By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:
THE LAST OFFICIAL VISIT WEEKEND IS HERE
Back in the 1990s, the last official visit weekend was always reason for Florida fans to hold their collective breaths. That’s because Bobby Bowden and FSU held their football banquet that weekend and the Seminoles put on such a good event that they closed a remarkable number of highly regarded prospects. How many times during that era did the Gators go into that final weekend with a big lead on coveted prospects only to see FSU seal the deal on the final weekend?
A lot has changed since then, particularly with the addition of an early signing date in December which has eliminate much of the February signing day suspense since 80 percent of the top prospects are already signed. This year is difference, however, because there seems to be more unsigned highly regarded prospects than we’ve seen since the implementation of the early signing day. The Gators and Billy Napier have already hosted linebacker Harold Perkins and safety Jacoby Matthews, but both are doing official visits to LSU this weekend as is wide receiver Caleb Douglas. If LSU doesn’t land them, there is a very good chance they’ll be Gators. Hybrid receiver Arlis Boardingham, who visited UF two weeks ago, is at Oregon this weekend. Running back TreVonte Citizen was at UF on an unofficial during the week, but he’s finishing out his official visits at Miami.
Here are some of the prospects who will be in Gainesville: Wide receiver DJ Allen, offensive tackle Matthew McCoy, defensive lineman Caden Story, running back Jordan James and tight end Danny Lewis. If Allen and McCoy have good visits, they seem likely on Wednesday. Florida gets the last shot at Story, who was committed to Auburn but seems to be down to UF and Clemson. James is committed to Georgia but seems to be leaning to Oregon right now. Lewis visited Alabama last week. He’s from New Iberia, Louisiana, just down the road from Lafayette where Napier used to coach.
I leave predicting recruiting classes to experts like Jason Higdon, but I do believe Florida fans aren’t going to be disappointed on Wednesday. This has the makings of one of the great recruiting comebacks in recent history.
THE FLORIDA ROSTER AS OF JANUARY 28, 2022
(Counting signees, commitments and transfers)
QUARTERBACKS (6)
Emory Jones (6-2, 211, RJR), Anthony Richardson (6-4, 235, SO), Jack Miller III (6-4, 210, SO/Transfer from Ohio State), Carlos Del Rio-Wilson (6-2, 225, RFR), Jalen Kitna (6-4, 210, RFR)
Committed (1): Max Brown (6-3, 200)
RUNNING BACKS (5)
NayQuan Wright (5-9, 196, JR), Lorenzo Lingard (6-0, 203, RJR), Demarkcus Bowman (5-10, 193, SO), Montrell Johnson (5-11, 210, SO, Transferred from Louisiana)
Committed (1): Trevor Etienne (5-9, 218)
Gone (2): Dameon Pierce (5-10, 215, Graduate), Malik Davis (5-10, 207, Graduate)
WIDE RECEIVERS (7)
Justin Shorter (6-5, 228, SR), Trent Whittemore (6-4, 211, RSO), Ja’Markis Weston (6-3, 215, RSO), Xzavier Henderson (6-3, 195, SO), Ja’Quavion Fraziars (6-3, 220, SO), Marcus Burke (6-4, 187, RFR), Daejon Reynolds (6-2, 205, RFR)
Gone (3): Jacob Copeland (6-0, 202, RJR, Transferred to Maryland), Rick Wells (6-1, 200, Graduate), Jordan Pouncey (6-1, 208, Graduate)
TIGHT ENDS (6)
Keon Zipperer (6-3, 242, JR), Jonathan Odom (6-5, 240, RFR), Gage Wilcox (6-4, 230, RFR), Nick Elksnis (6-6, 243, RFR)
Signed (1): Tony Livingston (6-5, 265)
Committed (1): Hayden Hanson (6-6, 255)
Gone (1): Kemore Gamble (6-4, 243, Graduate, Transferred to UCF)
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (16)
Richard Gouraige (6-5, 312, RJR), Ethan White (6-5, 319, JR), Kingsley Eguakun (6-4, 303, RSO), Josh Braun (6-6, 342, SO), Michael Tarquin (6-5, 302, RSO), Riley Simonds (6-3, 303, RSO), Will Harrod (6-5, 325, RSO), Richie Leonard (6-2, 310, SO), Austin Barber (6-6, 312, RFR), Yousef Mugharbil (6-4, 318, RFR) Jake Slaughter (6-5, 303, RFR), Kamryn Waites (6-8, 358, RFR/Transfer from Louisiana), O’Cyrus Torrence (6-5, 338, RJR/Transfer from Louisiana)
Signed (2): David Conner (6-5, 295); Christian Williams (6-4, 319)
Committed (1): Jalen Farmer (6-5, 325)
Gone (3): Jean Delance (6-5, 307, Graduate); Stewart Reese (6-6, 345, Graduate); Gerald Mincey (6-6, 320, Transferred to Tennessee)
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN (14)
Griffin McDowell (6-4, 297, RJR), Dante Zanders (6-5, 291, RJR), Gervon Dexter (6-6, 303, SO), Princely Umanmeielen (6-4, 260, SO), Jaelin Humphries (6-3, 328, RSO), Desmond Watson (6-5, 390, SO), Jalen Lee (6-2, 305, SO), Lamar Goods (6-2, 332, RFR), Justus Boone (6-4, 252, RFR), Chris Thomas Jr. (6-5, 314, RFR), Tyreak Sapp (6-3, 251, RFR)
Signed (2): Chris McClellan (6-3, 305); Jamari Lyons (6-4, 298)
Committed (1): Andrew Savaiinaea (6-3, 260)
Gone (4): Antonio Valentino (6-3, 312, Graduate), Daquan Newkirk (6-2, 308, Graduate), Tyrone Truesdell (6-2, 326, GR), Zachary Carter (6-4, 285, Graduate)
LINEBACKERS/EDGE (10)
Ventrell Miller (6-1, 226, SR), Brenton Cox Jr. (6-4, 253, RJR), David Reese (6-2, 230, RJR), Diwun Black (6-3, 228, JR), Lloyd Summerall III (6-5, 247, RSO), Derek Wingo (6-1, 224, SO), Antuan Powell (6-2, 255, RFR), Chief Borders (6-4, 241, RFR), Scooby Williams (6-2, 230, RFR)
Signed (1): Shemar James (6-3, 215)
Gone (6): Jeremiah Moon (6-5, 245, Graduate), Amari Burney (6-2, 239, Graduate), Lacedrick Brunson (6-2, 229, Graduate), Mohamoud Diabate (6-3, 227, Transferred to Utah), Khris Bogle (6-4, 240, transferred to Michigan State), Ty’Ron Hopper (6-2, 228, RSO, transferred to Missouri)
SECONDARY (19)
Trey Dean III (6-3, 206, RSR), Jedarrius Perkins (6-1, 182, JR), Jaydon Hill (6-0, 182, RSO), Avery Helm (6-1, 180, SO), Jason Marshall Jr. (6-0, 191, SO), Rashad Torrence II (6-0, 205, SO), Tre’Vez Johnson (5-11, 192, SO), Kamar Wilcoxson (6-1, 200, SO), Donovan McMillon (6-1, 197, SO), Mordecai McDaniel (6-1, 191, SO), Fenley Graham Jr. (5-9, 171, SO), Ethan Pouncey (6-1, 175, SO), Jordan Young (6-0, 185, RFR), Corey Collier Jr. (6-1, 180, RFR), Dakota Mitchell (5-11, 182, RFR), Jalen Kimber (6-0, 175, RFR/Transferred from Georgia)
Signed (2): Kamari Wilson (6-0, 201), Devin Moore (6-3, 190)
Committed (1): Miguel Mitchell (6-1, 205)
Gone (1): Kaiir Elam (6-2, 196, NFL)
SPECIAL TEAMS (4)
Long snappers (2): Marco Ortiz (6-4, 233, RJR), Rocco Underwood (6-3, 229, RFR)
Punter (1): Jeremy Crawshaw (6-4, 193, SO)
Signed (1): Trey Smack (6-1, 200)
HOW MANY HEALTHY BODIES WILL MIKE WHITE HAVE SATURDAY NIGHT?
At some point, Mike White has to catch a break. He lost leading scorer and rebounder Colin Castleton indefinitely to a shoulder injury and it’s anybody’s guess how long he will be out of the lineup. He’s had to go the last two games without key reserve CJ Felder, who plays much larger than 6-7 and can defend four positions competently in addition to providing some offense off the bench. He’s lost several pounds in the last few days and if he’s able to play Saturday night when the Gators (12-8) host Oklahoma State (10-9) in the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge how much strength and energy will be depleted?
When Jason Jitoboh was on the floor Wednesday night when the Gators were playing Tennessee in Knoxville, the Gators were in control. At 6-11 and 285 pounds, he was a real presence on both ends of the court, keeping the Vols out of the paint defensively and setting such good screens offensively that the Gators got an abundance of open shots. When he went down with an eye injury, everything changed. Already down Castleton and Felder, the Gators had no size to combat the Vols so White had to rotate a lineup not much taller than some high school teams.
If the Gators at least have Felder and Jitoboh back Saturday, I like their chances against Oklahoma State. If the Gators are down three bigs, it might be a very long night.
SEC BASKETBALL
Saturday’s games: Oklahoma State (10-9) at FLORIDA (12-8); No. 19 LSU (16-4) at TCU (13-4); Oklahoma (13-7) at No. 1 Auburn (19-1); Missouri (8-11) at No. 23 Iowa State (15-5); West Virginia (13-6) at Arkansas (15-5); No. 4 Baylor (18-2) at Alabama (13-7); Kansas State (10-9) at Ole Miss (10-10); No. 12 Kentucky (15-4) at No. 5 Kansas (17-2); Mississippi State (13-6) at No. 13 Texas Tech (15-5); Georgia (6-14, 1-6 SEC) at Vanderbilt (10-9, 2-5 SEC); No. 18 Tennessee (14-5) at Texas (15-5); South Carolina (12-7, 3-4 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-5, 4-3 SEC)
BOB BOWLSBY ON THE 12-TEAM PLAYOFF MODEL
You have to give it up for Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who has had to deal with more in the last nine months than anyone in college football. ESPN and Fox have told him they aren’t willing to negotiate a new television contract at least for the near future. Texas and Oklahoma have departed for the SEC. BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston have joined the Big 12 and he still doesn’t know how long Texas and Oklahoma are going to hang around.
Despite all this difficulty, Bowlsby is rock solid on his support of the 12-team College Football Playoff model that he helped author last summer. He believes the six highest ranked conference champions should get the automatic berths.
Here are some comments Bowlsby made on Sirius XM on Thursday regarding the playoff:
The 12-team model: “I continue to believe the 12-team model is the right model. I don’t think eight goes far enough and there are others who believe that way as well."
Belief that despite opposition to the plan there will be expansion: “The irony of all of it is 18 months from now we’re going to be up against a hard time deadline because we’re going to be getting to year 12 and there isn’t a playoff past year 12. We will end up with an expanded playoff. I don’t think there’s any question about it.”
BIG TEN CONTEMPLATES CUTTING BACK TO 8 GAMES, ELIMINTATING DIVISIONS
Remember how so many in the Big Ten criticized the SEC for its 8-game conference schedule? Well, now it turns out the Big Ten is seriously contemplating eliminating divisions altogether and dropping one conference game so that everybody plays eight. The way the plan would work for the 14-team league is three permanent rivals then five teams home and home, followed by the other five teams home and home. This way every team in the league would play every other team in the league home-and-home every four years. Because there are no divisions, the Big Ten Championship Game would be the teams with the two best records.
The Big Ten believes that by making these alterations to the way it currently schedules that it will give the league a better chance of landing two teams in the College Football Playoff each year once the playoff expands to 12 teams. By dropping one conference game it will allow the Big Ten to schedule games with its “alliance” partners from the Pac-12 and ACC.
Should the Big Ten elect to go with these changes it will only isolate the ACC even more. The Big Ten is in favor of expanding the playoff to 12 teams. The Pac-12 says it’s willing to go with what the majority want. Only the ACC is trying to convince everyone that the 8-team model is best for everyone but nobody is buying it. At some point, the ACC is going to figure out that it has backed itself into a corner. The playoff is going to expand. It’s not a requirement that the ACC will be part of the new playoff format.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Before I go off on the officiating crew of Pat Adams, Bart Lenox and Vladimir Voyard-Tadal, who called Florida’s 78-71 loss to Tennessee in Knoxville, I want to state despite the officiating and despite being down three frontline players, the Gators still had chances to win the basketball game. Eliminate a couple of turnovers, make a couple of shots, get a defensive stop or two and Florida wins the game. The zebras didn’t lose the game, but their inconsistency, particularly down the stretch, was costly to Florida’s chances to pull off an improbable win. Pat Adams was brutal. I’ve never seen him so wildly inconsistent. There is no excuse for that blown foul call on Brandon McKissic’s three-pointer, which created a six-point swing in the game. Bart Lenox shouldn’t be allowed to officiate a pickup game at the YMCA. He’s lousy and that’s giving him more credit than he deserves. At his very best, Vladimir Voyard-Tadal is below average. You can only imagine how bad he can be.
There are some very good officials in the SEC. Doug Shows, Doug Sirmons and Ted Valentine are exceptional and coaches love the fact that the way they call a game in the first five minutes is the way they’ll be calling in the last five. Mike Nance is a zebra you want on the road but hate at home because he’s always trying to make sure no one thinks he’s a homer. Joe Lindsay? Vastly overrated but at least he’s consistently average. Tony Greene? His sell-by date expired 10 years ago.
Within a couple of years, the Southeastern Conference will have more money than any league in the country. For both football and basketball, I’m hoping Greg Sankey will spend whatever it takes to give the league good officiating. What we have now is totally unacceptable.
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