1 » Whether you call it sacrifice or making the right decision, former Florida Gators center Maurkice Pouncey’s decision to enter the 2010 NFL Draft had an impact on his brother. Now alone on the line for the first time without Maurkice, junior guard Mike Pouncey looks to move to his sibling’s old position next season – and it is for the best. “I think what really was impressive about [Maurkice] was when he was making his decision to come out, he wanted his brother to be able to play center,” Pouncey’s trainer Tom Shaw told FanHouse. “It was a big sacrifice because they’ve played everything together their whole life. That was one of their plans, he could come out and that will give Mike a chance to move up in the draft. It’s the ultimate sacrifice — he loves his brother and wants to spent time with him.”

2 » Junior defensive end Justin Trattou is ready for his captainship, and he realizes part of that comes with showing the youngsters the ropes. “It’s always [hard to adjust] when you come in as a freshman, especially when you come in midway in January,” Trattou said, according to The Gainesville Sun. “It’s always going to be tough because no matter what you did in high school, it’s not going to be the same intensity as it is here, between all the strength coaches and all the guys who have been here for a couple years.” Trattou’s toughness is not to be questioned, especially considering he played with a torn left bicep last season. “The one I had is ripped off,” Trattou said per the Orlando Sentinel. “Now it’s basically just scarred over. The key was giving it time to get stronger. […] Any time you can fight through injuries, it always gets respect from guys.”

Two more BITS on RB Jeff Demps and LB coach D.J. Durkin…after the break!
Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: Pouncey, Trattou, Demps, Durkin

Tags: Bowling Green Falcons, Charlie Strong, D.J. Durkin, Draft, field, Jeff Demps, Justin Trattou, Loren Seagrave, Louisville Cardinals, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Pouncey, NFL, Tom Shaw, track, Urban Meyer, Velocity Sports Performance

1 » Former Florida Gators All-American center and NBA first-round draft pick Dwayne Schintzius is in the middle of an extensive battle with leukemia. Schintzius, 41, is the Gators’ fifth all-time leading scorer (1,624 points); the team’s career blocks leader; the only player in SEC history with more than 1,000 points, 800 rebounds, 250 assists and 250 blocks; and a nine-year NBA veteran who was drafted No. 24 overall by the San Antonio Spurs in 1990. He received a bone marrow transplant on Jan. 12 from his brother Travis, and his family prays each day that his condition will improve. You can read more about his past career and present condition here and here.

2 » Florida sophomore running back Jeff Demps, a freshman as a track and field sprinter, was awarded his second SEC Male Freshman of the Week award by the conference on Tuesday. Demps, who won the men’s 60-meter dash at the Tyson Invitational last week, set a NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 6.59, tying teammate Terrell Wilks for the school record. His time in the 60 is the fastest in the nation so far this season and ranks 15th in the world.

Two more BITS on Erving Walker and Steve Addazio after the jump!
Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: Schintzius, Demps, Walker, Addazio

Tags: Dwayne Schintzius, Erving Walker, Jeff Demps, Jeff Driskel, Junior Day, NBA, NCAA, San Antonio Spurs, SEC, Steve Addazio, Terrell Wilks, Urban Meyer

1 » Just because National Signing Day ended the 2010 recruiting cycle on Feb. 3 does not mean the Florida Gators coaching staff is done recruiting. The University of Florida will host its first Junior Day for 2011 high school graduates Saturday as prospects from all over the state (and some from beyond) will travel to Gainesville, FL, to learn about the Gators. The majority of the outing includes a presentation about Florida football from a suite, a tour of The Swamp and a chance for the high schoolers to meet with some current players and pick their brains about the Gators. OGGOA will provide you with a full recap of the event early next week.

2 » In case you wanted or needed some data to explain why former Florida basketball player and current New York Knicks star forward/center David Lee deserved to be in the 2010 NBA All-Star Game all along, his hometown paper (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) has it together in a column for you.

Four more BITS on the Olympics, Jeff Demps, eye black, etc. after the jump!
Continue Reading » SIX BITS: Junior Day, Lee, Olympics, gym, track

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, All-Star, David Lee, field, Gator Chomp, gymnastics, Jeff Demps, Junior Day, NBA, NCAA Football Rules Committee, NCAA Indoor Championships, NCAA Player Rules Oversight Panel, New York Knicks, Olympics, SEC, Steve Mesler, Terrell Wilks, The Swamp, Tim Tebow, track, University of Florida, World Cup

1 » Florida Gators running back/sprinter Jeff Demps and jumper Shara Proctor were both named Athlete of the Week by the Southeastern Conference for their performances during the Virgina Tech Elite Meet track and field competition over the weekend. Demps, who participated in the first indoor meet of his career, placed second in the finals of the men’s 60-meter dash and was honored as SEC Male Freshman of the Week. His 6.61 time was the second-fastest time in school history and one hundredth of a second off of the NCAA automatic-qualifying standard. Proctor won both the women’s triple jump and long jump setting “automatic-qualifying marks, school-record marks, SEC-leading marks and nation-leading marks in both events,” according to the University Athletic Association.

2 » Former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew will serve as Grand Marshals for the Gatorade Duel at Daytona on Thursday. Consisting of two 60-lap races, the Gatorade Duel is a qualifying event for the Daytona 500. Tebow will recite the famous, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” line before the first race. So much for focusing solely on football.

Extra Bit » The No. 5/3 Florida softball team was chosen to win the SEC East Division in the annual coaches’ preseason poll. The Gators look to return to the Women’s College World Series after falling to the Washington Huskies in the 2009 championship series.

Tags: Daytona 500, field, Gatorade Duel, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jeff Demps, Maurice Jones-Drew, SEC, Shara Proctor, softball, Tim Tebow, track, Virginia Tech Elite Meet

1 » The 2009 NFL Playoffs may have begun with seven but only one former Florida Gators player has made it to Super Bowl XLIV at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, FL. That man is New Orleans Saints defensive end Bobby McCray, who did not have a dominating regular season but has had quite an impact on his team’s first two playoff games. Making it a point to hit both Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre hard, McCray knocked each out of the game for a short period of time. Now he will turn his focus on NFL MVP and Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning. Keep an eye on No. 93 throughout the game on Sunday.

2 » All of the pre-2010 NFL Draft attention has been focused on former Gators QB Tim Tebow (wide receiver Riley Cooper has received a little, too), but linebacker Brandon Spikes is preparing for the biggest job interview of his career, too. Staying quiet while training and working out after a sub-par (for him) season, Spikes is doing whatever he can to impress scouts at the NFL Scouting Combine from Feb. 24 to March 2. “I’m anxious to get started,” Spikes told Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel. “Hopefully, I can go to the league and grab it by the neck.” Speaking about the future at Florida, Spikes was optimistic. “Those younger players know what we started and the legacy we have here. They just want to keep it going. I say it all the time to my younger group, the linebacker corps, those guys are talented. The sky’s the limit for those guys. If they continue to work and buy into the program, they’ll have the same success.”

Read how Jeff Demps, Chris Rainey and Frankie Hammond fared in track and field action and how gymnastics and tennis performed this weekend after the jump!
Continue Reading » SIX BITS: McCray in Super Bowl, weekend wrap-up

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Alexandre Lacroix, Antoine Benneteau, Bobby McCray, Brandon Spikes, Chris Rainey, combine, Draft, field, Florida Atlantic Owls, Frankie Hammond, George Washington Colonials, gymnastics, Indianapolis Colts, Jeff Demps, Linder Stadium, Mariam Kevkhishvili, N.C. State Wolfpack, NCAA, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Peyton Manning, Playoffs, Rector Field House, Ring Tennis Complex, Shara Proctor, Sun Life Stadium, Super Bowl XLIV, tennis, Tim Tebow, track, Virginia Tech Elite Meet

1 » One story surrounding the 2010 Under Armour Senior Bowl was former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow’s lingering illness. Believed to be a strep throat early in the week, Tebow was actually suffering from a viral infection of his esophagus. Pam Tebow, Tim’s mother, said his sickness was “much worse than strep throat” and caused eating to be too painful for him throughout the week. Tebow met with a doctor all week and lost more than 10 pounds over the course of the week.

2 » While many sports writers have spent the last week criticizing Tebow, Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel took a look at the situation from another angle. Former Purdue Boilermakers head coach Joe Tiller, who coached Drew Brees, Curtis Painter and Kyle Orton (among others), laughed at all of Tebow’s doubters. “I can remember NFL critics saying the same thing when Drew was a senior,” Tiller told Mandel. “‘He’s in that Purdue offense all the time. He lines up in the shotgun all the time, and our guys line up under center. It’s not like college football has a monopoly on the shotgun formation. Now that I’m out of coaching, I’ve watched more NFL football this year than I have the last 10 years combined. There’s hardly any team in the league that doesn’t have their quarterback in the shotgun anymore. [...] The entire league is doing what Drew Brees was criticized for coming out of college. [...] Actually, I think a guy coming out in the shotgun is better equipped than a guy coming out of center.”

3 » Fifty-one University of Florida student athletes were named to the 2009-10 Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll for the fall semester. Football led the way with 23 honorees, followed by soccer (18) and volleyball (10). Prominent names on the list include Tebow, sophomore RB Jeff Demps, junior punter Chas Henry, senior kicker Jonathan Phillips and junior kicker Caleb Sturgis.

4 » Florida track and field was responsible eight provisional-qualifying marks/times, three event wins and two NCAA automatic-qualifying marks/times during the Texas A&M Challenge in College Station, TX, on Saturday. The second half of the event was highlighted by thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili and jumper Shara Proctor, who earned the NCAA automatic-qualifying bids. For more information on the Gators’ performances over the weekend, click here (day one) or here (day two).

Tags: Academic Honor Roll, Caleb Sturgis, Chas Henry, Drew Brees, field, Jeff Demps, Joe Tiller, Jonathan Phillips, Mariam Kevkhishvili, NCAA, Pam Tebow, Purdue Boilermakers, SEC, Senior Bowl, Shara Proctor, soccer, Texas A&M Challenge, Tim Tebow, track, Under Armour, University of Florida, volleyball

1 » In news that should be no surprise to anyone, Florida Gators junior cornerback Joe Haden has declared himself eligible for the 2010 NFL Draft. UF’s cornerback of the decade (as named by OGGOA), Haden grades out as a consensus first-round pick who is likely to be taken as one of the top 15 players overall and perhaps even in the top 10. Among others, Haden held top collegiate wide receivers A.J. Green (Georgia), Julio Jones (Alabama) and Mardy Gilyard (Cincinnati) in check this season. “This was a tough decision, and I spent a lot of time with my family talking about it,” Haden said. “I’m so proud that I had the chance to be a Gator. It’s been one of the best experiences of my life. Coach [Urban] Meyer and Coach [Vance] Bedford have helped me in so many ways. I’ll always be thankful to them for everything, and I know I’ll never forget the fans in Gator Nation.” Though one Haden is leaving Gainesville, FL, another has just arrived – literally. Four-star defensive back commit Jordan Haden, Joe’s brother, has moved into his dorm for the spring semester and will try to follow his brother’s lead. Joe Haden was the first true freshman to ever start at CB for Florida and started all 40 games of his career.

2 » Sophomore running back Jeff Demps, who dislocated his elbow during the 2010 Sugar Bowl against the Cincinnati Bearcats, should only be out 5-6 weeks according to Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel. This limited time out of action would allow Demps to participate in UF track & field, something he normally does in the offseason.

Tags: Cincinnati Bearcats, Draft, Jeff Demps, Joe Haden, Jordan Haden, NFL, Sugar Bowl, track & field