FOUR BITS: Brantley, Tebow, Lin, lacrosse

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Football, Other | February 9, 2012
Comments » 32

1 » Florida Gators quarterback John Brantley has faced his fair share of obstacles over the course of his college career but trainer Tom Shaw does not believe that will prevent him from succeeding as a professional. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Brantley has been training at the ESPN/Disney Wide World of Sports Complex since the season ended and has spent much of that time working with Shaw, the acclaimed trainer/coach of big-time signal callers like Eli and Peyton Manning, Michael Vick and most notably Tom Brady. “You saw what he did at the University of Florida, so a lot of people aren’t giving him an opportunity,” Shaw told the Sentinel. “But with what I’ve seen in the time that I’ve spent with John is that he could be one of the best quarterbacks that I’ve ever had.” Shaw believes Brantley is a better athlete than Brady and has a strong arm but most work on his footwork. “I don’t sell kids. If they’re good they’re good. If they’re bad, I’ll tell you,” he said. “I’m not saying he’s the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or whoever. I’m saying this kid has the ability, the talent to be a pro football player and be successful at it because he has all the tools.”

The paper also notes that Brantley is being represented by Joel Segal of Lagardere Unlimited, the agent who has also signed running back Chris Rainey for 2012 and boasts a stable of other Gators including Percy Harvin (Minnesota), Maurkice Pouncey (Pittsburgh), Mike Pouncey (Miami) and Ahmad Black. In other words, it may be wise to expect Brantley to be selected somewhere in the late rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft if Segal has anything to say about it (which he will).

2 » With his show Eastbound & Down set to return to HBO on Feb. 19, Kenny Powers recently decided to write an open letter to Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow called “The Gifted Young Athlete.” The letter, available unedited on Grantland.com, is uncensored and features explicit language. Below is a very short passage appropriate enough for publication here on OGGOA.

Yet here Jesus is, helping me & Tebow out in sports, just because we’re maybe a little bit cooler in his eyes. It’s a raw deal, plain and simple.

3 » New York Knicks point guard sensation Jeremy Lin is turning heads in Madison Square Garden and the explosion of the aptly-amed “Linsanity” hysteria is drawing comparisons by media types to “Tebowmania” from the fall. In addition to both players being what some consider to be unlikely heroes, Lin (like Tebow) is quite religious and has no problem offering up praise to the man above for his recent success on the court. He also recently told 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, CA that Tebow inspires him in a number of ways. “His approach to the game is just unbelievable and I respect him so much,” he said. “I want to be able to do some of the things that he doe sin terms of the amount of charity work and the non-profit work, and the way he impacts people off the field. I think that is what is most inspiring about him.”

4 » Set to officially begin their 2012 season on Saturday against No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Florida lacrosse is eyeing the program’s first national title this year. It was announced Thursday that the Gators were picked to finish second in the conference by ALC coaches, an understandable slotting considering the top team in the league is expected to be defending ALC and NCAA champion Northwestern. Florida actually won the 2011 ALC regular season title before falling to Northwestern 10-9 in the postseason tournament. In the program’s third year of existence, the Gators hope to break the final barrier and win both the ALC and national titles outright this season.

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SIX BITS: Quinn, Tebow, Crowder, Demps, Green’s new team, Brewer’s dad, Wambach’s idea

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball, Football | February 6, 2012
Comments » 4

1 » According to The Gainesville Sun’s Pat Dooley, Florida Gators defensive coordinator Dan Quinn interviewed for but turned down the same position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Quinn, who has been at Florida for just one season, was a NFL assistant with four different teams from 2001-10.

2 » The 2011-12 season may now be in the books but that does not mean Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow‘s name is out of the news. Tebow, who sat down for a 30-minute interview with ESPN’s Hannah Storm last week, will be featured on ESPN2 in “SportsCenter Special: Face to Face with Tim Tebow” on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 10:30 p.m. Tebow’s recent ESPN rounds included an interview with Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo, which you can view below.

Four more BITS on Crowder, Demps, the Oh Fours and Wambach after the break!
Continue Reading » SIX BITS: Quinn, Tebow, Crowder, Demps, Green’s new team, Brewer’s dad, Wambach’s idea

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FOUR BITS: Tebow, Hicks, women’s b-ball, Lerner

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Football, Other | February 3, 2012
Comments » 0

1 » Early Friday morning, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow sat down with Hannah Storm for another interview, this one mostly about the 2011 season. Though the below video is only a clip of the interview, it will be aired in full on ESPN‘s SportsCenter on Friday. If/when the network makes it available online, OGGOA will update this thread with a video of the complete interview.

2 » Former Florida Gators linebacker Brandon Hicks has agreed to a futures contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2012 season. His former Florida teammate and current Pittsburgh tackle Marcus Gilbert confirmed the signing to OGGOA on Friday via Twitter. An undrafted free agent in 2011, Hicks was signed by the Buffalo Bills in the lockout-shortened offseason but was waived during final cuts and did not make his way onto a NFL roster. He is the second former Gators star to sign a futures contract since the end of the regular season as tight end Cornelius Ingram, who spent time on Denver’s practice squad toward the end of the year, agreed to remain with the Broncos.

3 » Florida women’s basketball (14-8, 4-5 SEC) picked up a big win on Thursday, defeating the LSU Tigers (14-8, 4-5 SEC) 73-64 on the road at the Maravich Assembly Center. It was the Gators’ first victory in Baton Rouge, LA since 1996 and marked a pleasant end to a three-game road stand in which Florida fell just barely to No. 6 Kentucky (57-52) and Arkansas (73-72 in overtime). Senior center Azania Stewart led the way for the Gators with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, and both redshirt senior forward Ndidi Madu and senior guard Lanita Bartley also added 12 points in the winning effort. Florida will look to capitalize on their positive momentum with consecutive home games against Ole Miss and Auburn next week.

4 » Gators senior punter David Lerner has been nominated for the 2012 Rare Disease Champion Award presented by Uplifting Athletes to “a leader in college football, individual or organization, who has realized his or her potential to make a positive and lasting impact on the rare disease community.” Lerner, who learned in the offseason that he had Chron’s disease, was knocked back by the illness but able to overcome it and wound up starting for Florida at the beginning of the season. Also in contention for the honor are Nebraska’s Rex Burkhead, N.C. State’s Wayne Crawford and UCLA’s Luke Gane, all of whom you can read about by clicking here.

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TWO BITS: Tim Tebow on ESPN, NBC this week

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Football | February 3, 2012
Comments » 1

1 » Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has been making the rounds in Indianapolis, IN this week and sat down Thursday for a pair of interviews with ESPN and NBC. His interview with Skip Bayless appeared on ESPN2‘s First Take Friday morning and the entire thing can be viewed in the three videos below. He discusses the Super Bowl, some of the highlights of the 2011 season, his religion making him polarizing and whether or not Denver’s brass is giving him the proper support.

Watch the rest of the interview videos after the break!
Continue Reading » TWO BITS: Tim Tebow on ESPN, NBC this week

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FOUR Video BITS: Tebow, Legend, Diggs, Miller

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Football, Recruiting | February 2, 2012
Comments » 4

1 » Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was a guest on NBC‘s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Wednesday night/Thursday morning and sat down with the host to talk about the Tebowing phenomenon, Fallon’s parody of Tebow and David Bowie – “Tebowie,” and the charitable work he is doing. Tebow was introduced by The Roots playing “On Bended Knee” by Boyz II Men and concluded his segment by shooting a signed jersey into the crowd with at T-shirt gun.

2 » Speaking of television clips of Tebow, ESPN2‘s First Take has continued to make him a topic of conversation long after Denver’s season ended. This week the show featured singer/songwriter John Legend remixing one of his own tunes to create a song called “Extra-Ordinary Tebow.”

Continue Reading » FOUR Video BITS: Tebow, Legend, Diggs, Miller

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FOUR BITS: Wambach, Nike, Tebow, Powell

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball, Football, Other, Recruiting | January 31, 2012
Comments » 11

1 » Former Florida Gators striker Abby Wambach is at it again for the U.S. Women’s National Team, leading the United States to a 4-0 win over Canada in the 2012 CONCACAF championship game. Though both teams had already qualified for the 2012 London Olympics, the Americans wanted to end the event on a high note and did just that thanks to a pair of goals each by Wambach and forward Alex Morgan. Wambach also had the assist on one of Morgan’s goals, and Morgan returned the favor with a pair of assists on her scores. The 2012 World Cup star has moved into second all-time on the international scoring list with 131 goals but is still shy of tying Mia Hamm at 158.

2 » Now you can look just like the Florida basketball players will against Tennessee by owning the brand new Nike Hyper Elite Platinum jersey and shorts set from the OGGOA Store. The products, available in limited quantities, were just added to the store on Tuesday but are now for sale. Just click here to go to the store and scroll down to see the items on the front page. Get them delivered by Feb. 6 and root on the Gators while also supporting this site at the same time!

3 » In addition to being a featured guest on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow will also visit ESPN2’s First Take on Friday for an interview with Skip Bayless. He will probably wind up making other appearances as well, but Tebow is set to conclude his week of spots in Indianapolis, IN by showing up for the inaugural NFL Honors post-season award show, which airs Saturday at 9 p.m. on NBC.

4 » Despite having concerns about his academics, four-star Florida linebacker commit Jeremi Powell does indeed plan on signing with the Gators on Wednesday and not with Marshall, the school he visited over the weekend. ESPN has posted a new feature on Powell, which focuses not on his abilities as a football player but rather the fact that he “has survived homelessness and the resulting anger that almost consumed him.”

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SIX BITS: Tebow, Dillman, gym, Jenkins, Powell

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Football, Other, Recruiting | January 30, 2012
Comments » 8

1 » Appearing Monday on WKOV 690 AM in Jacksonville, FL, new Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan responded to a caller who was wondering if he would consider trading for Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow should he be made available. “You know something? I think I can tell you this. I had a long chat with Wayne [Weaver] that year. Obviously the Rams drafted Sam Bradford, and I was talking to Wayne then on what they ought to do,” Khan said. “I should have an offline conversation with you, OK? I’m going to absolutely talk your ear off. Some of the stuff might not be politically correct, but I share your sentiment. I think, when is the next time Jacksonville is going to have an athlete like Tim Tebow? Coming from being raised in Illinois, I couldn’t see Red Grange playing for anybody other than the Bears or Dick Butkus playing for anybody other than the Bears. I don’t want to get into 20/20 hindsight, and God help us, the draft record has not been the best with the Jaguars.”

Khan was then asked by the host if he would have drafted Tebow had he been owner of the Jaguars at the time. “100 percent I would have. Absolutely,” he said. “The first Jaguars game I came to was in ’10, we played Denver here. There were a lot more Tebow jerseys in the Jaguars stands than the teal jerseys for any player, let’s face it. You hate to get into 20/20 hindsight and finger pointing, but certainly [I would have] if I had anything to do with it. We probably won’t have a chance like that again.”

2 » Even though his team is not participating in Super Bowl XLVI, Tebow will be in Indianapolis, IN for festivities over the course of the week. He will also be a guest on NBC‘s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Wednesday along with actor/comedian Tracy Morgan and musical group All American Rejects. Tebow’s name has been a hot topic on Fallon’s show recently as the host as done a parody character of him and David Bowie and also used him in a number of jokes over the last few weeks.

3 » The Florida Gators have put together an introductory video featuring the team’s new strength and conditioning staff including most notably director Jeff Dillman and assistant Jesse Ackerman. The duo discuss their mental and physical approach to strength and conditioning over a video featuring a number of Florida players lifting weights and working out. You can check it out by clicking here.

4 » No. 8 Gators gymnastics (6-0, 2-0 SEC) put together an unbelievable performance on Friday, registering the fifth-highest total in team history and the top score in the nation this season, 197.775, to defeat the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (8-1, 2-1 SEC) and No. 24 Maryland Terrapins (4-4) and Bridgeport in a quad-meet at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Four Florida gymnasts won events with sophomore Mackenzie Caquatto winning the uneven bars (9.95), junior Marissa King taking the balance beam (9.95), junior Ashanée Dickerson capturing the all-around (39.60) and both Dickerson and freshman Kytra Hunter tying to win the floor exercise (9.95). According to UF, Friday was the first time the Gators had defeated a top-ranked team at home since 1989.

5 » North Alabama and former Florida cornerback Janoris Jenkins put together a solid performance in the 2012 Senior Bowl on Saturday and is in the process of working his way into the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. As part of this journey, he quit smoking marijuana, which he was arrested for three times and ultimately got him dismissed from UF. “I learned as a young man, you can’t smoke weed; it don’t get you where you want to go,” Jenkins told The Florida Times-Union. “As a kid I had to learn for myself. I learned for myself when I found out the hard way. I just thank God for letting that happen to me early and not late. [...] I tell everybody now if you’re going to come around me and smoke weed, I can’t hang around you,” he said. “We’re friends, but while you’re smoking marijuana, I can’t hang around you.”

6 » With National Signing Day less than 48 hours away, the Gators are hoping to haul in a number of top prospects that still have them high on their list. As it turns out, Florida may actually end up losing a commitment due to his grades and a potential learning disability. Four-star linebacker Jeremi Powell (Largo, FL), who committed to the Gators almost a year ago, recently visited the Marshall Thundering Herd and enjoyed his trip. According to HerdNation.com, it has become a legitimate landing spot for him because of the school’s H.E.L.P. Program which provides “educational support, remediation and mentoring to individuals” with specific learning disabilities or disorders like ADD/ADHD. Powell must pass one more high school class and improve his ACT score in order to get into UF, obstacles that could have him instead decide to commit to Marshall.

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TWO BITS: Hamilton’s commitment, Tebow out

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Football, Other, Recruiting | January 26, 2012
Comments » 20

1 » One of two schools vying for the services of five-star defensive end Darius Hamilton (Ramsey, NJ), the Florida Gators were thought to be behind the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in contention for his commitment. The New Jersey boy was expected to stay in-state and play for Rutgers but his thoughts may be in the process of changing when it was reported Thursday morning that the Scarlet Knights’ head coach, Greg Schiano, is on his way to take the same job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hamilton has said that Florida and Rutgers were his final two and planned to make an announcement sometime before National Signing Day on Feb. 1. He was supposed to meet with Schiano on Wednesday, but it is unknown if that visit took place.

Should the Gators miss out on Hamilton and/or five-star athlete Josh Harvey-Clemons (Valdosta, GA), Florida could offer a scholarship to three-star DE Junior Gnonkonde (Lakeland, GA). According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, UF has been calling about the former Georgia Tech commitment but will only have room for him in their class if they miss out on one or both of Hamilton and Harvey-Clemons.

2 » Originally scheduled to participate in the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has been forced to withdraw from the event due to the multiple injuries he suffered against the New England Patriots in the second round of the NFL Playoffs. Though Tebow does not need surgery and is expected to make a full recovery, he will not be able to participate in the event from Feb. 9-12. An avid golfer, Tebow was undoubtedly looking forward to the event, and the tournament’s directors were certainly hoping he would be able to play as well.

Extra BIT » No. 5 Florida lacrosse will begin its 2012 campaign with an exhibition match Thursday against England at 6:30 p.m. The Gators are looking to build on consecutive impressive years and hope to win their first national championship in the program’s third season of existence.

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