Florida’s men’s basketball program got some bad news on Monday afternoon when it learned that center [autotag]Jason Jitoboh[/autotag] plans on exploring his options in the NCAA transfer portal, multiple sources told Swamp247’s Jacob Rudner.
The departure of the big man makes it three players who have already signaled their intent since the Gators were knocked out of the NIT by UCF last Wednesday, joining guards [autotag]Kowacie Reeves[/autotag] and [autotag]Niels Lane[/autotag] who made their announcements on Thursday.
Jitoboh’s performance this year was clearly hampered by an eye injury he sustained last season that required four surgeries so far — with one more remaining — which still resulted in significantly impaired vision in the affected eye. His path to recovery has been a harrowing one, according to assistant coach Carlin Hartman.
“Some of the things in which he had to deal with in his recovery are things I would never want to wish on my worst enemy,” Hartman told Swamp247. “He’s having to sleep with his face down in a hole in a certain part of his bed ‘cause he couldn’t sleep on his sides. Little things like that where you just don’t think about in terms of dealing with the eye pressure he was facing. Then, he had to withdraw from his classes in the spring, and so he’s having to take all these classes in the summertime all the way up until we just started fall semester.”
It is unclear where the 6-foot-11-inch, 300-pound center from Abuja, Nigeria, will land next season but he did manage to average 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in his seven starts after Colin Castleton was sidelined with an injury. Hopefully, he finds a program that fits him perfectly so he can finish up his collegiate eligibility in style.
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