Three hundred and thirty-nine days will separate the Florida Gators’ softball team’s last game and their first of the 2021 season. After entering the 2020 season with countless questions about their identity after having graduated ace pitcher Kelly Barnhill and their slugging leader Amanda Lorenz, the Gators exited their 2020 campaign with some of those questions answered, but with a new, overarching unknown: When will we get to do this again? Had you told them that they’d have to wait just a month shy of a year, they probably wouldn’t have believed you. The Gators were just off a 5-2 win against the No. 12-ranked Florida State Seminoles and were preparing to host yet another ranked matchup against the Baylor Bears when the NCAA pulled the plug on the spring athletics season on March 12. The premature ending was brutal for the Gators, who had mustered a 23-4 record, including five ranked wins, in just over a month of play. But come Saturday, Tim Walton and the Gators will finally return to the dirt as they visit USF for the long-awaited 2021 season opener. And per usual, the Gators enter the season as one of the top teams in the country. Florida will trot into Tampa on Saturday bearing the ranking of the seventh-best team in the nation. And given the talent on Walton’s roster, there’s no question as to how voters came to that conclusion. The Gators have a roster as talented as any in the country, not to mention mature. But what might set the Gators apart in 2021 is their preparation for adversity. “I think everybody is, I think if we learned anything in the past year, you better be prepared for things that maybe you weren’t prepared for in the past,” Walton said. According to Walton, he and his coaching staff have spent time in the offseason coaching each other on their respective duties. “We’ve dealt with some stuff with our staff that we’ve never done before,” Walton said. “You know, if we were to lose Coach Bosch or someone coaching third should we lose me. I think we just tried to do a lot better job preparing for a lot of other things and sometimes you feel like you’re wasting your time a little bit, but I think more than anything, we’ve got a lot of athletes that can play a lot of positions.” In the circle, despite the Gators having five arms to choose from, Walton has also identified an “emergency pitcher” should they need a sixth person in the circle. In 2020, most of Florida’s pitching duties were divvied up between then-sophomore Natalie Lugo and then-freshman Rylee Trlicek. Both will return to the circle for the Gators in 2020. Lugo earned the title of “ace” least season, having posted an earned-run average (ERA) of 1.64 and having tallied 102 strikeouts through 81.1 innings pitched. Meanwhile, the southpawed Trlicek quickly worked her way into being a sound alternative that Walton and the Gators’ pitching staff had confidence in. Florida’s additional options in the circle include Katie Chronister, Dani Farley, Elizabeth Hightower and the “emergency pitcher”, whose identity wasn’t revealed by Walton. Similarly, the Florida’s pitchers could hurl pitches to three different catchers – two designated catchers and one emergency catcher. However, sophomore Julia Cottrill is expected to be the Gators bellcow behind the plate in 2021. Though Cottrill was steady behind the plate in 2021, her effort at the plate were equally as impressive. As a freshman, Cottrill slid into the starting lineup and posted a .323 average on 21 hits, with eight going for extra bags. However, Cottrill is just one, microscopic piece in Florida’s electric lineup. Last season, the Gators finished with a team batting average of .317. And this season, seven of the Gators’ top hitters return to Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. But there are no two names bigger in Florida’s lineup than Charla Echols and Kendyl Lindaman. Both transfers, Echols joined the Gators last year after transferring from Michigan State. Meanwhile, Lindaman joined the roster in 2019 after spending her first two years playing for Minnesota. The two have had immediate impacts for the Gators. Batting in the three hole last season for Florida, Echols surged in the ranks as one of the best hitters in the Southeastern Conference. Echols’ .417 batting average ranked her as the 13th most consistent hitter in the SEC, while her 35 hits and eight home runs tied her for fourth and fifth in the conference, respectively. And as impressive as Echols’ contributions have been in just a season’s time, very few players in the country amount to what Lindaman has accomplished as she heads for her third year in the Orange and Blue. “When you have an All-American, and she’s already a three-time All-American in her career... you have an All-American like Kendyl Lindaman in your lineup and somebody you’re going to ride in the lineup every single day... Yes, it’s definitely a luxury,” Walton said of his first baseman. After deciding that she had unfinished business to take up and elected to return for her fifth year in Gainesville, the Gators’ super senior enters the 2021 season having played 212 college games in her career, the third-most played amongst active players in the NCAA. The three-time All-American was the second hitter in Florida’s lineup in 2020, being sandwiched between Hannah Adams and Echols. Her time in the No. 2 spot with the Gators has helped her amass 207 RBIs through her career – which currently leads the NCAA. Gushing about Lindaman is a specialty of Walton’s. During the first media availability of the season, Walton commended Lindaman for her leadership, followed by the fact that the fifth-year senior had never gotten anything but an ‘A’ in her classes at the University of Florida. “I just want her to be our leader. Be the leader that she is and not worry about certain traditions we may have held here at Florida that she may or may not have been a part of,” Walton said of Lindaman. “Just be the best leader that she can be and teach the young players how to not necessarily hit like her, but think like she does. See the game like she does and make adjustments like she does. “So it’s clearly a luxury to have someone like Kendyl.” Lindaman and Echols both made the preseason All-SEC team, in addition to being named to the USA Softball Player of the Year Top 50 Watchlist. Maintaining focus through the ups and downs of this offseason has been difficult, Walton admits. But clearly, with his team hauling in such honors and recognitions, he and his staff are doing something right. But he and the rest of the world won’t know for certain how his team stacks up until finally opening up the season and playing something other than the mirror in intra squad scrimmages. “I think there’s a lot more unknowns about every team in the country this year,” Walton said. “I think the first thing is to kinda get a measuring stick on our players... I think the teams that are probably going to rise to the top are the teams that can handle the adversity of playing games then stopping a little bit during the season and then getting out there and doing it again. “But the anticipation is super high. I think everybody is excited to play... to get back out there in the Orange and Blue.”

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: THE 2021 DEFENSE CAN’T BE ANY WORSE … CAN IT? Statistically, at least, Florida’s 2020 defense was the worst in school history. The Gators gave up 370 points and 428 yards per game, the most points in a season since the 2007 Gators gave up 331 and more than 40 yards per game worse than the 1971 Gators. We can offer up dozens of reasons how it was the Gators went from seventh nationally against scoring and ninth in total defense in 2019 to a team that couldn’t get off the field in 2020. Some reasons are valid and some are just excuses but no matter how you analyze the stats it doesn’t change the fact that Florida was very good in 2019, downright awful in 2020. Some have suggested Dan Mullen and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham find a barrel, toss in all the tape of 2020, douse it with gasoline, set it on fire and then stay until the fire goes out to make sure there are no salvageable remnants of a season gone bad. We can rationalize that with one defensive stop against Texas A&M, LSU and Alabama the Gators would have gone 11-0 and made the College Football Playoff. That doesn’t change the fact the Gators stunk nor does it change the fact that any of the playoff teams would have lit up the UF defense. With Dan Mullen calling the plays the Gators are going to score a lot of points. He is as gifted a play caller as you’re going to find and in 2021 he’s going to have another offense capable of lighting up scoreboards even without Kyle Trask, Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney. But can they stop anybody? A dominating defense would be great, but there aren’t many of them in this era of spread offenses with dynamic playmakers all over the field. How about this for 2021: one more stop per half and an average of two turnovers forced per game (Gators got 16 in 12 games in 2020)? That might sound modest, but just that small improvement could probably lop off a bunch of points and yards per game. Given the way Mullen’s offenses can put points on the board, a couple of extra stops and two turnovers per game would put the UF offense on the field four more times. You do the math. The silver lining to the dark defensive clouds of 2020 was the Gators played a lot of kids who return in 2021 with a year of experience under their belts, joined by an infusion of talent that should at least give the Gators a shot at improvement. Can a year of experience and some newbies make the Gators a year better? They can’t be any worse than last year, can they? THE GATORS AND THE NCAA TOURNAMENT The last time the Gators (10-5, 6-4 SEC) were off for a protracted length of time following Keyontae Johnson’s collapse in Tallahassee, they returned to the court to play two games at a high level to open up 2-0 in SEC play. When Texas A&M comes to the O-Dome Saturday, the Gators will be playing for the first time in 10 days. There wasn’t much pressure when the Gators took to the floor against Vanderbilt after that 17-day layoff back on December 30. Not much was expected and it was considered somewhat miraculous that the Gators played well even though they had missed nearly two weeks of practice time following the FSU game. When the Aggies come to town Saturday, the circumstances are much different than they were back then, however. This time, the Gators have to be in their must-win mode and they cannot allow the pressure to get to them. There is pressure because the Gators are still solidly in the NCAA Tournament picture but that could change in a hurry if they aren’t able to finish out the season strong. No announcement has been made regarding makeup dates for the road games lost to LSU and Tennessee and no one is even certain the SEC will figure out a way to accommodate. If the games can’t be made up, then the Gators have only six regular season games remaining – three at the O-Dome and three on the road. A 3-0 record at the O-Dome and at least one win on the road will send the Gators into the SEC Tournament almost assured they will be marching to the madness. If the Gators have to go on the road to play LSU and Tennessee they will need a minimum of five wins the rest of the regular season, otherwise they’ll have to pick up at least one in the SEC Tournament. The NCAA Net Rankings have the Gators No. 27, which means if the Selection Committee picked its teams today, the Gators would find themselves either a No. 5 or 6 seed. Here are the SEC teams that would have a reasonably good chance to make it in if the committee met today: 8. Tennessee; 9. Alabama; 25. Missouri; 27. Florida; 28. Arkansas; 40. LSU. The rest of the SEC teams are: 63. Auburn; 64. Ole Miss; 72. Mississippi State; 80. Kentucky; 96. Georgia; 106. South Carolina; 133. Texas A&M; 147. Vanderbilt. In the Kenpom.com rankings, the Gators are No. 28 nationally. SEC teams ahead of UF are: 9. Alabama; 12. Tennessee; and 26. Arkansas. The rest of the SEC teams: 29. Missouri; 41. LSU; 60. Auburn; 61. Kentucky; 65. Ole Miss; 66. Mississippi State; 80. South Carolina; 90. Georgia; 125. Texas A&M; 131. Vanderbilt. Jerry Palm of CBS has the Gators a No. 6 seed, facing 11 seed Minnesota, coached by former UF assistant Richard Pitino, in his Hinkle 1 bracket. If the Gators were to win that first round game, they would advance to face the winner of No. 3 Texas Tech and 14 seed Belmont. Also in from the SEC, Palm has Alabama No. 2 in Hinkle 1; Missouri No. 2 in Bankers Life 2; Tennessee No. 3 in Bankers Life 1; and Arkansas No. 10 in Bankers Life 1. Palm has LSU a No. 11 in Hinkle 2 in a play-in game. Joe Lunardi of ESPN has the Gators a No. 7 seed, facing 10 seed North Carolina in the Region 3 bracket. With a first round win, Lunardi would have the Gators facing the winner of No. 2 seed Houston and 15 seed UMBC and its 5-2 (yes, 5-2, that’s not a typo) point guard Darnell Rogers. Also in from the SEC, Lunardi has Alabama No. 2 in Region 1; Missouri No. 3 in Region 2; Tennessee No. 4 in Region 3; Arkansas No. 9 in Region 4; and LSU No. 10 in Region 2. FLORIDA BASKETBALL THROUGH THE EYES OF … Jay Bilas, ESPN, on ranking the Gators No. 28 nationally: “The Gators are a puzzle. With Keyontae Johnson this a top 15 team. Without him, Florida has performed very well and surprised with how tough and together it has been. Yet, after winning four in a row and looking like a corner had been turned, the Gators dropped a game to South Carolina at home. Tough ones against Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri remain before the SEC tournament. Florida wins with defense and toughness. When playing pretty is in the picture, losses follow.” Eamonn Brennan, The Athletic on the Gators and the NCAA Tournament: “Florida had been on a pretty nice run — four straight wins, including a blowout of Tennessee and a win at West Virginia in that impressive mix. Had the Gators made it five against South Carolina on Wednesday, we would have moved them up to the should be in category. Alas, they did not. Thus they were not. This feels like a pretty Florida thing to do, given the last few years of Florida men’s basketball; for every step forward, there is always at least a quarter-step back.” SEC Wednesday scores #16 Tennessee (14-4, 7-4 SEC) 89, Georgia (12-7, 5-7 SEC) 81 Ole Miss (11-8, 6-6 SEC) 80, #10 Missouri (13-4, 6-4 SEC) 59 LSU (12-6, 7-4 SEC) 94, Mississippi State (11-10, 5-7 SEC) 80 SEC Saturday games Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC) at FLORIDA (10-5, 6-4 SEC) Vanderbilt (5-10, 1-8 SEC) at Mississippi State (11-10, 5-7 SEC) Auburn (11-10, 5-7 SEC) at Kentucky (5-13, 4-7 SEC) #16 Tennessee (14-4, 7-4 SEC) at LSU (12-6, 7-4 SEC) Georgia (12-7, 5-7 SEC) at #11 Alabama (16-5, 11-1 SEC) Arkansas (15-5, 7-4 SEC) at #10 Missouri (13-3, 6-3 SEC) Ole Miss (11-8, 6-6 SEC) at South Carolina (5-8, 3-6 SEC) PAT FORDE ON HOOPS COACHES WEARING OUT THEIR WELCOME In his weekly Forde Minutes column, Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated offers the following takes on coaches who, if they haven’t already worn out their welcome, are getting close to it: John Calipari, Kentucky: “… there is a 0% chance the school will fire Cal—it would cost a fortune, and his track record is too good. The issue will be whether he wants to keep going at a place where the very large, very loud fan base is questioning every single element of his coaching philosophy.” Frank Martin, South Carolina: “It would be a major surprise to see Martin get fired; he’s improved the product and hung that Final Four banner, and South Carolina just spent a fortune firing Will Muschamp. But at age 54, Martin theoretically has many good years left; where does he want to spend them?” Jerry Stackhouse, Vanderbilt: “The question is whether athletic director Candice Storey Lee has the financial backing to make a second big move in a matter of months, after firing football coach Derek Mason and hiring Clark Lea.” Will Wade, LSU: “This is another instance in which the school has stood by a heavily implicated coach and essentially told the NCAA, “Catch us if you can.” We’ll see whether NCAA Enforcement can pin a major allegation on Wade.” Bruce Pearl, Auburn: “And at least among certain booster segments, there is a high tolerance for enduring scandal. Some of them will want to retain Pearl no matter what comes out of the infractions case.” Bill Self, Kansas: “Self is the most accomplished coach ensnared in the scandal and still has considerable support, but the allegations are major and could result in huge penalties. Would Self ride out a multiyear postseason ban? Would the school want him to?” Archie Miller, Indiana: “If the Hoosiers finish this season strong, Miller would go into 2021–22 with some cushion. If not, he will be on the hot seat.” A FEW THINGS TO THINK ABOUT … Since 2016 when Kirby Smart became the head football coach, Georgia has invested $175 million in football facility upgrades and new construction ... It should be noted that Georgia will experience a $55 million shortfall in its 2021 fiscal year budget. These are the latest numbers for the roster carnage at Tennessee in the last few weeks. Already transferred out to a new location: 16; in the transfer portal: 7; early entry NFL Draft: 3; undecided about draft but not coming back: 1; departed but no announcement of plans: 1; seniors who may or may not come back: 5; transferred in: 2; announced they are returning: 6. Following the Wildcats most recent loss to Arkansas, Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari tap danced around being critical of the zebras who called a foul that gave Arkansas the two free throws that won the game, saying, “That was a game-ending call. You guys could tell me. You probably saw it. If it was a foul, it was the right call. If it wasn’t a foul, it was the wrong call.” I saw the play in question. It was NOT a foul. Ron Groover (imagine that) blew the call. There was a clean block (hand on top of the ball) and should have been a jump ball. One further example of just how ridiculous it is what Nick Saban has done at Alabama. Before Alabama’s impressive run to the 2020 national championship, the last previous national title for the Crimson Tide was 2017. There wasn’t a single assistant coach on the 2017 staff that was on the staff last season. On that 2017 staff, there were only two holdovers from the 2015 championship team. ONE LAST PITHY THOUGHT: UCF has a new athletic director in Terry Mohajir, who arrives from Arkansas State. His first order of business will be to hire a new head football coach. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel makes a valid point when he says if the new AD goes for a young coach, UCF will be looking for a replacement in three or four years. If Mohajir shares similar thoughts, then don’t be surprised if the new head coach is either Gus Malzahn (age 55), who he hired at Arkansas State in 2012, or Gene Chizik (age 59), who won a national championship at Auburn with Malzahn as his offensive coordinator. Would those two consider working together again? That would be interesting.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: FIVE THINGS THAT HAVE ME THINKING (I DO THAT OCCASIONALLY) 1. Florida’s offense will be far more unpredictable in 2021: There really wasn’t a lot of mystery to the Florida offense the last couple of years. Maybe you didn’t know who Kyle Trask was going to throw the football to, but you knew he was going to throw it. Sure, there were some running plays thrown in just to keep everyone honest, but the basic strategy was to start chucking the ball from the time the Gators got off the bus until they sang the alma mater and fight song after the game. Most observers believe it will be just the opposite in 2021 with Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson doing the quarterbacking. They see Dan Mullen going 60-40 or better in favor of the run. Given the stable of running backs Dan Mullen has assembled and the fact that both Jones and Richardson have very fleet feet, the Gators are definitely going to run it more than they have the last couple of years, but I’m not sure it’s going to be so heavily tilted. I do believe the play calls will be far less predictable. I do not believe there is going to be a significant drop off in productivity. Mullen’s offenses are always quarterback-centric so everything the Gators do will revolve around the skill set of Jones and Richardson and what Mullen is comfortable calling for them. Both of them are good runners who can execute the option, which is why I think we’ll Mullen see if Nay’Quan Wright, Malik Davis or Lorenzo Lingard into the slot. Think back to the Urban Meyer years when Mullen was the offensive coordinator. Percy Harvin spent most of his time in the slot where Mullen got him carries and receptions. When Percy shifted from the slot into the backfield, Tim Tebow could run what amounted to a veer option. Percy also ran jet sweeps, screens and deep pass patterns. I think that’s what we’re going to see with Dameon Pierce or Demarkcus Bowman as the running back and one of those other three in the slot. Imagine the pressure it puts on defensive coordinators. The question is can Jones and Richardson throw the ball well enough to keep the safeties from crowding the box? I go back to the Tebow years once again. Tebow wasn’t exactly known for pinpoint accuracy when he threw the ball but there were enough threats in the passing game with speed and the threat of Percy either as a runner or receiver to spread the defense out. Tebow only had to get the ball reasonably close when he threw. Instead of having to throw lasers like we saw with Trask, I expect Jones and Richardson won’t have such a tight window in which to fit the football. It’s just my opinion, but I think the ability to run the football will open up the passing game for Jacob Copeland, Justin Shorter, Trent Whittemore, Xzavier Henderson and Arik Gilbert. The Gators won’t throw it as much but I think the yards per pass attempt will still be more than 8.0. The offense is going to change, but I’m not sure the productivity will drop off significantly. 2. What one SEC coach is saying about the UF basketball team: Writing in The Athletic, Seth Davis talked to coaches about each team in the SEC. One anonymous coach said this about the Gators: “You can beat ’em in transition. There are moments when they fall asleep and jog back. They have size and they can shoot it. Omar Payne is really coming on for them. Tre Mann is a pro. He can shoot it and get by you. They can be susceptible to a team that goes inside and crushes them on the glass. When Colin Castleton rotates over to block shots you can attack them on the back side. You want to keep them out of the paint and force them to take contested 2s. You can’t let Noah Locke make a couple because they’ll space you out and then you’re in trouble.” What stuck out to me in that quote was the bit about beating the Gators in transition, but I think that applies also to defense in the half court. I think the Gators have these lapses when they go brain dead defensively. They’ve had real problems sustaining intensity on defense and that has cost them in all four of their SEC losses. Against South Carolina, there was a stretch when the Gators blocked a shot on four straight Gamecock possessions while taking an 8-point lead but the defensive focus and intensity went by the wayside and South Carolina dominated the rest of the way. The Gators block a lot of shots and they have moments when they are very effective in the full court press, but they don’t seem to have the ability to maintain their intensity for a full game or even for long periods of the game. That has to change. Offensively, they’re better when Mann is on one wing, Locke on the other and Tyree Appleby is at the point. When Mann is at the point, it takes away some of his focus on scoring and if he’s having problems scoring, the Gators are having problems winning. The Gators are off until Saturday when Georgia comes to town. With eight SEC games on the schedule, UF (10-5, 6-4 SEC) almost has to go 5-3 the rest of the way to pretty much assure themselves a spot in the NCAA brackets without having to win one or two games at the SEC Tournament. 3. Brady’s best attribute was the confidence he brought to the Bucs: Tom Brady still has a great arm and he can still make big plays. In Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs, he wasn’t required to make any unbelievable throws. Nearly every pass he completed was to a wide open receiver. Nearly every quarterback in the NFL can make those throws. Not every quarterback in the NFL has Brady’s confidence, however. What transformed the Bucs from a loser into a Super Bowl champion was the confidence Tom Brady exuded from day one when he arrived in Tampa with the goal of winning another championship. When your greatest of all time quarterback comes to town with an unparalleled work ethic and brimming with confidence, it rubs off on the entire team. Offensive linemen want to hold their blocks a split second longer. Wide receivers are willing to run routes to perfection and take big hits over the middle. Running backs hit the holes harder. Over on the defensive side, everybody plays with a level of focus that wasn’t there before, knowing fully well that if they get the ball back, their QB will do something. A year ago, when Jameis Winston was the QB, offensive players knew there was a good chance he would complete passes to the other team. The defense knew that if they got a stop, there was a good chance Winston would give the ball right back. All that ended when Tom Brady showed up confidently ready to lead the Bucs to a championship. Brady can still make great throws, but the confidence he brings to the Bucs is his most important attribute. 4. The zebras didn’t cost the Chiefs the Super Bowl but … : Terry McAulay, who at one time was one of the most respected referees in the National Football League went to Twitter to proclaim that two of the defensive holding calls on the Kansas City Chiefs were bogus because they weren’t “close to the standard” the league had used for holding all season. One of those holding calls negated an interception by Tryann Mathieu. There were also some pass interference calls against the Chiefs that seemed a bit dubious. In all KC was called for eight first half penalties for 95 yards, 122 yards altogether. The Bucs were penalized four times for 39 yards even though there are people doing hard time in Raiford for less than their DBs did to Travis Kelce. I thought the game was poorly officiated but I don’t think the officiating cost Kansas City the game. I think the Bucs would have won that game anyway, but I do believe the zebras helped turn what could have been a really close and exciting ball game into a blowout win for Tampa Bay. I’m glad the Bucs won, but I would have preferred a white knuckler decided late in the fourth quarter than a 31-9 blowout that was heavily influenced by some questionable whistles. As I have gotten older, I’ve become far more critical of officiating. One reason why I think officiating in football has gotten so bad is because of instant replay. Knowing that every play is potentially reviewed and overturned in the booth you would think the zebras would work harder to get the call right the first time but the more games I watch, the more blown calls I see. Making it worse is the number of times the people in the replay booth get it wrong. That happens far too often. And, don’t get me started on bad officiating in basketball. Jamie Luckie is horrible and I am being kind. Tony Greene’s sell-by date expired about 10 years ago but at least he’ll call a decent game if he’s paired with Doug Sirmons or Doug Shows or Ted Valentine. Bart Lenox shouldn’t be allowed to call a game at the YMCA. Ron Groover? Oh please. Mike Nance? Great if you’re on the road, scary bad if you’re at home. I could go on and on. There just aren’t enough college basketball zebras with the integrity to call a game in the last five minutes the same way they called it the first five minutes. Talk to any coach and they say give them a zebra crew that sets the way the game will be called in the first five minutes and then calls it that way the rest of the game. But back to my original premise. I do not think the zebras are responsible for the Kansas City Chiefs losing the Super Bowl. I think Tom Brady would have found a way to win that one. However, I think the zebras had way too much influence. 5. One last pithy thought: Usually when Dick Vitale goes on one of his rants, I mute the sound on my television but I listened on Saturday when he lobbied for Oklahoma State to be included in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Oklahoma State is ineligible as part of its NCAA probation but since the assistant coach who was caught up in the cheating scandal has been fired, it is Dickie V’s opinion that since none of the current players on the Oklahoma State roster were involved that it is unfair they can’t participate in the tournament. That made me think back to 1990, Steve Spurrier’s first year as Florida’s football coach. Due to an incident that happened before any player on the UF roster was on campus, the Gators were on NCAA probation, ineligible for the Southeastern Conference championship and unable to play in a bowl game. Spurrier is still upset with that ruling and I can’t blame him. The NCAA needs to find a better way to deal out sanctions. Punish the kids and coaches who are involved. Fine the school an extraordinary amount of money. Dock a few scholarships, but don’t punish innocent kids. That’s just stupid. Savor this moment. I may not ever agree with Dickie V again.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: AN EARLY LOOK AT FLORIDA’S SPRING FOOTBALL ROSTER (Since 2020 didn’t count against anyone’s eligibility, returning players are listed by their class from 2020 and by how many years in the system) * Walk-on OFFENSE QUARTERBACKS (4): Emory Jones (6-2, 210, 4th-year SO); Anthony Richardson (6-4, 235, 2nd-year FR); Carlos Del-Rio Wilson (6-3, 215, FR); Jalen Kitna (6-4, 200, FR) Looking ahead: Emory Jones will go into the spring as the starter and he will get every opportunity to establish himself as THE guy. Richardson has the ability to win the job, but he lacks the experience. If history is repeated, Mullen will do whatever he can to give a fairly even split of the spring reps between Jones and Richardson. The freshmen are enrolled and here to learn. RUNNING BACKS (5): Malik Davis (5-10, 205, 5th-year JR); Dameon Pierce (5-10, 215, 4th-year JR); Lorenzo Lingard (6-0, 203, 4th-year SO); Nay’Quan Wright (5-9, 195, 3rd-year FR); Demarkcus Bowman (5-11, 195, 2nd-year FR) Looking ahead: This is the deepest and best running backs room since Mullen took over. With the Gators expected to run the ball more, don’t be surprised to see at least two of the running backs to get work this spring in the slot where Mullen can use them both in the passing and running game. Expect the 1-2 to be Pierce and Bowman. WIDE RECEIVERS (10): Rick Wells (6-1, 202, 6th-year SR); Jordan Pouncey (6-1, 212, 5th-year JR); Jacob Copeland (6-0, 203; 4th-year SO); Justin Shorter (6-5, 225, 4th-year SO); Trent Whittemore (6-4, 208, 3rd-year FR); Ja’Markis Weston (6-3, 215, 3rd-year FR); Xzavier Henderson (6-4, 191, 2nd-year FR); Ja’Quavion Fraziars (6-3, 211, 2nd-year FR); Daejon Reynolds (6-2, 210; FR); Markus Burke (6-3, 180, FR) Looking ahead: Heading into the spring, Copeland will have every chance to establish himself as the go-to guy. Shorter needs to prove he can be a downfield receiver, plus he needs to show he’s got surer hands. Whittemore and Henderson are going to be in the rotation. Wells could be an X-factor based on what he showed late season in 2020. It’s time for Weston and Fraziars to step up. TIGHT ENDS (6): Kemore Gamble (6-4, 248, 5th-year JR); Keon Zipperer (6-2, 240, 3rd-year SO); Jonathan Odom (6-5, 238; 2nd-year FR); Arik Gilbert (6-5, 253, 2nd-year SO); Nick Elksnis (6-6, 230, FR); Gage Wilcox (6-4, 228, FR) Looking ahead: Gilbert won’t arrive until May so it’s going to be a huge spring for Gamble, Zipperer, Odom and Elksnis (Wilcox arrives in the summer). None of them have Gilbert’s athletic ability but it will be an opportunity to become the guy who’s going to play a lot in two tight end sets. LINEMEN (16): Stewart Reese (6-6, 350, 6th-year SR); Jean Delance (6-3, 316, 6th-year SR); T.J. Moore (6-5, 300, 5th-year JR); Richard Gouraige (6-5, 316; 4th-year SO); Griffin McDowell (6-5, 300, 4th-year SO); Ethan White (6-5, 335, 3rd-year SO); Riley Simonds (6-3, 303, 3rd-year FR); Kingsley Eguakun (6-3, 322, 3rd-year FR); Michael Tarquin (6-5, 312, 3rd-year FR); Will Harrod (6-5, 330, 3rd-year FR); Josh Braun (6-6, 340, 2nd-year FR); Gerald Mincey (6-6, 337, 2nd-year FR); Richie Leonard (6-2, 347, 2nd-year FR); Yousef Mubharbil (6-5, 330, FR); Austin Barber (6-7, 300, FR); Jake Slaughter (6-4, 300, FR) Looking ahead: Reese coming back for a sixth year will be huge if he is able to get in the conditioning he missed last summer and plays somewhere in the 340-350 range instead of 370. If he’s slimmer, he could play right tackle where he started 10-plus games at Mississippi State before transferring to UF. Gouraige probably moves outside to left tackle. If White plays center, that could shuffle the guard spots, but a real possibility will be Eguakun at center with White at left guard and Braun at right. Another possibility would be for Tarquin to step in at right tackle with Reese staying at right guard, White at center and Braun at left guard. DEFENSE LINEMEN (14): Antonio Shelton (6-2, 327, 6th-year SR); DaQuan Newkirk (6-3, 317, 5th-year SR); Dylan Meeks (6-2, 250, 5th-year SR); Zachary Carter (6-4, 290, 5th-year JR); Dante Lang (6-5, 287, 4th-year SO); Jaelin Humphries (6-3, 325, 3rd-year SO); Gervon Dexter (6-6, 307, 2nd-year FR); Princely Umanmielen (6-4, 255, 2nd-year FR); Lamar Goods (6-2, 335, 2nd-year FR); Jalen Lee (6-2, 315, 2nd-year FR); Desmond Watson (6-5, 380, FR); Justus Boone (6-5, 250, FR); Tyreak Sapp (6-3, 255, FR); Christopher Thomas (6-6, 300, FR) Looking ahead: Shelton and Newkirk transferring in was a huge addition. Both are excellent against the run and Shelton has a nice history of collapsing the pocket from the inside. Dexter will play both inside and outside. Carter starts on the outside. There is plenty of depth although not much in the way of experience so spring football will go a long way to figure out who’s ready to play in the fall. LINEBACKERS (16): Jeremiah Moon (6-5, 250, 6th-year SR); Ventrell Miller (6-1, 230, 5th-year JR); Amari Burney (6-2, 230, 4th-year JR); Brenton Cox Jr. (6-3, 250, 4th-year SO; David Reese (6-2, 241, 4th-year SO); Andrew Chatfield Jr. (6-2, 248, 4th-year SO); Khris Bogle (6-4, 240, 3rd-year SO); Mohamoud Diabate (6-3, 221, 3rd-year SO); Diwun Black (6-4, 225, 3rd-year SO); * Noah Keeter (6-6, 240, 3rd-year SO); Ty’Ron Hopper (6-2, 225, 3rd-year FR); Lloyd Summerall III (6-6, 236, 3rd-year FR); Derek Wingo (6-1, 233, 2nd-year FR); Antwaun Powell (6-3, 260, 2nd-year FR); Chief Borders (6-5, 242, FR); Jeremiah Williams (6-3, 230, FR) Looking ahead: If Moon can play healthy in 2021, it will be huge. Even though he won’t be here in the spring, Black is likely to start in the middle along with Miller with Diabate and Burney figuring strongly in the rotation. Cox will start on the outside and could have an All-SEC or All-America season if someone can get a rush off the other side. If Moon isn’t healthy, Bogle probably takes his spot. If Borders continues to grow and Summerall fills out his frame, both of them could shift to the D-line, particularly if Todd Grantham elects to play more of a 4-man front. This is an experienced group. The question is will one year older make them one year better? SECONDARY (16): Trey Dean III (6-3, 200, 4th-year JR); Kaiir Elam (6-2, 193, 3rd-year SO); Jaydon Hill (6-0, 185, 2nd-year SO); Tre’Vez Johnson (5-11, 196, 2nd-year FR); Ethan Pouncey (6-1, 170, 2nd-year FR); Rashad Torrence II (6-0, 205, 2nd-year FR); Avery Helm (6-1, 170, 2nd-year SO); Kamar Wilcoxson (6-1, 183, 2nd-year FR); Jahari Rogers (5-11, 185, 2nd-year FR); Mordecai McDaniel (6-1, 207, 2nd-year FR); Fenley Graham (5-9, 174, 2nd-year FR); Jason Marshall (6-2, 180, FR); Corey Collier (6-2, 175, FR); Donovan McMillon (6-2, 193, FR); Jordan Young (6-0, 185, FR); Dakota Mitchell (6-0, 185, FR) Looking ahead: There are two new coaches, which will hopefully translate into fewer blown coverages and better tackling. Elam should be All-SEC and potentially All-America this year. The Gators should be fairly strong at the corners with Hill or Johnson probably starting spring opposite Elam. Safety is the biggest concern where Dean has the most experience. Torrence had moments when he played very well in 2020. Freshmen Jason Marshall and Corey Collier are going to get a fair shot at the rotation along with all the others. The only scholarship player in the secondary who won’t be here for the spring is Young. SPECIAL TEAMS PUNTER (1): Jeremy Crashaw (6-4, 190, 2nd-year FR) PLACEKICKER (1): * Jace Christmann (6-0, 195, 5th-year SR) LONG SNAPPER (1): Rocco Underwood (6-4, 225, FR) Looking ahead: Crashaw looked so good punting in the Cotton Bowl that Jacob Finn (46.27 per punt) transferred out. Christmann hit 32-42 field goals at Mississippi State. Underwood was signed to a scholarship as a long snapper. That means he’s expected to start from day one although he won’t be here for the spring. UF BASKETBALL PUT ON HOLD; WEDNESDAY AT UT POSTPONED The Gators (10-5, 6-4 SEC) won’t be traveling to Knoxville to face 11th-ranked Tennesssee (13-4, 6-4 SEC) Wednesday as Covid-19 issues have forced the postponement of a second consecutive game. No makeup date has been offered either for the game with LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) or Tennessee. SEC Tuesday games #10 Alabama (15-5, 10-1 SEC) at South Carolina (5-7, 3-5 SEC) Arkansas (14-5, 6-4 SEC) at Kentucky (5-12, 4-6 SEC) Auburn (10-10, 4-7 SEC) at Vanderbilt (5-9, 1-7 SEC) SEC Wednesday games #22 FLORIDA (10-5, 6-4 SEC) at #11 Tennessee (13-4, 6-4 SEC), postponed Georgia (12-6, 5-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC), postponed LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) at Mississippi State (11-9, 5-6 SEC) #18 Missouri (13-3, 6-3 SEC) at Ole Miss (10-8, 5-6 SEC) RULE NO. 1: NEVER BET AGAINST TOM BRADY If there are any skeptics out there who question that Tom Brady is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, Sunday night should have erased whatever shred of doubt that could possibly be living in their minds. From a statistical standpoint, Brady has had better Super Bowls than the one he had in leading the Tampa Bay Bucs to a 31-9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, but the stats only tell a fraction of the story. Brady was flawless, but more importantly, he continued to be the calm presence whose confidence overflowed to the rest of the team. Brady was 21-29 passing for 195 yards and three touchdowns, hardly spectacular but on this night he didn’t need to be spectacular, just consistent enough to get the ball to the open receivers. His O-line rarely allowed him to be pressured and when the Chiefs took away the deep ball Brady was content to make the underneath throws or dump off screens almost effortlessly to keep the chains moving. What was spectacular on this night was the Tampa Bay defense, which kept Patrick Mahomes out of the end zone, picked him off twice and sacked him three times. The Super Bowl and Tampa’s playoff run only furthered the notion that second year linebacker Devin White might be as good as it gets in the NFL. Sunday night, White had 12 tackles and an interception. In the two playoff games and the Super Bowl, he had 38 tackles and two interceptions. Brady now has seven Super Bowl rings in 10 attempts with five MVP trophies. It was Tampa Bay’s second Super Bowl championship although it must be noted that the Bucs have the lowest winning percentage (39.3%) of any NFL team. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Georgia fans have already declared the poodles as the 2021 national champions in waiting. We’ve been hearing how next year is going to be THE YEAR for Georgia how many years? Not that I or anyone else is counting, but it has been a mere 14,647 days since Herschel Walker led Georgia to its last national championship. This year’s yet unburst bubble has everything to do with the presence of quarterback JT Daniels. Has anyone come up with a satisfactory explanation why Daniels didn’t play until November 21, 2020? He was medically cleared back before the Auburn game (game two) and he was obviously better than Stetson Bennett IV or D’Wan Mathis. So, why didn’t Kirby Smart play him against Alabama or Florida, the two games the Poodles lost in 2020? Inquiring minds want to know.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: FIVE THINGS THAT HAVE ME THINKING 1. I hate two steps forward and one big step backward: The Gators took two very large steps forward when they won four games in a row, beating then 6th-ranked Tennessee and 11th-ranked West Virginia along the way. The team that won those four games is a team quite capable of beating 90-95% of the teams in Division I basketball. The team that lost to South Carolina Tuesday night took one huge step backward. That team is capable of going 0-8 the rest of the regular season. So what is it going to be for Mike White and the Gators (10-5, 6-4 SEC) the rest of the way? Are they going to play with focus and purpose or are they going to go through these lapses when their collective brains stop functioning? Are they going to make good passes to find the best shot possible or is it going to be one pass and a shot goes up whether it’s a good shot or not? Are they going to protect the basketball or try to force passes that aren’t there and dribble through traffic when there is someone open to throw the ball to? Are they going to own the paint or will they get owned like they did in the first half of the West Virginia game and for long stretches against South Carolina? They need to find answers to these questions and in a hurry because they hit the road to LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) on Saturday and to 11th-ranked Tennessee (12-4, 5-4 SEC) next Wednesday? Both those teams have hit some speed bumps lately and they have to see a game with Florida as an opportunity to right whatever has been going wrong. And, since the Gators beat both of them in Gainesville, you know they have made avoiding a regular season sweep a top priority. We have seen what the Gators are capable of doing. The win over Tennessee was brilliant at both ends of the court. The win over West Virginia was a classic example of what happens when a team refuses to lose in a big game. That Florida team can go 2-0 in these next two contests. The team that lost to South Carolina can go 0-2. One thing that needs to happen is for Scottie Lewis to get his game together. He’s played in three of Florida’s four SEC losses and in those three games he has scored a grand total of five points (one against South Carolina) and grabbed all of seven rebounds (three against South Carolina). When he is fully engaged, he gives the Gators someone who can get points in the paint, from the 3-point line and off his defense. When he doesn’t play well, it seems the entire team is dragged down. 2. The best there ever was … : I was asked by a friend to name my best that ever was for the following sports – college football, NFL football, college basketball, NBA basketball, Major League Baseball, PGA Golf and NASCAR. I told him since it’s all subjective, I would name a top five in all those sports and limit it only to those I actually saw play, whether in person or on television. So here goes: College football: 1. Herschel Walker, Georgia; 2. Tim Tebow, Florida; 3. Roger Staubach, Navy; 4. Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama; 5. Hugh Green, Pittsburgh. NFL: 1. Jim Brown; 2. Tom Brady; 3. Emmitt Smith; 4. Gayle Sayers; 5. Jerry Rice. College basketball: 1. Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, UCLA; 2. Pete Maravich, LSU; 3. David Thompson, North Carolina State; 4. Bill Walton, UCLA; 5. Michael Jordan, North Carolina. NBA: 1. Michael Jordan; 2. Bill Russell; 3. Wilt Chamberlain; 4. Magic Johnson; 4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Major League Baseball: 1. Henry Aaron; 2. Bob Gibson; 3. Sandy Koufax; 4. Willie Mays; 5. Johnny Bench. PGA: 1. Jack Nicklaus; 2. Tiger Woods; 3. Arnold Palmer; 4. Lee Trevino; 5. Tom Watson. NASCAR: 1. Richard Petty; 2. David Pearson; 3. Dale Earnhardt; 4. Jeff Gordon; 5. Bobby Allison 3. The SEC distributed $45.5 million to its 14 schools for the fiscal year that ended in August 2020: The best piece of news for every athletic department in the Southeastern Conference is the news that each team in the league is receiving a $45.5 million share of revenues, most of which was earned from television and bowl games since there was no NCAA Basketball Tournament revenue to share. Coming in a pandemic year, the fact the SEC increased its revenue sharing from the previous year is huge for the league. That figure is less than the approximately $54 million distributed by the Big Ten, but significantly more than the $37.7 million distributed by the Big 12, the $32.2 million by the Pac-12 or the $31.8 million for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Of the money distributed by the SEC, only $50 million (total) comes from the television football contract with CBS. In two years, the new contract with ESPN kicks in, guaranteeing $300 million per year. Since the SEC gets an equal share, it means every SEC athletic department will get a raise of nearly $17 million per year and that is substantial, particularly when the Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC are searching for money. To put things in further perspective, according to USA Today research, Missouri had the smallest athletic department budget in the Southeastern Conference at $106,610,244 for 2019-20 yet it ranks 37th nationally. Missouri’s budget pales in comparison to SEC brethren Texas A&M ($212,748,022; 2nd nationally), Georgia ($174,042,482; 5th nationally); Alabama ($164,090,889; 7th nationally), Florida (159,706,937; 9th nationally) and LSU ($157, 787,782; 10th nationally). Ten of the top 20 college athletic budgets belong in the SEC, six in the Big Ten, and two each in the Big 12 and ACC. Texas ($223,879,781; 1st nationally) has the biggest budget in the Big 12. Ohio State ($210,548,329; 3rd nationally) has the largest in the Big Ten. Florida State ($152,757,883) has the largest in the ACC and Washington ($133,792,677; 23rd nationally) has the largest in the Pac-12. The biggest Group of Five budget for 2019-20 belonged to UConn ($80,900,404l 52nd nationally), but that figure expects to drop considerably after a season with no football and an upcoming season as an independent. The next highest Group of Five budget belonged to Houston ($75,049,955; 53rd nationally). In the state of Florida, UCF had a budget of $69,121,887 (55th nationally) while South Florida checked in at $55,045,769 (61st nationally); Florida International at $37,018,133 (85th nationally); and Florida Atlantic at $36,297,004 (87th nationally). 4. I wonder how the NCAA will fill out all its brackets for March Madness: Just in the last 24 or so hours, 2nd-ranked and undefeated Baylor (17-0) has had to postpone its next two basketball games because of Covid-19. In the ACC, Louisville has postponed upcoming games with Syracuse and Virginia. Florida State won’t play again until February 13. Up in the Big Ten, 4th-ranked Michigan hasn’t played since January 22 and won’t play again until February 11. In the SEC, Saturday’s game between Texas A&M and Arkansas has been postponed with no makeup date set. We’re just five days into February, so we have no idea how many games will be postponed or cancelled nor do we know if there is a team or multiple teams out there that will call off the rest of the season. So far, no one has ventured forth with a plan to make up postponed games, either. Once we hit March, conference tournaments begin when schools have to play three and four consecutive days. I have yet to see a conference offer up a tournament schedule that puts a day or two between each game. Considering limited attendance in arenas, I wonder why play the conference tournaments anyway? At least the NCAA Tournament is stretched over three consecutive weekends. With each game – none of which is played on consecutive days – the tournament field is halved but what happens if we get to the Elite Eight and three teams have to put things on hold because of the virus? What happens if one of the Final Four teams has to go into quarantine? I know the NCAA wants to stay positive about the tournament but conference tournaments begin in a month and Selection Sunday is in six weeks. I think the NCAA needs to announce ASAP contingency plans for filling out the brackets and for dealing with teams that have to go into quarantine. It would be great if the tournament goes off without a glitch, but given what I am seeing so far, I just can’t believe that’s possible. 5. I hate picking against a team from the state of Florida in the Super Bowl but …: The more I watch Patrick Mahomes, the more I see him redefining the quarterback position in the NFL over the next decade. Now, Tom Brady is indeed the greatest quarterback of all time in the No Fun League and he’s got the Super Bowl rings to prove it. He will be on pro football’s biggest stage for the tenth time in his career on Sunday and I do expect he will have a phenomenal game, but I look at that 25-year-old kid on the other sideline and I ask myself how can you pick against him? Tampa Bay is playing at home and with a chance to offer long-suffering Bucs fans with medicine to soothe their tortured souls in the form of the second championship in the franchise’s history. I want him to play well. I expect him to play well. I expect the Bucs to play well. But, I also expect the Kansas City Chiefs to play well and I expect Patrick Mahomes to play better than Tom Brady. In watching the Chiefs march to their second consecutive Super Bowl I’ve watched Mahomes make throws no other quarterback can make with stunning accuracy. He reminds me in some respects of Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith, who could make throws on the move that no other shortstop could dream of making. When Mahomes is on the move, he makes throws from all angles, much the way Ozzie made them. And, I’m reminded when he attempts and completes these throws that nobody else in pro football even tries that Patrick’s dad spent ten years in the Major Leagues. So maybe it all comes about naturally. Now add wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce to the equation. I just don’t believe the Bucs have the players on defense to neutralize them. So, reluctantly, I am picking against the Bucs. I don’t hate the Bucs. I don’t hate Tom Brady. I just think Patrick Mahomes will be the difference maker Sunday and the Chiefs will win their second consecutive Super Bowl, becoming the first team since New England 2004-05 to go back-to-back.

It began with Van Jefferson, one of several Ole Miss Rebels who took flight following an NCAA investigation that brought down Hugh Freeze’s house of cards in Oxford. A 4-star receiver when recruited out of Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee, Jefferson was known at Ole Miss for exact route running and sure hands, but he was still the fourth option on a team loaded with future pros like A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf and DaMarcus Lodge on the outside and future pro tight end Dawson Webb getting all the middle of the field routes. Probation which gave a transfer instant eligibility and the firing of Freeze made the business decision to transfer from Ole Miss relatively easy. When Dan Mullen took over at Florida in December of 2017 Jefferson saw opportunity, particularly since Mullen was bringing along with him from Mississippi State wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales. It was the perfect fit. Jefferson not only thrived in the football culture Mullen established but he perfected his skills as an outside receiver – he played in the slot at Ole Miss where he caught 91 passes for 999 yards and four TDs – who could get open downfield. At Florida, even though he shared the catches with three other receivers who played for pay in 2020 and three others who are about to be drafted in April, Jefferson caught 84 passes for 1,160 yards and 12 touchdowns in the 2018-19 seasons. It propelled Jefferson into a second round selection by the Los Angeles Rams in the spring 2020 NFL Draft. Meanwhile, up in Columbus, Ohio, Trevon Grimes needed to be closer to his home in Fort Lauderdale. A St. Thomas Aquinas product, Grimes had a 4-star ranking and was one of the hottest high school receivers in the country when he chose Ohio State, but some health issues in his family created a need to transfer somewhere closer to home. With the blessings of Urban Meyer, he chose Florida, which just happened to be coached by Mullen, who was Meyer’s offensive coordinator for two national championship teams at UF. This was another perfect fit. The Mullen offense combined with Gonzales pushing all the right buttons, teaching him the finer points of route running and how to become a physical downfield blocker, made for the perfect landing spot and an outstanding three-year career. His resume at UF is 97 catches for 1,444 yards and 14 touchdowns. Grimes figures to be a third or fourth round choice when the NFL drafts in April. Edge rusher Jonathan Greenard missed the entire 2018 season at Louisville with a knee injury. Complicating matters, head coach Bobby Petrino was fired and a new coaching staff was coming in. Florida was Greenard’s dream school when he played high school football in Hiram, Georgia, but the then 3-star prospect didn’t get a scholarship offer from the Gators. When it came time to leave Louisville, he knew he would be a good fit for the Gators since the defensive coordinator was Todd Grantham, the same coach who recruited him to Louisville back in 2015. Greenard already knew Grantham’s system so the transition was seamless. He became Florida’s big play guy off the edge for a 2019 defense that finished top ten nationally, earning All-SEC honors with 52 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss and a long touchdown run after picking up a fumble against Vanderbilt. As important as his production on the field was his presence in the locker room. It didn’t take long for Greenard to establish himself as the mature guy who could keep it real when things got chaotic, but also that guy who could get in the face of someone about to lose it and settle things down. Greenard parlayed his senior season at Florida into a third round selection by the Houston Texans in the 2020 NFL draft. Little did Jefferson, Grimes and Greenard know when they opted out of their previous schools to transfer to Florida that they would be cornerstones in what has become a definitive recruiting strategy for Dan Mullen. When he arrived at Florida in December of 2017, Mullen saw holes in the roster that needed to be filled and while there was some outstanding young talent left behind by the previous coaching staff, there was a need to win now, not later. So began an active foray into the world of transfers. When Mullen brought in Grimes and Jefferson in that first year, followed by Greenard in the second, he saw how he could get immediate on-the-field productivity while at the same time plugging holes in his roster. One thing for sure, Mullen knows and understands that the foundation for a strong football program was, is and will always be high school kids mixed in with an occasional junior college transfer such as DiWun Black, a stud linebacker who will arrive at UF in May, but your typical 18-year-old freshman needs time to develop. If the foundation isn’t yet sturdy enough to provide a next man up for a depleted position, the transfer portal can offer the possibility to bring in an experienced plug-and-play guy. Brenton Cox Jr. wasn’t able to provide immediate help when he transferred in from Georgia in 2019 – the NCAA and/or the SEC didn’t approve his waiver request so he had to sit out – but he was the fourth transfer of the Mullen era. On the scout team in 2019, the former 5-star recruit out of Stockbridge, Georgia, Cox terrorized Florida quarterbacks off the edge daily in practice. In 2020, Cox flashed the kind of potential that could make him a first or second rounder if he continues his development. Always commanding a double team because he was Florida’s only consistent threat to get pressure, Cox still had 4.0 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and 18 quarterback hurries. He seems poised for a monster 2021. From his Mississippi State days, Mullen already knew the value of transfers although most of the ones who played for him during those nine years in Starkville came via the junior college route. With Florida’s stringent academic requirements, there will only be an occasional junior college kid. That is a policy set in stone dating back before Steve Spurrier, but transfers are completely different. There is a track record both on the field and academically to help decide if a kid is a good fit. So far, Mullen has lived a charmed life when it comes to deciding who fits best. The success Mullen has had with transfers at Florida has caused a change in recruiting strategy. Starting in 2020, Mullen began keeping scholarships open for transfers. Six joined the Gators last season although two came as walk-ons. Familiarity had everything to do with Florida landing offensive lineman Stewart Reese out of Mississippi State. Recruited by Mullen and John Hevesy as a 3-star guard out of Fort Pierce in 2016, he wound up starting three seasons and playing and starting at both guard and both tackle positions. When Mississippi State changed coaches after the 2019 season, Reese looked for a new landing spot as a graduate transfer. The presence of Mullen and Hevesy plus the chance to play with baby brother David Reese, a 2018 linebacker recruit to UF, made Florida the natural choice. The global pandemic halted team and summer conditioning in 2020 and Reese gained weight. It was originally thought he would play right tackle, which was manned by Jean Delance, a former 4-star recruit who had transferred to UF from Texas prior to Mullen’s arrival. But, the extra weight forced Reese inside. Since the NCAA voided 2020 on every player’s eligibility sheet, Reese is coming back for the 2021 season, hopefully somewhere around 340, which is his ideal playing weight. Reese was joined in a 2020 Florida transfer class by former 5-stars Justin Shorter (Penn State) and Lorenzo Lingard (Miami), former 3-stars Jordan Pouncey (Texas) and Noah Keeter (UCLA), and former 2-star Zach Sessa (Georgia Southern). Without the benefit of a spring practice to learn the Florida system and get coached up by Gonzales, Shorter still caught 25 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns in 2020. With Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Grimes moving on to the NFL, Shorter should project into a go-to type on the outside in 2021. Lingard, who suffered a devastating knee injury at Miami, needed to be closer to his ailing father in DeLand, so he transferred to Florida. The combination of Covid-19 and a high ankle sprain limited him to spot duty on special teams and a handful of carries in 2020. If he’s healthy in 2021, he could move to the slot where his sprinter’s speed could make him a nightmare to cover. Pouncey, who spent two years buried on the Texas wide receiver depth chart, a came to Florida to join younger brother Ethan, a 4-star corner out of Winter Park who missed all of 2020 after an injury in August. Pouncey saw limited action in 2020, but did catch a 27-yard touchdown pass against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. He will have a chance to earn plenty of playing time in 2021. Keeter, a scholarship linebacker at UCLA who is a native of Gainesville, chose to walk on at Florida after one year in Westwood. He came to Florida at 225, has put on 15-20 pounds of muscle on his 6-6 frame, and figures to eventually settle in at defensive end. Sessa, a kicker who signed with Georgia Southern in 2020, transferred to UF in the summer and sat out 2020. He has since put his name in the transfer portal. The NCAA’s rather complicated scholarship rules allow for 25 signees a year, but when the previous class is under-signed and there are early enrollees, it changes the numbers dynamic. Florida, for example, had 29 signing slots available for 2021. When the early signing period ended in December, the Gators had letters of intent signed by 21 high school kids and one juco. Early enrollees allowed for 29 total slots for the 2021 class. When the second National Signing Day concluded on Wednesday, Mullen didn’t add a single high school or junior college player but four transfers were announced – former 5-star running back Demarkcus Bowman (Clemson), former 4-star defensive tackle Daquan Newkirk (Auburn), former 3-star defensive tackle Antonio Shelton (Penn State), former 2-star defensive end Dylan Meeks (Akron) and Jace Christmann, the leading scorer in Mississippi State football history. They will be joined by at least one more transfer, former 5-star tight end Arik Gilbert (LSU). Bowman was the one that got away in 2020. An explosive runner, the best back to come out of Lakeland High School since former Gator Chris Rainey, Bowman needed only a few months in Clemson to decide he needed to go home. Although he spurned Florida for Clemson, when Bowman decided he wanted to be a Gator, Mullen greeted him with open arms. Bowman gives the Gators take it the distance from anywhere on the field ability that has been missing in the offense. The highest rated tight end in modern recruiting history, Gilbert chose LSU in 2020 and had an outstanding freshman season – 35 catches for 368 yards and two touchdowns – but turmoil on the coaching staff combined with the lack of a definitive plan on how to use him, opened him up for transfer. With the hiring of a new offensive staff, Coach O thought Gilbert might come back to Baton Rouge. Because he’s from Marietta, Georgia was confident it would be the choice. Gilbert chose Florida, however, for three basic reasons: (1) Mullen has a creative offense that uses the tight end all over the field; (2) the tight ends coach is Tim Brewster who has coached two Mackey Award winners and was the position coach in the NFL for the great Antonio Gates; and (3) Mackey Award winner Kyle Pitts told him how Mullen used him in mismatch situations. Newkirk, who prepped at The First Academy in Orlando, comes to UF as a graduate transfer who offers size (317 pounds) and mobility in the middle of the D-line. Shelton, originally from Columbus, Ohio, started at nose tackle at Penn State. Like Newkirk, he is a graduate transfer who figures to play immediately as Grantham retools his defense after a rough year. Meeks, who played high school ball at Dr. Phillips in Orlando, is a grad transfer who figures to provide depth. When Evan McPherson surprisingly elected to declare for the NFL, Christmann was available to give the Gators an experienced kicker for 2021. He is another graduate transfer and, like Reese, has a track record with Mullen. He was Mullen’s placekicker at Mississippi State in 2017 when he hit 12-14 field goals. Upon leaving Mississippi State, Christmann had hit 32-42 field goal attempts and 122-123 of his extra points. There are two open slots in the current recruiting class, both of which Mullen intends to use for transfers. One of those could be Deyavie Hammond, a 355-pound offensive guard and former 4-star Florida signee from Lakeland. When he didn’t meet the academic requirements to enter UF in 2019, he went the junior college route. If he completes his juco work satisfactorily in May, he may transfer to UF. If Hammond doesn’t get in or is no longer considered a need recruit, Mullen will go after an offensive lineman, preferably a tackle. The other slot will probably be filled by a wide receiver or an offensive lineman. Transfers have become such an integral part of Mullen’s recruiting strategy and with the NCAA set to approve legislation this spring that will allow an athlete to transfer once without having to sit out, the already jam-packed transfer portal (more than 1,600 in it presently) will all but explode. For a school like Florida, which has made three consecutive New Years Six bowl games and competes in the Southeastern Conference, it will be a buyer’s market. The combination of coaching, weather, academics and playing in the Southeastern Conference will make UF one of the more attractive landing spots. Because of Mullen’s success with transfers, there will be far more transfers wanting Florida than Mullen has available spots. That isn’t true everywhere, but it is true for Florida. The Gators aren’t immune to transfers – a few who were buried on the depth chart such as running back Iverson Clement and corner Chester Kimbrough have elected to seek opportunity elsewhere. Because they are from Florida and the SEC, they will have more scholarship opportunities than kids from non-Power Five schools. There are estimates that upwards of 40 percent of all who enter the transfer portal won’t have a scholarship offer, a problem that will be exacerbated by the NCAA ruling that 2020 won’t count against the eligibility of any player who was on a Division I roster. Some schools, it is estimated, could have as many as 100 players on scholarship in 2021. Those inflated numbers will reduce scholarship offers for transfers. They’ve already reduced opportunities for high school kids as schools struggle financially after the disaster of a pandemic year. The cost of more players on scholarship than the 85-limit has already forced some schools to offer fewer scholarships in 2021 to help ease the financial strain. Florida has four returning seniors who are taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility – Reese, Delance, linebacker Jeremiah Moon and wide receiver Rick Wells – and there will be no scrambling to come up with the funds to cover their scholarships but that isn’t true everywhere. Not every athletic department has the financial wherewithal of Florida. Meanwhile, the NCAA still hasn’t figured out a way to adequately deal with the monster it created by adding that extra year of eligibility. Florida, for example, just signed 21 to its incoming freshman recruiting class. Of the 2020 signees, 21 are still with the team, so looking forward there are 42 freshmen and an 85-scholarship limit. Unless the NCAA comes up with a strategy to deal with this potential problem, there will be fewer scholarships available for high school kids for a couple of years followed by a potential disaster in which more than half the roster departs. The SEC has proposed a moratorium on counting scholarships for all those who were on a Division I roster in 2020. So far that hasn’t gotten much traction, but of the many proposals that are out there it might be the most workable. Some of the other proposals deal with transfers and early declarations for the NFL, but none of them have garnered much support. This is a time for answers and for some creative thinking but there hasn’t been much in the way of that coming from the NCAA. Uncertainty about class size, scholarship numbers and eligibility moving forward is going to be a dilemma that will be supercharged by the amount of kids choosing free agency in the future. Oversized freshman classes are going to lead to more transfers than anyone could anticipate but how to deal with them? So far, Florida has only benefitted from the transfer market because Dan Mullen has turned picking and choosing kids who are good fits into an art form. While Florida has gained significant help from transfers the last three years, those who have departed haven’t made a serious mark at their new landing spots. That could change in the future because Florida may not be immune to the roster management issues that are going to be prevalent throughout college football. A coming tidal wave of transfers – both coming and going – is going to require a coach with experience in such matters. We don’t know what the future is going to bring although some predict the next two to three years will be like the wild, wild west when it comes to off-the-field issues in college football. What we do know is that by getting an early start in dealing with the mass migration that is happening in the sport, Dan Mullen is ahead of the curve. If he can remain ahead of the curve, it will be a huge advantage for Florida football. TRANSFERS ON FLORIDA’S 2021 ROSTER Jean Delance, OT/OG (Texas) Stewart Reese, OT/OG (Mississippi State) Daquan Newkirk, DT (Auburn) Antonio Shelton, DT (Penn State) Dylan Meeks, DE (Akron) Jace Christmann, PK (Mississippi State) Justin Shorter, WR (Penn State) Brenton Cox Jr., DE/LB (Georgia) Lorenzo Lingard, RB (Miami) Jordan Pouncey, WR (Texas) Noah Keeter, LB (UCLA) Demarkcus Bowman, RB (Clemson) Arik Gilbert, TE (LSU)

I don’t know a lick about soccer. Admittedly, as a sports editor, when a high school soccer game comes across the calendar, I typically delegate it to another writer. How hard is it to kick around a checkered ball and shoot it into a 24-foot by 8-foot goal? Seems easy enough, but I really don’t know. And is it offsides or offside? Regardless, isn’t that a football, err, American football term? My ignorance when it comes to soccer is glaring. I’m ashamed of it, truthfully. But this much I do know: Any coach who maintains a head coaching job at the University of Florida for 26 seasons must be damn good at his or her job. Becky Burleigh is damn good at her job. But all damn good things come to an end. Florida’s longtime soccer coach announced her plans to retire following the 2021 spring soccer season on Saturday. Hired in 1994 at 26 years old, the 53-year-old pioneer has served as the only coach to ever pace the sideline for Florida soccer. When Burleigh came to Gainesville, she was fresh off a five-year stint at Berry College in Georgia where she coached players her same age. At Berry, Burleigh amassed a record of 82-23-6 and helped the Vikings to two NAIA national championships in 1990 and 1993. After a nationwide search, the young, Florida native accepted Jeremy Foley’s offer to take the helm of a program that didn’t even exist yet. And with as much grace as a 26-year-old could muster, Burleigh built the Gators soccer program from the ground up. When Burleigh signed her contract, a soccer stadium couldn’t be found on the University of Florida campus. In fact, it wasn’t until over seven months later that construction at the Percy Beard Track and Field Stadium began to accommodate a soccer field. Nonetheless, Burleigh pieced together a 31-player roster after a national search for the best prospects, in addition to open tryouts for UF students. “It is going to be a big challenge, trying to help our players improve individually, and helping them come together as a team,” Burleigh said ahead of the inaugural season, according to the 1995 media guide. “Most teams tend to have five or six new players a season, compared to the 30 new players we have on our roster this year.” Those same players that took the risk on a then-nonexistent program, quickly set a high bar for Florida soccer. In the inaugural season, the Gators posted a record of 14-4-2 (6-1-2, SEC). In the 1996-97 season, the Gators went 20-3-1, and posted a perfect conference record of 11-0. Florida would go on to win its first ever SEC championship, which was quite the milestone for the two-year old program. Burleigh’s first conference title in 1996-97 sparked a six-year period that saw the Gators run the table in the SEC. It also marked Burleigh’s first Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year recognition – her first of four. The 1998-99 season for the Gators marked a milestone. Those who joined the program during its inaugural season were now seniors. And though they had exceeded every expectation that anyone could have for a toddler-aged program, they understood that they had one year remaining to reach the goal Burleigh put before them the moment they stepped foot on campus. “The very first class we recruited, we told them to look around at all the success of the other Florida programs,” Burleigh said, according to the 1998 media guide. “We told them that they would be competing for a national championship by the time they were seniors and now that has sort of come to fruition.” Competing for a national championship that early in program history is one thing to hang your hat on. But winning a national title is in its own realm of accomplishments. Following an 18-1 regular season campaign, with their only loss coming to the University of North Carolina in a 1-2 overtime defeat, the Gators went on to secure their third consecutive SEC title before making their first ever appearance in the College Cup. Through the College Cup bracket, the Gators gave up just two goals through five games, including the national championship contest where they pitched a shut out to the Tar Heels, avenging their only loss of the season and capturing the program’s first and only national title. For Becky Burleigh, the saying, “humble beginnings” was overrated. There was nothing humble in the early years of Florida’s soccer program. Burleigh and the Gators’ early successes paved the way for a distinguishable soccer program out of Gainesville, Florida. In a quarter of a century, the Gators have appeared in 22 NCAA Tournaments, 14 SEC regular season titles and 12 SEC tournament titles. Five hundred and nine times in her coaching career, Burleigh has waltzed into the winning locker room. Burleigh’s wins give her the distinction of being just the second female in NCAA soccer history of tallying over 500 wins. Burleigh also holds the second-most wins amongst Division I active coaches. To reiterate, I really don’t know much about soccer (I hear they call the field the “pitch”?... weird). But it doesn’t take a soccer enthusiast to recognize how improbable of feats Burleigh has accomplished in her time in Gainesville – let alone at the pace she accomplished them. And it certainly doesn’t take a soccer enthusiast to appreciate what Burleigh has done for the university as a whole. All one needs to be to do that is a Gators fan. I’ve never been to a Florida Gators soccer game. But I plan to go to one as the Gators finish their 2020-21 season. I won’t know what’s going on. But I will know that I’ll be watching a legacy-of-a-woman do a damn good job for one of the very last times.

Tre Mann pulled no punches. "They punked us.” The Florida Gators basketball guard, on his 20th birthday, led the No. 22 Gators (10-5, 6-4) with 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists. But it wasn’t enough as Florida—who came into Wednesday night on a four-game winning streak including two wins over Top 11 teams—fell 72-66 to the South Carolina Gamecocks (5-6, 3-4). It was the Gamecocks first win on the road. “They just hit us in mouth. They made plays, plays we didn’t make. Got the offensive rebounds. They made their open shots. They just got whatever they wanted in the late second half,” lamented Mann. And he’s right. Despite the Gators holding South Carolina hostage at the three-point line—after South Carolina started 3-for-4 from 3-point range, Florida limited the Gamecocks to 1-for-15 from beyond the arc after that—the Gators gave up the paint. It sounds strange to say that after a night Florida had 12 blocks. But that number is vastly outweighed by the 50 points the Gamecocks picked up there. Of those 50 points, 32 of them alone came in the second half. “Quite bluntly, we're just an average defensive team and that showed up tonight," White said after the game. "We've got to guard the bounce, 1-on-1 at a higher level and finish rebounds, defensive blockouts, and rebounds better.” “They just hit us in the mouth,” added Tre Mann. “They made winning plays. They had offensive rebounds. They hit open shots. They got whatever they wanted in the second half.” Florida foght back from a 10-point deficit and carried a 40-35 lead into the locker room at halftime. From there though, Head Coach Mike White says the second half started off sluggish. It ended that way as well. No amount of positive run in the middle would make up for the lackluster bookends of the half. “I thought we got off to a really tough start defensively in the second half. (We) didn’t respond to what we collectively talked about at half in terms of sharpening up defensively and maintaining offensively, and they got into a good rhythm early second half. “Then I thought mid-second half, we collected some stops, we got some scores, I don’t know what we were up- five, six, seven, and it felt like we were gaining control of the game, and we made some really tough decisions with the basketball that led to pick-sixes. Anxious to go watch it, some uncharacteristic stuff.” For Tre Mann, the second half can be summed up even more succinctly. “It played a lot to our focus, I don’t think we were focused. We were missing a lot of layups, a lot of open shots and then they were making everything that we were missing. They’re going to win if they make more shots than us, so that’s what happened.” Florida, for better or for worse, has been in this situation before. Last season, the Gators debuted as No. 6 in the preseason poll and was a pick to make the Final Four. While the global pandemic COVID-19 halted the postseason, the Gators had already fallen to 19-12, 11-7. This season, there was no high preseason ranking, no sexy Final Four pick and after losing star forward Keyontae Johnson (more on that below), the Gators chances to be something seemed, well, low. Four games were postponed following Johnson’s collapse and the team’s subsequent turmoil. Diving right in to the SEC schedule, the Gators started 3-3. But then came the Tennessee game, in which the Gators throttled the No. 6 Volunteers. A win over No. 11 West Virginia proceeded by wins over Georgia and Vanderbilt meant the Gators were riding the hottest streak in the league and their first top-25 ranking in the AP Poll since 2019. Two cold stretches against a sub .500 team brought about reality quickly. "Any time we get a little success we tend to play bad and lose focus. I think that's what happened tonight," said Mann. As mentioned earlier, Mann said of South Carolina, “they punked us.” To punk someone means to trick them; to lure them in to a false sense of security and then explode. Perhaps it’s not the Gamecocks who punked the Gators though. Perhaps, they punked themselves. “We’ve hammered these guys after any success that we have had,” promised White. “Whether it’s individual success, SEC Player of the Week, you win at West Virginia, our attention to detail and our intensity level for practices and film sessions increases because you’re fearful of what can happen. The human condition is to get comfortable and to get casual after experiencing success.” The Gators have proven that even without Johnson, they have the pieces and the talent to be a special team. They can still be a special team. Some nights are just off. But some nights are indicative of a larger problem that must be not only acknowledged but overcome. Some nights are a reminder that even special teams are mortal and believing otherwise is fatal.

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: AT LEAST 13 TRANSFERS EXPECTED ON UF 2021 ROSTER There were no National Signing Day surprises for the Florida Gators Wednesday, no last minute decisions by some high school stud like the already signed Chief Borders to say he’s coming to Gainesville. About the only surprise was the announcement that Dylan Meeks, a 6-2, 250-pound defensive end who played three seasons at Akron will be a Gator next season. Meeks, who is an Orlando native, joins running back Demarkcus Bowman (Clemson), defensive tackle Antonio Shelton (Penn State) and defensive tackle Daquan Newkirk (Auburn) in a four-man transfer class announced Wednesday. All four are already enrolled at UF. Not included in the announcement were tight end Arik Gilbert, who committed to Florida back on Sunday, and placekicker Jace Christmann, the all-time leading scorer in Mississippi State history who will be a walk-on. Gilbert won’t be enrolling until May. If you take just the 21 high school kids and the one juco the Gators added in the early signing period, it’s a decent but not spectacular class. ESPN ranked the Florida signing class 10th while Rivals had the Gators 11th and 247Sports 13th. However, if you included the transfers, then Florida’s class would improve substantially. Both Gilbert and Bowman were 5-star recruits coming out of high school, while Newkirk was a 4-star and Shelton was a 3-star. Dan Mullen has two available scholarships that he is expected to use and both will probably go to transfers either already in the portal or who will wait until spring has sprung to announce they’re heading to greener pastures. A wide receiver and an offensive lineman seem to be the most likely additions. Counting the six transfers already signed, committed or walking on, the Gators will have at least 13 transfers on the roster in 2021: Brenton Cox, LB (former 5-star from Georgia) Lorenzo Lingard, RB (former 5-star from Miami) Justin Shorter, WR (former 5-star from Penn State) Demarkcus Bowman, RB (former 5-star from Clemson) Arik Gilbert, TE (former 5-star from LSU) Jean Delance, OT (former 4-star from Texas) Daquan Newkirk, DT (former 4-star from Auburn) Stewart Reese, OG/OT (former 3-star from Mississippi State) Antonio Shelton, DT (former 3-star from Penn State) Jordan Pouncey, WR (former 3-star from Texas) Noah Keeter, LB (former 3-star from UCLA, walk-on) Dylan Meeks, DE, (from Akron) Jace Christmann, PK (from Mississippi State, walk-on) ONLY WAY TO DESCRIBE IT: A BAD, BAD LOSS The final 5:45 sums up everything for the Florida Gators Wednesday night. Over that stretch, the Gators were outscored 13-1 by South Carolina. Rather than play like the team that had beaten two highly ranked teams in their last four games, the Gators played as if they hadn’t practiced in a month as they turned a perfectly winnable game into a disastrous 72-66 loss to a below average South Carolina team that came to the O-Dome on the heels of a loss to lowly Vanderbilt. This should not have happened. The Gators struggled to make put the ball in the basket – 40.3% from the field overall, 28% from the 3-point line and a very poor 9-15 from the foul line – and while they were only charged with 12 turnovers, the ball handling and passing was borderline sloppy for long stretches. In the final ten minutes the Gamecocks played fairly good defense, consistently confusing the Gators by bringing traps and double teams from odd angles. By no means, was South Carolina’s defense what could be considered lock down. Rather, Florida’s lack of movement and willingness to take bad shots made the South Carolina defensive effort look much better than it really was. And there was no excuse for it. The Gamecocks aren’t nearly as good as the West Virginia team the Gators beat in Morgantown back on Saturday, but on that afternoon Mike White’s team was fully focused, played with great energy on both ends of the floor and consistently made the extra pass to get good shots. Wednesday night, the Gators often resembled a team with a collective case of ADD. During the stretches of the game when they were focused, the Gators were easily the superior team but this was a one step forward, two steps backward kind of night. The focused stretches didn’t last long enough, eventually giving way to disasters like the first five and last five minutes of the game. “I don’t think we were focused,” said Tre Mann, who led the Gators with 17 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. “We were missing a lot of layups, a lot of open shots and then they were making everything that we were missing. They’re going to win if they make more shots than us, so that’s what happened.” Go figure on that. Led by Colin Castleton, who stuffed seven Gamecock shots, the Gators finished with 12 blocks, so how is it South Carolina outrebounded the Gators 43-35, outscored the Gators in the paint 50-30 and got 20 points on second chances? The Gators scored five layups the entire night. South Carolina attempted 25 and scored on 17. The Gators have eight SEC games remaining in the regular season, five of which will be on the road including Saturday’s game at LSU. The loss to South Carolina almost certainly means UF will have to go 5-3 at a minimum down the stretch to make the NCAA Tournament field. Heading into the game with South Carolina, the Gators pretty much needed only to hold serve at home and steal one win on the road. With this loss, the Gators are going to have to go 3-0 at home and then find a way to win two road games. It’s not impossible but losing to South Carolina added an extra layer of difficulty to the month of February. Keyontae update: As you might have already expected, Keyontae Johnson’s basketball season is over. Without going into detail about the mysterious collapse on the floor in Tallahassee back in December, Johnson’s family said in a statement that the collapse was not the result of anything related to a previous or current Covid-19 infection. Medical specialists from Harvard, Yale and Vanderbilt along with physicians at UF contributed to the diagnosis although nothing further was stated regarding the collapse. Johnson will remain with the team and continue activities helping to coach the Gators. Anything further regarding his condition or perhaps his basketball playing future will come directly from Keyontae in the future. Wednesday SEC scores South Carolina (5-6, 3-4 SEC) 72, #22 FLORIDA (10-5, 6-4 SEC) 66 Alabama (15-4, 10-0 SEC) 78, LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) 60 #18 Missouri (12-3, 6-3 SEC) 75, Kentucky (5-11, 4-5 SEC) 70 Saturday SEC games #22 FLORIDA (10-5, 6-4 SEC) at LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) #10 Alabama (15-4, 10-0 SEC) at #18 Missouri (12-3, 6-3 SEC) Vanderbilt (5-8, 1-6 SEC) at Georgia (11-6, 4-6 SEC) Mississippi State (10-9, 4-6 SEC) at South Carolina (5-6, 3-4 SEC) Ole Miss (9-8, 4-6 SEC) at Auburn (10-9, 4-6 SEC) Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC) at Arkansas (14-5, 6-4 SEC) #11 Tennessee (12-4, 5-4 SEC) at Kentucky (5-11, 4-5 SEC) OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC (FOOTBALL) ALABAMA: Alabama’s consensus No.1 ranked recruiting class is being called even greater than 2017 by many experts. When the NFL drafts in April, that 2017 class will have likely produced at least 13 players chosen in rounds 1-7. ARKANSAS: The Razorbacks recruiting class is ranked 21st by ESPN, 24th by 247Sports, 25th by Rivals … Arkansas will play Arkansas State for the first time ever in 2025 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The Razorbacks will face Arkansas-Pine Bluff (D1AA) on October 23. Arkansas will play UAB in Fayetteville in 2024. AUBURN: Auburn’s recruiting class was ranked 29th by ESPN, 30th by 247Sports, 43rd by Rivals, the worst recruiting by Auburn since 2004. GEORGIA: Georgia’s recruiting class finished ranked 3rd by both ESPN and 247Sports, 6th by Rivals … Former Florida/South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp has been officially hired as an analyst. He’ll be the highest paid analyst perhaps in the entire country at $300,000. Muschamp got a $15.8 million buyout when South Carolina fired him … Defensive coordinator Dan Lanning got a raise in pay to $1.8 million. KENTUCKY: The recruiting class was ranked 32nd by Rivals and 247Sports, 40th by ESPN … The Wildcats signed 4-star linebacker Trevin Wallace Wednesday. HBC Mark Stoops says, “Trevin is as talented an inside linebacker as we have recruited here.” LSU: The recruiting class was ranked 4th by 247Sports, 5th by Rivals and 7th by ESPN. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Mississippi State’s recruiting class was ranked 23rd by Rivals, 25th by 247Sports, 24th by ESPN. MISSOURI: The Tigers had the 21st-ranked recruiting class by Rivals, 27th by 247Sports, 32nd by ESPN. OLE MISS: The Rebels finished with a recruiting class ranked 17th by ESPN, 18th-by both Rivals and 247Sports. SOUTH CAROLINA: The recruiting class was ranked 76th by 247Sports, 78th by Rivals … Former Tennessee running back Montario Hardesty, who coached wide receivers at Charlotte, is expected to join the South Carolina staff as the running backs coach. TENNESSEE: The Vols finished with a recruiting class ranked 16th by 247Sports, 17th by Rivals, 19th by ESPN. TEXAS A&M: The Aggies finished with a recruiting class ranked 4th by Rivals, 6th by ESPN and 7th by 247Sports. VANDERBILT: The recruiting class was ranked 33rd by Rivals, 49th by 247Sports, 57th by ESPN … The Commodores are expected to name Wyoming’s AJ Blazek as the O-line coach. QUESTION OF THE DAY BY SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’S ALBERT BREER While discussing the fact that Tom Brady is in the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Bucs and Bill Belichick finished 7-9 coaching the New England Patriots without Brady for the first time since 2000, Breer asks: “Is that validating for Brady? Does it kill Belichick? BRADY VS. PATRICK MAHOMES, 2020 Here is the quarterback comparison for the quarterbacks for Sunday’s Super Bowl in Tampa: Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Bucs (11-5): 401-610 passing (65.7%) for 4,633 yards (7.6 per attempt), 40 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (14-2): 390-588 (66.3%) for 4,740 yards (8.1 per attempt), 38 touchdown passes, 6 interceptions. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Before there was such a thing as the NCAA transfer portal and before the NCAA was on the verge of legislation that will make every Division I player a potential free agent for at least once in their collegiate careers, it was a lot easier to take recruiting rankings seriously. Oh, rankings are still important to a degree but consider the fact that there are more than 1,500 Division I players with their names in the transfer portal and nearly 1,000 of them were on scholarship somewhere in 2020. With rare exceptions, the 500 or so walk-ons in the transfer portal will be walking on somewhere else, that is, if there is a Division I program that will have them. As for the other 900-1,000 who were on scholarship, they can’t afford to be too choosy when it comes to finding a landing place because once the free agency legislation is passed, an already crowded marketplace is going to resemble Walmart when the doors open at midnight on Black Friday. As for the kids who signed Division I scholarships either back in December or Wednesday, you might not want to get too attached to them because odds are a reasonable percentage of them will do Senior Day somewhere other than the place they originally signed. Some of those outstanding recruiting classes will be decimated by transfers who abide by the immortal words of Ferris Bueller who said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: NATIONAL SIGNING DAY AND ROSTER MANAGEMENT Barring some sort of change of heart by a kid too good for Florida to pass up, Dan Mullen won’t be signing any high school kids to scholarships when National Signing Day officially gets under way at 7 a.m. Unless the NCAA changes its numbers dynamics later in the spring when it approves the one-time transfer legislation (it will happen), Mullen has three available scholarships and he is saving them all for transfers who can offer the Gators immediate help at critical positions. In dealing with Covid-19, the NCAA decided that 2020 would not count against the eligibility of any player who was on a Division I roster. Seniors who would have normally graduated or simply run out of eligibility, can come back for what amounts to a do-over season. Nick de la Torre of Gators Territory reports that offensive linemen Stewart Reese and Jean Delance, wide receiver Rick Wells and linebacker Jeremiah Moon will be back in 2021. Those four won’t count against the 85-scholarship cap imposed by the NCAA but everyone else will. The 23 kids from Florida’s 2020 recruiting class who were on the roster last season get what amounts to a bonus freshman year. Back in December, the Gators signed 22 players – 21 high school kids and one juco. That means the Gators could have as many as 44 freshmen on the 2021 roster and that will create serious roster management problems moving forward, not only at Florida but just about every Division I school. Adding to the problem is that this year’s record number of transfers is going to explode when the new legislation is passed. In a well-written piece for Sports Illustrated, Ross Dellinger notes, “While teams can have 85 players on scholarship each year, they can sign only 25 new players a year. The 100 signees over four years leaves a 15-player wiggle room for natural attrition. New transfer legislation and the impending COVID-shirter wave is causing unnatural attrition. “In the 2022 and 2023 recruiting cycles, coaches have one of two choices: retain their scholarship players and add fewer signees or push out scholarship players and sign a normal class.” This is a problem that cannot be solved by raising the scholarship limit to 100 players as some might suggest. There is that teensy issue of Title IX and with the courts as we know them today, the only way there will be approval to add more football scholarships is to add more women’s sports. In these troubling financial times, that isn’t going to happen either. It says something about financial commitments to sports and how much money was lost due to the pandemic when a school like Stanford eliminates 11 sports. More will follow. There are numerous proposals out there for how to deal with it, everything from an SEC suggestion of not counting the 85 scholarships until all the players who were on a 2020 roster have departed to allowing coaches to replace transfers and those who leave early for the NFL without counting against the 25-signee limit. There hasn’t been a single proposal that has resonated, however, so we’re going to have a major dilemma on our hands for at least the foreseeable future. Given the lack of leadership from Mark Emmert and the NCAA, we can expect chaos for at least the next two or three years and quite possibly far into the future. If ever there was a time when leadership for college football is necessary it is right now. Unfortunately, Emmert and leadership are two ships passing in the night – a few hundred miles apart. GATORS VS. SOUTH CAROLINA: NO TIME TO BE FULL OF THEMSELVES Now that they’ve won four straight games, knocked off a pair of ranked teams (then 6th-ranked Tennessee and then 11th-ranked West Virginia) and cracked the top 25 in both the AP and Coaches polls, it is no time for the Gators to be full of themselves. That’s particularly true with South Carolina coming to the O-Dome tonight (6:30 p.m., SEC Network). The Gamecocks have played only 10 games due to Covid-19 issues but they are more talented than a 4-6 record would indicate. They play good defense and like most Frank Martin-coached teams, they tend to bring opponents down to their level, which is one of the reasons Martin owns a 5-3 record head-to-head with Mike White. At some point, it figures South Carolina is going to knock off some very good teams. The Gators have to make sure that isn’t tonight. South Carolina doesn’t shoot the ball very well (43.2% overall, 33.8% on 3-pointers) but the Gamecocks hit the boards hard and they force 16.5 turnovers per game. The key matchup for the Gators will be 6-6 wing guard AJ Lawson, who is South Carolina’s most serious offensive threat, averaging 17.2 points per game while hitting 37.7% of his 3-pointers. For the Gators to play well offensively, it has to start with getting the ball inside to Colin Castleton, who is coming off a 21-point, 7-rebound, 5-block game against West Virginia. If the ball is getting inside effectively, the outside game will open up for Tre Mann and Noah Locke. That’s the strategy that worked so well for Vanderbilt, which knocked off South Carolina for its only SEC win last Saturday. When South Carolina couldn’t stop Dylan Disu on the inside, it opened things up for Scotty Pippen Jr. and Maxwell Evans to combine for 52 points, hitting 8-13 from the 3-point line. This is a game the Gators should win handily. It’s a game they must win to stay within striking distance of first place Alabama in the SEC standings. Tuesday SEC scores Ole Miss (9-8, 4-6 SEC) 52, #11 Tennessee (12-4, 5-4 SEC) 50 Georgia (11-6, 4-6 SEC) 91, Auburn (10-9, 4-6 SEC) 86 Arkansas (14-5, 6-4 SEC) 61, Mississippi State (10-9, 4-6 SEC) 45 Wednesday SEC games South Carolina (4-6, 2-4 SEC) at #22 FLORIDA (10-4, 6-3 SEC) LSU (11-5, 6-3 SEC) at #10 Alabama (14-4, 9-0 SEC) Kentucky (5-10, 4-4 SEC) at #18 Missouri (11-3, 5-3 SEC) Vanderbilt (5-8, 1-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC), postponed WHERE ARE FORMER UF BASKETBALL PLAYERS NOW Pros Not in the NBA or G League Mohamed Abukar: Averaging 9.6 points and 1.9 rebounds for Stiinta Bucaresti in the Romania Liga Nationala. KeVaughn Allen: Averages 12.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists for Kaarinan in the Finland Korisliiga. Kerry Blackshear Jr.: Averaging 12.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists for Hapoel Gilboa in the Israeli Winter League. Kenny Boynton: Averaging 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists for Shenzhen in the Chinese CBA. Nick Calathes: Averaging 8.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists for Barcelona in the Spanish League. John Egbunu: On the roster of Varese in the Italian Serie A League. Brandone Francis: Averaging 4.1 points and 1.1 rebounds for Deltico Gipuzoka in the Spanish League. Kevarrius Hayes: Averaging 4.1 points and 4.1 rebounds for Asvel-Lyon in the French Elite Pro A League. Kasey Hill: Averaging 14.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 7.2 assists for Jena in the German Pro A League. Walter Hodge: On the roster for Al Zamalek of the Egypt Superleague. David Huertas: On the roster of Club Atletico Penarol in the Uruguay LUB. Kenny Kadji: Averaging 14.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists for Buraspor in the Turkey BSL. Egor Koulechov: On the roster of Unics Kazan in the VTB United League in Russia. Vernon Macklin: Averaging 1.7 points and 3.0 rebounds for Hyundai Mobis of the South Korean KBL. Alex Murphy: Averaging 13.4 points, 3.8 rebounds for Granada in the Spanish League. Erik Murphy: Averaging 16.3 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists for Fukushima in the Japan B2 League. Casey Prather: Averaging 22 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists for Hapoel Eilat in the Israeli Winter League. Keith Stone: Averaging 19.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists for Musel Pikes in the Luxemborg Total League. Alex Tyus: Averaging 7.0 points and 3.0 rebounds for Real Madrid in the Spanish League. Eloy Vargas: Averaging 19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists for Chemidor Tehran in the Iranian Superleague. Chris Walker: On the roster of Rilski in the Bulgarian League. Erving Walker: Averaging 19.3 points and 5.0 assists for Trepca/AS in the Kosovan Superliga. Scottie Wilbekin: Averaging 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists for Maccabi-Tel Aviv in the Israeli Winter League. Wil Yeguete: Averaging 4.6 points and 4.7 rebounds for Monaco in the French Pro A League. Transfers Dontay Bassett, Weber State: Averaging 8.5 and 4.4 rebounds. Gorjok Gak, California Baptist: Averaging 12.7 points and 10.8 rebounds. Chase Johnson, Dayton: The ongoing problems dating back to his severe concussion at Florida have forced him to take a leave of absence. He was averaging 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds when he left the team. Andrew Nembhard, Gonzaga: Averaging 9.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Mike Okauru, UNC-Wilmington: Averaging 14.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC (FOOTBALL) ALABAMA: Former Tennessee running back and assistant coach Jay Graham was formally announced as Bama’s new special teams coordinator/tight ends coach. AUBURN: Defensive lineman Jay Hardy tried to squelch the rumors that he’s transferring with an announcement on Twitter that said, “I’m not leaving Auburn.” GEORGIA: Counting Jacob Eason, who he inherited, Kirby Smart has had four 5-star quarterbacks on his roster since 2017. Kirby ran Eason and Justin Fields off. JT Daniels transferred in but Smart played Stetson Bennett IV instead and mysteriously waited until the last four games to play Daniels. Daniels returns for 2021 and he will be joined by 2021 signee Brock Vandagriff. Will one of them transfer out? We shouldn’t be surprised if that happens. As Booger McFarland says, “Kirby has done less with more maybe than Mark Richt.” LSU: Coach O says he’s planning to hold a couple of scholarships for transfers in the portal or grad transfers. The Tigers aren’t expected to sign more than 2-3 high school kids today. MISSOURI: Former Auburn staffer Brett Whiteside has been hired as chief recruiting officer. OLE MISS: Ole Miss will play Georgia Southern in 2030. Nothing like anticipating wins nine and ten years in advance. TEXAS A&M: Jimbo Fisher says it’s time to expand the College Football Playoff. “I think, in my opinion, the Playoff has to expand,” Fisher said on the Paul Finebaum Show Tuesday. I think it has to go to eight teams and maybe more, whatever it becomes ... incorporate the bowls in it.” VANDERBILT: David Raih, formerly the wide receivers coach of the Arizona Cardinals, is officially the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for Clark Lea’s new staff. ONE LAST PITHY COMMENT: Eric Bienemy, who is the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs, interviewed for six head coach openings in the National Football League in recent weeks. He probably interviewed for a similar number of NFL jobs last year. He’s oh-fer the last two years and the real question is why? Bienemy has been smart to turn down a few of the jobs on his own, but there were quite a few that he should have landed. The one that comes to mind is Houston. The fact that Houston showed so little interest in Bienemy has everything to do with quarterback Deshaun Watson demanding a trade. Houston ended up hiring David Culley, a 65-year-old who has been an assistant coach his entire career dating all the way back to 1978. There is something very wrong with this equation.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: TIME TO START CRUNCHING TOURNAMENT NUMBERS Yes, it’s just February 2 and the Florida Gators (10-4, 6-3 SEC) have nine Southeastern Conference games remaining but it is not too early to start counting down the magic number that will get the Gators into the NCAA Tournament. In any normal year, a minimum of 20 wins would be required but there is nothing normal about this basketball season. It only takes a look at the SEC standings to see the discrepancies. Of the 14 teams in the league, only eight – Florida, one of them – have played all nine of their scheduled SEC games. South Carolina, which comes to the O-Dome Wednesday night, has played only 10 games total, six in league play. The Gators have played a total of 14 games, third fewest in the league. Even if Florida makes it through the entire SEC schedule without a postponement or cancellation, there aren’t enough games for the Gators to win 20 in the regular season. Because it has been such a strange season already and there are no guarantees that anyone in any league in the country is going to make it an entire month without the schedule being altered, this might be a season in which only a handful of teams get to the 20-win mark. In the SEC, the only team that seems to have a 20-win season on radar lock is Alabama. As it stood on Monday, the Gators held down the 18th position in the NCAA Net Rankings, which would put them solidly on the five line of the tournament brackets if the Selection Committee was picking today. CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm had the Gators a 5th seed in what he calls the Bankers Life Two Region, facing 12th seeded UAB in the opening round. For the Gators to remain on the five line they’ll probably need to go 6-3 in February, a month in which they will play four games in the O-Dome and five on the road. A 6-3 mark would just about require holding serve at the O-Dome and stealing two of the five road games – LSU, 11th-ranked Tennessee, Arkansas, Auburn and Kentucky. A 5-4 should keep the Gators in the NCAA field, but that would seem to be the bare comfortable minimum. A 2-0 record this week against South Carolina and on the road at LSU will likely reduce the Gators’ magic number to get into the tournament to three. South Carolina is coming to the O-Dome after losing to Vanderbilt. The Gators own an 83-79 win over LSU at the O-Dome back in January. LSU dropped a 76-71 decision to 13th-ranked Texas Tech in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. CASTLETON SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK Colin Castleton was selected SEC Player of the Week after averaging 17 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game in the Gators’ wins over Vanderbilt and then 11th-ranked West Virginia. Castleton shot 70.6% from the field and 90.9% from the foul line in the two wins. Against West Virginia Castleton finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots. He scored 15 points and blocked four shots in the second half, plus finished a perfect 9-9 from the foul line. For the season, Castleton is averaging 13.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 63.9% from the field. Tuesday SEC games #11 Tennessee (12-3, 5-3 SEC) at Ole Miss (8-8, 3-6 SEC) Georgia (10-6, 3-6 SEC) at Auburn (10-7, 4-5 SEC) Mississippi State (10-8, 4-5 SEC) at Arkansas (13-5, 5-4 SEC) Wednesday SEC games South Carolina (4-6, 2-4 SEC) at FLORIDA (10-4, 6-3 SEC) LSU (11-5, 6-3 SEC) at #10 Alabama (14-4, 9-0 SEC) Kentucky (5-10, 4-4 SEC) at #18 Missouri (11-3, 4-3 SEC) Vanderbilt (5-8, 1-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC) ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25: 1. Gonzaga 17-0; 2. Baylor 16-0; 3. Villanova 11-1; 4. Michigan 13-1; 5. Houston 15-1; 6. Texas 11-3; 7. Ohio State 14-4; 8. Iowa 12-4; 9. Oklahoma 11-4; 10. Alabama 14-4; 11. Tennessee 12-3; 12. Illinois 11-5; 13. Texas Tech 12-5; 14. Virginia 11-3; 15. Creighton 13-4; 16. Virginia Tech 13-3; 17. West Virginia 11-5; 18. Missouri 11-3; 19. Wisconsin 13-5; 20. Florida State 10-3; 21. UCLA 13-3; 22. FLORIDA 10-4; 23. Kansas 11-6. 24. Purdue 12-6; 25. Drake 16-0 COACHES TOP 25: 1. Gonzaga 17-0; 2. Baylor 16-0; 3. Villanova 11-1; 4. Michigan 13-1; 5. Houston 15-1; 6. Texas 11-3; 7. Alabama 14-4; 8. Iowa 12-4; 9. Ohio State 14-4; 10. Tennessee 12-3; 11. Texas Tech 12-5; 12. Creighton 13-4; 13. Illinois 11-5; 14. Oklahoma 11-4; 15. Virginia 11-3; 16. Virginia Tech 13-3; 17. Missouri 11-3; 18. West Virginia 11-5; 19. Florida State 10-3; 20. Wisconsin 13-5; 21. UCLA 13-3; 22. Kansas 11-6; 23. FLORIDA 10-4; 24. Oklahoma State 11-4; 25. Drake 16-0 SPRING IS CRITICAL FOR THESE FIVE GATORS Stewart Reese, OG/OT: The lack of summer conditioning was a killer for Reese, who should have played at somewhere around 340 but was several biscuits more than that. The weight forced him to play inside at guard and he was way too slow. He was a quality right tackle at Mississippi State back in 2019. He’s back for a second senior season. Ethan White, C/OG: He was set to start at center when he hurt his knee and that set him way back. He played only four games and never was in great football shape when he came back from the injury. Justin Shorter, WR: There was only one football and Kyle Trask had as his main targets Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes, who will all be playing for pay in the fall. Shorter had a fairly good season after transferring in from Penn State, finishing with 23 catches for 246 yards and three touchdowns. He needs to establish himself as a go-to guy in the spring. Gervon Dexton, DT/DE: So much was expected of him. Too much, in fact. There were far too many snaps that he played like the true freshman that he was in 2020. The talent is there. He needs a great spring, an outstanding offseason conditioning program and have that carry over to the fall. Derek Wingo, LB: He played in nine games and was in on all of three tackles. Much more was expected. There is no question he’s got talent and athleticism. He needs a very good spring to nail down a spot in the rotation. PAUL FINEBAUM SAID IT … Speaking on WJOX Monday, Paul Finebaum talked about how Nick Saban goes about constantly replacing his assistant coaches: “He has such a farm system, to say the least. He walks into that room whether it’s real or imagined, all these former head coaches sitting in their kindergarten desks waiting to be called into the big room. He never has to call up a search firm and say ‘Hey can you find me an offensive line coach.’ They’re already waiting there or he knows where they are.” Finebaum also had this to say about Tennessee hiring Josh Heupel from UCF: “The NCAA issue is what kept Hugh Freeze getting this job. He would have been a fantastic hire. I think the fan base today would have been screaming their lungs out ‘Rocky Top.’ Fans around the SEC would not have been happy to see it because they know what he’s capable of it. We used to joke about this with every Alabama hire back in the day, how does your fan base sleep at night knowing that you have so-and-so as your head coach. I think Georgia fans and Florida fans and Bama fans, fans have all like had about a 12-hour sleep on Wednesday night after seeing Josh Heupel as the new coach.” OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC ALABAMA: Although he didn’t play in the Senior Bowl due to an ankle injury suffered in practice, quarterback Mac Jones had such a good week that his draft stock is on the rise. ARKANSAS: With D-line coach Derrick LeBlanc looking to return to the NFL, Sam Pittman is planning to hire Jermial Ashley from Tulsa. AUBURN: Defensive back Traivon Leonard, who opted out for 2020, has elected to return to school in order to play in 2021. LSU: Wofford defensive coordinator Sam Siefkes is joining the staff as an analyst. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Defensive lineman Brandon Cunningham, who played in nine games in 2020, has placed his name in the transfer portal. OLE MISS: Athletic department revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 was $6,675,347 in the red. SOUTH CAROLINA: Former Gator All-American Mike Peterson is the lone holdover on Shane Beamer’s coaching staff. TEXAS A&M: Defensive tackle Jeremiah Martin, a former 4-star recruit, has placed his name in the transfer portal. FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL AND BASEBALL STUFF Heading into Sunday’s Super Bowl, Tom House, Tom Brady’s personal quarterback coach, says he has not seen any decrease in arm strength of his client, who wants to play until he’s 45. House says, “There’s no reason you can’t do at 45 what you did at 25 if you’re willing to pay the price and Tom is obviously willing to pay the price.” Former Gator Demarcus Robinson, who caught 45 passes for 466 yards and two touchdowns for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020, is on the Covid-19 reserve list. He doesn’t have Covid symptoms so if he continues to test negative he will be able to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Quarterback Deshaun Watson has demanded to be traded from the Houston Texans. New Houston general manager says he’s not trading Watson. Bet the farm that Watson will be traded because there are (a) several teams that need a new quarterback and (b) Houston will trade if the price is right. Sports Illustrated lists the following players on its all-too-early Heisman Trophy watch list for 2021: Spencer Rattler, QB, Oklahoma; Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina; D.J. Uiagalelei, QB, Clemson; D’Eriq King, QB, Miami; Breece Hall, RB, Iowa State; Derek Stingley Jr., CB, LSU The Athletic reports that former New York Mets manager and current Los Angeles Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway send lewd photos and unsolicited text messages to at least five women. Callaway says any relationship he had with these women was consensual. Boston College has only four scholarship players available for tonight’s basketball game with 20th-ranked Florida State. After a week in which Oklahoma scored three wins over then top ten-ranked teams, the Sooners went on the road to Texas Tech and lost, 57-52. It’s a bad year for some of college basketball’s bluest of blue bloods. Duke dropped to 7-6 on the season Monday by losing to Miami, 77-75, in Coral Gables. The way things are going, the Blue Devils might need to win the ACC Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament field. Kentucky is 5-10 and will almost certainly have to win the SEC Tournament to get in. Kansas is struggling at 11-6 but probably gets in with five more regular season wins. Michigan State is 8-6 and sitting 13th in the 14-team Big Ten. The Spartans will have to win the Big Ten Tournament to make the field. North Carolina is 11-5 and should make the tournament but the Tar Heels struggle at times. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The Detroit Lions traded quarterback Matt Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for quarterback Jared Goff. Stafford leaves a wasteland where the front office is brain dead for Los Angeles where he’s expected to lead the team to a Super Bowl. He’s played in three playoff games in his career, all losses. Maybe all he needs is a change of scenery to win big football games, but I doubt it. Goff had the Rams in the Super Bowl in 2018 when he came within a whisker of winning a ring. He has to be thinking he’s been sentenced to the NFL’s equivalent of purgatory about now. This is not a win-win trade, but a lose-lose for both quarterbacks and both teams.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: ARIK GILBERT: MORE PROOF HOW RECRUITING IS CHANGING The second of the two national signing days will take place Wednesday and we shouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Dan Mullen signs no one. That hardly means the Gators have whiffed, just that between the kids who signed in December, a couple of transfers – the latest of which is former 5-star tight end Arik Gilbert from LSU – and the possibility that a couple more transfers will come on board this spring Mullen might want to hold onto two or three scholarships. Gilbert, former 5-star running back Demarckus Bowman (Clemson transfer, enrolled in January), defensive tackles Antonio Shelton (former 3-star from Penn State) and Daquan Newkirk (former 4-star from Auburn) and placekicker Jace Christmann (from Mississippi State) offer perfect examples of how recruiting has changed. Florida’s early signing class included 12 early enrollees among the 22 who faxed in their letters of intent but only a few of them figure to make an immediate impact. Most will require a year, perhaps two of development. As for the transfers, all five fill immediate needs and figure to start from day one. The foundation of every college football roster was, is and will always be the high school kids and a few jucos, but now that the NCAA has opened up the transfer portals and what amounts to free agency is soon to be approved, you will see every school holding scholarships to see what’s available in the portal. If there is a hole that has to be filled, instead of hoping and praying a freshman can grow up in a hurry, an experienced transfer can step in and play immediately. When it comes to knowing how to use transfers to his advantage, Mullen is way ahead of the curve. He’s been filling holes in his roster since the day he took over at UF in December of 2017. Counting the new additions, Mullen has landed five 5-stars, 5 4-stars and three 3-stars since 2017. At least ten former transfers will be on the 2021 roster and if all ten don’t start, they will at least figure to contribute significantly. In landing Gilbert, who caught 35 passes for 368 yards and two touchdowns for LSU in 2020 and 6-5 and 249 pounds, tight ends coach Tim Brewster reportedly got plenty of assistance from Florida’s 2020 Mackey Award winning tight end Kyle Pitts. When the 2020 recruiting rankings were completed, Gilbert was the nation’s 5th-ranked recruit by 247Sports, 6th by ESPN and 9th by Rivals. THE GATORS AT HALFTIME: BETTER THAN WE EXPECTED At the midway point of what can only be described as the strangest basketball season perhaps in Florida history, the Gators are in far better shape than anyone could imagine. Following their win over 11th-ranked West Virginia in Morgantown Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, the Gators have moved all the way up to 18th in the NCAA Net Rankings. The Net Rankings, along with those found at Kenpom.com, where the Gators are 23rd, are a fairly good indicator of where a team would be seeded if the Selection Committee announced its teams for the NCAA Tournament today. Based on where the Gators stand today, they would be either a five or six seed. Considering the trauma following the collapse of Keyontae Johnson, would anyone have guessed the Gators would be this highly regarded at the midway point of the season? In his post-game remarks Saturday, White said, “People forget that these guys -- we came back from Tallahassee and we were done. Completely done. Guys went home and didn't do anything. Some of them did, I'm sure, some of those guys were in the gym. But we didn't get together collectively for 15 days. And it wasn't a pause where we're still doing 5-on-0, dry 0, watching film with guys ... some guys went home for 14-15 days. "We needed to mentally heal from the trauma that these guys experienced. We needed these guys to get away from it. We came back on the 26th, and we're obviously a different team without the conference preseason player of the year, the best player I've ever coached, a guy who I thought was going to end up having an All-American-type season." With Keyontae, the Gators figured to make the tournament field. Without him, it took several games for White to find a lineup that works consistently but now he has a lineup and the kind of depth you have to have on the bench to win. The win over West Virginia is the perfect example. In a first half that Tre Mann, Omar Payne and Tyree Appleby spent way too much time on the bench with two fouls, White was constantly juggling his lineup in an effort to keep the game close. There was no answer for West Virginia’s Derek Culver, who scored 21 points. All that changed in the second half. Colin Castleton dominated the paint, scoring 15 of his 21 points and blocking four of his five shots for the game. That neutralized Culver, who scored only seven after the break. With Castleton in control on the inside, it opened things up outside for Mann and Noah Locke to each hit three 3-pointers. With Appleby blowing by everybody, the Gators ran the Mountaineers silly, scoring 18 fast break points. Florida outscored WVU 26-5 on fast break points for the game. The win in Morgantown sets the stage for a very important week for UF. Job number one is to avoid the letdown Wednesday night when South Carolina comes to the O-Dome. Then there is a Saturday road trip to LSU, which is always dangerous in Baton Rouge. Two wins will solidify the Gators position as they get ready for what will be their toughest stretch of the season. Tuesday SEC games #18 Tennessee (12-3, 5-3 SEC) at Ole Miss (8-8, 3-6 SEC) Georgia (10-6, 3-6 SEC) at Auburn (10-8, 4-5 SEC) Kentucky (5-10, 4-4 SEC) at #12 Missouri (11-3, 4-3 SEC) Mississippi State (10-8, 4-5 SEC) at Arkansas (13-5, 5-4 SEC) Wednesday SEC games South Carolina (4-6, 2-4 SEC) at FLORIDA (10-4, 6-3 SEC) LSU (11-5, 6-3 SEC) at #9 Alabama (14-4, 9-0 SEC) Vanderbilt (5-8, 1-6 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-6 SEC) SEC HOOPS STUFF The SEC won the SEC/Big 12 Challenge 5-4. The two most impressive wins were Florida’s 85-80 whacking of 11th-ranked West Virginia in Morgantown and 18th-ranked Tennessee blowing the doors off 15th-ranked Kansas in Knoxville. Kentucky’s entire basketball program was put on a 48-hour hold due to Covid-19 issues and that included cancellation of its game with 5th-ranked Texas. That puts Tuesday’s game at 12th-ranked Missouri in jeopardy. Jay Bilas of ESPN weighed in on Kentucky’s issues, noting, “Their players aren’t as good as they’ve been. They do have a highly rated recruiting class but their players haven’t played to the level of their talent or the predictions of their talent.” NCAA Net Rankings for the SEC (national): 10. Tennessee; 11. Alabama; 18. Florida; 30. Missouri; 32. Arkansas; 38. LSU; 61. Auburn; 75. Kentucky; 76. Ole Miss; 82. Mississippi State; 107. South Carolina; 108. Georgia; 131. Texas A&M; 148. Vanderbilt Kenpom rankings for the SEC (national): 8. Alabama; 13. Tennessee; 23. FLORIDA; 32. Arkansas; 38. Missouri; 39. LSU; 52. Kentucky; 53. Auburn; 66. Ole Miss; 68. Mississippi State; 80. South Carolina; 91. Georgia; 122. Texas A&M; 128. Vanderbilt OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC (FOOTBALL) ALABAMA: Cornerbacks coach Karl Scott could be the next defensive coordinator at Maryland ... Nick Perry, a former Bama DB who has been a grad assistant and analyst the last four years, has moved on to the Atlanta Falcons where he will be an assistant DB coach. ARKANSAS: After a strong showing at the Senior Bowl during practice and when he threw the game winning TDP in the fourth quarter, Feleipe Franks’ draft stock is on the rise. AUBURN: Obviously, all that buyout money for Gus Malzahn and staff (more than $26 million in cold, hard cash) hasn’t put a dent in the athletic department finances. Auburn’s new football-only facility will cost a mere $92 million, which is what Auburn paid for its state-of-the-art basketball arena a few years ago. GEORGIA: Former DE Malik Herring tore his ACL during practices for the Senior Bowl in Mobile. LSU: New linebackers coach Blake Baker, the former defensive coordinator at Miami, will make $500,000 in 2021, $550,000 in 2022 … New D-line coach Andre Carter will be paid $200,000 in 2021, $450,000 in 2022. OLE MISS: Randall Joyner is expected to join the staff as the D-line coach. At SMU last year, Joyner’s D-line finished 15th nationally in sacks. They led the country in sacks per game (3.92) in 2019. SOUTH CAROLINA: Former running backs coach Bobby Bentley, who was not retained by Shane Beamer, is the new running backs coach at South Florida. It wouldn’t be surprising if son Jake Bentley, who started two seasons at South Carolina and spent last year at Utah, transfers to South Florida, which is in dire need of a QB. TENNESSEE: The talent drain continues. Placekicker Brent Cimaglia and punter Joe Doyle announced their outta Knoxville via the transfer portal. Cimaglia made 46 of 62 field goal attempts during his UT career. Doyle, who didn’t punt during the 2020 season, averaged more than 41 yards in two seasons. TEXAS A&M: Kellen Mond threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns to win the MVP award at the Senior Bowl. VANDERBILT: Ben Cauthen, formerly of Wake Forest, has been named Clark Lea’s chief of staff. JOE REXRODE SAID IT … Joe Rexrode of The Athletic seems a bit underwhelmed by the University of Tennessee selecting Josh Heupel as its new football coach. Here are a couple of samples: “Heupel wasn’t the one all along, shouldn’t have been and shouldn’t be UT’s coach right now. That doesn’t mean he has no chance. The Tennessee fan who just wants to believe things are going to get better, more than a decade and five coaches now into this era of misery, can point to Heupel’s 28-8 record at UCF and the fact that his résumé is technically better than the previous four coaches who followed the last successful coach, Phillip Fulmer (in reverse order, Pruitt, Butch Jones, Derek Dooley, Kiffin) when they got the job.” And this … “As you may have noticed, UCF fans don’t seem broken up about losing Heupel. But fans and media are wrong all the time, and it’s about time for someone to take this job at Tennessee and overdeliver. It’s also OK to put some trust in the guy who a week ago represented renewed Tennessee hope. We will never know every detail of White’s search, but it was too fast for Heupel to be lower than, what, Plan H? Some of the people he didn’t approach, along with his obvious familiarity with Heupel, suggest he thinks this has a chance. A chance at what? They talked about championships Wednesday, typical intro presser fare, but at this point, if Heupel can lead Tennessee out of embarrassment and make this a better job for the next guy, that’s a win.” ONE LAST PITHY THOUGHT: Darwin’s theory is on full display early mornings these days at The Swamp. It’s called mat drills where figuratively speaking only the strong survive. The garbage cans are out and they don’t leave empty as Dan Mullen and strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage intend to make darn sure those familiar fourth quarter fades of 2020 don’t happen again. Nobody was more upset with the way the Gators performed in the fourth quarter and late season than Mullen. Tough mat drills followed by a tough spring practice may drive some players to the transfer portal, but the strong ones who survive will make the Gators a better team in 2021.