2 » Florida baseball’s left-handed starting pitcher and designated hitter Brian Johnson has been named to the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award watch list, according to the University of Florida. He is on one only 25 players to be recognized on the list and could receive it on July 2. Johnson, in his short career, is already a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week who is 4-2 with a 3.74 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 53 innings. In the batters box, he is hitting at a .385 clip with 10 RBI and a grand slam.

Extra Bit » Former Gators defensive end Bobby McCray, who won Super Bowl XLIV as a member of the New Orleans Saints, sat down for a wide-ranging interview with SportingNews. McCray touched on winning the big game, playing for defensive coordinator Gary Williams and what he would like to do when his NFL career is over.

Extra Bit II » Check out this video of Larson from one of his local news stations:

1 » Former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow will be the keynote speaker at the 21st Winged Foot Scholar Athlete awards banquet dinner on May 27 at the Naples Grande. The organization awards scholarships to deserving student-athletes from Collier County (like former Miami Dolphins punter Ray “The Mule” Finkle**). Big-name speakers preceding Tebow at this event include head coaches Urban Meyer (2009), Lou Holtz (2008), Tony Dungy (2001) and Steve Spurrier (1994).

**Finkle: soccer style kicker who graduated from Collier High June 1976; Stetson University honors graduate class of 1980; holds two NCAA Division I records – one for most points in a season, one for distance; former nickname “The Mule;” the first and only pro-athlete ever to come out of Collier County…and one hell of a model American.

2 » Two weeks later, the Tebow family’s Focus on the Family Super Bowl XLIV advertisement is still drawing attention. While, for the most part, viewers found the commercial to be harmless and not worthy of the controversy surrounding it, FotF believes it was a success for their organization. However, a Christian research firm named Barna Group disagrees, saying the spot did nothing to convey a particular message and was neither as memorable nor as clear as the group hoped it would be.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

2 » University of Florida orthopedic surgeon Dr. Peter Indelicato, the team physician for the football and men’s basketball teams, will be honored on Feb. 20 as a “Champion With Heart” at the Gainesville Heart Ball. Though he has four championship rings with the Gators, Indelicato calls the award “the greatest honor of my life.” Read the rest of his story at The Gainesville Sun.

3 » One of the best long distance runners in Florida state history, Matt Mizereck (Tallahassee, FL) has committed to run at UF in the fall. The 2009 Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year, 2009 Footlocker Cross Country All-American and three-time individual state champion signed his letter of intent on Tuesday. “I really felt comfortable being with the team,” Mizereck told the Tallahassee Democrat. “They were like automatic best friends. I felt the atmosphere with the University of Florida was phenomenal.”

4 » Former Gators defensive end Bobby McCray, now a Super Bowl XLIV champion with the New Orleans Saints, was interviewed by Jim Rome on his national radio show Wednesday. The audio is available below.

Bobby McCray on Jim Rome – 02/10/10

2 » Speaking of Tebow’s Super Bowl advertisement, an interesting turn of events has transpired since it aired on Sunday. The heavily controversial commercial, which was determined by the majority of the viewing public to be rather bland and insignificant, has drawn the ire of the National Organization for Women. The pro-choice NOW, which was previously against the ad due to its pro-life slant, has now taken umbrage with a different part of its content. “I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it,” NOW president Terry O’Neil told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don’t find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself.”

2 » While most of the country was focused on the Super Bowl, the Florida women’s basketball team (13-10, 6-4 SEC) was in Gainesville, FL, hosting the Mississippi State Bulldogs (15-9, 6-5 SEC) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The Gators kept it close all game, eventually pulling out a hard-earned 80-78 double-overtime victory. Senior guard Lonnika Thompson scored all of her 11 points in overtime while classmates G Steffi Sorensen and forward Sharielle Smith each recorded double-doubles. Redshirt sophomore G Jordon Jones was responsible for the game-winning free throws with only 2.7 seconds left to lift Florida for the win.

3 » Following in the footsteps of their male counterparts, the No. 7 Gators women’s tennis team (5-0) completed a sweep at home over the weekend. The Florida women took on and defeated the Troy Trojans 7-0 at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. No. 13-ranked freshman Allie Will and No. 81-ranked senior Marrit Boonstra each won their singles matches and combined as the No. 26 doubles duo to take the event’s first doubles match 8-1.

4 » The Florida club cycling team took home the annual Swamp Classic in Gainesville, FL, on Sunday. Called “one of the most dominant teams in the nation,” by The Gainesville Sun, the Gators group seemingly dominated the event from start-to-finish. For more, read Ray FItzGerald’s report here.

Focus on the Family Super Bowl commercial featuring Tim and Pam Tebow:

Focus on the Family pre-game commercial featuring Tim and Pam Tebow:

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!

3 » After suffering an uncharacteristic loss to start the season, the No. 3 Florida gymnastics team (4-1, 3-0 SEC) has rebounded in a big way, winning four straight and taking a 195.475-194.45 victory over No. 22 N.C. State Wolfpack (3-2) on the road Friday. Originally a triangular meet, the George Washington Colonials had to pull out due to travel issues because of the heavy snow. The Gators hope to keep this momentum as they stay on the road and travel to Tuscaloosa, AL, to face the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide on Feb. 12 at 8:30 p.m. The meet will air tape-delayed on ESPN2 on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 11:30 a.m.

4 » Also continuing its dominance is the No. 11 men’s tennis team (4-1), which took down the Florida Atlantic Owls 7-0 Saturday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The nation’s No. 10-ranked doubles duo of redshirt senior Antoine Benneteau and junior Alexandre Lacroix faced some stiff opposition from Marc Abdelnour and Lawrence Harradine but was still able to pull off an 8-6 win.

5 » Florida track and field had a great weekend of their own with a stellar performance by senior jumper Shara Proctor leading the charge. Proctor turned in the second-best mark in the world this year in the indoor long jump at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet at Rector Field House. She was already the SEC Female Field Athlete of the Week and won the long jump with a nation-leading 6.67m/21-10.75. It was the 12th-best women’s long jump in NCAA history. On Friday alone, the Gators won two events, received one NCAA automatic-qualifying mark and five NCAA provisional-qualifying marks/times. Sophomore sprinter Jeff Demps competed for the first time in 2010 and finished with qualifying times of 6.64 and 6.61 (second-fastest time in school history) in the men’s 60m dash. Redshirt sophomore Chris Rainey competed in the same event and finished fourth with a qualifying time of 6.70.

6 » On Saturday, the final afternoon of the meet, the Gators brought it all together. The team ended up with a total of seven event victories, four NCAA automatic-qualifying marks and 12 NCAA provisional-qualifying marks. Proctor again led the way with the eighth-best women’s triple jump in NCAA history (13.88m/45-6.50) and the best in the nation this season. Senior thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili, who has already made headlines this year, earned the No. 3 mark in NCAA history in the women’s shot put with a toss of 18.56m/60-10.75. Freshman jumper Frankie Hammond also competed and recorded a qualifying leap of 2.14m/7-0.25.

For more on Florida track and field’s weekend, check out GatorZone.com’s story.

G Series, which will be introduced at the Super Bowl, is a three-part regimen designed to fuel every step of an athlete’s performance. It consists of three components: a priming drink, performance drink and recovery drink. “Whether it’s practice, training or competition, the G Series three-part system fuels the body at every stage of your routine – before, during and after – helping you perform at your best,” according to Gatorade.

With plenty of endorsement opportunities sure to come Tebow’s way (and some already have), none makes more sense than Gatorade, a product developed by University of Florida scientists in 1965 in Gainesville, FL.

Should Tebow receive a full endorsement offer from the company, he would join Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning, New York Giants QB Eli Manning and San Diego Chargers RB LaDanian Tomlinson as its NFL representatives.

“I don’t have to fake it,” Tebow told The Miami Herald of his endorsing Gatorade. “I believe in the product. It’s part of my life for a long time. Being a Gator, that’s what you drink. My personality, if I don’t believe in something, I can’t fake it.”

Tebow also spoke with the Herald about his life’s direction since the 2010 Sugar Bowl.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s obviously a lot of scrutiny. There are a lot of good things and a lot of bad things when you’re dealing with it. There are pros and cons, just like with everything. I want people to believe in me. So when they don’t, when they talk negatively about me, when they create lies about me, when they stir stuff up about me, it can be frustrating. Some of it is false. Some of it is lies. Some of it, people just want to bring you down. It’s frustrating. But it does give me a lot of motivation.”

Video of Tebow working out for Gatorade, courtesy of the Sun-Sentinel, after the jump!

Jimmy Kimmel Live:

TAUNTR.com: