Come this fall, the Florida Gators will have two Scot Brantley Trophy winners on their roster. Joining the inaugural award winner—Gators’ wide receiver Trent Whittemore—will be Ocala Trinity Catholic’s Jake Slaughter. The Scot Brantley trophy, which is sponsored by the Ocala Quarterback Club, is an annual recognition given to the most outstanding football player, student and citizen within the nine Central Florida counties of Marion, Alachua, Citrus, Levy, Sumter, Lake, Volusia, Putnam and Columbia. Defining the most outstanding football player, student and citizen is boiled down to a couple of factors: On-field excellence, academics, leadership, athleticism, commitment, recommitment, faith, goal orientation, character and conscience. Each year, a long watch list is narrowed down to four finalists. In 2020, the four finalists included Slaughter, quarterback Nate Mikell (Wildwood), athlete Trevonte Rucker (Vanguard) and linebacker Zach Williams (Forest). And on January 13, the Ocala Quarterback Club announced Slaughter as the 2020 recipient. Slaughter, who played under John Brantley III, brother of the trophy’s namesake, joins Whittemore and former North Marion Colt and current Tennessee Tech defensive back Jyron Gilmore as the third winner of the award. With each of the previous award winners being specialty players, it came as a shock when Slaughter learned he had won as an offensive lineman. “It really is an honor to receive this award and I couldn’t be more thankful for it,” Slaughter wrote in a statement. “It truly means a lot to be recognized by a Marion County great like Mr. Brantley, especially as an offensive lineman. “Considering the talent of the other three finalists, I was shocked to find out that I had won,” Slaughter added. “I’m beyond thankful for all of the great teammates and coaches I’ve had throughout my high school career. And winning this award is the perfect ending to it.” During his career with the Celtics, the 6-foot-4, 300-pound monster up front has helped clear the way for Trinity Catholic to abuse defenses on the ground. As a junior, Slaughter opened holes for the Celtics’ bellcow running back, Jamarian Samuel, who rushed for over 2,000 yards in 2019. In 2020, with the return of Brantley, a former Florida Gators quarterback from the 1970s, the Trinity Catholic showcased a more balanced offensive attack. This season, not only did Slaughter have to make lanes for ball carriers, but he also played an integral part in protecting Trinity Catholic’s quarterback. And as fate would have it, Cole Gonzalez, son of Florida’s wide receivers coach Billy Gonzalez, would be the one taking snaps for the Celtics. When asked if he and the Gonzalez’s joke about him protecting Cole, or else…, Slaughter is quick to laugh about the past conversations. “Oh absolutely, we joked about stuff like that,” Slaughter said. “Cole is awesome, he’s a great buddy… great quarterback.” And next year, the 2020 Scot Brantley recipient will possibly be playing a different role in Coach Gonzalez’s life. Instead of protecting his son from defenders, Slaughter could play a part in giving Florida’s signal caller time to throw downfield to Gonzalez’s receiver corps. But regardless, Slaughter will be ready. OTHER FOOTBALL NOTABLES The Gators extend an offer to 4-star RB Dallan Hayden The Gators’ running back room has been perhaps the biggest disappointment for Dan Mullen and his staff’s recruiting efforts. Fortunately, the transfer portal has blessed Florida at this position (see: Lorenzo Lingard and Demarkus Bowman). But somewhere down the line, Mullen and staff will have to set the hook on a running back. And Tennessee native, Dallan Hayden, who just received an offer from the Gators, might give Mullen and staff an opportunity to land their big fish right off of the recruiting trail. Currently, Hayden is expected to commit to the Volunteers. However, with the recent news out of Knoxville, it’s the perfect time for the Gators to swoop. Hayden also has offers from Ohio State and Notre Dame, among others. Florida adds Akron transfer Dylan Meeks The Gators are adding another defensive end to their roster in the shape of Dylan Meeks, a transfer from the Akron Zips. The move to Gainesville will bring Meeks closer to his hometown of Orlando, where he graduated from Dr. Phillips High School as a 3-star prospect. Though he didn’t play in the 2020 season, Meeks was the second-leading tackler for the Zips as a junior in 2019, where he tallied 47 tackles. The Gators use transfer portal to beef up defensive line With Kyree Campbell and TJ Slaton moving onto the NFL, Florida was hard pressed to find bodies to replace the two-year starters. However, with Mullen’s continued finesse in the transfer portal, the Gators might have found their solutions with the addition of defensive tackles DayQuan Newkirk and Antonio Shelton. Newkirk will join the Gators after spending the last three years with the Auburn Tigers. The Orlando native tallied 28 tackles in 2020, after starting every regular-season game for the Tigers. Shelton, on the other hand, comes to Gainesville to spend his sixth year of eligibility with the Gators. At his previous home at Penn State, Shelton started 20 games and recorded 14 tackles in 2020.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: CUT THE HEAD OFF THE SNAKE That’s how the late, great Al McGuire defined his defensive philosophy. Identify the player that makes the other team go, then design a defensive strategy to neutralize and take him out of the game. In the case of the Florida Gators Saturday afternoon when they travel to Athens to face a Georgia team that has won its last two, the snake is tiny point guard Sahvir Wheeler, a 5-10 blur who makes the Bulldogs go. He scores 14.2 points per game but what he does best is use his quickness to get into the lane where he turns lethal as a passer. Wheeler averages an SEC-best 7.4 assists per game. When Wheeler is penetrating, the Bulldogs get high percentage shots. They aren’t going to beat many people from the 3-point line (32.3%) but they rely on getting good shots in the paint, which is why they rank third in the league in overall shooting percentage (46.2%). They are also third in the league in offensive rebounds (13.2 per game) so they clean up a lot of shots around the rim even though they’re one of the smaller teams in the SEC. On the inside, the Gators have to be particularly aware of 6-8 Toumani Camara, Georgia’s tallest player and most effective inside scorer at 13.3 per game. In Georgia’s 63-62 win over Kentucky Wednesday night, Camara and his backup, 6-6 Andrew Garcia, combined for 22 points and 14 rebounds. Wheeler had 10 points and seven assists. The Gators are coming off their best defensive game of the season against 6th-ranked Tennessee, which was held to 29.8% overall shooting and a miserable 3-18 from the 3-point line. The Gators forced 18 turnovers and completely controlled the paint with 6-10 Omar Payne (9 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocked shots), 6-8 Osayi Osifo (4 points, 6 rebounds) and Jason Jitoboh (2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 blocked shot, 1 steal). The Gators will be bolstered by the return of 6-11 Colin Castleton, who ranks second in the SEC at 2.3 blocked shots per game and has 14 in the last two games he played. Scottie Lewis, who also defends at a very high level, is expected to be back after missing the last two games due to health protocols. Although it’s not quite the midway point of the SEC schedule, this qualifies as a must win for the Gators since Georgia is a tier two team in the NCAA net rankings (No. 99) while the Gators are in the top tier at No. 28. It’s a very winnable game but only if Florida shows up defensively, neutralizes Wheeler and controls the action in the paint. Saturday’s SEC games FLORIDA (7-4, 4-3 SEC) at Georgia (9-4, 2-4 SEC) #19 Missouri (9-2, 3-2 SEC) at #6 Tennessee (10-2, 4-2 SEC) #18 Alabama (12-3, 7-0 SEC) at Mississippi State (9-6, 4-3 SEC) LSU (10-3, 5-2 SEC) at Kentucky (4-9, 3-3 SEC) Texas A&M (7-5, 2-4 SEC) at Ole Miss (7-6, 2-4 SEC) Arkansas (11-4, 3-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-4 SEC) Auburn (8-7, 2-5 SEC) at South Carolina (3-4, 1-2 SEC) OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC ALABAMA: It’s finally official. Bill O’Brien, formerly the head coach at Penn State and with the NFL Houston Texans, will be the offensive coordinator … Defensive back Eddie Smith is transferring to Illinois ... Tight end Miller Forristall has hired an agent and will enter the NFL Draft. AUBURN: Bert Watts is leaving Memphis to coach linebackers and coordinate special teams for Bryan Harsin ... Offensive lineman Kamaar Bell has put his name in the transfer portal ... Apparently defensive back Christian Tuitt has withdrawn his name from the transfer portal. GEORGIA: New athletic director Josh Brooks pledged $100,000 of his own money to support need-based scholarships at the university. KENTUCKY: Mark Stoops confirmed that defensive back Kelvin Joseph will not be returning. Joseph had four interceptions and was in on 25 tackles in 2020. LSU: Early enrollees Deion Smith (WR) and Garrett Nussmeier (QB) will be limited in their participation on pre-spring practice drills. Smith has an issue with his ankle and Nussmeier has an injury to his hand. MISSOURI: Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks will be the new defensive coordinator for Mizzou. OLE MISS: The Rebels have 18 early enrollees including 15 from the early signing period. SOUTH CAROLINA: Derrick Moore, who spent 2021 on the Georgia Tech support staff, has taken the Executive Director of Player Development position with the Gamecocks. TENNESSEE: The carnage in Knoxville is staggering. Twelve have already transferred out, five have their names in the transfer portal, three have declared for the NFL, two are not on the roster (one academics, one has opted out) and eight seniors who have yet to announce if they’re staying or if they are going. All this before the NCAA barber comes in to slice and dice the scholarships for the recruiting violations. VANDERBILT: Former running backs coach Tim Horton has taken a job as special teams coordinator/running backs coach at Air Force. FURTHER PROOF THAT IT’S TIME TO LEAVE THE NCAA ONCE AND FOR ALL Notre Dame got a one-year probation from the NCAA Thursday along with a show cause for assistant coach Todd Lyght. This is the third school that has been nailed for a violation while recruiting linebacker Sav’ell Smalls of Seattle (WA) Garfield. Florida and Texas A&M got a year each from the NCAA with head coaches Dan Mullen and Jimbo Fisher getting show cause penalties. And for what? The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, is flexing its muscles over what amounts to a parking ticket. In recruit-speak that is impermissible contact with a recruit. No improper benefits like a McDonald’s bag full of money like Tennessee was reportedly handing out. No cars or $100 an hour jobs for which no work was required. Nope. Impermissible contact and get this, all with the same recruit who ended up signing with the crosstown University of Washington. Maybe I read too many spy novels by Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn but this reeks of a setup. This show of force by the NCAA comes at a time when the organization can’t figure out how to deal with a dozen or so coaches tied into a college basketball scandal played out in federal court that resulted in people going to jail. This came complete with wiretaps and other evidence that implicates some of the game’s top coaches and blueblood programs to cheating in which large amounts of money change hands. At LSU, for example, Will Wade was caught on wiretap bragging about the amount of money he’s already offered a recruit and indicating a willingness to spend more if necessary. Three years later, Wade is still coaching and the NCAA still hasn’t served LSU with a Notice of Allegations, apparently because they are still investigating. Bill Self at Kansas got caught dead to rights but rather than face the NCAA Committee on Infractions Self and Kansas are going to take their case to the Independent Accountability Resolution Process. This is a trial before people who have no active connection to any school under the NCAA umbrella. Accused coaches and schools say they’ll get a fairer hearing that way. Arizona and coach Sean Miller have been served a Notice of Allegations. They, like Kansas and Self, say they’ll fight it to the bitter end. There’s a ton of indisputable evidence that Miller not only knew exactly what his assistant coach Emmanuel “Book” Richardson was doing but essentially gave his blessings. The basketball issues are serious stuff and yet the NCAA drags its feet while at the same time acting like Barney Fife throwing Otis Campbell into jail for three football coaches who had an impermissible contact with a recruit. Now, does cheating take place in football? Absolutely, and a good bit of it is far more serious than a coach talking to some kid on his high school campus. The problem is the NCAA gets caught up in all these misdemeanor cases without ever baring its teeth and going after the schools and coaches who engage in serious cheating. The NCAA rule book is so complex and large that I’ve had more than a few college football coaches tell me that it’s next to impossible to know what’s a violation and what is permissible. It has spurned a cottage industry of compliance lawyers. The bigger the school and the more visible the football and basketball programs, the larger the staff of lawyers and paralegals handling compliance. There is a simple solution to all this and it’s one rumored to be in the works. The Power Five football schools need to do a Martin Luther, march to the cathedral that is NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis and nail to the door a notice they can no longer be a part of the organization. Once they’ve done that they need to offer the 65 schools that make up the Group of Five an opportunity to walk away with them. Instead of a certifiable idiot like Mark Emmert running the show, the breakaway schools need to elect their own commissioner – Greg Sankey has already proven he’s the right man for the job by the way he handled the 2020 football season in the Southeastern Conference – and write their own rules. Instead of volumes filled with ticky-tacky rules, write a rule book that can fit into a coach’s hip pocket that comes complete with swift, serious punishment for those who insist on breaking the law. NCAA president Mark Emmert claims this is a terrible idea. The terrible idea is for the football playing schools continuing to allow Emmert and his band of bureaucratic minions stand in the way of the kind of reformation that is long overdue. There is nothing to be gained by staying in the NCAA. Time to move on. A FEW OTHER THOUGHTS Danny White, the younger brother of University of Florida basketball coach Mike White, is the new athletic director at the smoldering landfill fire that is known as the University of Tennessee. Job number one will be to decide whether interim coach Kevin Steele needs to continue in that role through the 2021 season or if there is a sucker out there willing to take on a football program that is going to be wearing the pink jump suit and rubber sole shoes that are standard issue for the NCAA jail house. The Pac-12 has filed for divorce with commissioner Larry Scott. Final papers are set to be signed with the split official as of June 30. The irreconcilable differences in this particular separation have everything to do with the rotten television contracts and bowl agreements negotiated by Scott that (a) keep the league’s schools off national television at decent hours and (b) the lack of revenue from those contracts. The Big Ten shells out $55 million to its schools every year while SEC schools get $45 million now although that number will increase by $20 million a year per school once the contract with CBS comes to an end. Pac-12 schools get $32 million. There is a 50% chance of snow Sunday when the Tampa Bay Bucs travel to Green Bay for the NFC championship game. The Packers are a 3-point home favorite. New Detroit Lions football coach Dan Campbell bears a strong resemblance to The Dude from the movie “The Big Lebowski.” The name plate of his new office in Detroit reads “Head Coach/The Dude.” TWO LAST PITHY THOUGHTS: In case you didn’t notice, neither Kentucky, Duke or North Carolina was mentioned in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll. This is the first time that has happened since 1961. Of the three, North Carolina has the best record at 9-5 while Duke is 5-4 and Kentucky an unheard of 4-9, the worst record since the pre-Adolph Rupp 1920s. North Carolina, which beat Wake Forest Gump earlier in the week, has a 1-game winning streak. Duke is working on a 2-game losing streak (Virginia Tech and Pitt whacked the Blue Devils) and Kentucky has lost three in a row, the most recent 63-62 to Georgia. I’m enjoying this … Dan Patrick says Tennessee coaches handed recruits McDonald’s bags stuffed with cash. I wonder if they told the recruits “We love to see you smile” when they handed them the bags?

Once or twice a season, fans of Florida Gators basketball receive a sighting. Omar Payne, the sophomore forward, in the game of the year and driving the Gators to an improbable win. On Tuesday night, it was in a dominating win over the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers. “Just really just waiting for my opportunity to shine. Today, we have a couple of dudes out so I just had to go in and do what I usually to do,” reflected Payne after the 75-49 win. What he did was provide over 27 minutes of play with a +16 during his time. Payne finished with nine points (4-5 FG, 1-2 FT) and nine rebounds (five offensive, four defensive) plus an assist. All well above his previous season average of 2.8 rebounds and 3.4 points per game. “Efficient 4-5, keeping the ball high, finishing on the interior, fanning it out when he needed to,” commented Head Coach Mike White of his forward’s performance. “He plays within himself offensively. With a lot of these guys, let’s not show what we can’t do, let’s just play to our strengths, and I think Omar is a pretty good example of that. He’s developing, he’s growing as an offensive player, his left hand, his left hooks have gotten much better. His feel, his passing ability. He’s got elite length of course, he’s got a nose for the ball on the offensive glass. He’s grown defensively with the blocked shots. He changes the game for us a little bit.” On Tuesday against a Top 10 team, he had to change the game. The Gators needed him. Florida floored a team missing its top three playmakers: forward Keyontae Johnson, forward Colin Castleton and guard Scottie Lewis. That’s why the win itself is impressive, since it showcased fight and talent the team will need if they are to make a run. But it also reintroduced us to the game changer Omar Payne. Payne found out he was starting just before tip-off, when he got word in the locker room that Castleton (ankle) wouldn’t be able to play. In place of the Michigan Wolverine transfer, Payne became a linchpin, leading both teams in rebounds and helping dominate the Vols on the boards. Said Payne’s teammate, Noah Locke, “[Omar] played really well, just rebounding the ball. You can literally throw the ball anywhere and he’s going to get it. He’s athletic, he just played hard. He just stepped up when we needed him to.” “When we needed him to” is the key there. As the post game Gators notes noted, Omar Payne has figured prominently in the past two Florida wins vs. top-10 opponents. Making his first start of the season, Payne tallied nine points and nine rebounds. Payne had 19 points and 11 rebounds in last season’s win vs. #4 Auburn. So how do the Gators and Mike White find a more consistent performer with Payne? Some of it is simply the depth chart, with Keyontae Johnson and Colin Castleton playing more minutes until recently. Castleton is expected back from his swollen ankle (suffered versus Mississippi State) but Johnson could miss significant time for the remainder of the season after collapsing on the floor during a timeout versus Florida State. In other words, along with Anthony Duruji, the Gators need the super hero Payne to make more appearances than once a season. Payne knows that, explaining before the Tennessee game, he sat and rewatched film from the entire season. That’s when he realized how much more aggressive he needed to be on the offensive boards, which paid off on Tuesday night. The next step, according to Locke, is Omar Payne simply believing he can be “Omar Payne” on any given night. “It’s just a mental thing I mean to me just being able to get him going in that way, you know, he's, he sees what he's, you know, able to do. I mean I see glimpses of it in practice, I see it all the time. “So I mean if he just continues to work on his mental—being able to tell himself that, I mean he could do that every single game—then I feel like it would help him a lot. And, I mean, I know that he knows it. I know that he knows it, and you know when his time comes he’ll step up, just like he did [versus Tennessee].”

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: AVOIDING THE LETDOWN We will find out Saturday if Florida’s stunning 75-49 poleaxing of 6th-ranked Tennessee was just a case of an undermanned, underdog team playing way over its head or a sign of things to come. Playing without Colin Castleton and Scottie Lewis, Mike White was forced to give extended minutes to players who normally spend large portions of games wondering if their feet are going to fall asleep while they sit in those neatly arranged chairs that promote social distancing. The results were stunning as the Gators dominated the Vols in every phase of the game. When the Gators travel to Athens Saturday to face a Georgia team that has won its last two games including a 63-62 stunner over Kentucky Wednesday night, Castleton and Miller are expected to be ready and available. But, will White shorten his bench with their return or expand it to give more floor time to guys like Omar Payne, Ques Glover and Jason Jitoboh, whose contributions weighed heavily in the beatdown of the Vols? And, will the Gators play with the same kind of intensity in Athens that they showed for the full 40 minutes against the Vols? The NCAA Net Rankings, the closest indicator of who is likely to get into the NCAA Tournament, saw Florida move from 44th to 29th because of the win over Tennessee. They probably don’t move up any if they beat Georgia (100 in the rankings) but a loss to a tier II team would drop them back into the 40s, which is a precarious position. There is still more than a month to go in the regular season, but with such a limited non-conference schedule, the Gators can’t afford losing to those teams in the lower tiers. So, job No. 1 Saturday will be avoiding the letdown and playing with the effort and intensity needed to score a win on the road. Wednesday’s SEC scores Georgia (9-4, 2-4 SEC) 63, Kentucky (4-9, 3-3 SEC) 62 Arkansas (11-4, 3-4 SEC) 75, Auburn (8-7, 2-5 SEC) 73 Texas A&M (7-5, 2-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-4 SEC), postponed Saturday’s SEC games FLORIDA (7-4, 4-3 SEC) at Georgia (9-4, 2-4 SEC) Auburn (8-7, 2-5 SEC) at South Carolina (3-4, 1-2 SEC) Arkansas (11-4, 3-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-4 SEC) Texas A&M (7-5, 2-4 SEC) at Ole Miss (7-6, 2-4 SEC) Mississippi State (9-6, 4-3 SEC) at #18 Alabama (12-3, 7-0 SEC) LSU (10-3, 5-2 SEC) at Kentucky (4-9, 3-3 SEC) #19 Missouri (9-2, 3-2 SEC) at #6 Tennessee (10-2, 5-2 SEC) GATORS REMAIN A #10 IN SEC BRACKETOLOGY Joe Lunardi of the SEC has six teams currently in his NCAA Tournament brackets led by Tennessee as a #2 in Region One and Alabama as a #3 in Region Four. The other SEC teams for Lunardi are Missouri #6 in Region Two, LSU #7 in Region Three, Arkansas #10 in Region Four and Florida #10 in Region One. At CBS, Jerry Palm has five SEC teams making the NCAA field with Tennessee a #2 in what he calls the Bankers Life 2 Region. The other SEC teams in Palm’s brackets are Missouri in Bankers Life 2, Alabama #5 in Bankers Life 2, LSU #7 in Bankers Life 1 and Florida #10 in Hinkle 1. NO ANNOUNCEMENT YET, BUT CHRISTIAN ROBINSON IS STAYING After a rather serious flirtation with Michigan, Christian Robinson will remain at the University of Florida coaching the outside linebackers. How do we know? Because Michigan and new defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald completed the reshuffle of the defensive staff by hiring Maurice Lindquist to coach the defensive backs and George Helow to coach the safeties. Retained on the staff were linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary and defensive line coach Shaun Nua. With Robinson staying, the Gators have one open spot on the coaching staff. Unless Dan Mullen is able to convince Charlie Strong to join the UF staff as the co-defensive coordinator, the candidate that seems to be the most likely is Pitt safeties coach Cory Sanders, an outstanding on-the-field coach and recruiter, who knows the state of Florida from his two-year stint as defensive coordinator at West Florida (2015-16). YAHOO SPORTS TOO EARLY TOP 25 HAS GATORS AT NO. 12 Yahoo Sports came out with their too early top 25 for 2021. Ranked 1-2-3 are Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma. A Georgia team that loses nine defensive starters will have the people who do these early ratings scrambling in week two after they got clocked by Clemson in Death Valley is ranked 4th. Another team that will prove overrated is Texas A&M, which will be breaking in a new quarterback and four new starters on the O-line. The Gators at No. 12 get more respect from Yahoo than they’ve gotten from just about anyone else that has done one of these early top 25s. Write Nick Bromberg and Sam Cooper about the Gators: “There’s a lot of talent leaving Gainesville, but Dan Mullen has won at least eight games in each of his three seasons at Florida. There’s no reason to think Florida won’t be good again in 2021. Florida signed QBs Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jalen Kitna (son of ex-NFL QB Jon) and both are enrolling early to prep for the season and potentially challenge Emory Jones for the starting job. Jacob Copeland and Justin Shorter will be back to catch passes from whomever starts at QB.” The Yahoo Sports Early Top 25: (1) Alabama; (2) Clemson; (3) Oklahoma; (4) Georgia; (5) Ohio State; (6) Texas A&M; (6) Ohio State; (7) Iowa State; (8) Notre Dame; (9) Cincinnati; (10) Oregon; (11) North Carolina; (12) FLORIDA; (13) Wisconsin; (14) Southern Cal; (15) Iowa; (16) LSU; (17) Penn State; (18) Miami; (19) Arizona State; (20) Indiana; (21) Coastal Carolina; (22) Oklahoma State; (23) Texas; (24) Washington; (25) Liberty KADARIUS TONEY MOVING UP DRAFT LISTS A number of mock drafts have Florida wide receiver Kadarius Toney, an All-SEC and second team All-America selection in 2020, moving into the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft. Dane Brugler of The Athletic ranks Toney the 4th best wide receiver for the 2021 draft, trailing only Ja’Marr Chase (LSU), Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith (Alabama) and Jaylen Waddle (Alabama). Brugler writes: “There are some durability and off-field red flags that confound his draft grade, but Toney is a home run threat every time he touches the football. His start-stop athleticism and ankle flexion leave even the most talented SEC defenders appearing awkward in their pursuit. It is not just his athletic traits: Toney has the body balance and deceiving strength to slip out of tackle attempts.” OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC ALABAMA: Nothing official on former Penn State/Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien joining the staff as the offensive coordinator but two positions have been filled. Doug Marrone is official as the offensive line coach and former Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran is a signed contract away from taking over as the running backs coach ... Rimington Award winner Landon Dickerson has declared for the NFL. AUBURN: Former co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Kodi Burns is joining Josh Heupel’s staff at UCF. GEORGIA: Georgia issued a statement that Will Muschamp has not joined Kirby Smart’s staff in any capacity. Just the same, you can expect sometime in the next week or so for Muschamp to be named Director of Football Operations or even co-defensive coordinator in the event co-coordinator Glen Schumann departs to be the DC at another school (likely) or DC Dan Lanning bolts for the NFL (possible). KENTUCKY: Tight end Nikolas Ognenovic has placed his name in the transfer portal. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Defensive back Fred Peters is returning for a second senior season. Peters was in on 20 tackles in 2020. MISSOURI: Defensive line coach Brick Haley will not return. Haley could resurface at LSU, where he coached from 2009-14. SOUTH CAROLINA: Greg Adkins, who was on Doc Holliday’s staff at Marshall the next three years, will be the new offensive line coach … Former Gamecock linebacker Shaq Wilson is the staff as a defensive analyst. TENNESSEE: Four players entered the transfer portal Wednesday – linebacker Henry To’o To’o, linebacker Quavaris Crouch, running back Eric Gray and offensive lineman Jahmir Johnson. To’o To’o had 140 tackles the last two seasons. Crouch had 57 tackles and two forced fumbles in 2020. Gray led the Vols with 772 rushing yards and four touchdowns in addition to catching 30 passes for 254 yards and two TDs … Tennessee didn’t invent dysfunction but it is attempting to make an art form of it. Athletic director Phil Fulmer is being forced to retire, but he will be paid $37,500 per month until his contract expires December 31, 2022 … Interim head coach Kevin Steele is planning to hire Rodney Garner away from Auburn to become the defensive line coach. PETE THAMEL SAID IT … Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports writes that where Tennessee went bad was when its fans revolted against the hire of Greg Schiano, which led to the hire of the now-fired Jeremy Pruitt. “To rewind for those unfamiliar with the latest stanza of the 15-year country ballad of Tennessee athletic underachievement, here’s how the university got here. They fired Butch Jones in 2017 and then ran off former athletic director John Currie when the fans and a skeptical blogger disagreed with Currie’s hiring of Greg Schiano as head coach. “Schiano was a proven head coach, program builder and developer of talent from 11 seasons at Rutgers and two years as an NFL head coach. His hiring would have been an acknowledgement that Tennessee needed to slowly build back to competence through evaluation, the weight room and a coach who understands roster building. “When the Schiano hiring famously imploded under the pressure of fan revolt, Tennessee tried to fast track the road to relevancy. They hired an unproven coach with no experience who hired an overmatched staff. A play for SEC recruiting will end in a predictable place – likely infractions hearings, bowl bans and scholarship losses.” PHILLIP RIVERS RETIRES AFTER 17 SEASONS Phillip Rivers and his goofy looking but effective sidearm delivery are calling it quits after 17 years in the National Football League, 16 with the Chargers, the last one with the Indianapolis Colts. Rivers left the state of Alabama to play college football at North Carolina State where he threw for 13,484 yards and 95 touchdowns in four years. Traded by the New York Giants to San Diego after Eli Manning refused to play for the Chargers, Rivers finished his career with 63,440 passing yards and 421 touchdowns. More impressive is Rivers’ durability. From 2006-20 Rivers started every game for 15 years. With Rivers gone, the Colts are in the market for a QB. If they go for an experienced QB, there will be deals to be made as Sam Darnold (New York Jets), Teddy Bridgewater (Carolina) and Deshaun Watson (Houston) are likely to be on the market. If Philadelphia wishes to avoid a quarterback controversy, it could unload either Carson Wentz or Jalen Hurts. If the Colts elect to draft a QB, then they could be looking at Mac Jones of Alabama or Kyle Trask of Florida when they pick at No. 21. Jones is Mel Kiper’s 5th-rated QB while Trask is 6th. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Next week the Baseball Hall of Fame will announce its 2021 class and there is a very good chance no one will get the required 75% of the votes necessary for selection. There are players with Hall of Fame stats like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez and Rafael Palmiero but due to their association with performance enhancing drugs it will take a miracle of water flowing from the rock at Meribah proportions for them to get in. Curt Schilling almost made it last year (74.8% of the votes) but his political involvement could keep some voters from pushing him over the top. As for the rest of the candidates, how many of you think Todd Helton, Scott Rolen, Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter are Hall of Fame material? Good players, yes, but the Hall should be a place for the greats and I don’t think any of them were great enough to have a plaque in the same room with the likes of Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: DID ANYBODY SEE THIS COMING? Okay, admit it. No one will hold it against you if you come right out and admit that the moment you heard Colin Castleton was a starting lineup scratch you thought 6th-ranked Tennessee was going to make the Florida Gators regret they had ever taken up the game of basketball. If someone had told you the final score would be 75-49, you probably would have thought that sounded right as in Tennessee 75 and Florida 49. But Florida 75, Tennessee 49? Did you see that coming? Have you pinched yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming? Are you asking yourself who were these guys who made a bad week even worse for creamsicle clad Vol fans everywhere? And now that you’ve stopped giggling, are you wondering how in the heck did that happen? Don’t feel all alone. Everybody else is asking the same exact questions because even with Castleton and Scottie Lewis in the lineup, the Vols would be favored to beat the Gators ten times out of ten. Without them? No way. Or at least, that’s what everyone was thinking. Only there was a way and it started with the best defense the Gators have played in the last couple of years combined with Mike White getting a contribution from every scholarship player available including Jason Jitoboh, who proved the brief sighting in Starkville back on Saturday wasn’t some kind of mirage. The Gators held Tennessee to 29.3% shooting overall and 3-18 from the 3-point line by playing a hair on fire scrambling style that forced the Vols into an uncharacteristic 18 turnovers that were converted into 27 Florida points. Coming into the Game, Tennessee ranked among the top five teams in the country in fewest turnovers. The Gators harassed the Vols on the perimeter, forcing Tennessee’s four-man guard rotation into a rotten 8-37 from the field and 2-14 from the 3-point line. When the Vols tried to muscle the Gators inside, they were met up with the trio of Omar Payne (9 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocked shots), Jitoboh (2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block) and Osayi Osifo (4 points, 6 rebounds), all of whom played their best games of the season. What happened in the paint was in startling contrast to the game against Mississippi State, which saw UF outrebounded by 21 and the Bulldogs scoring at will. Florida outscored Tennessee 42-22 in the paint and outrebounded the Vols 44-36. On the offensive end, the Gators didn’t get too enamored with the 3-point shot, choosing instead to take the Vols off the bounce, something that wasn’t supposed to happen. Tyree Appleby (13 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals) controlled the tempo from the point, enabling Tre Mann (12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal) and Noah Locke (14 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal) to focus on scoring. When Appleby needed a breather, the Gators got 14 solid minutes from Ques Glover (10 points, 1 assist, 3 steals). Even freshman Neils Lane (6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal) gave solid minutes. Tennessee apologists will try to tell you the Vols came out flat and simply played poorly, but the reason they had such a bad game was because Florida played its best game of the season in all phases, compensating with hustle, inspiration and an extraordinary defensive effort to make up for the lack of Castleton and Lewis in the lineup. Castleton will be back Saturday when the Gators travel to Athens to face Georgia and it is anticipated that Lewis will also make the trip, but with or without them, it’s up to Mike White to get that kind of effort and those kind of contributions from everyone on his bench. If White can get his team to play to that level Saturday, then they have a very good chance to take down Georgia. If he can get them to play to that level every game the rest of the season, there isn’t a game on the schedule the Gators aren’t capable of winning. For the moment you might be asking who were those guys? But if they can play like that with any consistency in upcoming games and the rest of the season, then this Florida team will be heading to Indianapolis to play in the NCAA Tournament. If you saw the loss to Mississippi State or the previous losses to Alabama and Kentucky, you probably were thinking no way this team makes the big dance. If they can play as they did against Tennessee the rest of the year, there is no way they don’t make it. Tuesday SEC Scores FLORIDA (7-4, 4-3 SEC) 75, #6 Tennessee (10-2, 5-2 SEC) 49 #19 Missouri (9-2, 3-2 SEC) 81, South Carolina (3-4, 1-2 SEC) 70 #18 Alabama (12-3, 7-0 SEC) 105, LSU (10-3, 5-2 SEC) 75 Ole Miss (7-6, 2-4 SEC) 64, Mississippi State (9-6, 4-3 SEC) 46 Wednesday SEC Games Kentucky (4-8, 3-2 SEC) at Georgia (8-4, 1-4 SEC) Auburn (8-6, 2-4 SEC) at Arkansas (10-4, 2-4 SEC) Texas A&M (7-5, 2-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-4 SEC), postponed OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC ALABAMA: Linebacker Josh McMillan announced that he’s heading to the NFL rather than return for a SEVENTH year of eligibility. ARKANSAS: Linebacker Hayden Henry became the ninth senior to announce he will return for 2021. KENTUCKY: Asked on Kentucky Sports Radio if he was shocked that Tennessee fired HBC Jeremy Pruitt, UK head coach Mark Stoops replied, “Does it surprise me? Not one bit.” LSU: Coach O’s search for a defensive coordinator is starting to seem like a Tennessee search for a head football coach. The Tigers thought they had their guy in Ryan Nielson, but he was given a new contract by the New Orleans Saints, so he’s staying in the NFL. Nielson is at least the fourth coach LSU has tried to hire to replace Bo Pelini. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Wide receiver Osirus Mitchell, who caught 47 passes for 505 yards and four TDs in 2020, will move on to the NFL … Former running back Lee Witherspoon is transferring to UAB. OLE MISS: Tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley is leaving Ole Miss to become the special teams coordinator at Oklahoma. SOUTH CAROLINA: Former starting QB Ryan Hilinski is transferring to Northwestern. VANDERBILT: Baltimore Ravens secondary coach Jesse Minter will be the defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt. PAT FORDE SAID IT … In Sports Illustrated, Forde talks about how Tennessee’s program has sunk to even lower depths since a 2017 fan revolt prevented the hiring of Greg Schiano. Following the Schiano debacle, athletic director Phil Fulmer was hired. Fulmer crowed that the football program was back with the hiring of Jeremy Pruitt. Three years later, Pruitt has been canned with cause and Fulmer is being forced to retire. “Good job, Vols. Good effort. You got your program back – whatever that means – and it’s a bigger dumpster fire than ever. You’ve surpassed even Auburn as the Dysfunction Capital of the Southeastern Conference. Maybe leave the radio guy’s opinions out of the coaching search this time. Maybe get an athletic director who knows how to do the job, instead of a comfort hire whose only qualification was being a beloved former coach. “Tennessee emerges from its revolutionary phase in sorrier shape than when it entered. Pruitt’s .457 winning percentage is the second lowest in the past 114 years at the school among coaches who lasted more than one season. And now there is an NCAA scandal afoot.” DAN PATRICK SAID IT On his nationally syndicated radio show Tuesday, Dan Patrick took the accusations of cheating at Tennessee to a new level and kept stirring the pot about potential violations at Georgia as well. “I was told there are a few things going on there and I asked my source, ‘How did they get these assistant head coaches on recruiting violations?’ And he said, ‘Well, they put money into McDonald’s bags and gave them to the recruits when they came on campus. Some of the campus visits were not organized or there were not above board, but they were handing out cash … so you literally had bag men and they put the cash in McDonald’s bags and handed them to the recruits.’ “My source said they were so in-your-face with it … they weren’t even trying to hide it and that’s where my source said, ‘Tennessee got sloppy, Georgia got sloppy, but there’s been no word on the NCAA looking at Georgia. But Tennessee, they got sloppy and they were handing out cash in McDonald’s bags.” Of course, there were denials at Tennessee. Georgia issued its denials a week ago when Patrick accused Georgia of playing fast and soft with the NCAA recruiting rules. REST IN PEACE DON SUTTON If the late Florida baseball coach Dave Fuller could have had a do over, he would have signed Don Sutton to a scholarship. Sutton grew up wanting to be a Gator but Fuller wasn’t interested. Three years later, Sutton was pitching in the Major Leagues, where he won 324 games over a Hall of Fame career in which he incredibly won only 20 or more games once. Sutton finished his career ranked 7th in Major League Baseball history in strikeouts, 9th in shutouts and 14th in wins. Sutton died Monday at the age of 75. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Tell me you aren’t naïve enough to believe that University of Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman’s feigned outrage over having to fire football coach Jeremy Pruitt was actually about cheating. It wasn’t. Yes, there was cheating and most likely on a wider scale than we even know at this moment since the NCAA only recently sent its investigators to Knoxville. When it comes to college football, where there is smoke there is a dumpster fire and there has been plenty of smoke the last couple of years in Knoxville. Cheating in this case was simply the convenient vehicle the University of Tennessee needed to (a) fire Pruitt and (b) do it without having to pay him a buyout in excess of $12 million. They can talk all they want to about the Vol standard and integrity, but if there were any real integrity in Knoxville they would have told the truth when they fired Pruitt – that he wasn’t winning enough football games and they don’t think he’s capable of consistently winning games in the future.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: GATORS WON’T HAVE SCOTTIE LEWIS TONIGHT In his two-game absence for health-related issues, it’s been a mixed bag for the Mike White and the Florida Gators. In beating Ole Miss, 72-63, Noah Locke picked things up on the offensive end while Anthony Duruji complemented Colin Castleton’s eight blocked shots on the defensive end with strong rebounding and tough defense in the paint. In the loss to Mississippi State, Locke wasn’t feeling it with his shooting and with Duruji managing only 16 minutes due to foul issues, Castleton didn’t get a lot of help in the paint against MSU’s bigger, stronger front line. Even though they split the two games, the Gators missed the defense as well as the offensive contributions of Lewis, who finds ways to contribute on both ends of the floor. With Lewis out for yet a third game tonight when 6th-ranked Tennessee comes to the O-Dome, White has to find a player or a combination of players who can compensate for what Lewis brings to the game. The Gators typically shoot much better at home and it would figure they’ll have a decent outing tonight evem without Lewis in the lineup, but most home games aren’t against Tennessee. The Vols are one of the more fun teams to watch in the SEC and when it comes to defense, they might be the most sound team in the country. The Vols don’t give up cheap shots in the paint, close out on shooters on the perimeter and they are exceptional at limiting opponents to one shot and done. Tyree Appleby, who scored 20 in the loss to Mississippi State, will have to pick up some of the offensive slack, but he has to have more help from Locke and Tre Mann, who combined to go 9-27 from the field. Locke (40.5%) and Mann (41.3%) are Florida’s best 3-point shooters and they will have to make shots for the Gators to be in the hunt for a win against Tennessee, which gives up just 30.3% from long distance. Castleton (16 points, 7 rebounds, 6 blocked shots) has to get more help from Duruji if the Gators are to neutralize 6-9 John Fulkerson (11.9 points, 6.4 rebounds) who lit up the Gators for 22 last year. This is a very balanced Tennessee team but the key to beating the Vols is to keep Fulkerson from going off. Joe Lunardi currently has the Gators on the 10-seed line on his latest NCAA brackets. For the Gators to make the NCAA Tournament they can’t afford to lose home games, so this is a critical contest tonight, particularly since Tennessee comes into this game ranked 4th in the NCAA Net Rankings. Florida is ranked 47th which means the Gators are slightly outside the comfort zone to make the NCAA Tournament. The Gators are 1-2 against top 50 teams (Quad 1) in the Net Rankings and 0-2 against teams ranked 51-100 (Quad 2). Tuesday SEC games #6 Tennessee (10-1, 4-1 SEC) at FLORIDA (6-4, 3-3 SEC) South Carolina (3-3, 1-1 SEC) at #19 Missouri (8-2, 2-2 SEC) #18 Alabama (11-3, 6-0 SEC) at LSU (10-2, 5-1 SEC) Ole Miss (6-6, 1-4 SEC) at Mississippi State (9-5, 4-2 SEC) Wednesday SEC games Texas A&M (7-5, 2-4) at Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-4 SEC) Kentucky (4-8, 3-2 SEC) at Georgia (8-4, 1-4 SEC) Auburn (8-6, 2-4 SEC) at Arkansas (10-4, 2-4 SEC) ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 BASKETBALL POLL: (1) Gonzaga 14-0; (2) Baylor 12-0; (3) Villanova 8-1; (4) Iowa 12-2; (5) Texas 11-2; (6) Tennessee 10-1; (7) Michigan 11-1; (8) Houston 11-1; (9) Kansas 10-3; (10) Wisconsin 11-3; (11) Creighton 10-3; (12) Texas Tech 11-4; (13) Virginia 9-2; (14) West Virginia 9-4; (15) Ohio State 11-3; (16) Virginia Tech 11-2; (17) Minnesota 11-4; (18) Alabama 11-3; (19) Missouri 8-2; (20) Clemson 9-2; (21) Oregon 9-2; (22) Illinois 9-5; (23) UConn 7-1; (24) UCLA 11-2; (25) Saint Louis 7-1 COACHES TOP 25 BASKETBALL POLL: (1) Gonzaga 14-0; (2) Baylor 12-0; (3) Villanova 8-1; (4) Iowa 12-2; (5) Texas 11-2; (6) Tennessee 10-1; (7) Michigan 11-1; (8) Houston 11-1; (9) Kansas 10-3; (10) Wisconsin 11-3; (11) Creighton 10-3; (12) Virginia 9-2; (13) Texas Tech 11-4; (14) Virginia Tech 11-2; (15) West Virginia 9-4; (16) Alabama 11-3; (17) Minnesota 11-4; (18) Ohio State 11-3; (19) Missouri 8-2; (20) UCLA 11-2; (21) Oregon 9-2; (22) Clemson 9-2; (23) Colorado 11-3; (24) Illinois 9-5; (25) Florida State 7-2 GATOR BASEBALL EARNS ANOTHER PRESEASON NO. 1 RANKING D1Baseball.com joined Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball in selecting the Gators as nation’s preseason No. 1 team. The Gators were ranked No. 1 in the nation with a 16-1 record when the 2020 season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak. With eight of nine position starters returning as well as the entire weekend rotation and closer, the Gators have the nation’s most experienced team returning for the first season ever in the new Florida Ballpark at McKethan Field. D1BASEBALL.COM TOP 25 PRESEASON POLL: (1) FLORIDA; (2) UCLA; (3) Texas Tech; (4) Vanderbilt; (5) Louisville; (6) Ole Miss; (7) Mississippi State; (8) Arkansas; (9) Texas; (10) TCU; (11) UC-Santa Barbara; (12) LSU; (13) North Carolina State; (14) West Virginia; (15) Georgia Tech; (16) Virginia; (17) Wake Forest; (18) South Carolina; (19) Tennessee; (20) Oklahoma State; (21) Miami; (22) Arizona; (23) Auburn; (24) Florida State; (25) East Carolina TENNESSEE HAS DUG ITSELF A VERY DEEP HOLE Jeremy Pruitt has been fired at Tennessee. This isn’t your ordinary pink slipping, but with cause, which means there will be no $12.3 million buyout and old coaching buddies won’t return your phone calls for at least a couple of years. Bet the farm that even St. Nick’s Home for Wayward Coaches won’t have one of those $35,000-a-year analyst jobs waiting to help scrub up a badly tarnished image. Memo to Jeremy Pruitt: If – and a big if here – you ever get a head coaching job in Division I again, make darn sure that (a) upon dismissal your contract gets paid in full (See Gus Malzahn; see Will Muschamp; see Tom Herman) no matter the circumstances and (b) you make sure you get fired for losing football games not for a whole passel of Level I and Level II recruiting violations that will have the NCAA jamming an electron microscope up your rectum without so much a drop of Vaseline. Jeremy Pruitt’s career has just done a full gainer with a half twist nosedive into the coaching equivalent of an overflowing septic tank. If he hasn’t saved his money (he’s been paid more than $11 million dollars by the University of Tennessee the last three years), then he might be fortunate to land a job teaching driver’s education at some high school somewhere. Although Pruitt’s dismissal papers don’t come right out and say he cheated, the verbiage makes it abundantly clear that he’s a moron if he didn’t know what was going on right under his nose. He will be lucky to get something less than a three-year show cause. Also getting the exit, although under slightly less dubious circumstances is athletic director Phil Fulmer, AKA Phattus Maximus. He is being forcibly retired because he (a) is perceived to have had a hand in the ousting of previous athletic director John Currie; (b) hired Pruitt in the first place; and (c) when things were going badly in the 2020 season he gave Pruitt a raise and a contract extension. At least Fulmer will be allowed to stay on the job until a new athletic director is hired. So let the hiring process begin. Only problem is, Tennessee is such a mess now that it may require scraping the bottom of the barrel to find replacements. The athletic department is bleeding so much red ink that the new AD will need the skills of a circus juggler to get the books anywhere close to balanced. Based on Tennessee’s admission that it has found numerous Level I and Level II violations, the new head coach will inherit a program destined to spend years wearing the pink jump suits and rubber sole shoes that are standard issue in the NCAA jail house. Since the bulk of the violations appear to be recruiting-related, reduced scholarships for multiple years isn’t out of the question. All things considered it seems likely that newly-appointed interim head coach Kevin Steele – he of the 9-36 record as Baylor’s head coach way back when – will get to test drive this Yugo for the next year. Steele isn’t going anywhere and Tennessee will save a bunch of money by paying him what amounts to SEC minimum wage. He got a two-year deal worth $450,000 a season a week ago. Figure he’ll get a bump up to something like $2 million while the school sweats out punishment that is unlikely to be meted out in several months if not a couple of years. It would be hard to find anyone decent to coach the Vols without first knowing how long before the NCAA grants parole. So, for all practical purposes, you can eliminate the following names from the coaching search in Knoxville – Billy Napier (Louisiana), Jamey Chadwell (Coastal Carolina), and Hugh Freeze (Liberty). There is some talk that Bill O’Brien is the right guy for the job since he lifted Penn State out of its NCAA but would he be better served to take over a Tennessee program with the wheels falling off or spending a couple of years getting life pumped back into his career while serving as the offensive coordinator at St. Nick’s? Someone might be desperate enough to take the Tennessee job. As P.T. Barnum used to say, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Tennessee ought to know. In every one of the four previous head coach searches since 2009, the new head ball coach at UT has been at least the seventh choice in every one of those exercises in futility. DUMB STATEMENT OF THE DAY Jeremy Pruitt got fired at Tennessee for multiple recruiting violations on his watch that school chancellor Donde Plowman called “significant” at the press conference when all the reasons for pink slipping Pruitt were given. At that same press conference, soon to be retired athletic director Phattus Maximus was asked to list some of Pruitt’s accomplishments. “Certainly the recruiting has been good,” Fulmer replied. Let’s see, the school chancellor is announcing that the head football coach and eight other staffers are no longer gainfully employed because of recruiting violations and the athletic director who hired Pruitt says the recruiting has been good? Just calling that statement dumb is an insult to anyone who has ever made a dumb statement. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH IN THE SEC ALABAMA: Former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone has emerged as the most likely to become the new O-line coach. AUBURN: The new wide receivers coach is Cornelius Williams, who spent the last six seasons coaching the wide receivers at Troy. LSU: Just when it seemed Coach O was about to hire New Orleans Saints assistant Ryan Nielson as the defensive coordinator, a report surfaced that the language of Nielson’s contract with the Saints might prevent him leaving for a college job. It might be as simple as a buyout, but it’s also possible Nielson will be prevented from leaving. MISSOURI: Blaze Alldredge, an All-Conference USA linebacker at Rice, will be a grad transfer at Mizzou next season. In 2020, Alldrege was in on 102 tackles including 21.5 for loss, six sacks and two interceptions. TENNESSEE: On the same day the Vols fired their head coach, former left tackle Wanya Morris announced he’s transferring to Oklahoma. VANDERBILT: It’s always big news when they do something about facilities at Vandy. They’re renovating the locker rooms now. The renovations are needed even if they won’t cause four-star high school kids to come get their brains beaten out on a regular basis while playing for the Commodores. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Since Phil Fulmer was fired after the 2008 season, Tennessee has hired four football coaches. Of the four, Lane Kiffin (2009) is the only one who left on his own accord and that was after one season. Kiffin, it should be noted, was not Tennessee’s first choice. Nor were Derek Dooley (2010), Butch Jones (2013) and Pruitt (2018). With each new hire, it was supposed to bring on a return to the glory days, but each subsequent firing makes one thing perfectly clear – something is dreadfully wrong in Knoxville and it may take the better part of a decade plus a great coach to right a sinking ship.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: FILE THIS UNDER NOT SO FAST MY FRIENDS? Just this past Friday it was being reported that Florida linebackers coach Christian Robinson was northbound to Michigan and that former UF defensive coordinator and now Alabama analyst Charlie Strong was a done deal to join Urban Meyer’s staff with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Well, that was then and this is now. As of Sunday, Robinson may or may not be leaving and there has been no announcement coming out of Jacksonville regarding Strong’s status which means both could be part of Dan Mullen’s 2021 coaching staff or the reporting could be right regarding the landing spot for both. It is a fact that Robinson has told players and recruits alike that he will be coaching linebackers for the Gators in 2021. That could have something to do with a reported raise in the works. Robinson made $290,000 in 2020, making him the lowest paid of Florida’s assistants. The Strong situation seems a bit more complicated. Strong and Meyer have been buddies since they were assistants at Notre Dame for both Lou Holtz and Bob Davie. Meyer won two national championships at Florida with Charlie as his defensive coordinator and lockdown recruiter for the Tampa Bay/Polk County area. No one should be surprised if reports that Strong will be Meyer’s linebackers coach with the Jags prove true. But, there is also a bunch of shuffling going on at Alabama, where Strong and Nick Saban have become buds. Strong rents an apartment in Tuscaloosa owned by Saban. Alabama co-defensive coordinator Charles Kelly apparently is a finalist for the vacant DC job at Missouri so a spot on the defensive staff could be in the works. And finally, there is the chance to come back to Florida to work for Mullen, which would be Strong’s sixth head coach to work for in Gainesville (the others were Charley Pell, Galen Hall, Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook and Meyer). If he comes to Florida, Strong would be the co-defensive coordinator with Todd Grantham and, unless there is more shuffling of the defensive staff, would coach the safeties. It must be noted that Grantham will be in the final year of his contract extension at UF that pays him $1.81 million. Bringing Strong on board would make it a seamless transition of Grantham elected to move on following the 2020 season. The 2021 season will be his fifth with Mullen (2017 at Mississippi State), the longest he’s been with any coach in his career. Do not expect any news on the coaching front until Tuesday at the earliest. REESE LIKELY TO RETURN: There are reports that Stewart Reese, who came to Florida as a grad transfer from Mississippi State, will take advantage of the NCAA rule that gives everyone who played in 2020 an extra year of eligibility and return to Florida for a sixth collegiate season. The lack of summer conditioning hampered Reese in 2020 as he reportedly played at a biscuit shy of 370. If he can get his weight down to the 340-350 range, Reese could be effective at either guard position or at right tackle, where he started two seasons at Mississippi State. Also among those expected back are Jean Delance, Jeremiah Moon and Brenton Cox Jr. GATORS NEED SCOTTIE LEWIS BACK FOR TENNESSEE It was painfully obvious on the defensive end in Florida’s 72-69 loss at Mississippi State that the Gators desperately need Scottie Lewis back. Lewis has missed the last two games due to health protocols. Against MSU, the Gators had all sorts of defensive and rebounding problems. Lewis is only 6-5, but he can lock down on the defensive end and he’s a fairly good rebounder. When Anthony Duruji was saddled with foul troubles, he was limited to 16 minutes and just four points and three rebounds. Even three or four more rebounds and a stop or two at the defensive end could have made a difference and Lewis could have been the difference-maker. Additionally, Lewis can get hot from the 3-point line and the Gators hit only 5-19 shots. Tuesday night at the O-Dome, the Gators will be facing a Tennessee team that might be the best defensive team in the country. The Vols hold opponents to 57 points per game and 38.5% shooting. They’re also one of the soundest rebounding teams in the country. Offensively, Tennessee averages 77.2 per game and yet there isn’t a single player in the top 20 in the SEC in scoring. SEC Tuesday night #10 Tennessee (10-1, 4-1 SEC) at FLORIDA (6-4, 3-3 SEC) South Carolina (3-3, 1-1 SEC) at #17 Missouri (8-2, 2-2 SEC) Ole Miss (6-6, 1-4 SEC) at Mississippi State (9-5, 4-2 SEC) Alabama (11-3, 6-0 SEC) at LSU (10-2, 5-1 SEC) SEC Wednesday night Texas A&M (7-5, 2-4) at Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-5 SEC) Kentucky (4-8, 3-2 SEC) at Georgia (8-4, 1-4 SEC) Auburn (8-6, 1-4 SEC) at Arkansas (10-4, 2-4 SEC) IT PAYS TO GET FIRED IN THE SEC Connor O’Gara of Saturday Down South dug up the numbers proving that it pays to get fired as a head football coach in the Southeastern Conference. By O’Gara’s numbers, since Nick Saban became the head football coach at Alabama, the other 13 SEC teams have paid out $177,880,000 to fire their coaches. Recently fired Gus Malzahn holds the individual record of a $21.45 million buyout followed closely by Will Muschamp, whose $21.3 million of buyout money came from Florida ($6.3 million) and South Carolina ($15 million). Auburn is the team champ at $34.03 million. (Net totals for individual coaches are after offset money is factored in) ARKANSAS ($25.5 million): Houston Nutt $3.5 million; Bret Bielema $12 million; Chad Morris $10 million, $7.795 million net AUBURN ($34.03 million): Tommy Tuberville $5.08 million; Gene Chizik $7.5 million; Gus Malzahn $21.45 million FLORIDA ($13.8 million): Will Muschamp $6.3 million; Jim McElwain $7.5 million GEORGIA ($4.1 million): Mark Richt $4.1 million KENTUCKY ($2.55 million): Joker Phillips $2.55 million LSU: Les Miles $129 million, $9.4 million net MISSISSIPPI STATE ($10.6 million): Sylvester Croom $3.5 million; Joe Moorhead $7 million, $6.1 million net MISSOURI (2.85 million): Barry Odom $2.85 million, 1.55 million net OLE MISS $16.45 million): Ed Orgeron $1.35 million; Houston Nutt $5.5 million; Matt Luke $9.6 million SOUTH CAROLINA ($15 million): Will Muschamp $15 million TENNESSEE ($19.6 million): Phil Fulmer $6 million; Derek Dooley $5 million; Butch Jones $8.6 million, $7.670 million net TEXAS A&M ($20.6 million): Dennis Franchone $4.4 million; Mike Sherman $5.8 million; Kevin Sumlin $10.4 million OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC ALABAMA: Tight end Carl Tucker announced for the NFL. After transferring in from North Carolina, Tucker played in seven games, almost exclusively on special teams … Backup offensive lineman Chris Owens, who played center in the national championship game after Landon Dickerson had surgery, will return for a sixth season … Running backs coach Charles Huff is the new head ball coach at Marshall. Huff’s departure means Nick Saban has lost four assistants from his 2020 staff. ARKANSAS: Former Ole Miss QB Kade Renfro is walking on at Arkansas. AUBURN: Defensive back Jamien Sherwood has declared for the NFL Draft. GEORGIA: Corner Tyrique Stevenson is transferring to Miami ... Former UF assistant Charlton Warren is leaving Georgia to become the defensive coordinator at Indiana. KENTUCKY: As expected, wide receiver/running back Wan’Dale Robinson is transferring in from Nebraska where he had 580 rushing yards and 914 receiving yards in two seasons. LSU: Outside linebacker Ray Thornton is transferring to Texas … Scott Linehan, who was LSU’s offensive coordinator in 2020, is interviewing with Urban Meyer for the OC job with the Jacksonville Jaguars. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Offensive linemen Scott Lashley and LaQuinston Sharp are returning for 2021 along with wide receiver JaVonta Payton. Not returning is starting right guard Dareuan Parker, who is heading to the NFL. MISSOURI: Wide receiver CJay Boone, who opted out for 2020, is transferring to New Mexico. OLE MISS: Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has gotten a $500,000 pay raise to $1.2 million ... Former Florida and South Carolina assistant Coleman Hutzler is expected to join the staff as the special teams coordinator while working with defensive coordinator DJ Durkin with linebackers. SOUTH CAROLINA: Director of personnel Drew Hughes is leaving for the same job working for Steve Sarkisian at Texas. Hughes was on the Florida staff in a personnel role from 2014-17 … The new D-line coach is Jimmy Lindsey, hired away from Illinois. TENNESSEE: Former Auburn defensive end Big Kat Bryant is transferring to Tennessee … Tight end Austin Pope has pulled his name out of the transfer portal and will return for the 2021 season … Tight ends coach Joe Osovet is interviewing for the wide receivers job at UCF. TEXAS A&M: Jimbo Fisher foresees a three-way battle for the No. 1 quarterback job this spring between Haynes King, Zach Calzada and incoming freshman Eli Stowers. King was Kellen Mond’s backup in 2020 while Calzada held that role in 2019 ... The Aggies are the favorite to land Tennessee left tackle Wanya Morris. HOOPS DU JOUR This is bad news for the coaches implicated in the college basketball cheating scandal. A federal appeals court has upheld the convictions of James Dawkins, Merl Code and Christian Dawkins. This takes away a level of defense for coaches like Bill Self of Kansas, Sean Miller of Arizona, Frank Martin of South Carolina, Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Will Wade of LSU. When they finally get to their trials whether it before the NCAA Infractions Committee or the independent Accountability Resolution Process, they won’t be able to use dismissed charges or convictions to weasel out of their difficulties. The best college basketball team in the country is unquestionably No. 1 ranked Gonzaga. The Zags can beat you inside, outside, with defense or on the backboards. Former Gator Andrew Nembhard is the perfect sixth man to a team that has future first round draft picks Corey Kispert, Drew Timme and Jalen Suggs. My mid-January national player of the year would be Kispert (20.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 48.9% on 3-pointers). Joining Kispert on my mid-January All-America team would be Luke Garza (Iowa), Jared Butler (Baylor), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Villanova) and Joel Ayayi (Gonzaga). Every year, we hear the national media sing the praises of the Big Ten, this year no exception. There were six Big Ten teams listed in last week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll. If the league is so good, then why is it Michigan State 2000 is the only team from the Big Ten in the last 30 years to win the national championship? (Maryland 2002 doesn’t count since the Terps were in the ACC at the time) Over that same stretch, the ACC has won 10 championships, Big East nine, SEC six, Pac-12 two, Big 12 one, Big West one and Big Ten one. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: I still wonder how it is that the Arizona Cardinals hired Kliff Kingsbury as their head coach a couple of years ago. In his time at Texas Tech he went 35-40 with only two winning seasons (8-5 in 2013 and 7-6 in 2015) despite the fact both Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes were among his quarterbacks. Kingsbury ran Mayfield off. He resurfaced at Oklahoma and won a Heisman Trophy. Mahomes started 25 games in 2015-16 and threw 77 touchdown passes in the two years but Texas Tech went 13-13. The two went head-to-head in 2016 when Mayfield threw for 545 yards and seven TDs to lead Oklahoma to a 66-59 win over Texas Tech. Mahomes launched 88 passes in that game, threw for 734 yards and five touchdowns.

Maroon helmets were thrown in air like caps at a graduation. And in a way, it was. The Texas A&M Aggies had just notched their first win over a Top 5 team under Jimbo Fisher, 41-38, expelling the demon and notion that Fisher couldn't lead a big-time win. The game clinching field goal as time expired, the offense watching helplessly from the sideline, felt a fitting end to a day in which the No. 4 Florida Gators had done everything they could on defense to give the game away. Aggie players locked arms to sing the alma mater and fans stayed in the stands to soak in the win under the big Texas sky, clear after Hurricane Delta had made its way around College Station the night before. And in the Gators locker room, a quiet storm was brewing. Linebacker Jeremiah Moon locked his eyes on something in the distance—maybe the Gators fleeting playoff hopes—and shook his hand in bewilderment and disgust. “Disappointed,” he finally answered. “Uh, 12 of 15 third down. We got to get off the field, we gotta wrap up, we got to tackle and we gotta get to the quarterback, and we got to cover. It’s simple, and we're not doing that right now.” The Gators have not done it for three games in fact. Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham’s crew has given up 27-46 third downs (59%) this season and that average is greatly helped by the fact South Carolina only converted on 6-17. It was the epitome of 3rd-and-Grantham, an insult first coined by Georgia fans back in the day who were fed up with their defensive coordinator’s tendency to be so aggressive on 3rd down that it left the middle of the field open. On the money down today, the Aggies faced an average of 3rd and 5. They picked up an average of 7.8 yards on those downs, including three touchdowns. Albeit that does include the 11-yards picked up on a 3rd down in the second half, when Jeremiah Moon forced a fumble after the catch and the Gators recovered. Kyle Trask (23-32, 312 yards, four touchdowns) turned that turnover into a touchdown as he did most drives on the day. The Gators punted once on the day and a Malik Davis fumble (who had been playing well all day with three receptions, five rushes and 94 all-purpose yards) turned over the Gators last offensive drive of the day. On the other six drives, Florida scored (five touchdowns, one field goal). It’s clear Florida can hang in a shoot-out and win them more often than not. But they must have help in this all SEC schedule, and the calvary can’t stop tripping over themselves to come assist. One almost wonders if the defense knows that if they give up a score, their offense will bail them out on the other end. “No excuse,” says Moon. “Kyle [Trask] put the defense in the best situation, all we had to do is get off the field on third downs and just, just run to the ball. And we didn't do that today. So I say it was on defense today. Offense gonna keep doing the thing. They carrying us right now, so we got to step up, that’s all it is.” "We know our offense is high-powered,” admits linebacker James Houston. “We know that. We know they can score. But we don't expect to get scored on. That is not in our defensive scheme, that's not in our philosophy at all. Our philosophy is fast, physical and aggressive. By doing that we expect to be knocking quarterbacks out of the game and taking control of the game. The past few years the Gators have been a stronghold on defense. We're going to get back there, we just need some time. We gon' fix some stuff up in practice and we gon' come back next week." But the Gators don’t have time and it’s hard to imagine these problems being fixed in a week. Because this defense is broken, until proven otherwise. There are plenty of words in the thesaurus to describe the Florida defense, but let’s just settle on something simple; it’s bad. It was bad in Week 1 against Ole Miss but we assumed that was due to an offseason that allowed little to no live tackling. The defense was bad against South Carolina, but we thought, at least when Kyree Campbell and Brad Stewart came back, things would be different. Brad Stewart was back today and nothing had changed. If anything, the defense looked worse. The first two weeks, there were times they simply got beat. Against the Aggies, they got beat, were out of place, were confused, and made it a game of pitch-and-catch for Aggies quarterback Kellen Mond (25-35, 338 yards, three touchdowns). Not to mention Isaiah Spiller, who used the defense as bumpers off which to bounce as he made the pitch his personal playground while picking up 192 all purpose yards (averaged 6.4 yards per rush) and two touchdowns. Take the Aggies first drive of the second half for example, when the Gators were forced to waste a timeout early. Some reports indicate there were 12 men on the field, but Stewart—in his first game back and in his new position at STAR—was lined up on the line of scrimmage. Sophomore Kaiir Elam was frantically waving him backwards. Elam was right in front of the Florida coaches as this was happening. When Florida came out of the timeout, Stewart was lined up about seven yards off the line of scrimmage. Lo and behold, the Gators actually made a third down stop that play. But the issues surrounding communication and being in the right place were clear. Before the season began, I said publicly and here that I thought the Gators defense was in position to be really good this season. They had lost a load of talent, yes, but personnel had been moved around to new positions that I truly felt better suited the talent that was on the roster. After three games, I’m ready to admit; I was wrong. Yes, there’s still time for the defense to make a turnaround. There’s still time for me to eat a second helping of crow about being wrong about being wrong. But nothing I saw today gives me confidence that will happen anytime soon. LSU comes to town next week and they put up 41 points against Missouri today, albeit in a loss. Now before your neighbor who is five deep in Natty Lights convinces you otherwise, this was not actually Dan Mullen’s fault, at least not on the field. He wasn’t making the defensive play calls. But it is his fault it got this far. Now, I’ve always been a fan of Todd Grantham’s defense because I don’t do drugs and I feel like watching his defense is the closest I’ll ever get to tripping on a hallucinogenic and all of the mood swings that come with that thrill ride. But the past three weeks haven’t been an aggressive defense that is willing to play the risk-reward game. It’s just been bad. And Dan Mullen has to do something before it gets worse. Instead—or perhaps knowing that—he elected to spend the majority of his time after the game on a pointless argument about crowd size, largely avoiding the looming cloud that has become Todd Grantham's defense Do those changes mean firing Todd Grantham? Probably not. Mullen is pretty loyal with his coaching staff and you have to really mess up to get fired. And although the defense cost this game—because make no mistake about it, the defense cost the Gators this game—they haven’t lost them a ton. There have even been times over Grantham’s tenure in Florida the defense has won them games. So this one performance, or for that matter the last three, ins’t going to get him fired. Especially in a pandemic where the offseason was put into a blender and the SEC said, 'let’s just see what comes out.' Defenses across the board have been a crapshoot. Alabama gave up 45 points to Ole Miss on Saturday, LSU lost 44-41 to Missouri; Auburn couldn’t stop Feleipe Franks and Arkansas and won thanks to a missed officiating call late in the game. But just because it’s a trend doesn’t mean it’s an excuse. The Gators record books go back to 1946, when the Gators were fielding a team during World War II. That season, Florida gave up an average of 29.3 points per game. It still stands to this day as the worst scoring defense the Gators have ever fielded. Through three games this season, Florida's defense is on pace to set a new record in the worst way, having given up 100 points overall, an average of 33.3 per game. What does that mean for Florida? It could be position changes, benching even of established players, demands for a scheme change. Everything is wrong so anything should work. And at some point, by being the man at the top, Mullen does have to step in and demand changes, or at the very least, answers. “We’re going to reevaluate a lot of things defensively, where we’re at right now,” Mullen said after the loss. “We’re going to evaluate some things with our personnel, where we’re at. Our ability to make plays, make sure we have all the right guys at the right position to put us in position to be able to make the plays we need to to get off the field. We can’t give up [12] of 15 conversions in a day and expect to win any game.” They didn’t win this one and they may not win the next one if things aren’t fixed. The offense and Trask can put up points seemingly at will. This could be the best offense the Florida Gators have had in years. The defense has to catch up, or else that won’t even matter. And that is disappointing.

*This post has been updated to include new information The Florida Gators Football team is pausing all football related actives, effective Tuesday, October 13. The decision will be reevaluated on Wednesday and Saturday’s game against LSU, while not cancelled, has been put into question. The decision, handed down by Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, comes on the heels of a spike in positive COVID-19 cases among Gator football players. In a release to reporters, Stricklin said the following. “The University of Florida football team has experienced an increase in positive COVID tests among players this week. Out of an abundance of caution, team activities are paused as of Tuesday afternoon. Head coach Dan Mullen has been in communication with football players and their parents, and I have had conversations with the Southeastern Conference office, last week’s opponent Texas A&M, and this week’s opponent LSU. These circumstances will be re-evaluated by UF Health and the athletic department’s sports medicine staff Wednesday.” Texas A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork released a statement after the news, saying “we have been in touch with officials at the University of Florida and have also reviewed the available data from the Kinexon contact tracing system deployed by the SEC. At this point, there has been no impact within our football program, but we will continue our regular testing regiment this week and stay diligent with all of our safety protocols.” Earlier Tuesday afternoon, in what has become a weekly release, the UAA announced five new football players had tested positive based on test results data available as of Monday, October 12. Last Tuesday, there were seven cases but that included six that had tested positive in September. Therefore the six positive cases announced today from test administered in October included five new cases. Recent reports state the number might actually be much higher, 19 total according to the student newspaper “The Alligator." GatorBait has been able to confirm as of Tuesday evening, the official number is still at five new cases, although additional test are being given and that number is expected to rise significantly in the next 24 hours. GatorBait has also learned from sources close to the program that while some cases have been symptomatic, there have been none as of yet that appear worrisome. Players who test positive are put into quarantine for at least 10 days. The athletes are tested a minimum of three times a week and additional test will now be administered to weed out what some believe is initial false positives. Saturday’s game against LSU will be dependent on those results. Florida is one of the few schools that had warded off a spike in cases until now, thanks in large part to the help of near-by UF Health Shands. On Monday, Mullen told local reporters, “I think if you look at what we've been able to do, the safety precautions we have that our players have followed, our coaches follow, our staff follows, you know, I think we're a model of safety of what we've been doing during this time period. So, I'm really proud of how we've handled everything and how safe we've been with everything we're doing and all the precautions we've had in place during this time.” Monday evening, senior defensive lineman Zach Carter echoed his coaches statements. Carter—along with three others—initially set out the beginning of fall practice, demanding better protocols and additional testing. Carter in particular felt passionate about the move after losing a family friend to COVID-19 over the summer. “The biggest thing for me is you know, I'm one of the leaders in my position group, and I feel like I just had to make sure you know, our protocols were in place and, you know, this was the safest environment to be,” Carter explained to reporters. “I think as a team, I think we've really done a good job overall, because we really, I mean everybody's gonna have positives, but I think we did it. I think we've done a great job of limiting the positives as much as we can. And guys, you know, guys are actually taking care of themselves and stand on top of, so it's a good thing to see.” Asked if he feels safer now than he did during the summer, Carter replied, “yeah. I mean it's a great environment. Everybody feels safe and comfortable.” However all of this news comes just days after Mullen made a public request for more than the approved 17,000 fans to be allowed into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday for the scheduled Florida vs. LSU game. Mullen’s comments were understandably met with critiscim, after he opined that given the declaration from Governor Desantis allowing stadiums in Florida to operate at full capacity and, “let us pack the Swamp against LSU … 100 percent, because that crowd was a major factor in the game [versus Texas A&M]. “I certainly hope our university administration follows the governor. The governor has passed a rule that we’re allowed to pack the Swamp and have 90,000 in the Swamp to give us the home-field advantage Texas A&M had [Saturday].” The Texas A&M student section exhibited little to no social distancing in a raucous crowd that called back to comments Mullen made all summer, stating the SEC needed to set a conference wide standard for crowd sizes and protocols. The anger over the non-uniformity and most likely the loss as well exhibited itself in the comments in direct disagreement with health officials including those at Florida and UF Health. In fact, Florida and UF Health have been at the front of the pack in setting and following COVID protocols and creating a safe environment for the players. The spike occurring shortly after Mullen’s comments is somewhat post hoc ergo proctor hoc. Nevertheless, the inevitable spike that has seemingly touched every team at some point has now made its way to Gainesville. Stay tuned to GatorBait Magazine for the latest and most in-depth coverage of this developing story.

ATLANTA—Kyle Trask was brimming over with emotion. The typically tepid quarterback was choking on the tears he’d finally reigned in from the field but the fire his teammates always swore appeared on the field was making its first public appearance as he tried to explain what was going through his mind after he walked off the field, his No. 7 Florida Gators having just fallen 52-46 to No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship. “That's why you play football, is to play in games like these. No one in the world gave us a damn chance. We believed in ourselves. The only people that truly have an effect on the game are the people in the building. We worked so hard. Like I said before, we just ran out of time.” The Gators offense did simply just run out of time. On a night when Trask along with Kadarius Toney, Kyle Pitts and Tre Grimes among others cut open their body and left their heart on the field. Florida put up 462 yards of total offense with Trask throwing for 408 and three touchdowns. The quarterback also ran in a touchdown as well. With 16 seconds remaining in the game and after a defensive stop, Trask took to the field looking for an opportunity to drive 88-yards and win the game. He was sacked and couldn’t clock the ball before time ran out and Bama was crowned the 2020 SEC Champions. The sack was indicative of one of the few offensive missteps on the night. The Gators were forced to punt twice and fumbled once, both times largely in part to questionable offensive line play on the right side. That’s one of the biggest areas Head Coach Dan Mullen wants to see addressed this next offseason. For that matter, the trenches on both sides are what Mullen sees as the next big building block for the Gators to not only return to Atlanta, but win. “We got to get a little better up front on both sides of the ball,” said Mullen after the game. “Our guys play hard. You look, [Alabama is] a little more physical I think at the line of scrimmage than we were. We got to get a little bit better up front. Get back here, get another shot at them next year, or whoever is here from the West.” Another obvious area of improvement will have to be on defense. Alabama in 2020 is going to put up eye-popping yardage, with quarterback Mac Jones using DeVonta Smith and Najee Harris—and possibly even Jaylen Waddle—for a Swiss Army knife of weapons. So the 605 yards of total offense, while excessive, isn’t shocking. “You're coming into this game, there's things you have to do to win. Win the turnover battle. We didn't do that. We made a bunch of mental mistakes that really hurt ourselves defensively in the first half on third down with opportunities to get off the field, we have some penalties to knock it off the field. Give up that drive at the end of the first half. All that's disappointing, obviously.” The 9-15 third down conversion rate is concerning but even more so when considering three of those nine came courtesy of Gator penalties. “Myself as a person who is emerging as a leader, I take that on myself to lead the guys in the right way, hold myself to that standard where I can't let those things happen. Therefore, my teammates won't let those things happen,” said linebacker Mohamoud Diabate “It all comes from leadership, people demanding the right things in practice every day. Seeing those things happen, it makes you more urgent to get things fixed and get things correct, not to think, it's okay. No, it's not okay.” That is the attitude and responsibility that will have to be accounted for if the Gators are going to not only sustain this progress but take the next step. The Gators back-to-back SEC Championship game appearances in 2015 and 2016 felt more like a result of the East fighting each other not to go. Florida just finished the year the least banged up. It never felt sustainable, which is why it quickly dipped into another four win season in 2017. What Mullen and staff have done to pull that roster out of that funk and get the Gators to this point—and this year in particular through a pandemic, All-SEC schedule—is nothing short of incredible. Now it’s time to take the next step. This game showed the expectation of one program and the goal of another. Alabama chases perfection. They aren’t playing their opponent so much as what they want to do in a game. Saban calls it “The Process.” One might also call it a standard. Mullen talks about reaching the Gator Standard. In the SEC, Alabama is the standard. Many have tried and failed to replicate Nick Saban’s process down to the minute detail…but in all honesty, it’s fairly simple. Compete against your own expectations. Through his first three years, taking a team that was broken mentally and physically after 2017, Mullen and his staff taught this Gators team how to win. Then they taught the Gators how to defeat another team. Next comes learning to play against themselves; against perfection. “You got to keep your foot on the gas pedal,” said Trask of what has to come next. "You get to the game, you can't get complacent, we made it to the SEC championship. You have to keep on taking those jumps and improving. I think Coach Mullen and his staff are going to keep that pressure on. He's going to do just that. We're going to have a great team next year, as well.” Added Diabate, “It really makes you starve, just sitting here, just thinking about the game, you want to get back to work, go back to work with your brothers. You want to get back on task because we want to get here. Every year when we start the year, our goal is to get here. We got here this year. Our goal is to continue moving forward. Last year we weren't here. This year we got here. Next year we plan on getting here and finishing the job.” Chasing perfection will require cleaning up things that showed as obvious gaps between Florida and Alabama on Saturday night. There’s the physicality Mullen mentioned in the trenches that can be made up for in recruiting (Nick Savage is doing his part with the strength and conditioning when players arrive). And the mental mistakes on defense. There are also admittedly coaching issues that can be addressed. Not even necessarily firings. That’s out of our purview to speak on. But in-game coaching decisions. Mullen and Brian Johnson (offensive coordinator) along with Billy Gonzales (receivers) are some of the best in-game play callers in the country. Todd Grantham, for all the criticism, has proven apt at effective halftime adjustments. But scoring too quickly at the end of the first half allowed Bama time to add a touchdown that proved vital in a six point game. And on the Gators next to last possession at the end of the game, after a Kyle Trask to Kyle Pitts touchdown, Mullen called a timeout while trying to get a two-point conversion play in. The Gators converted the two-point attempt, cutting the lead to six. But that burned timeout left the Gators with no way to stop the clock. And as we discussed at the top, Kyle Trask was left with no time to set up a Hail Mary shot. “That was bad clock management on my part,” admitted Mullen after the game. “We should have had it ready to go for two. Our thought, though, is we're going for two right there, we're going to try the on-side kick. We're here to win. Would have given us two two-point conversions. If we didn't get the first one, we'd have to get the second one to tie. If we got the first one, all we needed there was an extra point to win the game at the end. That was the thought process to go for two. “That was a bad job by me, we had to use that timeout there. Would have loved to have that timeout and given us an extra 40 seconds of the ball to try to get the and-one touchdown.” Added Trask, “I'm not exactly sure what was going on. We were just kind of out there on the field, sideline, back on the field. We weren't really sure what the plan was. Coach told us we were going to go for two.” Those are the kind of mistakes Nick Saban and his staff don’t make. Luckily for the Gators, they’re all fixable. "This is a great lesson for our younger people, especially myself,” predicted Diabate. “I say younger people... Being a true sophomore is a good learning experience, being able to play against what they say is the best team in the nation, coming that close. It tells us we just got to keep going, keep pushing, we'll get to where we want to get.” A year ago, after another loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, Dan Mullen said his Gators program was seven points off of the Dawgs. This season, Florida defeated Georgia handedly. They can now head to the offseason knowing what it took to make it to this game and furthermore, what it would take to win. “We'll get back to work tomorrow and get this program headed back in the right direction,” said Mullen. “Not in the right direction, I think we're headed in the right direction, get this program back to getting on path, try to get here again next year to compete for a championship. I think you guys know that. I say I want to be a great program, a program that competes for championships on a consistent basis.” Nick Saban called the game a dogfight in his CBS post game interview, and a dogfight that Alabama needed to get in before the playoffs. Expanding to reporters after the game he said, “I fully expected that is exactly what would happen in the game. These guys have too much talent on their team on offense, with their quarterback who does a fabulous job. They have a really good receiving corps. 84 and 1 are really serious mismatch players. Both guys had phenomenal games tonight. Then when we do get them guarded, you get pass interference because they're so big, it's just hard to play. "So I can't say enough good things about their team. They certainly showed a lot of competitive character to come back in the game, keep fighting to get back in the game, give themselves a chance to win. They were an on-side kick away from having a chance to win.” The dogfight required Alabama to defeat a quality opponent, with Kyle Trask even commenting after the game the Gators earned and demanded respect on their name for the performance. But Alabama was able to defeat a quality opponent in an excellent and competitive game because they know how to compete against themselves, against perfection. Mullen won't have Pitts or Toney or Tre Grimes or likely Kyle Trask next year. They'll lose Brad Stewart and Kyree Campbell on defense and a lot of pieces that have helped set a new standard. Those remaining will be tasked with picking up the baton and taking it farther. That’s the next step for the Florida Gators and the journey to take that next step for Florida began the moment the confetti began to fall on the Tide. Said the Gators most electric playmaker and senior Kadarius Toney, “I think it should set the tone for the next few years to come because these guys are going to know the standard, know what it take to get there. It should just drive them to go harder.”

That was bad. The No. 6 Florida Gators (8-2) lost 37-34 to the LSU Tigers (4-5) on a late night in a fog filled Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. It was the definition of a trap game, and the Gators put their foot right in the teeth, pulling their eyes from where they were already cast on the Alabama Crimson Tide and the SEC Championship, just in time to to watched in befuddlement as the trap closed on their ankle. Befuddled. That’s a good word to describe the entire evening. It's how the defense looked on a play from midfield when both corners blitzed, leaving Kayshon Boutte wide open for a 34-yard touchdown from freshman Max Johnson (21-36, 239 yards, 3 touchdowns). It's how tight end Kyle Pitts looked, after not practicing all week with injury and therefore scratched for the day, watching from the sidelines as his team looked really and truly to miss him for the first time. It's how the entire stadium looked as a bobbled ball took an unimaginable flight path into a LSU defenders hands, a shoe sailed 20-yards downfield and a sure-fire kicker sailed one just shy of the upright...but more on those three later. It’s how quarterback Kyle Trask and Head Coach Dan Mullen looked when talking on the sidelines after the Gators were settling for a field goal, down 14-7, despite it being their fourth redzone trip of the night. Evan McPherson made that particular field goal to make it 14-10 but the looks on Mullen and Trask’s faces were indicative of how the night was going and would continue to go as the Gators all but officially took themselves out of playoff contention. “It was huge,” said Mullen of the failed redzone trips. “Here’s how you win: play great defense, win the red zone, win the turnover battle and win special teams. There you go. If we score touchdowns in the red zone, we win by three scores.” Not only did the Gators not score in the redzone, they faltered in the other areas Mullen mentioned as well. Florida put up 609 offensive yards and Kyle Trask passed Danny Wuerffel on the Gators all-time career touchdown passes list, securing the No. 1 spot. But despite throwing only three interceptions all year, the Heisman hopeful threw two interceptions—including a pick-6—and lost a fumble. The turnovers Florida led to 13 LSU points. “Just a couple of bad decisions really on my part,” admitted Trask after the game. “I take full responsibility for everything. I mean I just got to play cleaner - that’s pretty much it…I take a lot of responsibility myself, if I play a clean first half—I feel like I gave them just 10 points straight up.” The Pick-6 was fully on Trask. The fumble was on him for trying to hold on to it for too long but also the offensive line for allowing the blitzer through. The second interception however was just a microcosm of the night. In the redzone, Trask targeted Kadarius Toney on the sideline. Toney, on his Senior Night, was magnificent with 249 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. But on this particular throw, neither he nor Trask seemed to be at fault. It was just the way of the day for the Gators. The pass popped up out of Toney’s typically steady hands. It bounced backwards off a LSU defenders helmet, took a boomerang turn out of bounds but returned to fair territory where it was hauled in by the Tigers’ Ward. The defense nabbed no turnovers of their own. “All the things we did, you can’t win doing what we did tonight, no matter what’s going on, no matter who you’re playing,” said Mullen. “We lose the turnover battle. We turned it over three times, minus-three turnover ratio. We don’t score touchdowns in the red zone. We can’t make key stops when we need to defensively and we lose the special teams part of the game. It’s not a very complicated deal. Give our guys credit, kept battling, kept fighting. Though our guys played hard. Give [LSU] credit, they kind of seemed to make the plays they needed to make to win and we kind of made every play you needed to lose.” The Gators lost the opening coin toss, something they had been winning and using to their advantage all season, so as to defer and get a “2-for-1” possession, scoring at the end of the first half and then again on the first drive of the second half. Instead LSU won, deferred and while it was only with field goals, in what became a 3-point game, the 2-for-1 the Tigers pulled with field goals to bookend halftime gave Florida a taste of their own medicine. The Florida and LSU rivalry has been defined by weird games and lately, hatred due to games moved to the end of the season. This one had all of that and more. And as Gator fan Stephen Pointdexter so aptly said, from the moment Florida lost the opening coin toss, it felt like everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And boy did it drop, in a big way…20 yards downfield, where corner Marco Wilson launched it along with the Gators playoff hopes after tackling LSU tight end Kole Taylor. The cleat had come off Taylor during the tackle, and instead of stopping the Tigers on a 3-and-out deep in their own territory with the game timed and 1:51 left to play, Ed Orgeron’s crew received a fresh set of downs off of Wilson’s unsportsmanlike flag. The Tigers kept driving and kicked a 57-yard field goal in the fog for the go ahead score. Graham Hall of the Gainesville Sun dubbed it “cleattastrophe” and we’ll stick what that name moving forward when referencing the event. And it’s an event Dan Mullen claims he'll have to see on replay. “I didn’t see that. I don’t know. I mean, I guess that’s a penalty. I have no idea what happened. I didn’t see it,” Mullen effaced after the game. It was the second time on that night that a Wilson penalty turned what should have been a 3rd down stop into a first down. LSU scored on both drives. The third quarter…that was it. That was the only time we saw the Gators team that we had been familiar with until tonight. Florida put up 14 points on 142 yards of offense during the 15-minute period. The defense held the Tigers to 92 yards and a field goal. The quarter was quintessential Florida too, with the offense scoring on two drives that were four plays and five plays respectively, averaging 1:51 of game time. But the turnovers from the first half had not been overcome. By the time the Gators received the ball back with under a minute to play, they had a fog covered filed to travel with little time to do so. Florida prefers to keep their offense in the air, something that bit them as a lack of running game was evident with a game that needed to be kept on the ground in the weather. But on the final drive, Trask went 3-3 for 42 yards, utilizing his fellow seniors, Toney and Tre Grimes. From the LSU 33-yard line with 0:02 to play, Mullen trotted out his kicker Evan McPherson for the 51-yard attempt. It had the leg, but was just left. Said Mullen, “that’s something we practice all the time. I give the offensive guys credit to get us in that situation. Our goal is to get the ball to the 40, the 45 yard line because you didn’t have much time. We got it well within Evan’s range. We expect that to be a pretty consistent field goal for him. We had an easier one than they did and we just missed it.” After the game, in what Trask described as a quiet locker room, he received a FaceTime call from former Gator great Danny Wuerffel. He wanted to congratulate Trask (29-47, 474 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 2 rushing touchdowns) for setting a new Florida record for most touchdowns in a single season with 40 and counting. It broke the Wuerffel record that had stood since 1996. But while talking, Wuerffel also reminded Trask—who wasn’t born at the time—of how the 1996 season had gone. “He was basically just, you know, telling me about how he lost his last game of the season—regular season when he was playing. They went back and they beat Alabama the following week so you know it's just one foot in front of the other, you know and that's what we plan on doing next week.” If this version of the Florida Gators shows up to Atlanta next week, it’s going to be a long night against the juggernaut Alabama. But that’s where the Gators focus goes next, putting the weird night, the befuddling loss and the worst performance of the season behind them. Said Mullen, “It is what it is. We have to play next week. What we can control is going for an SEC championship and we’re doing that next week. Tonight’s game is what it is, we have to get prepared for next week’s championship game.”

This wasn’t the same Florida Gators team from the first 11 games. We knew that coming into the 2020 Goodyear Cotton Bowl matchup with the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners. It was just some guys in the same orange and blue uniforms. Head Coach Dan Mullen hedged after the 52-46 loss to No. 1 Alabama in the SEC Championship, saying that fans had likely just seen the last of the 2020 Florida Gators. “That was really the last time this team will play together, I imagine. Whatever the future holds, I imagine this team as a whole of how it is will be the last one played here,” he said at the time. And after a blowout 55-20 loss versus the Sooners on Wednesday night, Mullen said yet again that the No. 7 Florida Gators that had been on the verge of the College Football Playoffs were not the same Gators who took the field in Texas. “Maybe this is wrong,” Mullen began, indicating in a season marked by the moments, he yet again was about to say something that would likely be controversial. “I viewed this game, that wasn't the 2020 football team that you saw. I mean, there were about 25 guys missing off the 2020 football team out there tonight. That was kind of like a kickstart for us for the future and the opportunity for young guys to go play and, you know, even with me, all the coaches, I wanted to make sure—I think you saw all a lot of different guys on the field, us rotate a lot of different players in different situations, and a lot of that was for me to get to evaluate guys and for us to be able to teach those guys moving forward. “That's how I kind of view this game. Not really; I view the last game the last team the 2020 team played was 11 days ago.” Scholarship numbers were actually under the threshold for the Gators, to the point they could have opted out of the game. Mullen credits young players who wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to play amidst a flurry of individual opt outs, COVID positive tests and injuries. With an unofficial tally of seven starters opting out to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft, a total of 17 scholarship players were listed as unavailable Wednesday night. Combined with the fact the Gators were only able to hold three full practices following the emotional slugfest with Alabama and a short turnaround during a truncated postseason, and it wasn’t too surprising that the Gators seemed “off” all night versus Oklahoma. Yet the performance should not be excused. While there was always a decent possibility that Florida would lose their third in a row and end the season 8-4, what needed to be seen was the fight coming from the field against the Sooners. One could justifiably argue there was little fight from this shell of a Gator team in their third straight New Years Six bowl game, lacking the fire that was evident in the previous two. Still, with so much of their veteran leadership not present, linebacker Mohamoud Diabate is proud of what a young group was willing to fight for even when the game was out of hand. “Even though we wanted to win and it wasn't our desired result at the end, we're still proud of ourselves because there's a lot of people going through a lot of things in this world, a lot of distractions going on in this world today and during this time, but we were able to come and finish the season. “And whether we finished it with a win or a loss, we finished it like men and we finished it -- when that scoreboard said 0:00 with no time left, we finished it. So I'm proud of my guys, every single one of them, from K.T. (Kadarius Toney) to a walk-on. Every one of them. That's how I feel about it. “At the end of the day…players have to get out on the field and make plays. We're the University of Florida. We can't say we didn't have one guy. This is Florida. So you can't say we didn't have one guy who could make a play.” Safety Trey Dean is heading into the offseason though, having clawed his way back into more playing time and a leadership role, knowing that what Florida brought to the field Wednesday night was unacceptable. “We've got to be ready to play each and every game. No matter if we're playing Bethune-Cookman or the University of Alabama, we've got to play to the Gator standard, no matter what it is. So there really was no bad turn-around. On to the next one. You've got to look at the new game plan. At the end of the day, we're in the Cotton Bowl. So we've got to play like the Florida Gators in the Cotton Bowl.” The voices of Diabate and Dean, among others, will be the ones to speak up now as the veterans in a group that was maligned all year. So will corner Kaiir Elam, who will be taking on the role while adjusting to a part of college ball he hasn’t experienced before. And that is the lesson in moving forward according to Mullen. “You look at Kaiir Elam is really the leader of our secondary moving forward. He has never had a spring practice, not one spring practice day in his life, and he is our veteran leader in the secondary. He's never had a spring practice, not one, not one. “So I think I am really excited about all of these guys and life hopefully getting a little bit back to normal as these guys continue to grow and develop to see what type of team we're going to have next year.” Knowing much of the production on offense would also be leaving this season, Mullen says he and staff wanted to provide opportunity for others to get reps that would prove valuable down the road. Quarterbacks Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson both saw ample playing time versus the Sooners. Jones went 8-16 for 86 yards through the air and led the team with 60 yards and a touchdown on 10 rushes. Richardson picked up 42 yards on three rushes and tossed one pass for a 27-yard touchdown. “You look at this right now, Anthony Richardson is throwing a touchdown pass in the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma. Emory Jones has played in a lot of big games and a lot of big moments, so he has the experience and he's really learned how to prepare to get ready to take over that main role.” Added Jones, “It was an opportunity for the young guys to get in and get some reps. And just being on this stage, I feel like the young guys that played, they're going to be ready to step on any stage. They got in and played here. Some of them made some plays. You just have to get better from that.” Getting better from that is the key. This was a bad loss that came at the hands of players—and possibly even coaches—with eyes on the NFL. Now the key is making sure it spurns a positive result. Mullen couldn’t come right out and say before the game this would be like a spring game. The goal is to win. But hindsight allows quotes to be revised and all indications are the Gators came into this game knowing they’d be shorthanded. Once halftime hit and it was clear this game was out of hand, it became a chance to prepare for the future. It came at the expense of a third straight New Years Six bowl win, making it painful in the moment. But if it sets a foundation for the next round of talent in Gainesville, could hindsight show losing this battle to win a war [National Championship] was a smart decision? The Gators didn’t get to stand on the trophy stage after the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night. But Emory Jones maintains the lessons learned will have them prepared to stand on the bigger stage soon. “It was a great feeling to get out there, and the young guys getting out there on this big stage, I mean, it just put them in a position to be ready to step on any stage.” Concluded Mullen, “I think I'm really excited that some guys got some experience out there to go play. A bunch of those guys have been on the scout team all year, like I said. I'm looking out there at Kamar Wilkinson should be finishing up his senior year in high school, and he's playing corner in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.” “So I think there's a lot of things that we can grow off of and those guys now, guys that have played, minimum snaps throughout a season, guys that were at best in backup roles, a majority of who were on the scout team for most of the year, so they didn't even get to run our defense, got opportunities to go play in a big time atmosphere in a big game. “I think there's a lot of those things that guys can learn from, and we can build off and take that into the future for this team.”