13 Gator Bites for Tuesday, August 13

By Adam Silverstein
August 13, 2013

From time to time, OGGOA will come across a plethora of news and notes that we wish to share – too much to fit into one of our truncated BITS segments. When stories like these fall through the cracks, we catch and wrap them all up with Gator Bites.

» Over the last few days, some new NCAA-related products have been announced including scented candles from Yankee Candle and JELL-O with a jigglers mold kit. Both companies are offering versions featuring the Florida Gators, as you can see below. Pictures via Darren Rovell (ESPN) and Andrew Giangola (IMG)

» A new company has been started specifically to sell “collegiate fragrances.”

» The only Gators basketball player on ESPN insider Chad Ford’s first Big Board ($) for the 2014 NBA Draft is not even currently enrolled at Florida. Five-star forward Chris Walker (Bonifay, FL), who is hoping to be cleared by the NCAA in time for the spring semester, is descried as an “upside player” who is “blessed with elite athletic abilities and length.” Ford believes Walker will need to make the transition from the four to the three and play small forward in the professional ranks.

» Florida mic’d up new defensive line coach Brad Lawing during a practice last week. Scott Carter of UF’s website also wrote an interesting feature (Q&A included) on Lawing and how he is bringing “old-school ways to new adventure.”

Check out NINE more bites of Florida Gators news…after the break!

» Dominican Republic national team general manager Eduardo Najiri announced on Saturday that Atlanta Hawks forward/center Al Horford will not be playing with his country at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Men from Aug. 30 to Sept. 11 because he will be participating in the NBA’s Basketball Without Boarders program. “It’s a significant loss, but many teams will have their absences,” he said. “We thank him for what he has done the other times he has participated with the team.”

» Former Gators and Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor was officially inducted into the Jacksonvile Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday.

» Former Florida golfer Matt Every, who competed at the 2013 PGA Championship last week, sported this embroidery on his golf bag as a show of support for New England Patriots quarterback Tim Tebow. Neither Every (148) nor fellow former Gators golfers Billy Horschel (147) nor Brian Gay (147) made the cut at the PGA Championship. Picture via Ian Rapoport (NFL Network)

» In case you missed it in the football practice update from Monday, below is a video of Florida senior C Patric Young playing football with senior running back Trey Burton and redshirt juniors quarterback Tyler Murphy and defensive back Cody Riggs.

» Miami Heat power forward Udonis Haslem underwent surgery three weeks ago to repair a knee injury and is already doing well in recovery but is not sure whether he will be available for the first day of the team’s training camp on Oct. 1. “I feel pretty good actually,” he said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. “It wasn’t as bad as we thought it was. I was fortunate. It was mostly just a cleaning, a lot of scar tissue, a couple of loose pieces in there, cleaning out the MCL.” Haslem played on the injury during the second half of the regular season and throughout the playoffs.

» The NCAA last week granted Rutgers transfer guard Mike Poole’s waiver for immediate eligibility, meaning he will be able to play right away after leaving for Iona this offseason in wake of the scandal involving head coach Mike Rice. That news bodes well for Gators junior G Eli Carter, who is still waiting to hear back from the organization about his status. It does not appear to be a question of whether Carter will have his waiver granted but instead when the NCAA will process his paperwork.

» Florida made plenty of money off of Tebow while he was a student-athlete but in wake of the scandal involving Johnny Manziel and his allegedly being paid for private autograph signings, UF senior associate athletic director for compliance Jamie McCloskey spoke with CBSSports.com’s Jeremy Fowler about how the Gators handled Tebowmania while he was enrolled in the school.

» Good luck throwing on Florida this year, says NFL.com analyst Bucky Brooks, who wrote last week that junior cornerbacks Loucheiz Purifoy and Marcus Roberson are seriously intriguing league scouts ahead of the 2013 season. “The Gators have two of the best cover corners in college football,” writes Brooks. “Each specializes in mauling receivers with a tenacious and aggressive style, while also demonstrating the athleticism, awareness and ball skills to make plays in man or zone coverage.” He also said that while UF is “always a ‘must-visit’ destination for NFL scouts based on the impressive collection of talent routinely assembled on both sides of the ball,” scouts this year will “spend most of their time checking out a pair of cover corners with the potential to become game changers at the next level.” NFL.com‘s Daniel Jeremiah has Roberson and Purifoy ranked No. 23 and No. 24, respectively, in his current 2014 NFL Draft rankings.

» If Washington Redskins QB Rex Grossman could have any restaurant dish named after him, what would it be? “The best beer in the house,” he said. Of course he did.

5 Comments

  1. Jesse says:

    Do you think Donovan can spare Patric for the fall? He looks good at TE.

  2. Danthefan says:

    Hey Adam, any news on Eli Carter’s eligibility for this upcoming basketball season?

Join The
Discussion

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux