Florida who is the No. 4 seed and Auburn the No. 5 seed will plat at 7:30 pm on Thursday. The game will be played in Nashville.

Earlier this year the Gators pulled off a 78-70 victory over the Tigers back on Feb. 18 in the O’Connell Center.

GSN Video Weekly Wrap-up

Well once again Tim Tebow has shown up and silenced a lot of his critics by doing what he does best. Keeping quiet and getting to work. His recent performance at the NFL combine was exactly what he needed to silence the doubters. Tebow put up a 38 ½ in vertical which ties the NFL combine record and ran a 40 time of 4.72. This combined with the fact that his throwing motion has been tweaked all lead to a little more attention for the Gator star than everyone originally thought.

One team that has sparked a bit of an interest is the Arizona Cardinals. With Kurt Warners recent retirement it leaves them with only 1 quarterback on their roster. Former 2004 Heisman winner from USC Matt Leinert . Ken Whisenhut who loves wildcat and using quarterbacks on the move had a few things to say about Tebow. “He’s an interesting guy,” Whisenhunt said. “The one thing you can’t overlook is he has been very successful in college football. He’s won a lot of games.”

Tebow is now rated at 45th overall in the draft which may mean a second round selection but he is the 4th rated quarterback going in, so don’t be surprised if someone takes a chance on one of the greatest players to ever play college football. I don’t think we have seen the end of Tebows magic just yet!

By: Kelly Meggs

Game 2 saw UF win 9-1. Brian Johnson pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball while Tyler Thompson was 2-5 with 4 RBIs.

Mike Zunino was the hero in game 3 with a game winning single in the bottom of the 10th to give Florida a 7-6 win and a series sweep.

The Gators then won another nail biter against UCF by the same score on Tuesday night in Gainesville.

Kevin Chapman nailed down a five out save to preserve the win for Hudson Randall, who was named SEC Freshman of the Week.

Siena then came to the Mac on Wednesday night. Several Gators had multiple hits in that one including Matt den Dekker who went 4-6. The Gators won behind Tommy Toledo 13-3. to run their record to 5-0.

Over the weekend LaSalle was supposed to come into Gainesville for three games starting on Friday. Bad weather in Philadelphia forced the cancellation of the entire series as the Explorers were snowed in.

This set up a battle of undefeated rivals Florida 5-0 ranked #5 against Florida State at 6-0 ranked #2.

The Noles jumped all over the Gators in the 1st inning. In the first trip through the order, FSU scored 7 runs and chased the UF starter. Florida was never able to get back in it.

Several times the Gators stranded men in scoring position, some with less than two out. They were just not able to get the timely hit. Base running was also an issue. A Gator runner was picked off 1st base with nobody out in a 7-0 game. That cannot happen.

The games was played in Tampa at the Spring Training home of the New York Yankees. However, due to the Gator’s basketball game against Vandy, many Gators were no doubt in front of the tube. The Noles fans greatly outnumbered the Gators, and had plenty of occasion to make noise. With the cold and damp weather thrown in, it made for a miserable night for the Gator fans. The results of the basketball game did not help either.

Florida will now travel to Miami for a three game set this weekend. The ‘Canes will be coming off a 15-2 rout of USF. Florida will need to regroup in a hurry.

By: James Folsom

Vertical Leap

If anyone doubted his leaping ability, well shame on you. Tebow tied the all-time record, formerly held by Josh McCown, with 38.5 inch vertical jump. Not even Michael Vick, who is undoubtedly one of the most athletic Quarterbacks’ in history jumped that high - Vick jumped 38 inches in 2001.

Broad Jump

With one record complete, Tebow decided to break another. In the broad jump, Tebow posted an outstanding nine feet, seven inch jump. In last year’s combine, the average jump for the Quarterbacks was eight feet, ten inches. That’s nearly a whole foot on last year’s crop of QB’s.

40-Yard Dash

With Tebow being one of the better rushing Quarterback’s in this year’s class, it was expected he would be in the top five when he took to the forty yard dash. On his first run, Tebow posted a 4.70 forty time, and then backed that up with a 4.72 on his second run. The 4.70 unofficial time is the third fastest among the Quarterbacks, just behind Dan LeFevour (4.64) and Zac Robinson (4.66).

If Quarterback doesn’t work out for Tebow, he certainly proved his athleticism with his showing at the combine. Even Tebow said it before, he’s not afraid to switch positions as long as it gives him playing time.

With only three games this season until the SEC tournament, this win is crucial for the Gators to get into the Tournament as they were rejected the past two seasons. Well folks, that wont happen this year. The Gators are on a hot streak and nothing is stopping them.

If the Gators pull out of Athens tonight with a ‘W’, it will be the Gators’ first 10-win season in the SEC since 2007. A victory toady would also mark six SEC wins in true road games in one season since the 2005-06 season.

As Florida makes the long, six hour trip to Athens, Georgia has knocked off Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Illinois along with other schools. Georgia looks to possibly spoil a NCAA tourney opportunity for the Gators. Reported by Floridatoday.com, “They’ve had some phenomenal wins and have been an extremely good home team,” Donovan said. “They’re good and I think they’re a confident team at home.”

Georgia is an impressive 10-3 overall at home and have had a few close losses to some big teams this season. That could be a worry for the Gators. Five of Georgia’s nine SEC losses have been by four points or less. The Dawgs’ Thompkins leads his team in scoring with 17.8 PPG and in rebounds with 8.1 rebounds PG.

This win could lead to the break of a two-year slump as the Gators have not made the Tourney since their back-to-back NCAA tournament championships. You can listen the Gators face the Bulldawgs in Athens on Yahoo.com along with some local TV stations at 4pm today. Impact players for the game are going to be Chandler Parsons and Erving Walker. Both of the star players have had outstanding 2009-2010 seasons. This game will not be the one to miss. So, cancel your trip to the mall or to the grocery store because this game could be interesting as this game will have Tourney implications.

(Information collected from Gatorzone.com and Floridatoday.com)
By: Justin Rectenwald

Brantley, 53, will undergo his surgery this week as doctors reported that they are confident they can remove the cancer since it is in the early stages. After his cancer is removed, he plans to get involved with local cancer awareness programs.

Brantley III passed for over 1300 yards at Florida in 1978. At Trinity High School, he led his team to the 2008 2B title game. In his past two years with the Celtics, he has compiled an impressive record of 21-5. Brantley still plans to be the head coach at Trinity in 2010. His son, John Brantley IV will be the Gator starting quarterback come March in spring training.

GatorSports.com reported, “We sat down and talked about it, and John is going to be the football coach at Trinity Catholic going forward,” said Celtics athletic director and former UF pitcher Tommy Bond. “He’s a big part of the Trinity family and we just want to support him through all of this. We look forward to getting him healthy and back on the field.”

As Brantley III prepares for life saving surgery, his son is anticipating spring football starting on March 17th along with the comeback of Urban Meyer who is currently taking a leave of absence. GSN has Brantley and his family in prayers leading up to his surgery.

(Information collected from GatorSports.com)
By: Justin Rectenwald

The latest Bracketology prediction, according to expert analysis Joe Lunardi of ESPN, has the Gators have entering the mix. As of February 26, the Gators are a projected 10 seed in the East bracket. The current matchup for Florida (if the tournament started today) would be against Wake Forest of the ACC. The other teams in the East bracket are Kentucky, Villanova, and Pittsburgh most notably.

Of course, there’s still remaining games in the regular season, and conference touraments left, but its nice to see that Florida may have landed a spot in March Madness.

For the complete Bracketology field, click here.

We have lost 8 games this year to teams with a combined total win loss record of 163-55. All but 3 losses were to top 25 teams. The only game that didn’t make any sense at all was the loss to South Alabama even though it occurred during the winter break when most students were at or heading home. This team has beaten the Michigan State which was number 2 in the country at the time and is coming off a win over number 17 Tennessee.

The selection committee has to take notice of this Gators team. They will automatically appoint the 30 conference tourney winners into the dance and then the reaming 33-34 teams will be based on national rank and record against ranked teams. The only problem I see from here is that the Southeastern conference, known for it’s football strength, often gets looked at as a week basketball conference. This year is different with 3-4 teams in the top 25 from the SEC all year long. We deserve to be in the NCAA Tourney regardless of what happens but we are probable going to need a big win against Kentucky or Vanderbilt. If that doesn’t happen nothing short of a conference championship appearance would send us to the dance.

By: Kelly Meggs