Despite the sheer number of players it sent to the combine, Florida did not have a lot of top-shelf talent among upperclassmen in 2012. Perhaps the player most likely to get a look in on the first round of the NFL draft is defensive tackle, Sharrif Floyd, who is being talked about as a potential top 10 pick. At 6-foot, 3 inches and 297 pounds, Floyd showed very good speed and agility in drills, running a sub-5 second 40-yard dash and decent times in the three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle run.

Another potential first-round pick is safety, Matt Elam. The 5-foot, 10-inch, 208-pounder put up solid numbers at the combine and did nothing to hurt his position as a likely late first rounder or early second rounder.

Elam ran a 4.54 in the 40-yard dash, which was fifth best among all safeties at the combine and he performed 17 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press, which was seventh best among safeties. He had a vertical jump of 35.5 inches, which ranked 12th and a broad jump of 118 inches.

Another Gator safety, Josh Evans, also performed well. His time in the 40-yard dash of 4.58 was just behind that of his teammate and also ranked in the top 10 among safeties. The 6-foot, 1-inch, 207-pound Evans also had top 10 performances in the broad jump, 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drill, where he turned in the best time among safeties and third-fastest time of all players in the combine.

Linebacker Jon Bostic, another member of the talented and highly ranked Gator defensive unit, turned in good performances. He ran a 4.61 40-yard dash, which was third among linebackers. He also had the third-best linebacker time in the three-cone drill and the fourth-best linebacker time in the 20-yard shuttle run. His 22 reps in the bench press was 10th best among linebackers, as was his 118-inch broad jump.

Florida had two other defensive players invited to the combine, namely linebackers, Jelani Jenkins and Lerentee McCray. Both were injured, however and did not participate in drills, although Jenkins did do the bench press and produced the third-best result among linebackers with 27 reps.

Offense was not the strength of the 2012 Gators and only three offensive players were invited to the combine. One of those was running back, Mike Gillislee, who put up solid if unspectacular numbers in the drills in which he participated. He did not make the top 10 in any category among running backs, although he did come close in the 40-yard dash, with a time of 4.55, which tied for 11th. Gillislee is widely thought to be a middle-round pick and he did nothing to hurt or help that position in the combine.

Tight end, Jordan Reed had probably the worst performance of a Florida player at the combine. His 16 reps on the bench press was second worst among all tight ends and his 40-yard dash time of 4.72 seconds was middle of the pack.

The other Gator offensive player invited to the draft, lineman Xavier Nixon, was injured and did not participate in any drills.

The player who had perhaps the most successful combine was Florida kicker, Caleb Sturgis. He smashed several kickoffs through the end zone and also hit all three of his field goal attempts from more than 50 yards.

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What is even more intriguing, is the fact that during pre-season, Tim was located at the bottom of the Bronco’s depth chart, and the team seemed to have no desire to groom him into a starting quarterback. The current saga started when former Bronco Quarterback, Kyle Orton, started the season with a horrendous 1-4 record. This set into motion a series of events that not only put Tebow at the top of the Bronco’s QB roster, but has lead to what some many consider and exceptional season comeback. Denver finsihed the regular season 8-8 under Tebow, and in contention for the AFC Division West title, attaining a berth in the playoffs, despite a loss in the final regular season game.
Of course, there are skeptics and some over-the-top Tebow haters. SNL, Bill Maher, Bill Romanowski, Brian Urlacher, and even Hulk Hogan are among the naysayers. Tim is loved in Denver, much as he was at Florida, but unlike college, these fans don’t just expect performance, they DEMAND it. Given the uncanny nature of Tim’s playing style, there are probably close to as many skeptic Bronco fans as there are supporters. Tim has only been the team’s premiere starter since November, when the Bronco’s traded Orton to the Kansas City Chiefs. After 4 interceptions and 4 fumbles in the past 4 games, not only are the fans questioning Tim’s ability to hang onto the ball, but are worried about his overall confidence. Additionally, the Bronco’s had 2 key defensive starters that were injured prior to Tebow’s rise to 1st string QB, and returned during Tim’s 1st game as the starter.
Ironically, the Bronco’s played against the KC Chiefs, and former QB Orton in the final game of the regular season – ultimately losing, but still making the playoffs. To the Tebow skeptics, I’ll say this: Tim seems to thrive in the face of criticism, he did it at Florida, and he seems to be doing it again at Denver. Yes, Coach Fox did say that he was developing his offense around the young man. So what? If you have a talented player, why not use their skill set to win? Yes, the Bronco Defense and Special Teams seem to be firing on all cylinders. But in the NFL, it is a COMPLETE team that wins. Tim has proven again and again that he has charisma and a desire to win, probably like no one who has ever played the game before. The fact of the matter is, regardless of what some may attribute the victories to, the guy wins. In the game of football, that’s what truly matters.

Update: 1/8/2012: Tebow leads the Broncos to an Overtime Win against the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers! First play of OT, Tebow throw converts to an 80 yard touchdown! Next weekend, Tebow & Denver face New England & Tom Brady in New England. Go Gators! Go Tebow!

The Gators took down LSU 14-6 after a run heavy, defensive slugfest with Les Miles’ Tigers.

In the first half, the Gators couldn’t even get into field-goal range for Caleb Sturgis to tack points onto the board.

It was their defense that kept them in the game after LSU led 6-0 at half time, only giving up two field goals. One of those field goals followed a Jeff Driskel fumble that put LSU in the redzone prior to halftime.

After senior linebacker Jon Bostic helped shut down a jump pass on the goal line, the Gators saw momentum shift their way.

Senior tailback Mike Gillislee proved to be a workhorse when healthy. Gillislee put up 146 yards on 34 carries. He torched LSU for two touchdowns in the second half.

At one point in the third quarter, the Gators ran 25 consecutive rushing plays, literally taking  it to the LSU defensive line.

From the way the crowd was reacting to Driskel repeatedly holding onto the ball too long, one wouldn’t know that he completed 66.7 percent of his passes. That could be because the pass protection only allowed for him to throw 12 times.

Driskel was sacked five times on the day.

In the second half, the Gator defense remained strong. Junior defensive tackle Shariff Floyd was instrumental in holding LSU, a run-based offense, to 42 rushing yards for the entire game.

Coach Will Muschamp and his team (5-0) are undefeated in SEC games so far this season. The Gators will now head to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt.

The real test for the Gators will come on Oct. 20 when they host South Carolina and former head coach Steve Spurrier. The lastest AP Poll has the Gators at No. 4 and South Carolina is at No. 3.

The result of that match-up could possibly determine the SEC Championship game and the National Championship game.

UF welcomed 84,704 fans into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to watch the underdog, BGSU, jump out to a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.  BGSU tailback, John Pettigrew, momentarily quieted Gator fans when he scored his only touchdown from the 1-yard line, at the end of the first quarter.

The momentum shifted back toward UF in the second quarter when senior tailback, Mike Gillislee, took over with two touchdowns of his own. Gillislee rushed for a career high 148-rushing yards on the day.

After BGSU’s Anthon Samuel took off for a 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter, UF regained the lead when Caleb Sturgis, a fifth-year-senior kicker, drove home a 34-yard field goal.

The No. 18 Gators rocked the O’Connell center by defeating each opponent three games to none.

Chloe Mann, a junior middle blocker for UF, was named the most-valuable player and recorded a season-high 16 kills against FGCU.

This is the ninth consecutive season that UF has started the season 3-0. The Gators also extended their all-time record, in the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational, to 23-0.

The Gators will look to move on and prepare for the NIKE Big Four Classic on Friday, where they will be matched up against No. 2 Texas and No. 6 Stanford.

UF head coach, Mary Wise, was proud of the effort that her team put forth over the weekend.

“I didn’t think we could be anymore pleased with the production that our team came up with, especially with all that we were dealing with, in trying out new line-ups as late as Friday morning.”

Chris Walker, class of 2013, of Bonifay, Fla., is currently ranked seventh in the ESPN top 100 basketball recruits in the nation. The 6’10″ and 195 pound power forward has drawn comparisons to former NBA player, Shawn Kemp and current Atlanta Hawk, Josh Smith.

Walker chose UF after declaring to play at the same university as his former teammate, Kasey Hill, class of 2013, of Eustis, Fla. Hill, the number six prospect and second ranked point guard in the nation, committed to wear orange and blue on December 31.

With the commitment of Walker, UF has past North Carolina as the top recruiting class in college basketball. The Gators are also still in the running for the number one ranked prospect, Jabari Parker, class of 2013, of Chicago, Ill.

The Gators will look for Walker and Hill to play vital roles in righting a ship that got knocked out of the 2012 NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight.

With the loss of both Bradley Beal, the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft to the Washington Wizards, and Erving Walker, the Gators will hope that their fabulous freshmen can lead them deep into the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

The Gators took game one of the Super Regional round on Saturday afternoon by a score of 7-1 with a quality outing from Hudson Randall. The third-year pitcher went seven strong innings, surrendering only six hits with no runs.

Mike Zunino supplied a two-run home run in the seventh inning to cap off a 10 hit effort by a very dangerous Gator offense.

The University of Florida and N.C. State were back at it for game two on Sunday. After allowing a go ahead solo homer to N.C. State’s Chris Diaz, the Gators managed to force extra innings ending the ninth inning tied at seven. With a clutch blast in the tenth inning from the senior outfielder, Daniel Pigott, followed by a single from freshman Josh Tobias, scoring Casey Turgeon, the Gators advanced to the College World Series for the second straight year.

Jonathon Crawford couldn’t quite duplicate the magic of his recent no-hitter and gave up three earned runs in three and two-thirds innings. Luckily for the Gators, they were able to string together some clutch hits at key moments in the ball game.

After suffering a heart breaking sweep at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks in last year’s College World Series championship, the Gators are set to redeem that showing as they are ranked as a number one seed in this year’s tournament.

Head Coach, Kevin O’Sullivan, will look to ride the Gators’ swamp magic into Omaha, Neb. Florida will be looking to obtain that glorious first College World Series title. With a team filled with plenty of major league talent, O’Sullivan definitely has the tools to lead the Gators to victory.