Michigan F Jon Horford transfers to Florida

By Mike Brandes
April 26, 2014

Updated on Tuesday, May 13 at 5 p.m.

Forward Jon Horford, a Michigan Wolverines transfer and the brother of former Florida Gators standout Al Horford, has decided to play out his final year of eligibility in Gainesville, Florida, according to ESPN.com‘s Jeff Goodman.

Entering his redshirt senior campaign, Jon Horford (6-foot-10, 250 pounds) will be eligible to play immediately due to the NCAA’s graduate transfer exemption after receiving his undergraduate degree from Michigan in May.

The school announced his transfer on May 13, noting that he started graduate-level classes when the Summer A semester began on May 12.

Florida has a crowded frontcourt in 2014-15 but should be able to find a fair amount of playing time for Horford. He averaged 3.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 13.8 minutes per contest last season and originally decided to transfer to see more time on the court.

That may not be possible with the Gators, which will have sophomore Chris Walker, redshirt senior Damontre Harris, redshirt juniors Dorian Finney-Smith and Alex Murphy, and five-star incoming freshman Devin Robinson in the frontcourt.

Walker is likely to start at power forward or center next to either Harris or Murphy with Finney-Smith playing small forward. Horford will give Florida a big body and great energy off the bench to spell Walker and Harris but could see an uptick in playing time should Harris once again fall out of favor with the program.

With Horford’s transfer, UF has filled its final scholarship for the 2014-15 campaign.

Four-star guard Brandone Francis and four-star point guard Chris Chiozza are the other two incoming freshman aside from Robinson. All three first-year players are ranked among the top 42 prospects in the nation for 2014, according to Rivals.com.

Murphy will not be eligible until the spring semester after transferring in the middle of the 2013-14 season; however, the Gators plan to petition the NCAA for a waiver that would allow the legacy to play at the start of the campaign.

4 Comments

  1. Drew says:

    Finney-Smith will be a redshirt junior not senior.

  2. Dave Massey says:

    Hey Adam, Could you update us on the status of Eli Carter. I had read some posts that have said his career is over. Thanks for all the great stories on my Gators.

  3. Timmy T says:

    Whole lot of noise about the Harrison twins returning and making UK unbeatable, but Florida will be VERY good next season as well. And deep.

  4. Gatoralum88 says:

    I think it’s a GREAT get for the Gators! He becomes the biggest member of the team &, as big as Kentucky is with 3 7’ers (Johnson, Cauley-Stein, & Towns plus 3 other frontcourt bigs), Billy needs all the size he can get. This move definitely will help them contend better for an SEC 3-peat. I also think Billy’s backcourt will be able to continue to hang with the Cats despite all the national “experts” (just like last year) already conceding them the title because of the return of the Harrison twins. Besides, I think we were all tired of waiting for Trey Mourning to make a decision. While he has good bloodlines, he’s not even among ESPN’s top 100 & is more of a skinny project than a commodity right now. Good luck winning anything at G’town Trey! Welcome aboard Jon! I’m sure you’ll make your older bro & the rest of us proud! Go Gators!!!

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