1 » In a news item that OGGOA broke early Thursday evening via Twitter, Florida Gators four-star defensive tackle commitment Leon Orr (New Port Richey, FL) may be forced to leave Gainesville, FL, and return to Gulf High School for the spring semester. Orr is waiting to hear back from the NCAA Eligibility Center which informed him that some of his high school credits may not have transferred correctly. Should he have to return home to take a class, Orr would come back to Gainesville after graduation for the beginning of the summer session. This, however, remains to be seen, and OGGOA will keep you updated on Orr’s eligibility.

2 » The Florida volleyball team completed a terrific 25-6 run in 2009 and expected to come into the 2010 season with little turnover aside from graduating seniors libero Elyse Cusack and middle blocker Kristina Johnson. Instead, head coach Mary Wise learned this week that starter sophomore outside hitter Colleen Ward and junior setter Brynja Rodgers have decided to transfer. “[Ward] misses home and didn’t feel like she totally fitted in here,” Wise told The Gainesville Sun Thursday. “It was a total shock. We didn’t see it coming and neither did her teammates. With Brynja, the scholarship helped because she would have had to pay her way through her junior year at New Mexico State. She played very well for us, but it wasn’t a surprise that she was leaving.”

Tags: Brynja Rodgers, Colleen Ward, Elyse Cusack, Gulf, Kristina Johnson, Leon Orr, Mary Wise, NCAA Elegibility Center, volleyball

Over the past two weeks, OGGOA asked you to participate in three polls. The first two determined your Most Valuable Players for the Florid International Golden Panthers and Florida State Seminoles games, while the third determined which administrator was most important to University of Florida athletics. An OGGOA-record total of 875 combined votes (292 average) were cast, and the results are in:

Who was your Florida Gators MVP vs. FIU?
QB Tim Tebow (50%, 92 votes)
QB John Brantley (25%, 47 votes)
RB Chris Rainey (13%, 25 votes)
LB Brandon Spikes (12%, 22 votes)

Who was your Florida Gators MVP vs. FSU?
QB Tim Tebow (77%, 203 votes)
TE Aaron Hernandez (21%, 55 votes)
LB Brandon Hicks (1%, 4 votes)
RB Jeff Demps (1%, 3 votes)

Tebow’s third and fourth OGGOA MVP honors came in back-to-back weeks for the first time all season. His previous victories were against Georgia and Arkansas. Both victories are well-deserved, especially the Florida State one seeing as Tebow put up five touchdowns and had his best performance of the season.

Who has done more for the Florida Gators?
AD Jeremy Foley (39%, 166 votes)
HC Steve Spurrier (32%, 135 votes)
HC Urban Meyer (27%, 114 votes)
HC Billy Donovan (2%, 9 votes)

Reviewing the results of this poll, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the respect and appreciation for what Foley has done for UF’s athletic program is wide-spread. Often times, fans look at the coaches and players and do not know who is really taking care of things behind the scenes. Though I do not need to convince you to vote for Foley, this is just a taste of what he has done since becoming the athletic director in 1992. He hired Meyer, Donovan, Becky Burleigh (soccer), Tim Walton (softball) while retaining Buddy Alexander (men’s golf) and Mary Wise (volleyball) and helping the Gators finish as the top-ranked overall program in the Southeastern Conference in 15 of his 16 years.

Tags: Aaron Hernandez, Becky Burleigh, Billy Donovan, Brandon Hicks, Brandon Spikes, Buddy Alexander, Chris Rainey, Florida International Golden Panthers, Florida State Seminoles, Jeff Demps, Jeremy Foley, John Brantley, Mary Wise, MVP, poll, SEC, Steve Spurrier, Tim Tebow, Tim Walton, Urban Meyer

Facing their toughest test on the court since the 2006-2007 season, the Florida Gators basketball team (4-0) will take on the No. 2/2 Michigan State Spartans (4-0) in the opening game of the 2009 Legends Classic on Friday at 8 p.m. in Atlantic City, NJ. Florida will then face either the UMass Minutemen or Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday at either 5:30 p.m. or 8 p.m.

This is the sixth meeting between the Gators and Spartans, with Michigan State holding a 3-2 lead in the series. The Spartans won the last meeting 68-56 in Tampa in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament and also defeated the Gators 89-76 in the 2000 National Championship. Florida head coach Billy Donovan and Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo are contemporaries, having known each other since the early 1990s.

Much more on the Florida vs. Michigan State game as well as some notes on women’s basketball and volleyball after the jump…
Continue Reading » Gators take on No. 2 Spartans in Legends Classic

Tags: Big Ten, Billy Donovan, Chandler Parsons, FIU Thanksgiving Classic, Jonathan Mitchell, Legends Classic, March Madness, Mary Wise, Michigan State Spartans, National Championship, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, O'Connell Center, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, SEC, South Carolina Gamecocks, St. John's Red Storm, Tom Izzo, UMass Minutemen, volleyball, women's basketball

No. 13 Florida Gators volleyball (21-5, 15-4 SEC) stormed through Lexington, KY, on Sunday, defeating the No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats (27-3, 17-2 SEC) 3-1 (31-29, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21). Senior libero Elyse Cusack moved second place on the Southeastern Conference‘s all-time career digs list by turning in a season-high 33 to increase her career total to 2,055.

Four Gators contributed by recording double-figure kills – the 12th time this season that three or more players have reached the level in the same contest. Florida also recorded double-figure team blocks for the eighth time in 2009. Sophomore outside hitter Colleen Ward led the team with 14 kills and a career-high 18 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Her classmate and positionmate Kristy Jaeckel added 12 kills and 13 digs of her own for her ninth double-double of the season. Adding to the fun was sophomore right-side/setter Kelly Murphy with a career-high 43 assists.

“I think this was just a great match of high-level volleyball,” head coach Mary Wise said. “It was two very good teams battling with such great rallies. We feel very fortunate to have won and have to give credit to a good Kentucky team that really battled without its senior setter for most of the match.”

The Gators volleyball team returns to action on Friday, Nov. 27, when they square off against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at 4 p.m.

Tags: Colleen Ward, Elyse Cusack, Kelly Murphy, Kentucky Wildcats, Kristy Jaeckel, Mary Wise, O'Connell Center, SEC, volleyball

Selected in the 44th round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs, right handed pitcher Frank DeJiulio (Ocala, FL) turned down a professional contract and decided to return to school. This week during the NCAA’s early signing period, DeJiulio officially accepted his scholarship and committed to the Florida Gators. Standing 6’3″, DeJiulio played one season for Daytona State College after high school and could be used as a starter or closer with the Gators.

Also signing national letters of intent with the Gators this week are setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, AZ) and libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, IN). The two women, standing 5’9″ and 5’7″ respectively, are elite-level players who are both expected to compete as freshmen beginning in 2010. “In Chanel and Taylor, we have signed two elite athletes that bring both high-level skills and a lot of energy to the court,” volleyball head coach Mary Wise said. “Gator fans are going to enjoy watching them play throughout their careers.”

[UPDATE:] Apparently women’s basketball wanted to get in on the action too, signing four high school recruits to 2010 letters of intent on Wednesday. Forward Deaundra Young and guards Jaterra Bonds (Gainesville, FL), Kayla Lewis (Decatur, GA) and Brittany Shine (Sacramento, CA) all committed to head coach Amanda Butler, who could not have been more pleased to accept each of them. “There is not another group of players I would want to coach and I cannot wait to begin working with them,” Butler said. “These four players understand how special it is to be a Gator and that’s very important to me. They have great personalities, are super talented and each has a tremendous work-ethic.” Young, 6’2”, is the prize recruit of the class and is rated the nation’s 48th-best player (No. 8 forward) according to ESPN HoopGurlz. She is the niece of LaShawnda Jackson, a former letterwinner with the Florida track and field team. ESPN also ranks Lewis as the No. 16 small forward, Shine as the No. 25 guard and Bonds as the No. 32 shooting guard.

Tags: Amanda Butler, baseball, Brittany Shine, Chanel Brown, Chicago Cubs, Daytona State College, Deaundra Young, Frank DeJiulio, Jaterra Bonds, Kayla Lewis, LaShawnda Jackson, Mary Wise, MLB, Taylor Unroe, volleyball, women's basketball

The University of Florida women’s tennis doubles team of Lauren Embree and Allie Will made it to the finals of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. On Saturday at the Riviera Tennis Club, Embree and Will defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels team of Sophie Grabinski and Sanaz Marand, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Sunday afternoon, the ladies took on the Tennessee Volunteers‘ tandem of Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota for the title of an event considered to be the first leg of the NCAA’s version of the Grand Slam. The awe-inspiring run by the Florida Gators doubles team came to a halt, however, as Embree and Will were beat in three sets by Whoriskey and Pluskota, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

In other Gators sports news… The No. 6/6 volleyball team lost a three-set match to LSU Tigers Sunday evening in Baton Rouge, LA. LSU had three players with double-digit kills and won in straight sets, 28-26, 25-20, 25-22. “LSU played very well tonight,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “They really hit on all cylinders and I thought that their seniors played especially well for them.”

Tags: Allie Will, Lauren Embree, LSU Tigers, Mary Wise, North Carolina Tar Heels, Tennessee Volunteers, tennis, volleyball