By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:
IT’S WHAT’S UP FRONT THAT COUNTS
What Billy Napier did during four seasons as the head coach at Louisiana (40-12 record) has a familiar ring to those who loved the way the Gators lined up and knocked people off the ball during the 1980s when Charley Pell had four first round running backs – James Jones, Neal Anderson, John L Williams and Lorenzo Hampton – running behind a dominating offensive line. When opponents committed one too many in the box to stop the run, leaving one-on-one coverage on the outside, the ball went over the top for a very effective passing game.
At Louisiana, a big offensive line opened gaping holes that produced 132 rushing touchdowns in four years. Load the box and the Cajuns went over the top, throwing for 96 touchdowns. That’s almost a reversal of Florida’s production the last four years – 134 passing touchdowns and 82 on the ground.
Napier will follow a similar pattern with the Gators this year. He’s got the stable of backs in Nay’Quan Wright, Louisiana transfer Montrell Williams, former 5-star recruits Demarkcus Bowman and Lorenzo Lingard, and electric quarterback Anthony Richardson. The secret to making it work will be the development of the offensive line where four starters (left tackle Richard Gouraige, left guard Ethan White, center Kingsley Eguakun and right guard Josh Braun) and part-time starter (right tackle) Michael Tarquin are joined by Louisiana transfers O’Cyrus Torrence and Kamryn Waites.
Expectations are that when spring practice ends next Thursday, the starting O-line will look like this: LT Gouraige, RT White, C Eguakun, RG Torrence and RT either Braun, Tarquin or Waites. That’s seven who are proving dependable under the tutelage of the new two-headed O-line coaching duo of Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton, but Napier knows seven is not enough to get through the grind of an 8-game SEC schedule plus Utah and Florida State.
"Yeah, you know I think it's a position where we've got a handful of players that can play, you know?” Napier said after Florida’s first scrimmage last week. “And then, I think every team, I mean every position on our team, we need more players, right? We need more depth. I think the offensive line is a reflection of the entire team. I mean, we have a pretty good first group we can put out there, and if you really evaluated the team relative to experience, this is a very inexperienced team. After the first team if you look at the experience, the number of plays that a lot of these guys have played, they haven't played any. So we have a lot of work to do to develop that second and third group."
It's a line of scrimmage league and if you don’t have enough big, strong and talented bodies, you lose more than you win.
UF BASEBALL: CAN THE GATORS FIND THE PITCHING TO UPEND ARKANSAS?
The big question heading into Florida’s 3-game SEC series with 2nd-ranked Arkansas (22-5, 7-2 SEC) that begins tonight (6 p.m., SEC Network) is can Kevin O’Sullivan find two effective starters to follow ace Hunter Barco (5-1, 1.87 ERA; 58 strikeouts in 43-1/3 innings)? When Barco takes the mound, there is every good chance the Gators (19-10, 3-6 SEC) are going to win the game, but the bullpen is very shaky and O’Sullivan has yet to find two more starters who can get the job done. Ryan Slater (2-1, 3.60 ERA) has given up seven earned runs in his last seven innings and Brandon Sproat (3-3, 4.68 ERA) has given up eight earned runs in his last 8-1/3.
The Gators can hit the baseball. They’re third in the country in home runs (57), led by Jud Fabian, who leaders the SEC with 13 (third nationally) and Wyatt Langford (10; .349 batting average). They’ll be going tonight against Connor Noland (4-1, 3.05 ERA; 53 strikeouts in 41-1/3 innings) with Hagen Smith (5-1, 3.62 ERA; 44 strikeouts in 37-1/3 innings) and Jaxon Wiggins (4-0, 3.69 ERA; 42 strikeouts in 39 innings) the likely starters in the other two games.
The Razorbacks have a team ERA of 3.57 compared to Florida’s 4.27. The Gators have plenty of live arms, but the problem is beyond Barco there is very little in the way of experience. Pitching is going to be an adventure until some of the kids can figure out pitching in the SEC, which is not that far removed from Class AA in the minors.
UF SOFTBALL: GATORS FALL TO FSU, 4-2, IN 10
The 8th-ranked Gators gave up two runs in the top of the 10th inning Wednesday night, dropping a 4-2 decision to 2nd-ranked Florida State (36-2). The Gators blew two golden opportunities to win the game. Four hits could only produce one run in the bottom of the fifth and then in the bottom of the ninth, Skylar Wallace was on second with one out but the Gators couldn’t come up with a clutch hit.
Elizabeth Hightower went the first seven innings for UF, giving up two runs and seven hits while striking out seven. Natalie Lugo (7-3, gave the Gators a scoreless eighth and ninth before the Seminoles got to her for two runs in the 10th with only one out.
The Gators (30-7, 7-5 SEC) get a day off before 4th-ranked Alabama (31-5, 8-4 SEC) comes to town for a critical SEC series.
Softball recruiting note: Keagan Rothrock (3-0), the No. 1 high school pitcher in the country and a rock solid Gator commit for the 2023 class, threw a 3-hit shutout Wednesday to lead Roncalli (Indianapolis area) to a 4-0 win over Cedar Grove. Rothrock struck out 15 and didn’t walk a batter. It was the third shutout of the year for Rothrock, who has struck out 45 in 18-1/3 innings and has yet to walk a batter. Rothrock went 24-2 last year with an 0.13 ERA in leading Roncalli to the Indiana state championship. She struck out 264 batters, allowed only 40 hits, walked just six batters and pitched five no-hitters and two perfect games. She also hit .421.
BASKETBALL PORTAL RECRUITING NOTES: 7 TO CONSIDER
Johnni Broome (6-10, 240): The Tampa Catholic product was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference at Morehead State where he averaged 16.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.9 blocked shots per game. Broome has three years of eligibility remaining. He is the 10th-ranked transfer prospect by David Cobb of CBS Sports. Gonzaga and Arkansas are also in the mix.
Noah Carter (6-6, 230): A second team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection at Northern Iowa, Carter averaged 15 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Carter shot 48.2 percent overall but only 29.9 percent from the 3-point line. He is set to visit this weekend. Carter has two years of eligibility remaining.
Will Richard (6-5, 195): Richard is a combo guard who averaged 12.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game at Belmont where he shot 46.8 percent overall and 32.6 percent from the 3-point line. He’s originally from metro Atlanta where he played high school ball at Woodward Academy. He’s set to visit this weekend.
Terri Roberts (6-3, 180): Roberts is a point guard who averaged 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game at Bradley. A former juco who played at Florida Southwestern in Fort Myers, Roberts has two years of eligibility remaining. Visiting this weekend.
Alex Fudge (6-8, 185): He didn’t have the Gators on his to do list coming out of Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville largely because UF was all in on Kowacie Reeves, but now that he’s a goner from LSU, will he be thinking about staying close to home? His buddy is Deebo Coleman from Nassau County who is at Georgia Tech. Huge upside. Averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 reboundds at LSU.
Efton Reid (7-0, 250): The Gators recruited him very hard when he was at IMG Academy in Bradenton. He averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game at LSU as a freshman. A bit lazy but you can’t teach the kind of size he has.
Maj Dusanic (6-7, 220): He was a redshirt freshman at San Francisco where he played for Todd Golden, but was a well-regarded international from Slovenia who played at Dream City Prep in Glendale, Arizona before signing with the Dons. He led Slovenia to a third place finish in the Under-18 European Championships in 2019. Rebounder with 3-point range.
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL
Alabama: Nick Saban says wide receiver Argiye Hall is suspended from the team for violating team rules. Asked if Hall can get back in his good graces, Saban said, “He’s already had that opportunity once, so I don’t know what his plans are for the future.” … Forward Juwan Gary, who averaged 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, is transferring out.
Arkansas: Huge pickups for Arkansas basketball to negate the transfer of Connor Vanover (7-3, 250). Arkansas has landed Rhode Island twins Makhi and Makhel Mitchell. Makhel (6-10) averaged 10.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while Makhi (6-9) averaged 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds … Defensive end Mataio Soli, a former 4-star recruit, is in the transfer portal along with redshirt freshman quarterback Lucas Coley.
Georgia: The latest transfer to leave the Georgia program since Mike White took over is the hardest hit. Kario Oquendo (6-4, 190), who averaged a team-high 15.3 points per game, is a goner. He has three years of eligibility remaining. Also leaving is sophomore Josh Taylor (6-9, 215), a former 4-star recruit who has three years of eligibility remaining.
Kentucky: Freshman point guard TyTy Washington has declared for the NBA Draft and will hire an agent.
Mississippi State: Mike Leach will teach a class on insurgent warfare and football strategy Friday. Assisting will be former Washington state senator Michael Baumgartner.
Ole Miss: Point guard Austin Crowley (6-5, 195), a former 4-star recruit, is transferring to Southern Miss.
South Carolina: Former Arkansas State wide receiver Corey Rucker, who caught 59 passes for 826 yards and nine touchdowns last year, has committed to the Gamecocks … Forward Taquan Woodley (6-8, 230) is transferring to UMass.
Tennessee: Freshman center Handje Tamba (7-0, 220) is transferring out.
Texas A&M: Offensive lineman Luke Matthews is retiring from football for medical reasons … Reserve point guard Marcus Williams (6-2, 197) is transferring out with three years of eligibility remaining.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube. In college sports terms, that means NIL and the transfer portal are here to stay. NIL, as we all know, is pretty much out of hand. Jimbo Fisher’s feigned outrage over rumors that Aggie boosters lured the nation’s top recruiting class with a $30 million NIL war chest hasn’t convinced you that the rumors aren’t true, have they? It’s more fact than rumor that Kentucky’s national basketball player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe is probably coming back for another year because UK NIL money is so good he’ll take a paycut to go to the NBA.
And this isn’t NIL, but Florida is among 22 schools with a plan in place to pay academic achievers in all sports $5900. Not every school can afford it. Florida can. The haves have and the have nots have not.
Nothing, absolutely nothing is going to be done about the money that is taking over collegiate sports. The portal? There are things that can be done to slow down that process and here are a couple of suggestions. These artificial deadlines such as May 1 are window dressing. There is a waiver process so the deadlines for immediate eligibility won’t work. What will work is to gain immediate eligibility an athlete has to have a 2.5 GPA and be in good academic standing at the school he/she intends to depart. No waivers allowed for an athlete who has less than a 2.5. Secondly, barring a coaching change, any freshman has to be on campus for a full academic year before transferring. If there is a coaching change, then transferring with immediate eligibility is allowed, but only if the 2.5 GPA is achieved. Third, any athlete who is under disciplinary suspension has to sit a full year at the new school.
Those are common sense suggestions. Of course, the NCAA is a place where common sense goes to die.