1 » As OGGOA reported via Twitter over the weekend, former Florida Gators and NFL star running back Emmitt Smith has announced that he asked Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to induct him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. However, Smith was not worrying about his acceptance speech over the weekend, as he teamed with other former Gators and celebrities including head coach Urban Meyer to raise money for his former fullback and still close friend Darryl Perry‘s charity – Miracle of Life Foundation. “Darryl led me back then and he leads me now,” Smith told the Orlando Sentinel. “Except now he leads me with his heart.”

2 » After postponing a series last week due to inclimate weather, No. 6/7 Florida baseball (12-3) snuck a game against Army Black Knights (5-4) into the schedule Monday night. Playing at home at McKethan Stadium, the Gators earned a 9-3 victory as sophomore starter Anthony DeSclafani tossed a season-high 5.2 innings. Sophomore designated hitter Preston Tucker went 1-5 with his first home run of the season and three RBI, while freshman first baseman Austin Maddox (2-5) drove in two runs and senior reliever Jeff Barfield (S2) picked up the save on 3.1 innings of work.

3 » Shut out of the NCAA Tournament after posting a 14-16 record on the season, the Gators women’s basketball team has been invited to compete in the 2010 Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Florida will host first-round action, facing the South Florida Bulls (15-15) on Thursday in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The Bulls are defending WNIT champions, defeating the Kansas Jayhawks 75-71 in the 2009 event.

4 » Former Ball State Cardinals head volleyball coach Dave Boos has been named assistant coach of Gators volleyball , head coach Mary Wise announced to the press on Monday. “I am very excited to join the Gator volleyball family,” Boos said in a release. “I’ve had the opportunity to coach with and against Coach Wise during my career and have the utmost respect for her and how she has built Florida volleyball. I am looking forward to working with one of the top coaching staffs in the country and assisting in the guidance of a tremendous group of student-athletes.”

Tags: Anthony DeSclafani, Army Black Knights, Austin Maddox, Dallas Cowboys, Darryl Perry, Dave Boos, Emmitt Smith, Jeff Barfield, Jerry Jones, Mary Wise, McKethan Stadium, Miracle of Life Foundation, NFL, O'Connell Center, Preston Tucker, Pro Football Hall of Fame, South Florida Bulls, Urban Meyer, volleyball, WNIT, women's basketball

Three-star kicker Marvin Kloss (Naples, FL), denied admission to the University of Florida a month ago when trying to earn a spot as a walk-on for the Florida Gators, ended up accepting a preferred walk-on offer from the South Florida Bulls on Feb. 18. Little did Florida know that it avoided another problem football player – Kloss was arrested Friday on a felony charge of grand theft, according to the Naples Daily News.

Naples police say Kloss, 18, and a friend stole almost $8,200 worth of property during a house party. Considering the Bulls have a surplus of kickers on the roster, it is expected that head coach Skip Holtz will likely remove Kloss from consideration for a spot on the team.

Photo Credit: David Albers/Naples Daily News

Tags: arrest, Marvin Kloss, South Florida Bulls, University of Florida

For the first time in history, four universities from the state of Florida will compete in The Florida Four, a two-game baseball tournament being held at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, FL, on Tues., March 2, 2010. The No. 5/6 Florida Gators (5-0) will square off against the No. 6/3 Florida State Seminoles (6-0) in the second game of the event, which begins with the Miami Hurricanes (5-1) taking on the South Florida Bulls (1-5) at 4 p.m. The winners of each game do not face each other.

“We’ve been working with the [New York] Yankees for a few years now to bring another premier event to our community,” Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission Rob Higgins said in an organizational press release. “We hope it serves as launching pad to Omaha for the four programs. This is a story that will start in March and we hope continues on to June.”

“On behalf of the World Champion New York Yankees, it is with great pleasure and pride that we welcome The Florida Four Baseball Classic to George M. Steinbrenner Field. As a past collegiate coach, it is George Steinbrenner’s dream to create this event for Tampa”, said Felix Lopez, the Yankees’ Senior Vice President. “We welcome the great schools of Florida to our facility and look forward to continuing this event for years to come.”

Following their participation in the event, the Gators will travel to Coral Gables, FL, for a three-game series against the Hurricanes. Florida will face Florida State at home on March 16 and on the road on March 30 and April 13. The Gators swept the Bulls 6-2, 9-1, 7-6(10) in their season-opening three-game series Feb. 19-21.

Tuesday’s Gators/Seminoles game will air in Florida. Check your local listings.

Tags: baseball, Florida Four, Florida State Seminoles, George M. Steinbrenner Field, Miami Hurricanes, New York Yankees, South Florida Bulls

1 » Led by a strong effort from seniors guard Steffi Sorensen and forward Sharielle Smith, the Florida Gators women’s basketball team (14-13, 7-7 SEC) achieved a 64-57 upset over the No. 20 Georgia Bulldogs (20-7, 7-7 SEC) in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on Sunday. Sorensen and Smith combined for 31 points and 14 rebounds as the Gators earned their first victory against a ranked opponent in more than a year.

2 » No. 7 men’s tennis (7-2) continued its terrific play this season, taking down the South Florida Bulls (3-5) 6-1 on Sunday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The No. 10-ranked doubles duo of redshirt senior Antoine Benneteau and junior Alexandre Lacroix won its 20th match of 2009-10 with an 8-2 victory. Lacroix, ranked No. 17 as a singles competitor, took down No. 91 Jamal Adderley, 6-2, 6-4 for his 11th win against a ranked opponent this season.

3 » Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski is one of the most famous Gators fans in professional sports. From attending games to razzing teammates who are fans of opposing teams, Pierzynski is not shy about his Florida pride. That includes wearing orange and blue shoes around MLB camp last week, according to the Chicago Tribune.

4 » The Gators want three-star tight end Michael McFarland (Tampa, FL) to gain weight. His high school basketball team? Not so much. “They want me to put 10 to 15 pounds of solid muscle on before I get there,” McFarland told the St. Petersburg Times. “I want to start [working out] so bad.” McFarland, at 6’6” 240 lbs., is his team’s starting center and has two weeks to go before he can begin Florida’s workout routines.

Extra BIT » High school junior Lindsey Cooper, the younger sister of former Gators wide receiver Riley Cooper, recently made unofficial visits to Florida and Florida State as she decides where to attend college on a soccer scholarship. A standout at Clearwater Central Catholic High School, Cooper hopes to sprint for a university’s track and field team as well.

Tags: A.J. Pierzynski, Alexandre Lacroix, Antoine Benneteau, Chicago White Sox, Georgia Bulldogs, Jamal Adderley, Linder Stadium, Lindsey Cooper, Michael McFarland, MLB, O'Connell Center, Riley Cooper, Ring Tennis Complex, Sharielle Smith, South Florida Bulls, Steffi Sorensen, tennis, women's basketball

Defeating the South Florida Bulls 6-2 Friday night in its 2010 season opener, No. 7/9 Florida Gators baseball had the task of facing them two more times before the weekend was out. Florida (3-0) followed through, taking down USF (0-3) 9-1 on Saturday and coming from three runs down to win 7-6 in extra innings Sunday at McKethan Stadium.

Read all of the details about each game and plenty more after the break!
Continue Reading » Baseball completes three-game sweep of USF

Tags: Austin Maddox, baseball, Brian Johnson, Josh Adams, Kamm Washington, Matt den Dekker, McKethan Stadium, Mike Zunino, Preston Tucker, South Florida Bulls, Tyler Thompson

Home runs rocketed out of McKethan Stadium Friday night as No. 7/9 Florida Gators baseball (1-0) opened its 2010 season with a 6-2 win against the South Florida Bulls (0-1). Junior second baseman Josh Adams went 3-3 and powered the Gators with two homers and four RBI, while redshirt sophomore pitcher Tommy Toledo started for 3.1 innings after sitting out the entire 2009 campaign with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

Read the rest of Friday night’s baseball game story after the jump!
Continue Reading » Florida baseball takes down USF in season opener

Tags: Alex Panteliodis, Austin Maddox, baseball, Greg Larson, Josh Adams, Matt den Dekker, McKethan Stadium, Preston Tucker, South Florida Bulls, Tommy Toledo

Though he was offered a scholarship and grayshirt by the South Florida Bulls, three-star kicker Marvin Kloss (Naples, FL) had decided to accept a walk-on offer from the Florida Gators pending his admission. Unfortunately for Kloss and the Gators, the University of Florida decided not to grant him admission due to his grades and test scores; he will now be a preferred walk-on with the Bulls.

“If [Florida] can get me in, I’m going up there,” Kloss said earlier in the week. “I want to play right away, and they’re a lot better [than USF] scholarship-wise with just one kicker and one punter on scholarship.” His tune obviously had to change on Thursday. “It wasn’t that hard a decision,” Kloss told the St. Petersburg Times. “I thought about it, sat down with my coach and my parents, and overall, I just had a better feel about USF.”

His grade point average and test scores already earned him a Florida Bright Futures scholarship, though they were obviously not high enough to get him into UF. Kloss had previously told the Times that Gators interim head coach and offensive coordinator Steve Addazio would be taking his paperwork to the admissions office on Wednesday.

Kloss had scholarship offers from the Purdue Boilermakers and Marshall Thundering Heard before National Signing Day, both of which he declined in order to attempt a walk-on. He is not guaranteed a scholarship from USF, especially since he will be competing with the six kickers already on the team’s roster this spring.

Photo Credit: David Albers/Naples Daily News

Tags: Marvin Kloss, National Signing Day, South Florida Bulls, Steve Addazio, University of Florida

1 » Former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow has been lining up speaking engagements left and right since graduation, and he has recently agreed to be the keynote speaker for Union University’s second annual Roy L. White Legacy Golf and Gala on April 19. Tickets to the event, which will be held at the Carl Perkins Civic Center, are at least $50 per seat. More information can be found here.

2 » Gators sophomore first baseman Preston Tucker has been named to the Preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List. The award, which honors the best college baseball player each year, is sponsored by Major League Baseball. Tucker was the 2009 SEC Co-Freshman of the Year and earned a triple crown for Florida by leading the team in batting average (.364), runs batted in (85) and home runs (15). His RBI mark set a University of Florida single-season record.

3 » Speaking of Florida baseball, the preseason No. 7-ranked team will open its 2010 season against the South Florida Bulls on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at McKethan Stadium in the first of a three-game series. The second and third games will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday, respectively. The Gators have also earned preseason rankings of No. 9 by two services and No. 10 by another. Baseball finished 42-22 in 2009 and won the SEC East Division title for the first time since 2005.

4 » Sophomore Nassim Slilam and freshman Allie Will were named to the 2010 ITA All-Tournament Team for their performances at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships last week. Slilam and Will each went 3-0 in their respective performances, and Will improved her singles record to a team best 27-3 this season.

Tags: Allie Will, baseball, Carl Perkins Civic Center, Freshman of the Year, Golden Spikes Award, ITA All-Tournament Team, ITA National Team Indoor Championship, McKethan Stadium, MLB, Nassim Slilam, Preston Tucker, SEC, South Florida Bulls, Tim Tebow, Union University, University of Florida