Tag: orange and blue game

How to Watch: Florida Gators annual Orange and Blue Game

Looking to follow tonight’s action in the Swamp? Here’s how to watch, listen and keep track of the stats.

Florida football prepares for its annual Orange and Blue intrasquad game on Thursday, April 13, inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, and if you are looking to follow the action, we have the broadcast, radio and stats information for the Gators’ scrimmage.

The game will feature four 15-minute quarters, a 15-minute halftime, with the game clock running unabated except for the last four minutes of each half. The clock will also stop for penalties, changes of possession and scores.

Both squads have their own offensive, defensive and special teams staff, as well as a host of support staff members, which includes strength and conditioning coaches, nutrition personnel, equipment staff, on-campus recruiting, an operations staff member and others.

Take a look below at what you need to follow along with the action on Thursday night.

Gators hosting son of legendary Miami RB for Orange and Blue Game

The Gators are targeting the son of a legendary Miami running back and getting him on campus for the Orange and Blue game.

Columbus (Miami, Florida) linebacker [autotag]Willis McGahee IV[/autotag] announced the dates for five spring visits on Thursday morning, and the Florida Gators are set to play host to him on April 13 for the Orange and Blue Game.

If McGahee’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the son of the former Miami Hurricanes and NFL running back of the same name. That star power has naturally brought some attention to his son, even though he plays on the other side of the ball.

The Gators haven’t extended an offer yet to McGahee, but there’s a chance that one comes during the visit. Coaches will fairly busy during the game, but a post-game meeting with Napier might not be out of the question. He most recently stopped by the Swamp in January for one of the team’s Junior Days.

The other stops on McGahee’s list right now are Texas on March 25, UCF on April 14, Tennessee on April 15 and Nebraska on April 22. That three-day stretch of three schools could end up working against Florida as recency bias takes over.

McGahee is a four-star recruit on 247Sports’ individual ranking but he’s only a three-star talent on the composite rankings and On3 industry ranking, which has him at No. 399 overall in the class of 2024 and No. 30 among edge rushers. 247Sports has him as high as No. 232 nationally and No. 24 among linebackers in the class.

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5-star Florida quarterback commit set to visit for spring game

The Gators plan on getting their quarterback of the future back on campus for another visit when the Orange and Blue Game takes place on April 13.

The next time Florida will get five-star quarterback commit [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag] on campus will be on April 13 for the Orange and Blue Game, according to On3’s Chad Simmons.

Lagway is Florida’s top-ranked commit in the 2024 cycle, and he’s already been on campus twice this year. He stopped by the Swamp for the final Junior Day of January and returned in March to see the team in action on the first day of spring camp.

February was a recruiting dead period, so Lagway has basically been by UF as much as possible early on. His commitment appears to be firm, and he’s openly recruiting other blue-chip athletes to join him in Gainesville.

Simmons says that TCU is the main program still chasing Lagway but that the Willis High signal-caller is “locked in with Florida.”

“Lagway is confident in his decision and loves the idea of playing for Billy Napier and Ryan O’Hara,” Simmons wrote.

Lagway is ranked No. 18 overall on the On3 industry ranking, which considers all On3 (35%), 247Sports (35%), Rivals.com (20%) and ESPN (10%). He’s No. 3 among quarterbacks on the ranking and No. 4 among players from the state of Texas.

ESPN is the only service that gives him an outright five-star designation, but both the On3 industry ranking and 247Sports composite list him as a 5-star after aggregating scores.

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Florida announces kickoff time Orange and Blue Game

Fans knew that the Orange and Blue Game would be played on Thursday, April 13, but now the team has announced a kickoff time for the spring game.

Florida will play its annual Orange and Blue Game at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 13, according to an announcement from the team.

Fans already knew that the Gators would be playing their spring game on a Thursday for the second year in a row, but the kickoff time is new information. The program is slowly trickling out details about the game as spring approaches.

Next up, UF will release streaming information for the game. The announcement does say that the game will be streamed on an ESPN platform, which means a subscription could be necessary to watch the game remotely.

Attending the game in person won’t cost fans any money, though, and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium has enough seats to house anyone who wants to come. The 2022 game was the first that was open to the public in three years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The game serves as a good look at the roster for the upcoming season, but it is also a big recruiting night. Napier moving the game to a weeknight puts Florida in a position where there’s less competition for recruits since most schools play on Saturdays.

The big focus will be on Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] and [autotag]Jack Miller III[/autotag] as they square off to compete for the starting quarterback job in 2023.

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Florida football announces date for 2023 Orange and Blue Game

Mark your calendars! The Florida Gators have announced a date for the 2023 Orange and Blue Game.

The Florida Gators will play the annual Orange and Blue Game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Thursday, April 13, according to an announcement from the team.

Further details such as kickoff time, streaming and broadcast information and fan initiatives will be announced in the future, but 247Sports is citing the athletic department on a tentative 7 p.m. EDT start. This will be the second-straight season that Florida plays its spring game on a Thursday.

Billy Napier moved last year’s O&B Game to the Thursday before Easter so students could attend the game and travel home for the holiday. That conflict shouldn’t come up this year with Easter coming on April 9, but UF opted to schedule the game on a Thursday anyway.

The UAA announced an attendance of 45,000 at last year’s Orange and Blue Game, so there clearly isn’t a big problem moving the game up a few days from the traditional Saturday spot. There is an argument that more people wanted to get a first look at Napier as a first-year coach in 2022, but the team is facing a large amount of turnover ahead of 2023 and should still warrant attention.

[autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] dominated last season’s spring game, but this time it will be Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] and [autotag]Jack Miller III[/autotag] battling it out. Whoever performs better might wind up being Florida’s Day 1 starter in the fall.

Not everything that’s seen in the Orange and Blue Game sticks, though. Players opt to transfer after finding out their role on the team and getting some in-game action, and plenty of depth guys are getting looks during exhibitions like this.

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Florida men’s basketball to host preseason Orange and Blue game

It’s almost time for college basketball, and Florida is hosting an intersquad scrimmage to finish off the preseason.

Instead of facing another school in a traditional exhibition game before the college basketball season starts, the Florida Gators are planning to hold an intrasquad scrimmage on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. EDT. The program announced the game early Thursday morning.

Admission will be free to the Orange and Blue game with doors opening an hour before tipoff. Students will compete in contests and take home plenty of goodies as part of the event, including a team photo card for the first 1,000 fans through the gates. There will also be an interactive video/photo booth for fans to take pictures with the 2006 and 2007 National Championship trophies. One fan will win a pair of season tickets for the upcoming Florida Gators basketball season.

Capping off the preseason with an intrasquad scrimmage is new for the Gators. Florida has hosted an exhibition before the start of the season since 2004-05, most recently taking down Embry-Riddle last year.

The regular season (and [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era) will begin less than a week after the scrimmage takes place. Stony Brook comes into town on Nov. 7 and then Kennesaw State is in Gainesville on Nov. 11. Those should be wonderful opportunities for the Gators to start off strong, but the Florida State game on Nov. 18 will be the team’s first genuine test under new leadership.

247Sports’ Jacob Rudner is reporting that Florida will play “secret scrimmages” against Miami and Jacksonville before the season begins, so the scrimmage won’t be the only form of game-speed preparation the Gators undergo.

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This 5-star OT left Florida’s Orange and Blue Game impressed

Florida’s recent track record with blue-chip offensive tackles and in-state recruits isn’t stellar, but Billy Napier is looking to change that.

Francis Mauigoa, a five-star offensive tackle from IMG Academy, was one of the many recruits who visited Gainesville Thursday for the Florida Gators Spring Game. Although he’d been to Florida before, meeting the new staff in person gave him the opportunity to see how well he’d fit in with the new group.

Mauigoa cut his list down to 13 programs in mid-March but he’s looking to bring that number down to five or seven schools in May as he approaches the start of his senior year. Alabama, Miami and USC are thought to be the top schools in the race, but that leaves at least two or three spots open for the upcoming cut. Florida seems to be in a good spot after the visit based on Maugioa’s comments to 247Sports’ Greg Biggins.

“I’ve been to Florida about three times now so I have a good comfort level there,” Mauigoa said. “The last time I visited, it was when the old staff was still there so this was cool to meet the new staff face to face. I like coach Napier, he’s a good man and puts his players in a position to be successful on and off the field.”

The 6-foot-5-inch, 330-pounder met with coaches before the exhibition started and spent time with offensive line coach [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag]. Surrounded by 40,000+ fans and “400 recruits,” Mauigoa enjoyed the atmosphere Billy Napier and Co. created in their first run at the Swamp.

There will be plenty of competition for Mauigoa. Michigan State and Tennessee are both trending in his recruitment after initially being left off his top 13. Mel Tucker and the Spartans hosted him after the Florida visit.

The 247Sport composite ranks Mauigoa as the No. 8 overall recruit in the class of 2023 and the No. 2 offensive tackle in the class. Florida’s struggled to land blue-chip offensive lineman in recent years, but this one’s at the top of their list.

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Best Twitter reactions to Florida’s Orange and Blue game

Check out the best Twitter reactions to Florida’s Orange and Blue Game on Thursday night.

Florida quarterback [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] stole the show during head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s first Orange and Blue game on Thursday. He led his Blue team to a 34-0 shutout over the Orange team while completing 18 out of 24 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns. His performance silenced any doubts that he wouldn’t be the starter when the Gators take on the Utah Utes this fall.

During and after the game, there were plenty of great reactions from Florida Twitter declaring the team will win the 2022 national championship or that Richardson will win the Heisman Trophy this fall. If you fall under either category, please pump the brakes. It was just a spring game. However, let’s get to the best Twitter reactions from the spring game.

5 major takeaways from Florida’s Orange and Blue spring game

Here are Pat Dooley’s initial takes on Florida’s Orange and Blue game.

For starters, we saw why Florida does not play any Thursday night home games. The workday traffic was brutal.

That said, it was a glorious night in so many ways: perfect weather and a great crowd (estimated at 45,000 for [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s first spring game at the University of Florida.

It felt like a spring game, but it was also taken way more seriously than it had for several years. No silliness, just football.

The Gators did not look like a team trying to re-invent the wheel, but there were some things for Florida fans to take with them.

One was the fact that there were 317 recruits at the game. Not all of them are being recruited, but UF had more five-stars in attendance than normal for a spring game.

Here are five takeaways from the game, won by the Blue 34-0.

The stars are coming out for Florida’s Orange and Blue game on Thursday

The stars will be out for Florida head coach Billy Napier’s first spring game on Thursday.

Head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] has proven the doubters wrong. Many fans and media members thought the decision to move the Orange and Blue game from Saturday to Thursday to achieve a recruiting advantage was a mistake that would end up backfiring. Despite having the game held on a weekday, Napier and the Gators have managed to bring in three 2023 five-stars and 15 four-stars along with a boatload of top prospects from the 2024 recruiting class.

The Orange and Blue game visitors’ list is headlined by five-star cornerback [autotag]Cormani McClain[/autotag], offensive lineman [autotag]Francis Mauigoa[/autotag] and athlete [autotag]Samuel M’Pemba[/autotag]. This will all be their second visit to the Swamp under Napier. Swamp247 is also reporting that they have an eye out for five-star cornerback [autotag]AJ Harris[/autotag] that could also visit, but he and his family have not finalized their plans yet.

Maryland defensive lineman [autotag]Darrell Jackson[/autotag] isn’t a high school prospect, obviously, but Swamp247 reported that he will be visiting the Gators Thursday after entering his name into the transfer portal last week.

Florida will bring in a lot of talent on Thursday hailing from the trenches like offensive linemen [autotag]Payton Kirkland[/autotag], [autotag]Lucas Simmons[/autotag], [autotag]Knijeah Harris[/autotag], defensive linemen [autotag]Will Norman[/autotag], [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag], [autotag]Jordan Hall[/autotag] and [autotag]Tomarrion Parker[/autotag].

The Gators are looking to sign several top pass catchers this cycle with a lack of playmakers currently on the roster. Some of the most talented wideouts include [autotag]Hykeem Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyler Williams[/autotag].

Other top targets expected are four-star running back [autotag]Treyaun Webb[/autotag], safety [autotag]Joenel Aguero[/autotag] and [autotag]Kenton Kirkland[/autotag].

The stars will be out in full force for the Gators’ Orange and Blue Game on Thursday.

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