UPDATE: Florida does not grant K Marvin Kloss admission

Though he was offered a scholarship and grayshirt by the South Florida Bulls, three-star kicker Marvin Kloss (Naples, FL) has decided to accept a walk-on offer from the Florida Gators and expects to make an impact right away, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

“If they can get me in, I’m going up there,” Kloss said of his pending admission status at Florida. “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 grade point average and test scores have already earned him a Florida Bright Futures scholarship, so it is likely that UF will grant Kloss admission soon. In fact, he told the Times that interim head coach and offensive coordinator Steve Addazio would be taking his paperwork to the admissions office on Wednesday. If Kloss shows promise on the field, he should have no problem earning a scholarship with the Gators.

UPDATE: The Naples Daily News reports that a low SAT score caused UF to initially decline Kloss’ enrollment application. “The only thing holding me back from making a clear-cut decision is that I got declined,” he told the paper. “[The Gators’ coaches] said it’s up to admissions to decide based on the number of students they have next year.”

Kloss had scholarship offers from the Purdue Boilermakers and Marshall Thundering Heard, which he declined in order to walk-on at Florida (or USF).

“With Marvin’s talent, if he does anywhere close to what he should do next year, he will [earn a scholarship],” Barron Collier High School coach Mark Ivey told the paper. “He has the opportunity if he performs to help on kickoffs next year at a minimum.”

ESPNU Evaluation: “Kloss has FBS leg strength and he has shown this at multiple camps. He is a very competitive athlete who gets great height on both his kickoffs and field goals. He has special leg speed and the ball comes off his foot very fast with a slow rotation. His control and accuracy on field goals are impressive. He is college-ready off the ground. […] Coaches will like his confident attitude.”

Photo Credit: David Albers/Naples Daily News

Tags: grayshirt, Marvin Kloss, South Florida Bulls, Steve Addazio, University of Florida

1 » ESPN has taken to praising 2011 athlete recruit A.C. Leonard (Interlachen, FL), a current Florida Gators commitment. Called “a jack-of-all-trades in high school,” Leonard is projected as a tight end or defensive end in college and worked out extensively at the former position during the Jacksonville, FL, Under Armour combine over the weekend. Leonard continues to impress and remains a solid verbal commitment.

2 » No. 4 Florida men’s golf took home its seventh straight SunTrust Gator Invitational title on Sunday, shooting a team score of 279 (-1) in the final round at the Mark Bostik Golf Course. Up nine strokes going into the final round, the Gators doubled it up and won by 18. Seniors Tyson Alexander and Tim McKenney, along with redshirt junior Andres Echavarria, tied for third place with a total score of 212 (+2).

Four more BITS on tennis, women’s b-ball and softball’s rebound after the jump!
Continue Reading » SIX BITS: A.C. Leonard, golf, tennis, b-ball, softball

Tags: A.C. Leonard, Alexandre Lacroix, Andres Echavarria, Antoine Benneteau, Boar’s Head Sports Club, Eddie C. Moore Complex, Francesca Enea, Georgia Bulldogs, golf, ITA National Team Indoor Championship, Long Island Blackbirds, Mark Bostik Golf Course, Nielsen Tennis Stadium, Northwestern Wildcats, South Florida Bulls, Steffi Sorensen, Stephanie Brombacher, SunTrust Gator Invitational, Tennessee Lady Vols, tennis, Thompson-Boling Arena, Tim McKenney, Tyson Alexander, UCLA Bruins, Under Armour, USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament

1 » Though the coaching change at Tennessee is garnering much national attention, the Florida Gators 2010 schedule may have just gotten a little tougher if you believe that Skip Holtz has what it takes to begin a major turnaround with the South Florida Bulls. Regardless of what you think, Holtz is confident that his new team can eventually rise to the level of Florida, but he knows it will not happen right away. “That’s what I’m here,” Holtz responded to a student who hollered “Beat Florida!” at his opening press conference. “We want to build one of the better programs in the country. It’s not going to happen overnight, but it can happen here.” The Gators and Bulls square-off on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010, in Florida’s second game of the season.

2 » The guys over at The Chris Vernon Show put together this farewell song for former Tennessee Volunteers head coach Lane Kiffin. Very well-done. Enjoy.
The Chris Vernon Show – Runaway Lane

Tags: Lane Kiffin, Skip Holtz, South Florida Bulls, Tennessee Volunteers

Now that Eastern Carolina Pirates‘ Skip Holtz has been hired as the new head coach of the South Florida Bulls, the Florida Gators 2010 coaching staff appears to be solidified. Associate head coach and defense/defensive line coach Dan McCarney was under consideration for the job and, according to Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel, he actually received two interviews for the position.

Florida Gators (Projected) 2010 Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Urban Meyer

Interim Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, Offensive Line: Steve Addazio
Quarterbacks: Scot Loeffler
Wide Receivers: Zach Azzanni
Running Backs: Stan Drayton
Tight Ends: Brian White

Defensive Coordinator, Inside Linebackers: George Edwards
Co-Defensive Coordinator, Secondary: Chuck Heater
Associate Head Coach, Defense/Defensive Line: Dan McCarney
Outside Linebackers: D.J. Durkin

Special Teams: Urban Meyer / D.J. Durkin
Recruiting Coordinator: TBD
Director of Player and Community Relations: Terry Jackson

Tags: Dan McCarney, Eastern Carolina Pirates, Florida Gators, Skip Holtz, South Florida Bulls

From time to time, OGGOA will come across a plethora of news and notes that we wish to share with our readers. In those instances, we present a special post: Gator Bites. Enjoy.

» A rumor making its way around the Web over the last few days states that former Florida Gators running backs coach Stan Drayton may return to the program if Kenny Carter bolts for the Louisville Cardinals. This is the same Drayton that left Florida for the Tennessee Volunteers and took this shot at the Gators and head coach Urban Meyer on his way out the door: “If you’re going to be a running backs coach, you want to be part of a system that involves the running back.” Not gonna happen.

» Another option at running backs coach could very well be former Florida RB Terry Jackson. A Gator great who was a member of the 1996 National Championship team and played seven years in the NFL, Jackson was named Director of Player and Community Relations at UF in March 2008. Jackson, whose father Willie Sr. and brother Willie Jr. also played at Florida, has thought about getting into coaching since finishing his pro career. Hiring Jackson could be a very smooth transition for the Gators.

» Speaking of Carter, four-star RB commit Mack Brown (Lithonia, GA) made news last night when he told two reporters that Carter was leaving the program for Louisville. However, Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel also spoke with Brown, who told him that Carter did not say he was leaving and that he “didn’t talk to him about it.” Perhaps Brown said something he wasn’t supposed to and is now being sush-ed about it?

» UPDATE: Brown provided more information about his feelings on Carter’s switch to Rivals Monday night. “I understand he had to do what he had to do,” he said. “I know he has a good relationship with coach Strong and he’s going to have a better position with more money coming in for his family. I’m still committed to Florida. I’m going to wait it out and see what happens. I’m confused. You’re supposed to commit to a school, but you get to know the coaches and they feel like family. All the coaches that I got to know over the last year, that I dealt with over the summer, they’re all leaving. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to talk about it with my family.”

» Brady Ackerman is reporting that Gators assistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chuck Heater turned down an offer from new Marshall Thundering Herd head coach Doc Holliday to be his team’s defensive coordinator. Heater wants the UF job badly. OGGOA continues to project him as the team’s next defensive coordinator.

» Ackerman also confirmed an OGGOA report that assistant head coach and defensive line coach Dan McCarney would only leave Florida if he was offered a head coaching position – presumably with the South Florida Bulls. Jim Leavitt has not been removed from his position there, and McCarney told reporters last week that he is not interested in the Gators’ defensive coordinator position.

» Five-star safety recruit Matt Elam (West Palm Beach, FL), a former Gators commit who spurned the team for the Florida State Seminoles, ignored two phone calls placed from Meyer last week. However, Elam finally picked up recently and said Meyer attempted to sway him back to UF. “He tried, but it didn’t work,” Elam said. Elam is expected to make his announcement at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday.

» OGGOA has heard a rumor from two very different sources that Meyer was either offered a contract or spoken to by ESPN about working for the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” should he eventually decide not to return to coaching. Not a shocker.

» Think Florida losing to the South Alabama Jaguars last week was a tough pill to swallow? Try being the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels who fell Monday night to the College of Charleston Cougars.

Tags: All-American, Army, Chuck Heater, Dan McCarney, Doc Holliday, Florida State Seminoles, Jim Leavitt, Kenny Carter, Louisville Cardinals, Mack Brown, Marshall Thundering Herd, Matt Elam, NFL, South Alabama Jaguars, South Florida Bulls, Stan Drayton, Syracuse Orange, Terry Jackson, Urban Meyer, Willie Jackson