Head coach Billy Donovan only holds a pledge from one member of the 2014 recruiting class but has already added the Florida Gators‘ first 2015 commitment when, as first reported by FOXSports.com’s Evan Daniels ($), power forward Kevarrius Hayes (Live Oak, FL) decided on Monday to join the program.

“We came down to Gainesville together last week for a visit and he loved it,” Hayes’s high school coach and University of Florida alumnus, Jeremy Ulmer, told InsidetheGators.com‘s Russ Wood ($). “Florida was his dream school and he told me he was ready. I called Billy Donovan and told him that Kevarrius had something to tell him, then I handed him the phone.”

Hayes, who recently participated in the Nike Elite 100 basketball camp from June 3-9 in St. Louis, MO, was named Suwannee High School’s Defensive Player of the Year for the 2012-13 season. He has drawn comparisons to current Gators PF Will Yeguete for his strong defense and ability to clean up offensively around the basket.

Like Yeguete did as a high schooler, Hayes plays travel-league basketball for head coach Tom Topping and Nike Team Florida. Hayes joins Yeguete, Walter Hodge, Nick Calathes, Chandler Parsons, Scottie Wilbekin and DeVon Walker as recent or current Gators that previously played under Topping.

During his sophomore season at Suwannee, Hayes averaged 11.3 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks per game. Rivals lists him as a three-star prospect (the company’s 2015 rankings have not yet been released), while ESPN currently has him ranked him as a four-star and the No. 58 overall player in the Class of 2015.

Hayes (6-foot-9, 190-pounds) also had early interest from Alabama, Kansas State and Miami. Florida assistant coach Matt McCall, his primary recruiter, helped reel him in.

According to the Suwannee Democrat, he boasts a 3.0 grade point average, served as president of his sophomore class last school year and hopes to attend medical school so he can become a surgeon. He is also a member of the track and field team and currently holds the school record in the high jump.

“Kevarrius has everything it takes to be a major [Division I] player. He has athletic and academic ability, a positive attitude and a great work ethic,” Ulmer told the Democrat on June 12. “He is everything a coach could ask for in a player.”

Tags: Billy Donovan, Kevarrius Hayes, Matt McCall, University of Florida, Will Yeguete

Late Monday night, three-star 2014 prospect Taven Bryan (Casper, WY) officially announced his commitment to play football for the Florida Gators next season.

“I have committed to play for the Florida Gators. Go Gators!!!!!” he wrote on his Facebook page, also adding a picture of the team’s logo as his cover photo.

A 6-foot-5, 250-pound offensive tackle, Bryan is being recruited by Florida to play defensive end, according to InsidetheGators.com’s Blake Alderman.

He has slowly been picking up major offers from programs across the country, but a visit to Gainesville, FL, over the weekend for the Gators’ first football camp of the summer – coupled with a scholarship offer from head coach Will Muschamp – left Bryan knowing exactly where he wanted to attend college.

According to Rivals.com, he will be the first prospect from the state of Wyoming to sign with an automatic qualifying conference since at least 2002.

Bryan, who also competes in track & field (discus, shot put) at Natrona County High School, chose Florida over offers from California, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington and Wyoming, among others.

With two members of the Gators’ coaching staff – offensive coordinator Brent Pease and special teams coordinator Jeff Choate – having spent much of their careers playing and coaching in Idaho and Montana, Florida being involved with Bryan’s recruitment is not a surprising development.

He is the Gators’ 10th pledge of the 2014 cycle and the team’s second defensive lineman, joining four-star defensive tackle Anthony Moten (Fort Lauderdale, FL).

Photo Credit: Taven Bryan’s Facebook page

Tags: Anthony Moten, Brent Pease, Jeff Choate, Taven Bryan, Will Muschamp

Less than one week ago, four-star cornerback J.C. Jackson (Immokalee, FL) was committed to Florida State, but it was no secret that he had another team as the leader in his recruitment. Though he just rescinded his pledge to FSU five days ago on June 3, Jackson did not take long to make his intentions known as he verbally committed to play for the Florida Gators on Saturday.

In Gainesville, FL, on Saturday taking part in the Gators’ first football camp of the summer, Jackson ended his recruitment by pledging to join a school he told InsidetheGators.com’s Robert Lopez was simply his “best fit.”

Jackson (5’10”, 175 lbs.) plays both wide receiver and cornerback in high school and was committed to play the former position for Florida State. He will be on defense, his preferred spot, at Florida.

A member of the Rivals250 (No. 244 overall) and ESPN 150 (No. 48 overall), Jackson was originally the Seminoles’ first 2014 commitment. He is now the Gators’ ninth and becomes just the second defensive back – four-star Duke Dawson (Cross City, FL) being the other – pledged to Florida for 2014.

Jackson told ESPN’s Derek Tyson, who first reported his commitment, that he is “very solid” to the Gators partially because it is an in-state program that is also a member of the Southeastern Conference. “It’s the SEC, the best,” he said.

Tags: Duke Dawson, J.C. Jackson, SEC

1 » The Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas, NV, released college football gambling lines for nearly every 2013 regular season game on Friday. The casino has the Florida Gators favored in six of the nine games currently available for betting. Florida is -2.5 at Miami, -12 vs. Tennessee, -20 at Kentucky, -17 vs. Arkansas, -6 at Missouri and -2 at Florida State. The Gators are also +4 at LSU, +4 vs. Georgia (Jacksonville, FL) and +5 at South Carolina. No lines were provided for home games against Toledo, Vanderbilt (on homecoming) and Georgia Southern.

2 » Looking at the coaches currently leading Southeastern Conference football programs, ESPN.com’s Chris Low related that only two – Florida’s Will Muschamp and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier – began their careers by playing college football in the league, a long-held prerequisite for many SEC teams when hiring coaches. As it turns out, while only two played in the SEC, four current head coaches actually played for Big Ten teams. Spurrier was the first person to point this out at the SEC Spring Meetings last month. “I got to thinking, ‘Where are all the guys who played football in this league over the last 30-some years?’” Spurrier said. “You don’t see many former players from the league coming back [to the SEC] to be head coaches anymore.” Asked about the abnormality, SEC commissioner Mike Slive noted he was also an outsider when he was initially hired. “When I had my opening press conference, I had never been to an SEC institution, and it’s worked out OK,” Slive said. “I’m a Northerner by birth and a Southerner by choice.”

Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: 2013 lines, SEC coaches, Miller, Norris

Tags: Miami Heat, Mike Miller, NBA, NBA Finals, Riley Norris, SEC, Will Muschamp

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.

» Despite signing a National Letter of Intent in February and expecting to be a member of the Class of 2013, three-star defensive tackle Jarran Reed (Scooba, MS) will not be joining the Florida Gators this season. Reed was hoping to obtain his associate degree from East Mississippi Community College in one year but fell about 25 credits short. Instead, he will continue playing for EMCC in 2013 with hopes of completing his coursework and departing before the spring semester starts…though he may no longer be heading to Florida. According to The Gainesville Sun, Reed has decided to reopen his recruitment but does have the Gators at the top. “Florida is my favorite school,” he said. “But at the same time, I don’t want to close any doors just in case something crazy happens. I’d like to go on [official] visits. Who doesn’t want to take free trips?”

» South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier was honored Thursday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with the state of Florida’s Great Floridian Award, presented to him by Governor Rick Scott. Also in attendance were Gators head coach Will Muschamp and athletic director Jeremy Foley. Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow received the honor just one month ago. Check out the local news report by GTN’s Julie Quittner.

» Former Gators cheerleader Caroline Davidson, who concluded her run with the spirit program in 2010, had successful brain surgery to completely remove a tumor on Thursday. Her mother, Kimberly Davidson, posted on Facebook that Caroline was in ICU recovering after the surgery but all signs were positive.

Check out nine more interesting bites of Florida Gators news…after the break!
Continue Reading » 12 Gator Bites for Friday, May 31

Tags: All-NBA, All-Star, Brandon Spikes, Byron Hardmon, Caroline Davidson, Cleveland Browns, David Lee, Golden State Warriors, Great Floridian Award, Jarran Reed, Jeff Demps, Jeremy Foley, Joe Haden, Maurice Hurt, NBA, New England Patriots, NFL, Playoffs, SEC, Steve Spurrier, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tim Tebow, Washington Redskins, Will Muschamp

The Florida Gators have pounced on a relatively unknown 2014 prospect, landing a commitment late Thursday night from tight end C’yontai Lewis (Tuscaloosa, AL), according to InsidetheGators.com’s Blake Alderman.

Listed as 6’5” and 212 lbs. on Rivals, Lewis is a raw but talented athlete who Florida’s coaching staff believes can be molded into a great fit for their offensive scheme.

The two-star prospect was officially offered by the Gators on Tuesday and did not take long to make his decision, pulling the trigger on Thursday when he reached out and spoke with head coach Will Muschamp over the phone.

If Muschamp and the coaching staff have their way, Lewis will not be the only member of his family playing for Florida next season.

His cousin, four-star athlete Bo Scarbrough (Tuscaloosa, AL), is currently committed to Alabama but supposedly has interest in playing for the Gators.

The cousins are expected to visit Florida together in June, according to Alderman, and the Gators are hoping to see continued improvement from Lewis over the next year.

Lewis camped at Mississippi State last summer and also holds an offer from the school, according to Andrew Bone of Rivals affiliate TideSports.com. His offer list is expected to fill up shortly as many other teams have begun taking notice of his talents.

He is the eighth member of the Gators’ 2014 recruiting class, which lost a pair of four-star commitments in the last week.

Tags: Bo Scarbrough, Cyontai Lewis, Will Muschamp

Over 11 months ago, four-star wide receiver Ryeshene Bronson (Fort Myers, FL) became the first 2014 prospect to commit to the Florida Gators. On Tuesday, Bronson decided to rescind his pledge and reopen his recruitment, becoming the second prospect to part ways with Florida in the last five days.

Bronson (6’3”, 182 lbs.), ranked No. 125 overall on the newest Rivals250 released Tuesday, first committed to the Gators on June 14, 2012, after visiting Florida and participating in a football camp.

He committed to the Gators nearly 19 months before his National Signing Day, choosing Florida at the time over Auburn, Florida State and South Carolina, among others.

“I wanted to lock it in and get it all out of the way,” he told InsidetheGators.com last June. “I didn’t want to have the stress of recruiting on me.”

Bronson joins four-star linebacker Christian Miller (Jacksonville, FL) on the decommitment list. Miller, a Rivals100 prospect, backed off from his pledge on Friday but maintained that the Gators remain in the mix for his services.

Bronson, whose decision was first reported by Michael Langston of Rivals, spoke about the situation Tuesday afternoon. ITG‘s Blake Alderman notes that Bronson splitting ways with UF was “a mutual decision by both parties.” ($)

“My recruitment is officially open I’m not committed to university of Florida any more,” he wrote on Twitter. “Uf is not out of the.picture tho,” he added.

Florida is down to seven 2014 commitments including two offensive playmakers – four-stars running back Dalvin Cook (Miami, FL) and quarterback Will Grier (Davidson, NC). Cook (No. 24) and Grier (No. 29) are both ranked in the new Rivals100.

Tags: Christian Miller, Dalvin Cook, Ryeshene Bronson, Will Grier

1 » If Chicago point guard Derrick Rose did not have enough motivation to come back and play well next year, comments from Washington Wizards rookie guard Bradley Beal may give him that extra kick in the butt. Beal this week told 106.7 The Fan that he might lose respect for a teammate who was cleared by doctors but chose to sit out and not try and help his team in the playoffs. “He might have to give it a go,” he said. “If you’re practicing for two months, and then everybody in practice is saying you’re practicing well, I mean, I think you have to give it a shot in the game. Look at David Lee. You don’t have to play significant minutes, but the fact that you’re out there and that you’re actually giving it a go, I think people will respect that.” He continued: “Because I know the type of player he is, and the mentality and the competitiveness that he has, I think he would have gave it a go.”

2 » Quarterback Tim Tebow was back in Jacksonville for the weekend – not for a tryout with his hometown’s NFL team but rather to speak at New Life Christian Fellowship. During his speaking engagement, a fan asked Tebow to pinpoint his most memorable moment was from his breakout 2011 season. Tebow self-deprecatingly replied: “One of my favorite stories, ironically, was against the New York Jets…and probably my greatest Jets highlight, I guess.” Tebow was also on NBC’s All-Star Celebrity Apprentice finale over the weekend as he donated $300,000 to charity on behalf of Trace Adkins, one of the two finalists competing to win the show.

3 » New England Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes is entering the final year of his rookie contract and undoubtedly hopes to remain with his team long-term. Not only does Spikes have a tremendous personal relationship with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick also values the player’s contributions on defense. Nevertheless, Spikes is only set to earn $630,000 in salary in 2013 (along with $240,000 as part of a prorated signing bonus) and undoubtedly feels like he deserves to get paid. New England has a history of getting its players to sign below-market-value contracts before they hit free agency, so keep an eye out for Spikes to get something done soon. According to ESPNBoston.com, he “hasn’t been seen much at Gillette Stadium since the offseason program begin in mid-April,” an approach that could be productive in letting the team know he is wanting to get a deal done before the season.

Continue Reading » SIX BITS: Beal, Tebow, Spikes, Leak, Francis

Tags: Billy Donovan, Bradley Beal, Brandon Spikes, Brandone Francis, Chris Chiozza, Chris Leak, NBA, New England Patriots, NFL, Tim Tebow, Washington Wizards, Will Muschamp