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First Half Over For The Gator Hoops Team

Posted by admin on January 7th, 2010   No Comment

Saturday marks the start of the SEC portion of the Florida Gators Men’s Basketball schedule. It’s sort of a half way mark in the season, even though there are still a few more games left than have been played.

To make the NCAAs this year, let’s look at what wasn’t enough to make it the previous one. Last year UF lost 2 non conference games. The lost to Syracuse and FSU. They had wins against NC State and Washington along with a bunch of mid majors and small schools. They then went 9-7 in the SEC and 1-1 in the SEC Tournament.

This year, UF has 3 losses in non conference play. So it would appear that we are in more danger going into SEC play. However, UF has wins against FSU, NC State, Rutgers, and the biggie, Michigan State. Again they have a tough loss to Syracuse and also a tougher than we thought Richmond, and a bad one to South Alabama. We also still have one non conference game in February against always tough Xavier. A win in that one would be big.

So what does UF need to accomplish in SEC play? Will another 9-7 get us in? I think it does. First, the non conference schedule this year was much tougher than last year. Hopefully, Michigan State, Florida State and NC State will do well the rest of the season to help Florida’s RPI rating. Also, the SEC will be tougher this year. Last year the SEC was awful. Only three teams made it into the Big Dance. All were gone by the first weekend. This year Kentucky is unbeaten and ranked in the top 5. Mississippi and Mississippi St are also highly regarded. Tennessee was until they had four players run afoul of the law. But all in all, a 9-7 SEC mark will look a lot better than last year.

My prediction, 9-7 will get us in. 8-8 with a win over Xavier may be enough as well. 8-8 with a loss to XU may not make it without a good SEC Tournament run. If that happens, we better make it to at least the semi-finals. 7-9 and we go back to the NIT. It should be another nail biter in early March.

By: James Folsom

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On The Horizon

Posted by admin on January 7th, 2010   No Comment

As the football season closes for the Florida Gators, football enthusiasts reminisce over the thirteen and one season, numerous records broken, and multiple awards won. But with the end of this season we may also see the end of what has become know as the Gator Dynasty: as nineteen players graduate. Among these retiring Gators are college celebrity athletes Brandon Spikes, Brandon James, Riley Cooper, and Tim Tebow. These individuals lead the team over the past four years to: numerous victories, two SEC championship, two national championships, and historical football records.

Possibly leaving with these graduates may be Florida’s infamous Head Coach, Urban Meyer. Coach Meyer has taken an indefinite leave of absence. Discussing his leave, he said to The Times, “I saw it as a sign from God that this was the right thing to do. I was worried about letting people down. I was feeling so awful and concerned about my health. That was among several other signs that said it’s time to back away.”

In the great wake of all this drama leaves potential for new super athletes to fill the void. There are several prospective players already on the team and even being recruited that could up hold the Gator Dynasty. With the 2010 season on the horizon it is hard to predict the Gators future as a football team. One can only hope that the exiting players have inspired greatness into their remaining peers, as the future seasons are only bound to be ever difficult.

By: Gray Bullock

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Elam Has A Change Of Heart

Posted by admin on January 6th, 2010   No Comment

Five-star Matt Elam who was committed to Florida for over a year recently left the Gators so he could commit to the Florida State Seminoles after hearing about the Meyer situation, and was also worried about the recruiting class that included players like Jordan Haden, Jonathan Dowling, Jaylen Watkins and Demar Dorse who all can play the safety position.

Now it has been less than a week since his decision to decommitt, and he is leaning back to the Gators.

“I’m decomitting,” Elam said in a text to UGASports after being asked if he was still headed to Tallahassee.

“Florida is first for me right now, followed by Georgia and Florida State is third,” Elam said.

Elam is still not solid on Florida just yet, he is still considering Georgia. When he went on an official visit to UGA, he said it really felt like home. Elam really would like top consider the Bulldogs because they only have six safeties who are on scholarships and Florida and Florida State both have eight. But if you look at Reshad Jones from Georgia, he is on his way to the NFL draft so that leaves only five. Elam had no idea that Jones was going to leave to enter the NFL draft.

Elam is set to play in the U.S Army All-American Bowl this weekend and is also expected to make an announcement on his final decision where he will be going.

(Quotes/info gathered from Kipp Adams and Anthony Dasher/Rivals.)

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Harvin Named NFL Rookie Of The Year

Posted by admin on January 6th, 2010   No Comment

Former Florida Gator wide receiver Percy Harvin was named the Associated Press 2009 NFL offensive rookie of the year, that was announced by the league today. The announcement was made just a few days after Harvin was named to be in the Pro Bowl, which makes him the 19th Gator to do so.

Percy joins both former Gator Emmit Smith and Jevon Kearse as the only Florida players to be selected as rookie of the year. Smith earned the offensive honor in 1990 when he played running back for the Dallas Cowboys and Kearse earned the defensive nod as a DE when he played with the Tennessee Titans back in 1999.

Harvin received 41 votes out of a total of 50 sports writers and also sports broadcasters throughout the NFL. Leading behind Harvin with six votes was the Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher. Houston Texans LB Brian Cushing was named the Associated Press 2009 Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Percy who was the 22nd overall pick in the NFL draft, had 60 catches for 790 yards along with six touchdowns, and has also rushed the ball 15 times for 135 yards. Not only has Harvin been effective on offense, but he has also been electrifying on kick returns. He has returned 42 kicks for 1,156 yards and two were brought all the way for touchdowns, one was measured at 101 yards.

Harvin is now the sixth Vikings player to win rookie of the year. Other players who have won this award are Adrian Peterson (2007), Randy Moss (1998), Sammy White (1976), Chuck Foreman (1973) and Paul Flatley (1963).

Gator Sports Nation wants to congratulate Harvin on the awesome year he has had so far with the Vikings and hopefully continues with his success.

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Matt Elam Giving Florida Second Thoughts?

Posted by admin on January 5th, 2010   6 Comments

Dwyer five-star safety Matt Elam (West Palm Beach, Fla.), and former 2010 Gator commit, decommitted and chose to join the Florida State Seminoles on New Years Eve.

After the recent switch to FSU from UF, Elam says that the Gators at back in the picture when he talked to coach Urban Meyer. Elam who was expected to be an early enrollee, said that he might announce his official decision at the U.S. Army All-American game coming up this Saturday.

“I talked to Urban last night,” Elam said. “We were talking about our relationship basically and he told me to have trust, to have trust in him and he asked me a word that really touched me. He said, ‘Do you know what faith means?’ and he told me the definition. It really touched me a lot. It really touched me so my decision might change.”

The relationship between Elam and Meyer has always been real strong, ever since he was recruiting Matt’s older brother over at Notre Dame. Since Elam has known Meyer for a long time and had such a strong bond and along with the talk they both recently had, I think it can easily change the mind of Elam to switch back to Florida.

“I’ve known him for a while,” Elam said. “It’s been tough to leave him so I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that.

Elam explained how emotional the conversation between the two of them was. He said Meyer told him how sorry he was and wasn’t sure if he had made the right decision or not and how he had an emotional breakdown.

Elam who is rated by Rivals as the second-best safety in the Nation and the 14th best recruit in the 2010 class, has not changed his commitment from Florida State yet. Hopefully it will change this weekend though.

He has been committed to the Gators for so long, I wouldn’t think anything could cause him to decommit. Let’s just hope he finally comes down to an official decision where he wants to stay. But still he never thought this Meyer situation was going to happen.

“It’s been tough,” Elam said. “I didn’t expect it to be like this. I committed early so I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

I have been hearing Gator fans say he doesn’t deserve to come back to Florida because he chose to leave, and how it seems like this is some kind of soap opera, and someone else said they don’t believe anything Elam says verbally. But you can’t really blame him for switching after what has been going on lately with Florida and some of the recruiting. So lets hear some opinions. Do you think Matt Elam deserves to be a Gator?

(Quotes/Info gathered from Adam Gorney at GatorBait.)

(Tom Ervin, Sun Sentinel)

(Tom Ervin, Sun Sentinel)

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Coach Strong On The Verge Of Taking Gator Assistants To Louisville

Posted by admin on January 5th, 2010   No Comment

Three weeks ago, Charlie Strong, the former Gator defensive coordinator, decided to leave his position at Florida for the Head Coaching job in Louisville, Kentucky. He clearly stated to the media that he would not try to take any of Coach Meyer’s assistant coaches and relocate them to Louisville. Now, the story is that two of the Gator assistant coaches are seriously looking into jobs at Louisville. The coaches in question are Vance Bedford, the cornerback coach, and Kenny Carter, the running back coach.

Rumors were spreading about the departure of Kenny Carter before the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Carter avoided questions at the press conference about the possible job of coaching the Cardinal running backs. Carter told the highly recruited running back and Florida commitment, Mack Brown, that he would be leaving his job at Florida. The decision of Coach Carter should be revealed no later than this weekend.

Coach Vance Bedford’s story is quite the same. Coach Strong offered him the defensive coordinator job for the Louisville Cardinals earlier this week. Bedford was reportedly recruiting in South Florida on Monday but that means nothing to Gator recruits looking forward to being mentored by Bedford at the University of Florida. Coach Bedford is expected to make his decision clear and public next week.

With Coach Carter and Bedford allegedly leaving Florida for the Cardinals, the Gators will be soon searching for replacements for the two coaches. As the Gators go deeper and deeper into the off-season, they seem to be losing more and more key recruits, players, and coaches because of the Meyer controversy. In this case, the leave of absence taken by Meyer is having a significant impact on the coaches at Florida.

(Gatorsports contributed to this story)

By: Justin Rectenwald

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Tampa Bay

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Florida Forward Kenny Kadji May Need Back Surgery

Posted by admin on January 5th, 2010   No Comment

Florida Gator sophomore forward Kenny Kadji may need to have surgery done on his back if the treatments for his disc problem does not ease the pain up any.

Kadji has been facing with this herniated disc the entire season, and if he does follow through with the surgery, it will very easily end his 2009-2010 season. So far this season, Kadji has payed only eight games for a total of 45 minutes.

Donovan said that he doesn’t expect Kadji to return anytime soon. He is still going through therapy with his back. They have been giving him injections to reduce the bulge that he has from the herniated that is located in his disc which is right on one of his nerves. After all the therapy and injections he goes through, he will try to get back in action through practice and if he suffers anymore pains then he will probably be suggested to go though with the back surgery, but that is going to be a decision him and his family will probably have to make.

Information gathered from the Gator Report said that Donovan suffers from back problems himself and he knows what Kadji is going through right now, but is trying to avoid from ever having surgery. Donovan also said that he notices that Kadji is not really jumping or running like he should be and not trying to play basketball. It’s going to be a big decision between him and his family. The decision may be on hold whether Kadji will be able to try and play without having surgery done.

“I think that’s the decision he’ll have to make,” Donovan said.

The Gators will start up SEC play at Vanderbilt this Saturday.

(Info/Quote gathered from Antonya English/Gator Report.)

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Florida Hires Stanford Assistant D.J Durkin

Posted by admin on January 4th, 2010   No Comment

Stanford Cardinal defensive end and special teams coach D.J. Durkin has been hired by the Florida Gators to coach the linebackers and special teams. Durkin, who has coached the last three years at Stanford, helped the Cardinal put up a 8-5 record during the 2009 season.

During the time he put in at Stanford, the defensive ends were ranked 11th nationally in sacks per game during 2007-08. Durkin came to Stanford in 2007 after coaching the linebackers and special teams for two seasons over at Bowling Green. Not to mention that he was also a four year starter for the Falcons from 1997-2000. Durkin started 33 games and a had a total of 131 tackles. He led his team in sacks through the 1998 season and was also named a team captain for two seasons.

Durkin was a graduate assistant at Bowling Green and then later became a graduate assistant and also defensive coach for Notre Dame in 2003-04.

(Info gathered from myvalleysports.)

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