face-lifted Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium sit on either side of Hull, facing each other in an apparent square off between orange and blue meccas of their kind. Sprinkle in the occasional soccer game at the adjacent Donald R. Dizney stadium and it makes for a bustling day on the Southwest side of campus. Twenty-one games have been hosted on Hull Road since the spring sports season really ramped up, beginning on Feb. 17. A team representing the Florida Gators has won 16 of those 21. A 76 percent winning percentage is nothing to whine about in the spring season – it’s really quite impressive. However, we are talking about the University of Florida where the “Gator Standard”, something Dan Mullen coined, exists. And not to pick on anyone, but one of those teams on Hull Road isn’t doing its chores and keeping house. Even the golden child crumbles. After being unanimously regarded as the best college baseball team in the country heading into the 2021 season, the Florida Gators are free falling. After coughing up the opening series of the year to then-No. 21 Miami Hurricanes, there was a little shell shock, but nothing to storm the beach about. The Gators dropped the center game after a 13-inning dog fight with the Hurricanes. Florida jumped to a five-run lead after just one inning and held it through six before letting the rope rip through their palms in the ninth inning as they gave up three runs to Miami. Junior pitcher Franco Aleman inherited the mound in the eighth inning with a 8-3 lead. In 1.2 innings of action, Aleman gave up just one hit. However, that stat only shines if you don’t walk batters. Aleman gifted six free bags to the Hurricanes, three of which pushed a run across the plate. The Gators went on to give up two more runs in the 13th inning to lose the at-one-time five-run lead for the first time of the game. And the Gators would never see the lead again. That can’t happen. But Florida baseball’s Kevin O’Sullivan is one loyal guy. “The game didn't come down to Franco at the end. Obviously, we would think most times we would win a ballgame with a 3-run lead. But there's a lot of things that factored into today's loss,” O’Sullivan said following the loss. “We need to focus. We need to finish the inning. We talk about shutdown innings all the time. We scored five in the first, turned around and gave up one in the top of the second. It's a game of momentum, and it just doesn't fall on Jack and Franco. We had it teed up.” Florida had it far from teed up during Sunday’s series-deciding rubber match on the next day. The Gators found themselves buried under an eight-run deficit by the fourth inning. And though they had clawed back into the game by the eighth inning, it’s was a situation that even the top-ranked team in the country couldn’t overcome. And most everyone’s eyes were back on the mound. Hunter Barco, before ever stepping foot in Gainesville, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. During his 3.1 innings of action on the mound on Sunday, Barco gave up twice as many earned runs as he threw strikeouts. It wasn’t exactly the performance anyone saw coming from the promising rookie. Dropping the opening series to Miami left O’Sullivan grasping at straws. "I guess the best way to describe it was unexpected. Won Friday night even though it was a little closer than we wanted it to be with a six-run lead, and won a game with some momentum, new ballpark, everything,” O’Sullivan said. “Then uncharacteristically, some of the guys who've been there before just did not pitch as well as they should have. It literally happened within a 48-hour period and I don't have any answers. These guys have all pitched on the weekend, they've been pretty consistent in the fall, pretty consistent in the spring. I don't know." The Gators lost to No. 21-ranked Florida Atlantic on Wednesday night in another extra inning showdown. This time, the game was chalked up to not making timely contact with the ball when the Gators were in the box. But O’Sullivan brought up a familiar issue during his post-game meeting with the media on Wednesday: focus. “I'll look at this tomorrow, but I think we got some guys taking their bats out on defense. It's not focused,” O’Sullivan said. “It's not where it needs to be. We've been really good offensively up until tonight. I just don't think the focus was quite as sharp as it needs to be. Probably need to tighten up a few things.” The Gators have already experienced a five-spot skid as they checked in at No. 6 in the country this week. Wednesday’s loss won’t help. And Florida baseball doesn’t have an easy slate ahead. After this weekend’s series against Florida A&M, the Gators will host Georgia State and Stetson on March 9 and 10. Both teams have the potential to further knock away at Florida’s confidence. And if that happens, O’Sullivan might want to take the boys across the street to see what kind of advice Tim Walton and Florida’s softball program can offer. The No. 5-ranked Gators of Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium have sprinted out to a 13-0 start to their season. Granted, Florida softball has yet to see a ranked opponent. But in 2021, other top teams have learned that rankings don’t matter. The No. 2-ranked UCLA Bruins lost to Oregon over the weekend, while Washington, which was the second-best team in the country in the preseason, has dropped games to unranked Nevada and San Diego State. And the Gators have been in some upset-alert worth dogfights themselves. “I think it’s good for us,” Florida’s fifth-year leader Kendyl Lindaman said earlier this season. “Just knowing and understanding that anyone can beat you on any given day. It’s the game of softball. It could be a close game. It could be a blowout. But anyone can beat you on any given day.” That day hasn’t come for Tim Walton’s Gators yet, despite some close calls. Senior second baseman and lead-off hitter Hannah Adams has recorded two walk-off hits so far this season. Adams most recently helped the Gators fend off McNeese State by lifting a home run over the centerfield wall in the eighth inning. But like the baseball team, some of Florida softball’s pitching has come as a surprise – but a pleasant one. Fifth-year lefty and Gainesville native, Katie Chronister and junior righty, Elizabeth Hightower have taken the circle by storm. In previous seasons, Chronister and Hightower saw much of their action in relief. “I just wanted to be a role player,” Chronister said of her decision to return for her fifth year in the Orange and Blue. “I had so much fun last year, regardless of what role that was… When we came back and he offered me my fifth year, I was just under the assumption I was going to stay in the same role. I still think I am in the same role, but being able to step up big was a big thing for me. I’m of course excited for myself. No real changes when talking about roles, I just want to come out there and have a role.” And though Chronister might humbly believe otherwise, her role has grown in 2021. This year, the formerly shadowed duo has started seven of the Gators 13 contests and lead the team in pitching efforts. Through 22 innings of action, Chronister maintains an earned run average of 0, while Hightower, through 33.2 innings of action has an ERA of .83. The two have also combined for 57 strikeouts. The rest of the pitching staff has mustered just 23 strikeouts. The state of the diamond programs on Hull Road couldn’t be further apart thus far. While Florida baseball continues to try to find its bearings despite the grand expectations that it walked into in 2021, the Gators’ softball program and its ability to finish games has become the highlight of Florida’s spring sports season. But hopefully soon all of Hull Road will find consistent success.

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: OPPORTUNITY LOST All the Florida Gators (13-7, 9-6 SEC) had to do was play the way they played the three previous games and they would have secured a bye into the Friday quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament. If they had played Wednesday night at the O-Dome with the same intensity they played in scoring consecutive wins over Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky, the Gators wouldn’t have lost to Missouri (15-7, 8-7 SEC), 72-70, on a driving reverse layup by Dru Smith with less than a second to go. But they did lose and when they take a look in the mirror they’ll see who is to blame for a game that not only shouldn’t have been lost but should have been a blowout win. You need only four words to sum up the culprit – 15 first half turnovers. The Tigers converted those 15 giveaways into 18 of their 36 first half points. There is absolutely no way Florida should have trailed 36-29 at the half, but things like that happen when you have 15 empty possessions. It’s far too simple to point out how Mizzou converted Florida’s mistakes into points. Decent teams do that. But there is a flip side to turnovers and that is scoring opportunities blown on the offensive end. You don’t have to be a mathematical savant to conclude that if the Gators had merely turned it over 10 times instead of 15 and scored on two of the remaining five possessions, they win the game. The Gators cleaned up their act considerably in the second half when they reduced their turnovers to three, but Mizzou still converted those into seven more points. So do the math. Missouri scored 47 points without assistance of the Gators. At least a third of the first half turnovers were when the Gators tried to force the ball into Colin Castleton. Those bad passes into double teams – Missouri was collapsing its defense on Castleton all night – resulted in points at the other end and Castleton going scoreless in the first half (he scored all 10 of his points in the second). Missouri came into the game shooting 31.6% from the three-point line. The Tigers hit 5-10 in the first half and finished the game going 9-22 or 40.9%. In Florida’s previous three games, opponents were 15-60 because the Gators aggressively defended the three-point line. On some of Missouri’s wide open three-ball attempts in the first half shooters had time to set their feet before loading up and letting it fly. The most egregious defensive mistake was the one Tre Mann made in allowing Smith to blow by him for what proved to be the game-winning basket after UF had battled back from eight down with 2:27 to go to tie it up at 70-70 with 18 seconds left on a pair of Tyree Applebee free throws. It should have never come down to a final defensive stand, however, and considering the way Mann played on the offensive end – 21 points on 9-11 shooting with 3-3 from the foul line – he gets a pass. Since they only gave the ball away three times in the second half, the Gators were very efficient on the offensive end, hitting 61.9% of their shots from the field. For the game, the Gators hit 25-43 from the field overall (58.1%), 5-14 (35.7%) from the three-point line and 15-18 (83.3%) from the foul line. How can you shoot that well and lose? Well, that’s what happens when you give the ball away with such frequency. The Gators can still earn a bye to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals if they beat Tennessee in Knoxville Sunday. A win and UF finishes the regular season with only six SEC losses. A loss would put the Gators 9-7 in SEC play while Tennessee would finish 10-7, therefore earning a top four finish. When the Gators take care of the basketball and defend, there isn’t a team in the SEC they can’t beat. When they turn it over 15 times in a half and give opponents time to load up and shoot the three-ball with their feet set, there isn’t an SEC team the Gators can’t lose to. They shouldn’t have lost Wednesday night but they did and it was a huge opportunity tossed down the drain. Wednesday SEC scores Missouri (15-7, 8-7 SEC) 72, FLORIDA (13-7, 9-6 SEC) 70 Mississippi State (14-12, 8-9 SEC) 63, Texas A&M (8-8, 2-7 SEC) 57 Saturday SEC games South Carolina (6-13, 4-11 SEC) at Kentucky (8-15, 7-9 SEC) Mississippi State (14-12, 8-9 SEC) at Auburn (12-14, 6-11 SEC) #8 Alabama (20-6, 15-2 SEC) at Georgia (14-10, 7-14 SEC) LSU (15-8, 10-6 SEC) at Missouri (15-7, 8-7 SEC) Texas A&M (8-8, 2-7 SEC) at #12 Arkansas (20-5, 12-4 SEC) Vanderbilt (7-14, 3-12 SEC) at Ole Miss (14-10, 9-8 SEC) Sunday SEC game FLORIDA (13-7, 9-6 SEC) at Tennessee (16-7, 9-7 SEC) SOME QUOTES FROM FLORIDA SPRING FOOTBALL PRACTICE HBC Dan Mullen on Emory Jones throwing the football: “He's got a cannon for an arm. I mean he's got a cannon for an arm, so I don't know who would say that I guess. Maybe there's somebody out at practice, watching practice that's more expertise at quarterback than me that's letting you know those things, but I'm pretty confident in what he can do." Tight end Kemore Gamble on Jones throwing: "Emory still can throw the ball, can throw the ball very well. He’s not just a runner. To me, I think Emory's a pass-first quarterback. That’s what I think.” Anthony Richardson on the role of the QB: "As a quarterback, you can’t be too tempted. You can’t move too quick because if you do you might make the wrong read or a bad decision. You don’t need that as a quarterback because basically, you’re the leader of the team, so making smart decisions and being poised and being patient.” Stewart Reese on the play of Ethan White and Josh Braun on the O-line: “They’ve been doing good at practice. They’re getting better every day. Those are the two people that stand out to me on the offensive line. A lot of our other younger guys are still fighting to get a job. But those two guys, considering all of the things that they’ve been through to get to this point, they’re doing a real good job to me." Running back Dameon Pierce assessing himself and fellow running backs Malik Davis, Nay’Quan Wright, Lorenzo Lingard and Demarkcus Bowman: “Obviously, I’m a power runner. I’m a north-south guy. Malik’s more pass-reliant, so we might use Malik in the pass game, get him open. Same thing with Nay’Quan. Nay’Quan kind of like a Swiss army knife. We can throw him in the run game, we can get him behind a couple of linemen, or we can throw him in the pass game, you know? And Lorenzo and Bowman come kind of similar in terms of physical assets. They both have great top-end speed and great acceleration. With those guys you want to get them the ball, obviously, going north and south.” UF BASEBALL FALLS TO FAU, 3-2, IN 10 INNINGS Florida’s bats went cold Wednesday night at the 3rd-ranked Gators (6 -3) had their five-game winning streak ended by 21st-ranked Florida Atlantic, 3-2, in 10 innings at the Florida Ballpark. After a weekend in which they pushed across 36 runs on 36 hits in a three-game sweep of Samford, the Gators managed only five hits and didn’t score again after a second inning two-run homer by freshman Colby Halter. UF starter Garrett Milchin gave up two runs and five hits in three innings but the bullpen shut down the Owls on two hits until the 10th when Franco Aleman gave up an unearned run on a single, a two-out fielding and a game-winning single by Mitchell Hartigan. The Gators mounted a sixth inning threat when Jordan Butler doubled to right center but Josh Rivera lined into a double play to erase Butler. In the eighth, Jacob Young had a leadoff single and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but FAU got out of the inning with a strikeout, a fly out and a ground out. Young had two hits on the night as he extended his hitting streak to 27 games dating all the way back to the last game of 2019 (17-game streak in 2020; 9-game streak this year). The Gators will host Florida A&M for a three-game weekend series. OTHER UF SPORTS Softball: Jamie Hoover hit a 3-run homer in the first inning and Hannah Adams later hit a solo homer as the 5th-ranked Gators ran their record to 13-0 with a 6-2 win over New Mexico State at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium Wednesday night. Adams, who is hitting .512 for the season, had three hits for the night as she ran her hitting streak to seven games. Cheyenne Lindsey, who had a run-scoring double, improved to .457 while extending her hitting streak to seven games. Picking up the win was Elizabeth Hightower (6-0), who gave up one run and one hit while striking out five in four innings of relief. Natalie Lugo pitched the seventh to pick up her second save of the season. The Gators will face Florida State Friday night in Gainesville, then face the Seminoles Saturday in Tallahassee. Lacrosse: Maggi Hall, Danielle Pavinelli and Shannon Kavanaugh scored three goals each Wednesday afternoon to lead the 6th-ranked Gators (2-1) to an easy, 20-7, road win over Kennesaw State. Nine different Gators netted a goal in a game the Gators dominated from start to finish. Next up for the Gators is a Saturday matchup with Stetson in DeLand. Women’s basketball: The Gators (11-12) live to fight a second day in the SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina as Danielle Rainey hit a pair of critical three-pointers late in the game to lead UF past Auburn, 69-62. With the win the Gators advance to face 5th-seeded and 20th-ranked Kentucky (16-7) at 1 p.m. today. Kiara Smith had a stat sheet stuffer of a game to lead the Gators, scoring 19 points to go with five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Rainey had 13 points and Kristina Moore had 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama: Mark Orphey, who was the secondary coach at Utah State, has joined the Alabama staff as a defensive analyst. Arkansas: Former Houston defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen has joined the Arkansas staff as a defensive analyst. Auburn: No former Auburn players transferred to UCF Wednesday nor did any former Auburn coaches or staffers bolt to Orlando to join Gus Malzahn’s staff. Georgia: It will be interesting to see which backup quarterback elects to transfer after spring practice. JT Daniels, who started the last four games, is the unquestioned starter heading into spring, but Stetson Bennett IV, who started five of the first six in 2020, is back as is Carson Beck, who carried a clipboard all last year. Five-star Brock Vandagriff is an early enrollee who didn’t come to Georgia to get fourth-string reps. Missouri: Eli Drinkwitz requires freshmen to earn their jersey numbers. It took two practices for early enrollee wide receiver Dominic Lovett to earn his number. He will wear No. 7 in the fall. Ole Miss: With the state opening up and allowing full capacity for restaurants as well as all outdoor activities, Ole Miss will use a phased in approach over the next few weeks to increase attendance at all outdoor sporting events. Tennessee: Emmitt Gooden, a defensive lineman who was dismissed from the team prior to the 2020 season, has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Syracuse Hall of Fame basketball coach Jim Boeheim is feeling a bit crusty in his old age (he’s 75). After the Orange beat Clemson 64-54 Wednesday night, Boeheim took a shot at Matthew Guttierez, the Syracuse beat reporter for The Athletic who was critical of the coach on Monday. In his post-game remarks Wednesday night, Boeheim said Guttierez “has never played basketball and is 5-foot-2.” That was uncalled for and just one more indication that Boeheim’s sell-by date expired a while back.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: A WIN GUARANTEES TOP FOUR FINISH IN SEC REGULAR SEASON Mike White has the Gators (13-6, 9-5 SEC) playing with a measure of desperation as they begin the final week of the regular season tonight when they play host to Missouri (14-7, 7-7 SEC) at the O-Dome (6:30 p.m., SEC Network). Winners of their last three games including two on the road last week at Auburn and Kentucky, the Gators need only a win tonight to clinch a top four finish which means they won’t have to play until the Friday quarterfinals in next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville. Coming off two bad losses, the Gators have turned things around defensively in the last three games as the Gators have held Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky to an average of 62.3 points per game, 40.5 percent overall (71-175) from the field and a dismal 25 percent (15-60) from the three-point line. Granted, these are not three of the more gifted offensive teams in the country, but any time you hold any opponent to those kind of numbers your defense is getting the job done. The keys to beating Missouri tonight are: (1) Neutralize 6-10, 260-pound Jeremiah Tilmon (12.9 points, 7.7 rebounds); (2) keep Scottie Lewis out of foul trouble so he can go to work defensively on Mark Smith, making him take tough twos instead of open threes; (3) get the ball into the post so Colin Castleton (12.9 points, 5.8 rebounds) can go to work on Tilmon, who has been foul-prone his entire career; (4) get Tre Mann (14.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists) going early on the offensive end and play some zone to keep him out of foul trouble defensively; (5) since Missouri is not a good comeback team, get an early lead and force the Tigers to play out of their comfort zone. Tuesday SEC scores #8 Alabama (20-6, 15-2 SEC) 70, Auburn (12-14, 6-11 SEC) 58 #12 Arkansas (20-5, 12-4 SEC) 101, South Carolina (6-13, 4-11 SEC) 73 LSU (15-8, 10-6 SEC) 83, Vanderbilt (7-14, 3-12 SEC) 68 Ole Miss (14-10, 9-8 SEC) 70, Kentucky (8-15, 7-9 SEC) 62 Wednesday SEC games Missouri (14-7, 7-7 SEC) at FLORIDA (13-6, 9-5 SEC) Mississippi State (13-12, 7-9 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC) A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE ABOUT MULLEN, OFFENSE, O-LINE AND DEFENSE It’s the offseason so pundits who don’t have a lot of news to report spend a lot of time speculating. That might have something to do with so many folks insinuating that this is a make-or- break year for Dan Mullen. Make-or-break? Really? Let’s put a few things in perspective: 29-8: That’s Mullen’s three-year record at Florida since arriving in 2018 with three consecutive New Year’s Six bowl games. Only Urban Meyer (31-8) had a better first three years. The best three years of the Will Muschamp era were 2011-13 when the Gators went 22-10. The three years of Jim McElwain saw a 23-15 record. Old Yeller was 19-8 in his first two years when he inherited what amounts to an NFL defense from Muschamp. Only Alabama and Georgia have a better 3-year record: Alabama is 38-3 over the last three years, the best record in college football. It must be noted that Nick Saban has been on the job 14 years. Georgia is 31-7. Kirby Smart inherited a team that was 20-6 in the two years before he took over in 2016. The Florida offense under Muschamp: In 2011, the Gators averaged 25.5 points and 328.7 yards per game. In 2012, the Gators averaged 26.5 points and 334 yards. In 2013, the Gators averaged 18.8 points and 316.7 yards. In 2014, the Gators averaged 30.3 points and 367.6 yards. The Gators cracked the top 100 in both scoring and total offense in 2014. From 2011-13 the Gators never cracked the top 100 in total offense. The Florida offense under McElwain: In 2015, the Gators averaged 23.2 points and 334 yards per game. In 2016, they averaged 23.9 points and 344 yards. In 2017, the Gators averaged 22.1 points and 335.9 yards. The Gators failed to crack the top 100 in either scoring or total offense in any of the three years. The Florida offense under Mullen: In 2017, the Gators averaged 426.7 yards (6.23 yards per play) and 35 points per game. In 2018, they averaged 430.5 yards (6.47 yards per play) and 33.2 points. In 2020, the Gators averaged 509.8 yards (7.28 per play) and 39.8 points per game. The O-line under Mullen: Obviously, the O-line was doing something right the last three years because the Gators posted the best offensive numbers since 2009. With a veteran offensive line in 2018 that Mullen and John Hevesy inherited, the Gators averaged 213.7 rushing yards (5.27 per carry) and allowed just 18 sacks in 364 pass attempts. Any time you give up less than a sack per 20 attempts, your O-line is doing well. The 2019 O-line, which was the fourth youngest in all of Division I, gave up 25 sacks in 467, which is just one per 18.68 attempts. In 2020, the Gators gave up 20 sacks in 473 attempts or one per 23.65 attempts. Now the running totals were not as good as 2018 – 4.24 per attempt in 2019, 4.29 in 2020 – in part because the offense shifted on the fly to an all-out passing game since Kyle Trask is not exactly fleet of feet. The Florida defense under Mullen: If there is a real sticking point with Mullen this is it. Under Muschamp, the Gators finished top 10 in total defense from 2011-13 and were 15th in 2014. With the defensive players he inherited from Muschamp, McElwain’s 2015-16 defenses were both top ten. The 2017 defense dropped off to 31st after the studs all left for the NFL. Mullen’s 2018 defense finished 28th and in 2019 it was 9th. The wheels came off in 2020. How much of that was just bad coaching and how much was related to no spring practice or summer conditioning we’ll never know, but the Gators finished 83rd in total defense (it seemed worse, didn’t it?) at 427.8 yards per game. Conclusions: Reports that this is a make-or-break year for Mullen are GREATLY exaggerated. Even with a new QB, the offense is going to be fine. With a full spring to work and offseason with Nick Savage, the O-line will be stronger, quicker and more physical than last year, and should be vastly improved. It’s the defense that has everyone jumpy. If it’s a make-or-break year for anyone, it’s for defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. Defenses everywhere suffered last year, but to go from giving up 15.5 points and 304.8 yards per game in 2019 to 30.8 points and 427.8 yards in 2020 is astonishing. If it’s a second straight bad year for Grantham and the defense, then he won’t be around in 2022. Then perhaps Mullen will face a make-or-break year. Until then, it’s all speculation to fill space on someone’s blog or website. UF SPRING SPORTS Gymnastics: On the strength of a pair of 10s in last Friday night’s win over Auburn Trinity Thomas was selected SEC Gymnast of the Week for the fourth time this season. Thomas has been SEC Gymnast of the Week a record 15 times. Ellie Lazzari was named SEC Freshman of the Week. The No. 1 Gators will travel to Tuscaloosa to face 6th-ranked Alabama Friday night. The Gators have already clinched a tie for the SEC championship but with a win Friday they win the title outright. Baseball: Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan can tie Dave Fuller for the most wins in Florida baseball history if the Gators (6-2) go 4-0 this week. O’Sullivan has 553 wins in 14 years. The 3rd-ranked Gators (by Collegiate Baseball newspaper) play host to 21st-ranked Florida Atlantic tonight at Florida Ballpark and FAMU for a three-game series this weekend. Softball: The 5th-ranked Gators (12-0) lead the nation in ERA at 0.71. The UF pitching staff has five shutouts in the last six games. UF plays host to New Mexico State tonight at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. Lacrosse: The 6th-ranked Gators (1-1) are at Kennesaw State this afternoon. Women’s Golf: The 16th-ranked Gators are tied for 17th after 36 holes at the Gamecock Invitational Tournament in Columbia, South Carolina. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama: Former Eastern Michigan and Louisville head coach Ron Cooper is expected to join Nick Saban’s staff as an analyst. Cooper was once Dan Mullen’s defensive coordinator at Mississippi State and Steve Spurrier’s secondary coach at South Carolina. Arkansas: Redshirt freshman Blayne Toll, who at times in 2020 was listed as a defensive end and other times as a tight end, has put his name in the NCAA transfer portal … Arkansas hired Butler Benton from Georgia Southern to be the new Director of Player Personnel. Auburn: Former Auburn defensive end Big Kat Bryant, who made second team All-SEC in 2020, is the latest to transfer to UCF to play for Gus Malzahn. Bryant had 10 sacks in his Auburn career. Also former Auburn staffer Ross Newton has departed to UCF where he will be assistant to the head coach. Georgia: Kirby Smart indicated he will be looking at the transfer portal to see if there is any help available in the secondary where five players declared for the NFL and one transferred. Kentucky: To make the NCAA Basketball Tournament, the Wildcats (8-15, 7-9 SEC) will have to win four consecutive games at the SEC Tournament in Nashville. The last time UK had to win four at the SEC Tournament was 1952. LSU: Spring football practice will begin March 16 with the spring football game played on April 17. Mississippi State: With a win over Texas A&M tonight, Mississippi State (13-12, 7-9 SEC) is assured of no worse than a break-even basketball season. The Bulldogs have to go 2-0 this week to finish with a .500 record in SEC play. Missouri: Early enrollee QB Tyler Macon is turning heads with his play so far in Mizzou’s spring practice, showing mobility and a very strong arm. Ole Miss: With their 70-62 win over Kentucky Tuesday night, Ole Miss (14-10, 9-8 SEC) still has a shot to finish fourth in the SEC which would give the Rebels a first round bye in Nashville. South Carolina: This is a novel approach to getting a packed stadium for 2021. Athletic director Ray Tanner announced that South Carolina is rolling its ticket prices back to the same level they were in 2010. Tennessee: Kurt Schmidt, who worked for Josh Heupel at UCF, is the new Director of Competition Development at UT. That’s a fancy way of saying he’s the new strength and conditioning coordinator. Texas A&M: Former Aggie Heisman Trophy QB Johnny Manziel claims to be a 0-1 handicapper on the golf course. He says he’s giving himself 12 years to earn a PGA Tour card. Vanderbilt: Former Vandy receiver Jayden Harrison, who caught eight passes for 20 yards in 2020, is transferring to Marshall. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Because they always load up on talent, the prevailing thought heading into a pandemic influenced 2020-21 basketball season was that bluebloods like Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State and North Carolina would almost waltz into the NCAA Tournament. Yet, here we are with just a few days before the power conferences play their tournaments and North Carolina (15-9, 9-6 ACC) is the only one of the four that has a reasonable shot at marching to the madness when the NCAA selects the 68 teams that will compete for the national championship. Kentucky (8-15, 7-9 SEC) is assured of its worst record since before Adolph Rupp became coach. Duke (11-10, 9-8 ACC) lost to Georgia Tech Tuesday night, which means the only way the Blue Devils make the field is to win the ACC Tournament. If Michigan State (14-10, 8-10 Big Ten) can’t beat 3rd-ranked Michigan back-to-back Thursday and Sunday, the Spartans will have to at least make the Big Ten championship game and even that might not be good enough. I find the possibility of Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State missing the Big Dance refreshing.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday: TWO QUARTERBACKS THIS FALL? MULLEN’S DONE IT BEFORE Emory Jones is currently Florida’s No. 1 quarterback and Anthony Richardson is the No. 2. That’s the way it was when spring practice began and barring something unforeseen, the way it is going to be a couple of weeks from now when spring football ends. Just because there is an established hierarchy, however, it doesn’t mean Jones will get all the snaps this fall with Richardson assuming the role of Captain Clipboard on the sideline. Mullen made it abundantly clear he’s planning to play both Jones and Richardson in the fall, a common sense move since if Jones were to go down with an injury he wants Richardson poised and ready to go. Mullen isn’t planning to get caught in another situation like the one at Kentucky in 2019 when Feleipe Franks went down with a broken/dislocated ankle and untested Kyle Trask came in cold only to surprise everybody by playing like a poised veteran in the first meaningful action of his career. "You’re one play away from that guy being the starter and being the starter at Florida is a great, great responsibility," Mullen said at his Monday press conference as the Gators near the midway point in spring practice. "And within our system it’s a great responsibility for our success. So, you know, I always want to have multiple guys ready. We’ll play multiple guys early in the season, whoever the starter is, just so that guys are ready to play like we always do." As the backup quarterback, Jones has completed 55-86 passes (63.9%) for 613 yards and seven touchdowns while running for 514 yards and six more TDs. Richardson got only a handful of snaps in 2020 when he ran for 61 yards on seven carries and completed 1-2 passes for 27 yards and a TD. While a lot of coaches shy away from anything that can be perceived as a two quarterback system, Mullen has never been afraid to give his backups critical snaps in big games. Back when he was UF’s offensive coordinator in 2006, Mullen effectively used Chris Leak as his pinpoint passer and Tim Tebow as his bull of a runner who occasionally threw. It worked well enough to win a national championship. As Mississippi State’s head coach, Mullen ran what was essentially a two QB system in 2010 when he orchestrated a shocking turnaround that saw the Bulldogs win nine games and go to the first of eight straight bowls. Chris Relf and Tyler Russell combined for 2,411 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, 763 rushing yards and three more TDs. In 2013 it was Russell and Dak Prescott were the two-headed QB monster. Prescott was the starter in 2014-15 but Damien Williams got snaps in big games in 2014. Nick Fitzgerald rehashed the Tebow role in 2015 although Prescott was a more than adequate runner. When Fitzgerald became the starter in 2016, Williams once again got important snaps as the backup. Keytaon Thompson had gotten enough important snaps in 2017 that when Fitzgerald broke his ankle in the first quarter against Ole Miss he nearly led the Bulldogs to a win. Thompson was the winning QB in the Gator Bowl against Louisville and Lamar Jackson. In a quarterback-driven league such as the SEC you can’t survive without a quality starter. Mullen thinks he has that guy in Emory Jones, but Anthony Richardson didn’t come here to carry a clipboard. He will have to earn his snaps but if he works hard, Mullen will oblige him with opportunities when games matter and not just at mop up time. Some might view this as a two QB system, but Mullen has always made it work and without much in the way of complaining from his guys. MANN SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK What a week it was for Tre Mann, who came up big when the Gators (13-6, 9-5 SEC) needed him most. In pacing Florida to critical road wins over Auburn and Kentucky, Mann combined for 40 points and 21 rebounds as the Gators moved into sole possession of third place in the SEC standings. Against Auburn, Mann scored 19 points while pulling down a career-high 13 rebounds. Saturday against Kentucky, he scored 21 and led the team with eight rebounds. In the two games, Mann was 15-25 overall from the field (60%), 3-8 (37.5%) from the three-point line, and 6-7 from the foul line while adding four assists and three steals. Mann averages 14.7 points to lead the team and is tied with Colin Castleton for the team lead in rebounds at 5.8 per game. Mann leads the Gators with 65 assists and is second in steals with 30. Tuesday SEC games #12 Arkansas (19-5, 11-4 SEC) at South Carolina (6-12, 4-10 SEC) Auburn (12-13, 6-10 SEC) at #8 Alabama (19-6, 14-2 SEC) Vanderbilt (7-13, 3-11 SEC) at LSU (14-8, 9-6 SEC) Kentucky (8-14, 7-8 SEC) at Ole Miss (13-10, 8-8 SEC) Wednesday SEC games Missouri at FLORIDA (13-6, 9-5 SEC) Mississippi State (13-12, 7-9 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC) UF SPRING SPORTS Baseball: The Gators (6-2) remained third in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll. UF moved up three spots to No. 4 in the latest NCBWA poll and one notch to fifth in the latest D1Baseball.com poll. The Gators dropped one spot to No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches poll and down to No. 7 in the Baseball America poll. The Gators return to action Wednesday when they face 21st-ranked Florida Atlantic at the Florida Ballpark. Softball: The Gators (12-0) remained No. 6 in the D1Softball.com poll. The Gators will face New Mexico State Wednesday at Katie Seashole Presly Stadium. Lacrosse: The Gators (1-1) dropped one spot to sixth in the Maverik Women’s Division I poll. The Gators will be on the road at Kennesaw State Wednesday. Volleyball: The Gators (12-2) are 8th in the latest AVCA poll … Lauren Dooley was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week and Marlie Monseraz was named SEC Setter of the Week … The Gators will host Arkansas Saturday and Sunday at the O-Dome. Men’s Golf: Sophomore Ricky Castillo was named to the 2021 Walker Cup team that will face the team from Ireland and Great Britain May 8-9 at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach … After their 5th-place finish in the LSU Invitational, the Gators are ranked 23rd nationally in the GolfWeek poll. Women’s Golf: The 16th-ranked Gators are in 16th place after one round in the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama: Athletic director Greg Byrne announced plans for Bryant-Denny Stadium to be at full capacity in the fall. Arkansas: The Razorbacks (7-0) are ranked No. 1 in every collegiate baseball poll ... The Razorbacks (19-5, 11-4 SEC) moved up eight places to 12th in the latest Associated Press basketball poll. Auburn: Former Auburn wide receiver Nate Craig-Myers is the latest former Tiger to join Gus Malzahn at UCF. Running back Mark-Antony Richards transferred to UCF last week. The UCF coaching staff includes Travis Williams (defensive coordinator), Herb Hand (offensive line), Kenny Ingram (defensive ends), Brian Blackmon (special teams coordinator) and Addison Williams (corners), all of who coached for Malzahn at Auburn last year. Georgia: On the Paul Finebaum Show, ESPN college football analyst Cole Cubelic said, “Paul, I might have Georgia as my No. 1 team in college football heading into the season and I’m not sure there’s going to be another team even close to them in the SEC East.” Kentucky: Defensive lineman Jerquavion Mahone has entered the NCAA transfer portal. Mahone has made five tackles in his career … Kentucky has suspended all football activities due to Covid-19 issues. LSU: LSU (6-1) is ranked 11th in the latest D1Baseball.com poll. Mississippi State: Mississippi State (5-2) moved up two spots to No. 3 in the latest D1Baseball.com poll. Missouri: When the AP and Coaches polls came out Monday, Missouri found itself unranked for the first time since mid-December. Ole Miss: The Rebels will play BYU home-and-home, playing in Provo in 2028 and in Oxford in 2029 ... The Rebels (5-2) dropped from 1st to 4th in the latest D1Baseball.com poll. South Carolina: South Carolina (6-0) is ranked 14th in the latest D1Baseball.com poll. Tennessee: The Vols (7-2) remained 18th in the D1Baseball.com poll. Texas A&M: The Aggies are scheduled to play their first basketball game since January 31 tonight at Missouri. That is, unless someone in the program tests positive for Covid-19 between now and 7 p.m. Vanderbilt: The Commodores (6-1) are No. 2 in the latest D1Baseball.com poll. ONE FINAL THOUGHT FOR TUESDAY: Joakim Noah is planning to retire from the NBA and fittingly, when he calls it quit it will be with the Chicago Bulls, the team that drafted him with the 9th pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. With his old college coach Billy Donovan now coaching the Bulls, the night Noah hangs up his sneakers promises to be quite emotional. During his three years at the University of Florida, I got to know Jo very well and always enjoyed how much joy he brought to the game, both on and off the court. I want to share three off-the-court moments that will always stick with me when I think about Joakim Noah. (1) The Oh-Fours (Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green) were always seen riding in Lee Humphrey’s little truck. The families of Noah, Horford and Green were fairly well to do and could have bought them cars, but Noah made the decision for the group that since Corey’s family couldn’t afford a car (his dad was struggling with diabetes and lost a leg) none of them would get a car. Until they all could own a car, none of them would. Noah also made the decision that when he and Horford got nice watches from family for Christmas, they wouldn’t wear them because Corey couldn’t afford a watch like that. That always told me what a caring teammate Noah was. (2) I was able to share Jo’s last afternoon in Gainesville in 2007 before he left for Las Vegas to prep for the NBA Draft. We walked into Donovan’s office and there was Christine (Billy’s wife) and youngest daughter Connor (five at the time if memory serves me correctly). At the sight of Joakim Noah, Connor squealed with delight and ran to him arms open wide. Noah, all 7-feet of him, dropped to his knees and hugged her as she leapt into his arms. For the next five minutes, they talked, Jo on his knees holding her hands as she asked what must have been a dozen questions. Noah answered every question and maintained eye contact with her the entire time. I watched a 22-year-old empower a 5-year-old and it told me why teammates loved Joakim Noah so much. (3) In the summer of 2009 at my 40th high school reunion at the Gainesville Hilton, I was talking to some friends I hadn’t seen in years when two arms engulfed me from behind and lifted me off the floor. When I turned around, it was Joakim Noah, who hugged me again and told me how happy he was to see me. He asked what I was doing and I told him I was there at my reunion. He asked politely if he could take a look at what we were doing. He could have acted like he was a big star – which he was – but he walked with me and as I introduced him to people, he was genuinely pleased to meet them and so engaging. He didn’t have to do that, but he did. In his own way, he was making me a star. That is the Joakim Noah I am always going to remember.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: ARIK GILBERT: THEATER OF THE BIZARRE You can’t cry over what you’ve never had, so there is no sense in losing sleep over the decommitment of tight end Arik Gilbert, who announced via Twitter Sunday that he won’t be coming to the University of Florida in May but instead will place his name back in the NCAA transfer portal. There is no question Gilbert is perhaps one of the most talented tight ends to ever come out of high school, but there is also the possibility he could have proven to be a bigger headache than he was worth if he had stepped foot in the UF locker room. Now, before anyone says I’m spinning or this is sour grapes, do take a moment to consider a couple of things that should make you go hmmm if they haven’t already: 1. Gilbert walked out on his LSU teammates with two games to go in the 2020 season. Gilbert told Coach O his “body was hurting” and there were things he needed to take care of. The hurting body I’m not buying. Things to take care of? I can see that. Over the next month Gilbert proceeded to string Coach O along like he was some gullible 10th-grade girl before announcing he was putting his name in the transfer portal. 2. Since he decided to transfer back on January 2, then why did he wait until it was too late to enroll at a transfer destination? And during that time, was he enrolled at LSU? Or anywhere? Was there an academic reason for the delay from the time he quit on his teammates before the Florida game Thanksgiving weekend until announcing he was going in the transfer portal on January 2? LSU is bound by student confidentiality rules and can’t say anything but the way Gilbert played Coach O before making his first transfer announcement does make one wonder. 3. It took nearly a month for Gilbert to commit to Florida, way too late to enroll at UF, and apparently that caught Dan Mullen and a whole lot of folks at UF by surprise. It was strange enough that Jason Higdon said the chances Gilbert would actually enroll in Florida in May was 50 percent. Jason is a prophet. 4. Sunday, Gilbert tweeted, “I will not be announcing my final decision until I am enrolled into school and on campus.” That lends itself to all sorts of speculation. Maybe all this is completely on the up and up and maybe this is a fine kid who’s been exploited all his life who is being pressured from all angles so he’s decommitted UF and will go into seclusion until he can think with a clear head and make a decision. Maybe, but I doubt it. From a talent perspective, Gilbert might have given the Gators Kyle Pitts, Part Deux. As much as I welcomed his talent I’ve been troubled by the way he left LSU with two games remaining in the regular season. This latest episode makes me believe there is way too much drama and experience tells me when there is this much drama the kid may be far more trouble than he’s worth. I’m wondering if UF is better off letting someone else deal with the issues. FLORIDA’S HOOPS SEASON WASN’T RUPP-TURED IN LEXINGTON On paper this is the worst Kentucky basketball team in decades, but the same paper should also tell you there is no shortage of talent in Lexington. History also reminds us that any win in Lexington is a good win. Florida’s 71-67 win over the Wildcats Saturday was good not only because it was on the road in a place that has been a graveyard too many times in the past, but because it may have assured the Gators that they will be in the NCAA Tournament field no matter what happens at the SEC Tournament in Nashville. With two games to go in the regular season, the Gators (13-6, 9-5 SEC) need only a split of games with Missouri (Wednesday at the O-Dome) and Tennessee (in Knoxville Sunday) to be assured of a first round bye in Nashville. A few days ago even a split seemed a difficult proposition but that was before the Gators overcame Kentucky and a whistle-happy zebra crew to move into sole possession of third place in the current SEC standings. The Gators seemed headed for a blowout loss when they trailed 26-16 with 10:52 to go in the first half but UF turned things around in the final 30 minutes There were three keys to getting the win in Lexington: (1) From the moment Mike White got teed up for questioning a truly phantom shooting foul call on Omar Payne, the Gators took charge at both ends of the floor and outscored Kentucky 65-51 the rest of the way; (2) once White switched to a zone, Kentucky’s perimeter game disappeared, especially in the second half when UK hit only 1-11 from the 3-point line; and (3) Kentucky couldn’t handle Tre Mann off the bounce or Colin Castleton on the inside and Tyree Appleby’s quickness gave them fits. As of Sunday night, the Gators had moved up to No. 26 in the NCAA Net Rankings and to the six line in Jerry Palm’s brackets at CBS. Elsewhere in the SEC with one week to go … Alabama (19-6, 14-2 SEC): Alabama has clinched the regular season title. With a couple of wins, the Crimson Tide could all but lock up a two or three seed even before the SEC Tournament. NCAA Net Ranking is 9. Jerry Palm (CBS) has Alabama a 2-seed. This week’s games: Auburn; at Georgia Arkansas (19-5, 11-4 SEC): The Razorbacks are one of the hotter teams in the nation. With a couple of wins this week they could ensure a top four seed regardless what happens in the SEC Tournament. NCAA Net ranking is 19. Jerry Palm has Arkansas on the 3 line. This week’s games: at South Carolina; Texas A&M Auburn (12-13, 6-10 SEC): The Tigers shocked Tennessee without Sharife Cooper, who probably won’t play this week. Due to self-imposed sanctions to try to lessen what is expected to be a serious blow from the NCAA, Auburn will not participate in the SEC Tournament so there is no postseason hope. NCAA Net Ranking is 71. This week’s games: at Alabama; Mississippi State Georgia (14-10, 7-9 SEC): Losing to South Carolina in blowout fashion didn’t help NIT aspirations. NCAA Net Ranking is 92. This week’s game: Alabama Kentucky (8-14, 7-8 SEC): Even before the loss to Florida, Kentucky knew it would have to win the SEC Tournament to make it to the NCAA. That hasn’t changed although the belief the Wildcats can actually pull it off has. NCAA Net Ranking is 65. This week’s games: at Ole Miss; South Carolina LSU (14-8, 9-6 SEC): The Tigers have lost two in a row and their NCAA stock is dropping like a rock. If they go 2-0 this week they will get a first round bye in the SEC Tournament. NCAA Net Ranking is 30. Jerry Palm has dropped LSU to the 10 line. This week’s games: Vanderbilt; at Missouri Mississippi State (13-12, 7-9 SEC): The Bulldogs aren’t going anywhere unless they win the SEC Tournament but they’re a dangerous team for whoever they meet in Nashville. NCAA Net Ranking is 79. This week’s games: at Texas A&M; at Auburn Missouri (14-7, 7-7 SEC): The Tigers have lost four of their last five games and had a postponement. They were considered a top four team two weeks ago. Now they may be lucky to be on the eight line. NCAA Net Ranking is 47. Jerry Palm places Mizzou on the 6 line. This week’s games: at Florida; LSU Ole Miss (13-10, 8-8 SEC): The Rebels are a pesky team that nobody wants to play, especially in Nashville. They have to win both games this week and make some noise in Nashville to make the NCAA Tournament. NCAA Net ranking is 60. This week’s games: Kentucky; Vanderbilt South Carolina (6-12, 4-10 SEC): The Gamecocks aren’t going anywhere and unless they play Georgia (blew them out twice) in Nashville they’ll go home in a hurry. NCAA Net Ranking is 112. This week’s games: Arkansas; at Kentucky Tennessee (16-7, 9-7 SEC): Remember when people were saying the Vols had Final Four written all over them? They will be lucky to make the top four in the SEC to ensure a first round bye in Nashville. Tennessee is 4-4 in its last eight games. NCAA Net Ranking is 22. Tennessee has been dropped to the 7 line by Jerry Palm. This week’s game: vs. Florida Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC): The Aggies didn’t play a single game in February. Does anyone really believe they’ll play this week, much less the SEC Tournament? NCAA Net Ranking is 141. This week’s games: Mississippi State; at Arkansas Vanderbilt (7-13, 3-11 SEC): The Commodores beat Ole Miss without Scotty Pippen Jr. and Dylan Disu, who is done for the year. Winning a game in Nashville would be an accomplishment. This week’s games: at LSU; at Ole Miss JACOB YOUNG CONTINUES ON A TEAR In the 26 games that date all the way back to 2019 season finale against Dallas Baptist, Jacob Young is hitting a cool .417 (43-103) with 11 doubles and 18 RBI. That 26-game hitting streak ties Gator great Brad Wilkerson for the second longest streak in UF history. Over the weekend, Young wore out Samford pitching, going 7-12 including Sunday’s 4-5 effort which included a walk-off single that gave the Gators (6-2) a 10-9 win and a sweep of the series. In going 3-0 against Samford, the Gators got standout pitching from starters Tommy Mace (6 innings, 3 hits, 11 strikeouts Friday night) and Jack Leftwich (5-2/3 innings, 2 hits, 6 strikeouts Saturday), 7 RBI from Nathan Hickey (triple, grand slam), 6 RBI from Jud Fabian (4th homer of the season Sunday), 5 hits and 4 RBI from freshman Jordan Carrion, and 5 hits and 3 RBI from Kris Armstrong. Jordan Butler had a hit in all three games to extend his hitting streak to eight games. The Gators play host to Florida Atlantic Wednesday and FAMU comes to town for a weekend series starting Friday. OTHER UF SPRING SPORTS Gymnastics: Behind a pair of perfect 10s from Trinity Thomas, the No. 1 Gators put up the highest score (198.275) in the country this year and clinched a share of their third straight SEC championship with a decisive win over 18th-ranked Auburn. The Gators can claim the title outright this week when they travel to face 8th-ranked Alabama. Softball: The 5th-ranked Gators improved to 12-0 over the weekend with two wins over Louisville and one over McNeese State. The Gators beat Louisville 5-1 on a complete game 2-hitter by Elizabeth Hightower and then took a 2-0 win over the Cardinals as Katie Chronister (5-0) picked up the win by giving up three hits over six innings. Hightower pitched the seventh for her first save of the season. Hannah Adams homered in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday to give the Gators a 1-0 win over McNeese State. Natalie Lugo pitched 5-1/3 innings before giving way to Hightower (5-0), who picked up the win with 2-2/3 innings of hitless relief. The Gators will play host to New Mexico State on Wednesday. Swimming: The 5th-ranked Gators kept the streak alive, winning their 9th consecutive Southeastern Conference championship and the 42nd SEC swimming championship in school history. Men’s Tennis: The 11th-ranked Gators (8-1, 4-0 SEC) took down 10th-ranked Texas A&M (7-2, 3-1 SEC) 5-2 in College Station Sunday to move to 4-0 in SEC play. On Friday, the Gators scored a 4-0 win over LSU (8-3, 1-2 SEC) in Baton Rouge. The Gators will host Georgia and Tennessee next weekend. Women’s Tennis: The Gators (5-4, 3-1 SEC) scored a pair of top 25 wins over the weekend, taking out No. 19 LSU (7-1, 2-1 SEC) 4-2 on Friday and No. 22 Texas A&M (9-3, 1-1 SEC) 4-2 on Sunday. The Gators hit the road next weekend to face Georgia and Tennessee. Track and Field: The 7th-ranked Florida women finished 2nd at the SEC Championships while the 8th-ranked Florida men finished 5th. Women’s basketball: In their regular season finale, the Gators (10-12, 3-11 SEC) lost to 17th-ranked Georgia (18-5, 10-5 SEC) at the O-Dome. Soccer: The Gators (3-7-2) and South Florida battled to a 0-0 tie. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: For reasons unknown, I woke early Sunday morning thinking about how much fun it was to grow up in an era when I could watch wrestling on TV with Gordon Solie’s astute blow-by-blow accounts. I continue to marvel at how Gordon could so effortlessly describe sleeper holds, spinning toe-holds, figure four leglocks and keep a straight face while interviewing Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair or Wahoo McDaniel. It’s been years since I could stomach more than five minutes of what passes as pro wrestling under the WWE mantle. Part of it has to do with the story lines and too many wrestlers jacked up on steroids, but I think most of it has to do with hearing Gordon Solie on the mike.