Tag: college

Don’t get too excited about a 10-game SEC football schedule

If there’s one thing the attempted returns of the NBA and MLB have shown us, it’s that sports are currently not feasible outside a bubble.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began earlier this year, many fans have expressed frustrations with members of the sports media for what having what they perceive to be a rooting interest in sports being canceled this fall.

I understand this impulse. We all want sports back. We all want our lives back the way they were before. And when you see someone express doubts about the feasibility of doing so, especially when it’s someone whose job is talking about college sports, it can be irritating. Be forewarned, this is one of those columns.

But I want to be clear: I do not want the football season to be canceled. As a journalism student set to graduate this December, the cancellation of the season would not only potentially impact my current employment. It could also impact my future stability immensely.

But there’s a difference between rooting for sports to be canceled and expressing skepticism and criticism toward the safety considerations (or lack thereof) taken by leagues. There’s a difference between hoping for this disastrous situation to perpetuate and arguing against shortsighted action that jeopardizes the longterm viability of sports.

My sympathies are with the latter when I say that I don’t expect college football to happen this fall, in any capacity.

With the SEC’s announcement on Thursday of a 10-game, conference-only football schedule, the Big 12 is the only Power 5 league yet to adjust its scheduling in a major way. Soon enough, it will follow suit.

But that won’t be enough.

If there’s one thing the attempted returns of the NBA and MLB have shown us, it’s that sports are currently not feasible if they aren’t contained within a bubble. Baseball opening day was just over a week ago, and six teams are already out of action on Friday due to exposure with COVID-positive individuals. Twenty people within the Miami Marlins organization have tested positive.

Baseball is about as socially distanced as a team sport can be, and it’s still spreading like wildfire within organizations. Just imagine, for a second, what would happen if athletics were held on a college campus.

Meanwhile, the NBA’s bubble has been a massive success story. With strict enforcement of rules, the association has had zero positive results in the last two weeks. The NHL began a similar experiment this week.

But an isolated bubble isn’t possible for baseball. And it definitely isn’t possible for football. Team size and logistical issues would keep it from materializing in the NFL, and the sheer number of teams and resource discrepancies would make it a nonstarter at the college level.

Far be it from me to underestimate the stubbornness of college athletics administrators, though. I don’t doubt that they’ll try to have a season at all costs.

The season may start, but it sure as hell won’t finish. And that would be a disaster.

The real shame is that time was never the issue here. The NCAA has had since March to see the writing on the wall and form a backup plan. That time was wasted figuring out exactly how soon it could get players back on campus.

I’m hopeful that a season can happen to some extent, even if it has to be in the spring. But each day that passes, an all-out cancelation seems more and more likely, and the tragedy is that it didn’t have to be this way.

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Three-star defensive tackle Desmond Watson joins the Florida Gators’ 2021 class

Three-star Armwood (Seffner, Florida) defensive tackle Desmond Watson became the latest member of the Gators’ 2021 class on Thursday.

The program’s fifth commit in July, three-star Armwood (Seffner, Florida) defensive tackle Desmond Watson became the latest member of the Gators’ 2021 class on Thursday.

He broke the news on his Twitter account.

Teammates with fellow Florida pledge Charles Montgomery, the mammoth Watson, listed at 6-foot-5-inches and 350 pounds, has racked up 119 tackles (60 for loss), 18 sacks, and four forced fumbles during his first three years with the Hawks, including 34 TFL and 10 sacks as a junior.

His half-brother, Darrian McNeal, a three-star wide receiver in the 2017 cycle, played one season in Eugene for the Oregon Ducks, catching two passes for 10 yards (five avg.) and adding three rushing attempts for 21 yards (seven avg.).

Unfortunately, McNeal’s story did not have a happy ending as he left the Ducks’ program in April 2018 and was charged with first-degree theft and second-degree robbery on June 26, 2020, following an incident at an apartment two days prior.

Watson originally picked up his offer from defensive line coach David Turner and cornerbacks coach Torrian Gray on January 17, 2019, and attended two Junior Days in Gainesville this year, the first in February and the second the month after.

He chose the Gators over seven other Southeastern Conference (SEC) programs, the Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, Kentucky Wildcats, LSU Tigers, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Tennessee Volunteers, and Texas A&M Aggies.

Andrew Ivins, a Miami Hurricanes insider for 247Sports, compared Watson to former Alabama standout Terrence Cody, who garnered first-team All-SEC and unanimous All-American honors in 2008 and 2009.

Overall, he is the twelfth-highest rated of Florida’s 23 commits and the sixth-highest on the defensive side of the football. Joining Fort Lauderdale’s Tyreak Sapp and Sumter, South Carolina’s Justus Boone, both four-stars, and Fort Myers’ Christopher Thomas, a three-star, Watson is the fourth defensive lineman in the group.

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SEC announces plan to play 10-game conference-only football schedule

The SEC announced that its member schools will adhere to a 10-game, conference-only schedule for the upcoming 2020 football season.

The Southeastern Conference announced on Thursday that its member schools will adhere to a 10-game, conference-only schedule for the upcoming 2020 football season beginning on Sept. 26.

From the press release:

The 2020 SEC football season will be comprised of a 10-game Conference-only schedule and the SEC Football Championship Game will be played December 19 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, rescheduled from the original date of December 5. The schedule will include one mid-season open date for each school and an open date on December 12 for all schools.

“This new plan for a football schedule is consistent with the educational goals of our universities to allow for the safe and orderly return to campus of their student populations and to provide a healthy learning environment during these unique circumstances presented by the COVID-19 virus,” Sankey said.  “This new schedule supports the safety measures that are being taken by each of our institutions to ensure the health of our campus communities.”

This action was taken following extensive discussions and thorough deliberation among the SEC’s Presidents and Chancellors, Athletics Directors, Conference Office staff, and medical advisors, led by the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force.

“After careful consideration of the public health indicators in our region and following advice of our medical advisors, we have determined that this is the best course of action to prepare for a safe and healthy return to competition for SEC student-athletes, coaches and others associated with our sports programs,” said Sankey.

The decision to limit competition to Conference-only opponents and rescheduling the SEC Championship Game is based on the need for maximum flexibility in making any necessary scheduling adjustments while reacting to developments around the pandemic and continued advice from medical professionals.

“We believe these schedule adjustments offer the best opportunity to complete a full season by giving us the ability to adapt to the fluid nature of the virus and the flexibility to adjust schedules as necessary if disruptions occur,” Sankey said.  “It is regrettable that some of our traditional non-conference rivalries cannot take place in 2020 under this plan, but these are unique, and hopefully temporary, circumstances that call for unconventional measures.”

The rescheduled start to the season will allow the SEC to continue to monitor health trends across its 11-state footprint, as well as monitor developments in technology around mitigation and treatment of the virus, including:

– Trends in public health indicators throughout the SEC’s 11-state footprint, including positive cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations and recovery statistics

– State, local and campus heath directives, including restrictions on gatherings, isolation requirements for travelers, and other health and travel restrictions

– Continued development of risk mitigation strategies

– Continued advancement in COVID-19 testing reliability and availability

– Continued evolution of time-based strategies for resuming activities after positive test results, including contact tracing, isolation and quarantine requirements

– Observation of successes and challenges presented by return to competition in other sports

A revised schedule for the 2020 SEC football season will be announced at a later date following approval by the Conference’s athletics directors.

Further decisions regarding safety standards related to athletics events, tailgating and other game day activities, including social distancing, face covering and other health measures consistent with CDC, state and local guidelines, will be announced at a later date.

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Florida Gators 1979 football squad was among the worst in recent history

In a list from The Athletic ranking the 25 least dominant teams over the last 50 years, UF’s 0-10-1 team was ranked No. 25.

For the better part of the last three decades, Florida has been at the forefront of the college football world. Aside from a brief dip in the early 2000’s and a bigger decline during most of the 2010s, the Gators have been one of the preeminent programs in the nation.

But if you go back prior to Steve Spurrier’s hiring taking the team to another level, the school saw many seasons of frustration, none more so than in 1979. In a list from The Athletic ranking the 25 least dominant teams over the last 50 years, UF’s 0-10-1 team from coach Charlie Pell’s first season was ranked No. 25.

It was the worst season in program history in terms of total losses. Aside from a 7-7 tie against Georgia Tech, Florida lost every game, including blowout losses at the hands of Kentucky (31-3) and Alabama (40-0). Six of its 10 losses came by double-digit points with an average point differential of 14.5.

The Gators were in the bottom 10 in offense, averaging just 9.6 points per game. Defensively, they didn’t fare much better, sitting outside the top 100 allowing 24.1 points per game. In 11 games, the team turned the ball over an astounding 34 times.

Pell went on to achieve success over the next five years at Florida before his coaching legacy was tarnished by NCAA violations, and he was fired after the school received sanctions.

Though the team saw some recent struggles prior to the hiring of coach Dan Mullen in 2018, Gators fans can rejoice at the fact that the days of winless seasons appear to be a thing of the distant past.

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Gators flip 2021 three-star center Jake Slaughter from Florida State

The Florida Gators added their third commit in the 2021 class in the last seven days, flipping 3-star Ocala center Jake Slaughter from FSU.

The Florida Gators added their third commit in the 2021 class in the last seven days, flipping three-star Ocala center Jake Slaughter from the Florida State Seminoles on July 24.

Slaughter announced the change in plans on his Twitter account.

Playing his prep football for Trinity Catholic, the 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pounder played a pivotal role in the Celtics finishing 8-4 in 2019 and advancing to the Region 1-3A Semifinals, earning first-team All-County honors from the Ocala Star-Banner in the process.

He originally committed to Mike Norvell’s Seminoles on April 13 after receiving his offer on July 27, 2019, the same day he attended a camp in Tallahassee.

Primarily recruited by co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach John Hevesy and linebackers coach Christian Robinson, Slaughter becomes the 21st pledge in the upcoming cycle for the Gators and the fourth offensive lineman, joining Orlando’s Javonte Gardner, Independence (Kansas) Community College’s Deyavie Hammond, and Lynn Haven’s Adrein Strickland, all fellow three-stars.

Stone Mountain, Georgia’s George Jackson, another three-star who committed to Florida way back on November 27, 2018, is no longer listed as a member of the program’s 2021 class on 247Sports, so this story is worth monitoring moving forward.

Slaughter fills a position of need for the program, too. Brett Heggie, a redshirt senior, is the projected starter at center this fall, followed by redshirt freshman Kingsley Eguakun, who saw action in two games a year ago.

Overall, the FSU flip is the 19th-highest-rated member of the Gators’ class and the tenth-highest on the offensive side of the football.

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Gators quarterback Kyle Trask listed on Maxwell Award Watch List

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask is one of 90 players on the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award, the Maxwell Football Club announced.

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask is one of 90 players on the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award, the Maxwell Football Club announced Friday. He’s the ninth UF player to be named to a postseason award watch list so far.

He joins 38 other signal-callers nationwide and four from the SEC on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, which is given annually to the nation’s most outstanding player. Mississippi State’s K.J. Costello, Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, Georgia’s Jamie Newman and Auburn’s Bo Nix are also on the list.

Trask is coming off one of the best passing seasons by a Florida quarterback in the last two decades. After stepping in as the starter for an injured Feleipe Franks in the third game, Trask led the Gators to an 11-2 finish in 2019, throwing for 2,941 yards with 25 touchdown passes to just seven interceptions. He had a passer rating of 156.09, the ninth-best mark in school history and the highest since Tim Tebow achieved a 164.2 rating in 2009.

The 2020 Maxwell Award’s winner is set to be announced at The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 10.

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Gators football drops to No. 8 in latest ESPN 2021 class rankings

ESPN unveiled their latest 2021 recruiting class rankings on July 23, and for the second-straight update, the Gators fell down the list.

ESPN unveiled their latest 2021 recruiting class rankings on July 23 (subscription required), and for the second-straight update, the Florida Gators fell down the list.

While the July 6 rankings saw the Gators drop two spots, the latest assessment was only a one-spot fall, resulting in the program slotting in at No. 8.

The Ohio State Buckeyes occupied the top spot, followed by the Alabama Crimson Tide, who moved up 11 spots, the largest jump of any program to make the network’s top-25.

Mack Brown’s North Carolina Tar Heels, Jeremy Pruitt’s Tennessee Volunteers, and Ed Orgeron’s LSU Tigers, the reigning College Football Playoff national champions, completed the top-five.

“Dan Mullen’s third consecutive top-10 class in Gainesville is a near lock coming off back-to-back 10-win seasons and top-10 Associated Press Poll finishes, as well as the hiring of ace recruiter (tight ends coach) Tim Brewster,” ESPN began in their breakdown.

“Brewster immediately addressed the need at tight end with ESPN 300s Gage Wilcox and Nick Elksnis. There are two quarterbacks in the class in ESPN 300 Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and four-star Texan Jalen Kitna.

“A pair of ESPN 300 wide receivers are in the fold in Trevonte Rucker from an hour’s drive away and Georgia playmaker Daejon Reynolds. A third ESPN 300 wide receiver is Marcus Burke from Jacksonville powerhouse Trinity Christian.

“ESPN 300 in-state athlete Charles Montgomery could play on either side of the football. ESPN 300 Chief Borders is a versatile jumbo athlete who projects as an outside linebacker. A talented secondary group is made up of ESPN 300 and Tennessee flip Kamar Wilcoxson, LSU flip Dakota Mitchell, and four-star safety Donovan McMillon.

“ESPN 300 defensive end Tyreak Sapp will likely move to defensive tackle long-term. Four-star defensive end Justus Boone was a high-ceiling win out of the Palmetto State.”

The largest reason for Florida’s drop was four-star Baltimore, Maryland cornerback Clinton Burton, Jr.’s flip to the Boston College Eagles on July 17. Burton, Jr. was the second-highest rated commit in the cycle for the program, garnering a rating of 85 from ESPN, trailing only Sapp’s 86.

To make up for this loss, the Gators secured McMillon’s pledge the day after Burton, Jr.’s departure, and added Burke two days after that.

Overall, seven Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools made ESPN’s cut, representing over one-quarter of the list. Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs are No. 13, followed by Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M Aggies at No. 18, and Gus Malzahn’s Auburn Tigers at No. 22.

Other notables include Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines at No. 10, Manny Diaz’ Miami Hurricanes at No. 11, Kirk Ferentz’ Iowa Hawkeyes at No. 21, and Mike Norvell’s Florida State Seminoles at No. 23.

This No. 8 rating from ESPN is two spots higher than 247Sports’ view of Florida’s collection of prospects, which pegs the program at No. 10 nationally.

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Gators News: July 22, 2020

The biggest news in the college athletics world is football, or more specifically, whether or not there will be football come this fall. 

Welcome to a Wednesday edition of Gators News, with the Major League Baseball season set to get started tomorrow and while the National Basketball Association plays out a few exhibition games before its season restart officially kicks off on July 30.

The biggest news in the college athletics world is football, or more specifically, whether or not there will be college football come this fall. Mark Emmert over at our parent site USA TODAY discusses how a November without college football would affect the national elections in his article published this morning while Chris Bumbaca took a look at how the world of sports betting will have to conform to the “new normal” in light of all of the changes that have occurred due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. David M. Hale at ESPN also imagines a world where has relegation and promotion, a la the English Premier League and other tiered leagues.

Here is the latest news from the Gator Nation.

Around the Swamp

It’s great to be a Florida Gator!

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College Football News ranks SEC head coaches: Where’s Kirby Smart?

College Football News ranked the top SEC head coaches. Where is Georgia football’s Kirby Smart?

Pete Fiutak of College Football News recently released a list ranking the SEC head coaches heading into the 2020 season.

Checking in at No. 3 on the list is Georgia’s Kirby Smart, who trails only Nick Saban (1) and Ed Orgeron (2).

At No. 4 is Dan Mullen and at No. 5 is Gus Malzahn.

As much as I’d love for Smart to be in that No. 2 spot, I do not disagree with Fiutak here.

Smart’s time will come, and within the next five years he may very well occupy that No. 1 spot.

For now, he’s sitting at No. 3 on Fiutak’s list, likely right on the verge of taking over that No. 2 ranking. As long as he keeps winning the SEC East, beating rivals and putting his team in striking distance for the College Football Playoff…he’ll be considered a top-five coach in America.

Orgeron or Smart at No. 2 was likely a somewhat difficult decision. Fiutak went with Coach O since he accomplished something Kirby hasn’t yet, a national championship.

I’ve heard it all – “Anyone could win with that roster.”

Sure, Smart probably would have won it with that roster LSU had last year. But, at the end of the day, he didn’t have that roster. No other way around it.

Also, how can you not love Coach O?

As for Saban, there’s no arguing that one.

Gators on a recruiting streak, land commitment from four-star WR Marcus Burke

Tthe Florida Gators’ 2021 recruiting class grew to 21 on Monday with the addition of Jacksonville four-star wide receiver Marcus Burke.

Just two days after adding their 20th member, the Florida Gators’ 2021 recruiting class grew to 21 on Monday with the addition of Jacksonville four-star wide receiver Marcus Burke.

A product of the private Trinity Christian Academy, Burke chose the Gators over the Georgia Bulldogs and Penn State Nittany Lions. Despite his verbal pledge, he does plan to visit Athens and State College once the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) lifts their coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

Kirby Smart’s program is worth keeping on eye here, as the Bulldogs have made Burke one of their top targets in the cycle, having position coach Cortez Hankton and tight ends coach Todd Hartley speak with him regularly.

His high school teammate, 2023 athlete Treyaun Webb, is a Georgia commit, as well. Webb has three more years of prep football to play, but profiles to play running back at the collegiate level.

The No. 40 wideout in the class and a top-35 player in the state, per the 247Sports Composite, Burke totaled 37 receptions for 831 yards (22.4 avg.) and nine touchdowns for the Conquerors as a junior, including a 99-yard score against the Venice Indians on September 6.

Standing 6-foot-3 and tipping the scales at 180 pounds, he has shown versatility in his game, strong enough to play on the perimeter, but quick enough to work in the slot, too.

Burke becomes the third four-star wide receiver in Florida’s upcoming class – the fourth if you count Seffner athlete Charles Montgomery, who projects to play a hybrid receiver/running back role – joining Ocala’s Trevonte Rucker and Loganville, Georgia’s Daejon Reynolds.

Overall, Burke is the sixth-highest rated pledge in the program’s 2021 collection and the fourth-highest on the offensive side of the football, trailing only Rucker, quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, and Reynolds.

Co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales, who served as Burke’s primary recruiter, is tasked with replacing four of his top-five wide receivers from 2019 this fall but has secured the commitment of some strong reinforcements on the recruiting trail moving forward.

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