Through the 2013 NFL Draft from April 25-27, Florida Gators safety and 2012 leading tackler Josh Evans will be keeping fans up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry exclusively here at OGGOA.

Evans’s sixth entry covers his thoughts on spring practice, first team workout (New England Patriots) and decision to leave Gainesville, FL a week earlier than scheduled. Evans also details a busy week ahead as he has meetings set with three teams.

Though it has been a few weeks since I last checked in, most of my time has been spent working out, staying in shape, just getting better and hanging out with my teammates that were still in Gainesville doing the same thing. I’ve also been fielding calls from my agent and some teams just as he helps get my meetings set up and my schedule all together heading into the draft.

For workouts, usually it was me, Jon Bostic and Jelani Jenkins and sometimes Omarius Hines would come out there with us, too. We’re all close friends so we would just schedule a time and go in and workout. Maybe we would call someone else to come in and throw us the ball, too.

I know before the Pro Day and everything [Hines] may not have been on a lot of teams’ radar, but before I left to come back to New Jersey, he told me what sounded like some good news. He was originally expecting to wind up somewhere as an undrafted free agent but now it is looking like he might be a late-round pick, sixth or seventh round. If he can do that, that would be great for him to get on a team. And it’s a plus for the Gators to have another player drafted.

In between working out and chilling with the guys, a bunch of us would stop by spring practice. Florida is looking like it’s going to be a tough, physical team again next year. You can see a lot of the younger players really working hard, looking to make a statement. The coaching staff was getting after it as usual, getting on those guys and definitely getting the best out of them when they step on the field.

Continue Reading » Josh Evans – Path to 2013 NFL Draft: Workouts

Tags: Cody Riggs, Draft, Jabari Gorman, Jaylen Watkins, Jelani Jenkins, Jon Bostic, Jordan Reed, Josh Evans, Marcus Maye, Mike Gillislee, NFL, Omarius Hines, Valdez Showers, Will Muschamp, Xavier Nixon

1 » It has been a busy last few days in Gainesville, FL for Florida Gators hoping to continue their football careers and be selected in the 2013 NFL Draft. On Friday, defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, linebacker Lerentee McCray and wide receiver Omarius Hines (who just ran the 40-yard dash in an effort to improve his time) participated in a private Pro Day on campus. Floyd and McCray both sat out Florida’s first Pro Day on March 12. According to NFL.com, 14 teams were in Gainesville to watch Floyd including the Oakland Raiders (No. 3 overall pick) with general manager Reggie McKenzie. NFL Network was there to watch Floyd; this report (which was followed by a lengthy discussion) was aired on Friday. ESPN’s Adam Schefter added that, on Monday, a collection of officials from the Kansas City Chiefs (No. 1 overall pick) – including general manager John Dorsey – held a private workout with Floyd.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was also in Gainesville over the weekend first to watch his daughter (an assistant coach for Ohio State’s lacrosse team) on Saturday and then to hold a private workout with five Florida players on Sunday, OGGOA has learned. Participating in Sunday’s private workout were McCray, linebackers Jon Bostic and Jelani Jenkins, safety Josh Evans and defensive lineman Earl Okine. The only other person in attendance to watch the workouts was Belichick’s right-hand man, New England director of player personnel Nick Caserio.

Read three more BITS of Florida Gators news…after the break!
Continue Reading » FOUR BITS: Floyd, NFL, Demps, WWE, Lee

Tags: David Lee, Draft, Earl Okine, Golden State Warriors, Jeff Demps, Jelani Jenkins, Jon Bostic, Josh Evans, Kansas City Chiefs, Lerentee McCray, NBA, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Olympics, Omarius Hines, Pro Day, Sharrif Floyd, Thaddeus Bullard, Titus O'Neil, track, WWE

1 » Contrary to comments from the front office and coaching staff of the New York Jets indicating that quarterback Tim Tebow is currently in the team’s plans to be part of the competition at his position for 2013, ESPNNewYork.com reported Tuesday that “nothing has changed with regard to Tebow’s status on the team.” A league source tells Dan Graziano that “the Jets are holding out hope they can trade him and are in no rush to do so. They could stretch the process out to the draft, but failing a trade, the Jets will release him, the source said.”

2 » Wide receiver Louis Murphy is the only former Florida Gators free agent to sign with a team thus far in the 2013 offseason as the New York Giants decided to bring him on board with a one-year contract last week. Speaking with the SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday, general manager Jerry Reese raved about what Murphy brings to the table. “I think he’s going to add another dimension to our offense,” Reese said. “We have a scout named Jeremiah Davis and he talks about guys being a ‘knife.’ This guy is a ‘knife.’ This guy can take the top off your defense. He gives us a different dimension in our offense [...] a deep threat that we haven’t had. We haven’t had a guy who can run like this guy.” Murphy should enter the season as the Giants’ fourth or fifth receiver but may still see a good amount of time on the field next year.

3 » Greg Cosell, the senior producer for NFL Films, recently praised what he has seen from Gators tight end Jordan Reed. Cosell wrote on Twitter that he loved what he saw from Reed on tape and believes he has the chance to be the next successful ‘Joker’ tight end in the league, comparing him (as many other have done already) to New England Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez.

4 » Florida safety Josh Evans has private workouts scheduled with the Jets and Patriots, OGGOA learned on Wednesday. Evans, who turned heads with his performances at the 2013 NFL Combine and Pro Day, is beginning to draw some significant buzz in league circles. According to the National Football Post:

While Evans has been viewed as the “other safety” at Florida throughout the 2012 season and not regarded as a top prospect, sources at the Florida Pro Day told us that Evans had a strong all-around workout. Although not an explosive athlete, Evans was smooth throughout the positional drills staying over his feet and changing directions easily. One NFL person in attendance told us that it was clear to him that Evans is the more flexible and fluid athlete of the two safeties, Matt Elam being the other, and that he felt Evans was also better in coverage in games. Although his workout was impressive and we think he warrants being selected above Elam, the sources we spoke with said that while they agreed with our evaluation of Evans as a better prospect that Elam will still likely be selected first.

Tags: Aaron Hernandez, combine, Jordan Reed, Josh Evans, Louis Murphy, Matt Elam, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets, NFL, Pro Day, Tim Tebow

Through the 2013 NFL Draft from April 25-27, Florida Gators safety and 2012 leading tackler Josh Evans will be keeping fans up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry exclusively here at OGGOA.

Evans’s fifth entry covers his second return to Gainesville, FL during the offseason, the Pro Day workout on Tuesday and what his plans are for the next three weeks as he continues to workout and meet with teams.

I came back up to Gainesville late last week and the first thing I did was settle in to my place and meet up with a massage therapist to get my hamstring rubbed down. It’s just a strain. It’s something I felt during the combine. It’s kind of nagging, but it feels alright. Once I get to top speed, it is sometimes hard to maintain without it giving out. But I’m feeling better each day and we have a phenomenal training staff here at Florida so I know they’ll get me back to 100 percent in no time.

Over the weekend I also worked out a bit, did a few starts and warmed up, nothing too big because the Pro Day was in a couple of days. So I basically just worked on my flexibility and made sure I was good to go. I also met with San Francisco on Monday and had a great talk with them.

A lot of people noticed how I now have a yellow stripe in my hair. I got that done two days ago just to do something a bit different. I don’t plan to have it long, but I wanted to have it for Pro Day because I figured it would definitely help me stand out on the field.

As far as Pro Day goes, I was pretty comfortable the whole time. Any time you come back to your home field, The Swamp, there’s always that comfort you have being around your teammates and seeing the coaching staff you’ve dealt with for the last few years. I did not feel nervous; however, you still want to go out there and perform well in front of the head coaches, general managers and scouts. It was a pretty good day to get out there and run around, and I felt like all went well.

We were all concerned a bit when we first got out there saw it was raining because you don’t want to run on a wet field if you can help it. We try not to use excuses of course, but to be honest, the field was wet. The balls were even wet sometimes. We managed to overcome the obstacle and all performed well.

Continue Reading » Josh Evans – Path to the 2013 NFL Draft: Pro Day

Tags: combine, D.J. Durkin, Draft, Jeff Dillman, Josh Evans, NFL, Pro Day, Travaris Robinson, Will Muschamp

Nineteen former Florida Gators football players – including five that have been off the team for more than a year – participated in Pro Day at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on a rain-covered Florida Field in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday.

Representatives from all 32 NFL teams were in attendance though many head coaches and general managers remained at their teams’ headquarters considering Pro Day was being held on the same day as the start of NFL free agency for the 2013 season.

“It’s an exciting time. That’s how Pro Day is supposed to look at Florida,” head coach Will Muschamp said after the event. “All 32 teams are here and that’s how it ought to be. As we continue to do a good job evaluating in recruiting and developing our players, which we will, our Pro Days will continue to look that way. Really proud of these guys that worked out today and appreciate all their contributions to the University of Florida. I want to congratulate our staff on doing an outstanding job developing these guys.”

“I think they’ve all worked extremely hard,” he continued. “They understand what’s at stake. These guys are at a great time in their life. Here they are the verge of playing in the arena on Sunday. That’s something, as you look at, you’re a football player and taking that next step. They understand what’s at stake. I’m proud of what I saw today just form the standpoint of how they worked and how they conducted themselves, the positive feedback I’ve gotten from general managers, head coaches, assistants and the National Football League of the character of our guys and how they handled themselves at the combine. All of it has been ultra-positive. I’ve been real pleased about that.”

Below are evaluations on and quotes from many of the Gators that participated on Tuesday. Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, linebacker Lerentee McCray and tight end Jordan Reed did not work out but will in a separate, private Pro Day event on March 22 in The Swamp. Reed did still participate in some on-field drills Tuesday.

Muschamp had nothing but high praise for Floyd when asked about him potentially going in the top five picks. “Turn on the tape,” he said. “The guy can anchor, he can play the run, he’s got great initial quickness, he can rush the passer. He’s everything you want from an inside player. The NFL teams, they don’t like to project. I’ve been there; I know. They want to see guys that play in 3-4 and 4-3. They’ve seen him play two-gap. They’ve seen him play nose. They’ve seen him play four-technique, They’ve seen him play one-gap, three-technique, five-technique, nine-technique. They’ve seen him play outside; they’ve seen him play inside.

“From a general manager prospective, talking to his owner and telling him he wants to spend money on a player – a clean player that has no issues off the field – that’s a very smart pick, in my opinion. You got a guy that can be a very dominating player that has got so many positive things surrounding him and he’s been exposed positionally to so many different things within our scheme.”

Other former Gators in attendance to root on the younger guys included wide receivers Reidel Anthony and Riley Cooper, defensive end Carlos Dunlap, linebacker Mike Peterson, running back Chris Rainey and linebacker Brandon Siler.

Safety Matt Elam

» NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock (via Florida’s website): “On tape he plays so close to the line of scrimmage, especially in their nickel package, he’s on the slot. He’s quick-footed, an aggressive tough kid. What I saw today was what I wanted to see, his ball skills, especially on deep balls. I could see him open his hips, take angles like a deep half or deep third. I thought he really helped himself today.”

Continue Reading » Former Florida Gators shine at 2013 Pro Day

Tags: Brandon Antwine, Brent Pease, Caleb Sturgis, Carl Johnson, D.J. Durkin, Draft, Earl Okine, Frankie Hammond, James Wilson, Jelani Jenkins, Jon Bostic, Jordan Reed, Josh Evans, Lawrence Marsh, Matt Elam, Mike Gillislee, Moses Jenkins, NFL, Omar Hunter, Omarius Hines, Phil Trautwein, Pro Day, Sam Robey, Scott Peek, Will Muschamp, Xavier Nixon

Through the 2013 NFL Draft from April 25-27, Florida Gators safety and 2012 leading tackler Josh Evans will be keeping fans up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry exclusively here at OGGOA.

Evans’s fourth entry covers his experience at the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, IN and his plans over the next week as he gets ready to return to Gainesville, FL in order to prepare for Pro Day on March 12.

My overall experience at the combine over the last few days was amazing. It was an honor and a privilege, first of all, to be in this situation, so I totally took advantage of that. It pretty much was just getting adjusted to meeting all these NFL head coaches and general managers and being comfortable. They want to see how comfortable you are and how confident you are showing off your scheme and defense, being vocal and talking to someone. I felt like I did pretty well throughout the whole process during the four days and had some great interviews while I was there.

The interviews were broken up. I had a couple group interviews where I met with entire staffs and there were some teams where I just met with the position coach and they got a feel for me as far as being a defensive back, drawing up schemes and learning the schemes they run. I had great interviews with the Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Those interviews went real well, and it was great to talk to all of the coaches and front office executives.

Some of the schemes were similar – even with the Atlanta Falcons and the Arizona Cardinals when I met with the position coaches there – they all showed a lot of interest and liked the type of schemes we played at Florida.

Continue Reading » Josh Evans – Path to the 2013 NFL Draft: An amazing experience at the Scouting Combine

Tags: combine, Draft, Josh Evans, NFL

1 » The 2013 NFL Scouting Combine is now in the books. Though not all of the 10 Florida Gators invited participated in the full event, a handful did and looked quite good while doing so. Below are links to OGGOA‘s combine wrap-ups. Click the appropriate link to see how your favorite former Florida player performed.

Safeties Matt Elam and Josh Evans – Tuesday | Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd; linebackers Jon Bostic, Jelani Jenkins and Lerentee McCray – Monday | Running back Mike Gillislee – Sunday | Offensive tackle Xavier Nixon, kicker Caleb Sturgis, tight end Jordan Reed – Saturday

2 » New England Patriots running back and Olympic silver medalist sprinter Jeff Demps wants to return to the track but do so without giving up football. According to agent Daniel Rose of Gridiron Sports, who did not return a request for comment from OGGOA but did send a tweet about the subject on Tuesday, Demps truly hopes that New England gives him permission to pursue both of his passions. “Jeff Demps has no intentions of leaving football. He loves doing both football and track. Representing Team USA in track and field in the Olympics and playing NFL football are an honor and privilege and Jeff Demps loves both,” he wrote. NFL.com‘s Ian Rapoport first reported the story and explained on NFL Network that “he plans to compete in an event in March and that calendar would run through August. They informed the Patriots of that this week. It’s possible the Patriots could work out a deal as Demps does want to play two sports. It’s a little too early to know a resolution on this but we do know he wants to play two sports.” Whether or not New England – or another NFL team – wants to give Demps that opportunity is an unknown at this point.

3 » While at NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston, TX a few weeks ago, Golden State Warriors power forward David Lee approached USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo about playing for Team USA in the upcoming 2014 FIBA World Cup and remaining on the team through the 2016 Rio Olympics. According to FOX Sports’ Chris Tomasson, Colangelo “said nothing is definite yet as far as Lee being among 20 to 24 players” invited to Las Vegas, NV for training camp from July 24-28. Chances are he will have that opportunity, however, as Lee trained with Team USA in preparation for the World Championships in 2010 and probably would have made the team if not for sustaining an injury that forced him to depart early.

Check out three more Gators news BITS…after the break!
Continue Reading » SIX BITS: combine, Demps, Lee, Donovan, Lochte

Tags: All-Star, Billy Donovan, Caleb Sturgis, combine, David Lee, FIBA, FIBA World Cup, Golden State Warriors, Jeff Demps, Jelani Jenkins, Jon Bostic, Jordan Reed, Josh Evans, Lerentee McCray, Matt Elam, Mike Gillislee, NBA, New England Patriots, NFL, Olympics, Ryan Lochte, Sharrif Floyd, swimming, USA, USA Basketball, Xavier Nixon

For the fourth-straight year, ONLY GATORS Get Out Alive continues our coverage of the 10 former Florida Gators participating in the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine (National Invitational Camp) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.

The event, which is held for six days from Feb. 20-26, consists of more than 300 players being put through a series of drills, tests and interviews while more than 600 NFL personnel in attendance (including coaching staffs, executives, player personnel and medical staffs) look on and evaluate each of them. It amounts to the final job interview these athletes will participate in before the 2013 NFL Draft commences on April 25.

Safeties Matt Elam (Group: 10 | Camp: DB12) and Josh Evans (Group: 10 | Camp: DB13) concluded their four days at the combine on Tuesday by competing in the full workout (results below).

2013 NFL Combine: Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday

Check out Tuesday’s results from the 2013 NFL Combine…after the break!
Continue Reading » Florida Gators at the 2013 NFL Combine: Tuesday

Tags: combine, Draft, Josh Evans, Lucas Oil Stadium, Matt Elam, NFL