OL/TE Trevon Young: commit No. 29 | JUCO DT Jarran Reed: commit No. 28 | DT Jay-nard Bostwick: commit No. 27 | Muschamp discusses class; assistants evaluate signees | 30 new player bios | Video interviews with coaches | “Closing”, quarterback situation

Two/three-star punter Johnny Townsend (Orlando, FL) has become the 30th member of the Florida Gators‘ 2013 recruiting class after sending in his National Letter of Intent to the school on Thursday afternoon.

Townsend, ranked 14th nationally by Rivals and 9th nationally by ESPN among punters, had been committed to Ohio State since June 19, 2012 but did not submit his NLI to the school as expected during National Signing Day on Wednesday.

He was supposed to sign his paper in the morning but twice delayed his press conference before ultimately choosing not to make a decision. His family told reporters that a “personal matter” had sprung up unexpectedly.

Rumors began to circulate during the day that Townsend was considering an offer from Alabama. Late Wednesday evening, Florida reportedly jumped into the picture as team he might sign with on Thursday, a move that ultimately went down when the Gators announced that they had received his signed NLI at 3:30 p.m.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Townsend received separate phone calls on Monday from Florida head coach Will Muschamp and Alabama head coach Nick Saban, both of whom extended scholarship offers to the punter. It was those conversations that made him reconsider his nearly eight-month-long commitment.

Read the rest of this story and watch a video interview with Townsend…
Continue Reading » 2013 P Johnny Townsend winds up at Florida

Tags: Army All-American Bowl, Austin Hardin, Brad Phillips, Danny Krysalka, Johnny Townsend, Kyle Christy, National Signing Day

For the second-straight year, Florida Gators junior forward Will Yeguete will have his season cut short with a serious injury. How long he will be out, however, remains to be seen and a return in time for postseason play apparently remains a possibility.

Head coach Billy Donovan announced Thursday that Yeguete will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Friday as it was determined by an MRI that there were bone chips floating around in the joint.

“He’s going to need surgery. He’s going to be out…probably best case scenario he’s probably out for the remainder of at least the regular season and probably we’ll reevaluate it then,” Donovan said. “He’s had some significant swelling over the last several weeks. He’s got some floating chips and cartilage in there, which we knew beforehand that was there but it’s not anything that’s putting him necessarily in jeopardy of playing. It was more how he could play with the chips floating around.

“A lot of it was based on pain; he wasn’t in a lot of pain. But I think because those chips were floating around, they’ve probably gotten into different parts of his knee that had just put him in a situation where I think that the treatment going forward is not what we need to do. He’s going to have some arthroscopic surgery to have it cleaned out. He’ll probably do that here at the end of the week.”

He will be out of action for 4-6 weeks while doctors and trainers evaluate his recovery. A return to the court would be Yeguete’s decision once he is cleared to play.

Continue Reading » Florida F Will Yeguete to undergo knee surgery, out at least through regular season

Tags: Billy Donovan, Casey Prather, DeVon Walker, Michael Frazier, Will Yeguete

P Johnny Townsend: commit No. 30 | JUCO DT Jarran Reed: commit No. 28 | DT Jay-nard Bostwick: commit No. 27 | Muschamp discusses class; assistants evaluate signees | 30 new player bios | Video interviews with coaches | “Closing”, quarterback situation

Less than a day after the conclusion of National Signing Day, the Florida Gators have added another prospect to their to five-ranked recruiting haul as three-star offensive tackle/tight end Trevon Young (Bradenton, FL) has decided to continue his athletic career as a football player.

Rated only by ESPN, he chose a recent scholarship offer from head coach Will Muschamp over his first love of playing basketball. He has already committed to UF and will sign with the school at 9 a.m. on Friday.

Quick update to my #signingday story….Trevon Young’s football coach told me he’s going with the #Gators!

— Anjuli Lohn FOX 13 (@AnjuliLohn) February 7, 2013

Young was planning to attend Division II school Eckerd College to play basketball before the Gators convinced him to visit campus last Saturday.

According to the Bradenton Herald, Muschamp personally offered Young a scholarship and told him that Florida would like him to start his career at tight end.

Continue Reading » Gators add OL/TE Trevon Young as commit No. 29

Tags: National Signing Day, Trevon Young, Will Muschamp

Florida Gators sophomore cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy was arrested Sunday morning and charged with a first-degree misdemeanor for possession of marijuana.

According to the arrest report, Purifoy was in the back seat of a a blue Honda that was pulled over at 12:05 a.m. for a right-of-way violation. Upon pulling the car over, a Gainesville Police officer found “cannabis residue” on the pants of someone in the car and noticed someone else throw “a cannabis cigarette out the window.”

Located in the vehicle in the middle of the front driver`sand passenger seat, by the emergency brake, was a baggie containing 2.5 grams of cannabis (ID by sight/smell).

Purifoy received a notice to appear in court on Wednesday and has his arraignment scheduled for Feb. 21 at 9 a.m. with Judge Walter Green.

He is the eighth Gators player to be arrested for possession of marijuana since head coach Will Muschamp began leading the program in January 2011 and the first since redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Leon Orr received a similar written arrest on Jan. 10, 2012. Purifoy is the second player to be arrested in as many months.

Purifoy – fourth on the team with 51 tackles in 2012 – also amassed five pass breakups, three forced fumbles and two blocked kicks last season. He is also a standout special teams performer for the Gators, playing fantastic kick/punt coverage and returning seven kickoffs for 167 yards.

Muschamp told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday that he planned to move Purifoy to wide receiver during spring practice, which begins on March 13.

Photo Credit: Gerry Melendez/The State/MCT

Tags: arrest, Leon Orr, Loucheiz Purifoy, Will Muschamp

Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan has been retained to continue leading USA Basketball during the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship set to take place from June 17-July 7 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Donovan, a court coach during the 2011 USA Basketball Men’s U19 National Team Training Camp two summers ago and head coach of the team that won the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship last summer, will represent his country as a head coach in international competition for the second time in his career. His coaching staff, which included Virginia Commonwealth head coach Shaka Smart (a former Florida assistant) and Gonzaga head coach Mark Few, is also set to return.

“It’s such an honor to have this opportunity to represent our country with USA Basketball once again, and I’m really looking forward to it,” Donovan said. “Mark Few and Shaka Smart are both outstanding coaches. I have tremendous respect for them both and am glad for another chance to coach alongside them.”

The Donovan-led Americans breezed through last year’s event, amassing a 5-0 record and winning games by an average of 38.6 points to win the gold medal and qualify for the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship. USA Basketball hopes to see the team continue its success with Donovan at the helm.

“Our 19-and-under team is going to have as good a coaching staff as there is in coaches Donovan, Few and Smart,” said Jim Boeheim, Syracuse head coach and chair of the 2009-12 Junior National Team Committee. “It’s going to be a tremendous advantage to have the same staff that led the 18-and-under squad a year ago.”

Donovan will begin coaching the team on June 14 in Colorado Springs, CO as 25 players begin a five-day training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center with only 12 earning spots on the roster.

The United States will begin the event in Group D along with China (FIBA Asia U18 gold), Ivory Coast (FIBA Africa U18 silver) and Russia (FIBA Europe U18 fourth place). The gold medal game is scheduled for July 7.

Tags: Billy Donovan, FIBA, FIBA Americas Championship, FIBA World Championship, Shaka Smart, USA, USA Basketball

OGGOA has learned that 10 former Florida Gators players have been officially invited to participate in the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine (National Invitational Camp) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.

The event, which is held for six days from Feb. 20-26, consists of more than 300 players being put through a series of drills, tests and interviews while more than 600 NFL personnel in attendance (including coaching staffs, executives, player personnel and medical staffs) look on and evaluate each of them. It amounts to the final job interview these athletes will participate in before the 2013 NFL Draft commences on April 25.

The 10 former Gators student-athletes invited to the combine include:

Linebacker Jon Bostic – Group: 9 | Camp: LB04
Safety Matt Elam – Group 10 | Camp: DB12
Safety Josh Evans – Group 10 | Camp: DB13
Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd – Group: 7 | Camp: DL11
Running back Mike Gillislee – Group: 6 | Camp: RB13
Linebacker Jelani Jenkins – Group: 9 | Camp: LB12
Linebacker Lerentee McCray – Group: 9 | Camp: LB20
Offensive tackle Xavier Nixon – Group: 1 | Camp: OL41
Tight end Jordan Reed – Group: 3 | Camp: TE15
Kicker Caleb Sturgis – Group: 1 | Camp: PK12

Notable names left off the invite list include: wide receiver Frankie Hammond, Jr., WR/TE Omarius Hines, DT Omar Hunter and DT Earl Okine.

Read about each player’s day-to-day schedule in Indianapolis after the jump!
Continue Reading » 10 Florida Gators invited to 2013 NFL Combine

Tags: Caleb Sturgis, combine, Draft, Jelani Jenkins, Jon Bostic, Jordan Reed, Josh Evans, Lerentee McCray, Lucas Oil Stadium, Matt Elam, Mike Gillislee, NFL, Sharrif Floyd, Xavier Nixon