1 » Opening the University of Florida’s 2010-11 athletic season on Friday, No. 11 Florida Gators soccer (1-0) defeated the Miami Hurricanes (0-1) 2-1 in a double-overtime match at James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, FL. Scoreless in the first half, redshirt sophomore midfielder McKenzie Barney kicked the ball across the goal to the far post at 49’ to put Florida ahead. In the blink of an eye, Miami’s Blake Stockton hit an equalizer at 53’. Almost an hour of game time later, now in the match’s second overtime, freshman forward Taylor Travis put the Gators ahead for good with a seven-yard golden goal into the far post at 107’. Florida will need to regroup quickly as the ladies will travel to Orlando, FL, for an away game against the Central Florida Knights on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. The match will air live on FOX Sports Florida.

2 » The defending National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide earned the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll released Saturday with the Gators coming in three slots behind at No. 4. In between the two are the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 3 Boise State Broncos; Alabama was awarded 54 of 60 possible first-place votes. Other Southeastern Conference teams ranked by the AP this preseason include Arkansas (No. 17), LSU (No. 21), Auburn (No. 22) and Georgia (No. 23). Florida finished last season listed No. 3 in the USA Today and Associated Press polls, also earning the No. 3 spot in the USA Today preseason poll released on Aug. 6.

Photo Credit: University of Florida/GatorZone.com

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Blake Stockton, Boise State Broncos, McKenzie Barney, Miami Hurricanes, Ohio State Buckeyes, SEC, soccer, Taylor Travis, Top 25, University of Florida

1 » When Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban decided to close off his team’s practices to NFL scouts, there was some outrage that he may have gone too far. The Tuscaloosa News qualified the action by stating that Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer had mandated the same thing. The only problem? He didn’t. Florida associate athletics director for communications Steve McClain pointed out Wednesday that the Gators have not changed their policy and scouts will still be allowed to attend during designated periods (usually during the regular season and select two-a-days). However, as noted before, Meyer has indeed closed practice to the media and fans in an effort to keep out questionable characters or “scumbags” as he so eloquently put it.

2 » On Aug. 5, Meyer announced that redshirt sophomore wide receiver T.J. Lawrence had requested and received a release from his University of Florida scholarship. Wednesday, Lawrence told The Lakeland Ledger that he has decided to transfer to the Florida A&M Rattlers. “It’s a big shocker because a lot of people wouldn’t expect Florida A&M University, but I’m going there to be a two-sport athlete,” Lawrence said. His main motivation for leaving UF was a lack of playing time.

3 » Interesting video from The Gainesville Sun of redshirt senior guard Carl Johnson interviewing freshman running back Mack Brown at Florida Media Day.

4 » Focus on the Family, the anti-abortion group that purchased a Super Bowl ad featuring former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother Pam Tebow, has decided to purchase statewide television advertisements during every Denver Broncos game for the upcoming season. Though the new ads will not feature or mention Tebow, the fact that the company is based in Colorado and already has the recognition of having previously worked with Tebow certainly served as a motivating factor in this decision.

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Carl Johnson, Denver Broncos, Florida A&M Rattlers, Florida Media Day, Focus on the Family, Mack Brown, NFL, Nick Saban, Pam Tebow, Steve McClain, Super Bowl, T.J. Lawrence, Tim Tebow, University of Florida, Urban Meyer

The defending National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide earned the No. 1 spot in the USA Today preseason coaches’ poll released Friday with the Florida Gators coming in just two slots behind at No. 3.

In between the two is the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes, which received four first-place votes; Alabama was awarded 55 of 59 possible votes.

Other Southeastern Conference teams ranked by USA Today this preseason include LSU (No. 16), Arkansas (No. 19), Georgia (No. 21) and Auburn (No. 23).

Florida finished last season listed No. 3 in the USA Today and Associated Press polls.

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Ohio State Buckeyes, SEC

Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer and seniors center Mike Pouncey, safety Ahmad Black and defensive end Justin Trattou represented the University of Florida on Wednesday by appearing at a number of press conferences at the 2010 Southeastern Conference Media Days from Hoover, AL.

HAMMOND’s SCHOLARSHIP REVOKED

Though most of the pre-event hoopla surrounded allegations that former Gators center Maurkice Pouncey accepted $100,000 from a runner for an unnamed agent, the biggest piece of news Meyer divulged was that (former?) Florida wide receiver Frankie Hammond, Jr. has had his football scholarship pulled after being arrested for driving under the influence and underage possession of alcohol in June.

“Frankie Hammond, Jr. is off of scholarship at Florida. If he tries to come back and play, which I understand he will, he will have to pay his own way and earn a spot like every other person who would like to be a member of Florida football – on his own,” Meyer said. “There will be playing time taken away from him, and he will be on probation like other players who have made mistakes. If he does something again, it will be probable dismissal. As of now, he is not on the football team. He is working out and training away from the team, and he’s off of scholarship. And we’ll see how he shows up and if he goes. If he goes, then we’ll make the adjustment as we move on.”

Last Friday, Hammond was sentenced to a year of probation and 50 hours of community service as part of a plea deal with the prosecution of his case. He was suspended from team activities by the coaching staff and university just one day after being arrested.

REACTIONS TO POUNCEY ALLEGATIONS

Before the Gators had the chance to be asked about the rumors surrounding Pouncey, the player denied that he was paid by an agent through a two sentence statement that was released early Wednesday. “I did not accept $100,000, it is an absolutely ridiculous claim,” he said. “I have completely cooperated with the investigation and answered any and all questions put to me.”

Nevertheless, Meyer and Florida’s players were asked about the alleged incident.

“Anytime [there is] an accusation about a recruiting rule or a phone call or I simply hear it, I go right to our compliance and they go through the right channels. And then I’ll go to the source,” Meyer said. “When the [Maurkice] Pouncey anonymous note or whatever came through, it went right to our compliance, I went to Maurkice and he said it didn’t happen. I certainly didn’t investigate – we have people that do that. I have not been this concerned. I don’t like our pictures going across the ticker and everything else. If something happened, then he should be punished severely. If it didn’t happen, then that’s nonsense. I heard his denial today, and we stand by Maurkice Pouncey.”

“First, I’ll start by saying I talked to my brother and it’s not true,” his brother Mike told the press. “He pretty much cleared that up in the statement today. I feel bad about it because it ruined somebody’s name that don’t really know who me and my brother are.
Those that know who we are know we’re not those kind of people. We pride ourselves on having a great clean name. It’s just hard right now. [...] We’ve been totally cooperative with any questions that they have to ask us. We’re just ready for it to be done with. [...] My mom and my dad, they took it real personal because, you know, we come from a great family. We pride ourselves on being great people, having a family-type organization as far as our family goes. You know, they took it pretty tough.”

AND THE REST…

With the two juiciest tidbits out of the way, the rest of the media availabilities focused on the latest news surrounding agents tampering with student-athletes and, you know, the upcoming football season. Some choice quotes have been provided…after the break:
Continue Reading » 2010 SEC Media Days: Hammond’s scholarship pulled, Pouncey reactions and other Gators notes

Tags: Ahmad Black, Alabama Crimson Tide, Andre Debose, Chris Rainey, Chuck Heater, Derek Dooley, Frankie Hammond, John Brantley, Justin Trattou, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Pouncey, NCAA, NFL, Nick Saban, Percy Harvin, Roger Goodell, SEC, SEC Media Days, Steve Addazio, Tennessee Volunteers, Tim Tebow, University of Florida, Urban Meyer

The Florida Gators had a league-high 10 selections to the 2010 All-Southeastern Conference Coaches Teams, the SEC announced Tuesday.

Earning their way onto the first-team were senior center Mike Pouncey, redshirt senior offensive lineman Carl Johnson and junior cornerback Janoris Jenkins. They were supplemented by a league-high six members of the Alabama Crimson Tide on the first-team.

However, the Gators dominated the second-team with a league-high seven selections including: junior running back Jeff Demps, safeties senior Ahmad Black and junior Will Hill, redshirt senior linebacker A.J. Jones and special teams standouts junior kicker Caleb Sturgis, senior punter Chas Henry and redshirt junior all-purpose player Chris Rainey.

All-SEC teams are announced, annually, one day before the 2010 SEC Football Media Days, which are being held from July 21-23 at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, AL, this year. Florida will be represented by head coach Urban Meyer, Pouncey, Black and senior defensive end Justin Trattou.

Tags: A.J. Jones, Ahmad Black, Alabama Crimson Tide, All-SEC, Caleb Sturgis, Carl Johnson, Chas Henry, Chris Rainey, Janoris Jenkins, Jeff Demps, Justin Trattou, Mike Pouncey, Urban Meyer, Will Hill, Wynfrey Hotel

Florida Gators fans across the country were excited to hear that Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow had been chosen for the cover of EA Sports’ NCAA Football 11 video game. Alabama Crimson Tide fans, on the other hand, probably did not care very much…until their local Tuscaloosa, AL, GameStop managers decided to spoof the cover with an alternate version.

Rather than sell the game as-is, these guys created a custom cover for the game featuring two pictures of Tebow crying when the Gators lost to the Crimson Tide in the 2009 Southeastern Conference Championship.

Successful marketing ploy or another attempt to add some insult to injury? You decide.

Image and details courtesy of SB Nation.

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Denver Broncos, EA Sports, NCAA Football 11, SEC, SEC Championship, Tim Tebow

On June 11, USC Trojans and director of compliance Matt Billings contacted Pac-10 associate commissioner for governance and enforcement Ron Barker and accused five programs – including the Florida Gators – of illegally contacting sophomore running back Dillon Baxter about transferring from Southern California after the school was hit with a variety of program-wide penalties by the NCAA.

Less than a month later, the New York Times’ Pete Thamel reports that Trojans athletic director Mike Garrett sent a letter to the Gators apologizing for the previous accusations. Specifically, Garrett tried to make amends for “any inconvenience or embarrassment” the allegations caused Florida, admitting that Baxter told him he did not speak to UF.

USC had also previously slandered Alabama, Oregon, Washington and Fresno State.

The Mobile Press-Register is also reporting that the Crimson Tide received a the same apology letter from Garrett, dated July 1. ESPN has learned that the Huskies and Ducks have also been sent letters. The generic message sent to each respective athletic director read as follows:

This comes after the school sent an e-mail to the Pac-10 last month.

“I just met with (Baxter) and he told me that he received phone calls from five institutions (June 10th),” Billings originally wrote to Barker. “All of the institutions asked if he was interested in transferring [from] USC due to the NCAA decision. Would you please speak with these schools to remind them they cannot speak to this student athlete?”

When asked for proof the communications took place, Baxter told Billings he had lost his cell phone and was unable to provide further specifics or documentation.

Florida associate athletics director for communications Steve McClain immediately denied the accusation in early June, as did representatives from Alabama and Oregon.

UPDATE: The Orlando Sentinel spoke with the Gators’ own senior associate athletic director of compliance – Jamie McCloskey, who told the paper that coaches “knew the rules,” insinuating that “normally the process would not be through the media.”

“Our coaches understood the process and who to contact,” he added. “They were upset that someone would make that allegation and feel that they have to respond to it.”

Image of the letter courtesy of ESPN affiliate Gator Country.

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Dillon Baxter, Jamie McCloskey, Mike Garrett, NCAA, Steve McClain, USC Trojans