Walk-On Walk-Off: Home Farewell for Jake & Lexx
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Last month, at the Florida basketball team's hotel on a road trip to College Station, Texas, a petite older woman climbed on an elevator and found herself standing next to a big, thick guy in a Gators sweat suit.
“Oh my,” she said. “You must be with the team.”
“Yes ma'am.”
“Are you one of the star players?” she said.
Lexx Edwards neither smiled nor frowned.
“No ma'am,” he said. “I'm here to serve.” 
When it comes to building a college hoops roster, coaching staffs search for the most talented players they can sign and that fit their program. There are only 13 scholarships to work with, after which comes the need to bring in non-scholarship guys that not only have some basketball skills but are willing to do anything/everything for very little in return other than the personal gratification of being on there. And even these "walk-ons" have required standards.
“It's pretty simple actually,” explained Jake Kurtz. “Be extremely low-maintenance and do whatever the coaches ask.”
Translation: Get there early and be prepared to completely sell out at practice (even if it means taking a beating); understand and accept that playing time will come only when the game gets out of hand; never get in trouble. 
Tighter translation: Serve.
Think about that Tuesday night when the Gators (14-15, 7-9) wrap their 2014-15 home schedule against Texas A&M (20-8, 11-5) at the O'Connell Center. As is customary, the final home date doubles as “Senior Night” for the eldest UF players and that means a Rowdy Reptile farewell to a couple of players in Kurtz and Edwards who in their own way have lived walk-on fantasyland careers minus the Hollywood, “Rudy-like” ending.
They'll leave with a drawer of championship rings and a college lifetime of others' respect.
“If all of our guys had the competitive makeup of those two guys, as far as how they attack every single day out here, we'd have more than 20 wins right,” UF assistant coach Matt McCall said. “They have roles and they embrace those roles.”
Assistant coaches go to war with the walk-ons daily because they're the ones presenting the “Orange” practice team with the opponent's scouting report and running that action against the UF starters. And it's not just about providing a realistic look, but a realistic dose of physicality, also.
“Those two guys embody commitment to the uniform and commitment to winning,” assistant coach John Pelphrey said. “They never, ever put themselves in front of the team and that's why we, as coaches, find such great value with them. They're walking embodiments every day of what we want. When those guys are gone, it's going to be a big blow to our program.”
The Kurtz story is one everybody knows by now. Five years ago, with some connections, he talked his way into the UF basketball facility and was allowed to watch practice from the upper level mezzanine. In time, he had a manager's job and was filling water bottles and wiping sweat off the floor. Not long after that, with some injuries here and there, he was stepping in during practice and lo and behold, this 6-foot-5, 190-pounder who averaged 13 points at Oviedo Hagerty High was pretty good.
Good enough that one of his first orders from a coach went something like this: Go guard Patric Young.
“That's what they needed at the time,” Kurtz said. “You have to do whatever is asked, but beyond that you have to try your hardest and be someone the coaches can depend on.”
Kurtz became that and more. His sterling basketball IQ enabled him to play any scout position on the floor, but his feel and knack for making the right play eventually earned him the trust of his coaches to get in games.
While the Gators dealt with early injuries and suspensions during last season's remarkable run, Kurtz played double-digit minutes in 15 of the first 20 games; in a couple others he played one minute; in another he didn't play at all. As the team got healthier and made its historic run to an unbeaten Southeastern Conference season, league tournament title and Final Four, Kurtz's playing status was reduced to two minutes here, one there, and an occasional DNP.
He never complained.
“When you want to be respected inside of a team sport, you have to be totally selfless,” Coach Billy Donovan said. “The last person you have to think about is yourself because your actions more often than not display what your intentions are.”
Senior walk-on Jake Kurtz had 13 rebounds in a game against Lousiana-Monroe earlier this season.
Kurtz's intentions always put the team first.
It's probably somewhat telling about this '14-15 Florida team that his walk-on role morphed into a 20-minute guy -- with six starts, no less -- who is averaging 4.4 points (on a team-best .605 field-goal percentage), 3.5 rebounds and leading the team with nine charges taken. But it's not Kurtz's fault he was the best option at times. It's a testament to his readiness for the opportunity.
“I'd be lying if I said this is how I thought things would work, but my goal was always just to be part of it all in some way,” said Kurtz, who graduated last year with a degree in mechanical engineering and after the spring will be two semesters from a masters. “Things just happened and because I was paying attention I got a chance to play.”
To date, Kurtz's has played 843 minutes in 79 games, with 184 points and 164 rebounds, making him far and away the most accomplished walk-on of the Donovan era (maybe ever at UF).
And then there's Edwards.
In his three walk-on seasons (2011-12, '13-14, 14-15), Edwards is credited with 39 minutes in 21 games -- and no points. Just last week at Missouri, the Gators took only 10 players on the trip, only seven on scholarship, and Edwards got the call for 11 minutes worth of action. When he attempted just the third shot of his career (the first 3-pointer) some UF fans expressed their surprise on Twitter in finding out Edwards was left-handed.
“2X Lexx” soon was trending as “2X Left.”
“I love basketball,” said Edwards, whovwill graduate in June with a sociology degree. “I don't do it for any type of recognition, obviously. I do it because I'm trying to help my teammates achieve goals they've set for themselves as players and men. There's a bond here. A family. That's the recognition.”
If Edwards, now 6-1 and 220, wanted recognition he could have signed with Marshall, Syracuse, Cincinnati, North Carolina or any of the other Division-I schools that offered the former Orlando Jones standout a football full ride. Edwards was an outstanding running back and linebacker, who actually committed to play at Marshall, but changed his mind to pursue his lifelong dream to attend UF when an academic offer came through.
Lexx Edwards could have had a football career at Marshall, but dreamed of one day playing basketball for Billy Donovan. He played a career-high 11 minutes for the Gators at Missouri last week.
True story: Edwards' older brother, Lorenzo, was a backup linebacker and special teams regular for the Gators from 2007-10, winning a national title in '08. During his recruitment, Urban Meyer was in the family's home when he met Lexx, then an eighth-grader, who told the football coach his dream of one-day playing basketball for the Gators.
Meyer pulled out his cell phone and dialed Donovan's number. When the voice mail clicked on, Meyer handed young Lexx the phone.
“Coach Donovan,” he said. “My name is Lexx Edwards and in five years I'm going to play basketball for you at Florida.”
Five years later, Edwards drove his scooter past the UF facility and saw Donovan in the parking lot. He pulled over, tracked down Donovan and reminded him of that call from way back when.
“He told me he remembered,” Edwards said. “And it just so happened a tryout was coming up.”
Edwards made the '11-12 team, took off the following year, then returned to the Gators for the past two seasons. His practice calling card is physicality and (with the help of no officials) managing to get more offensive rebounds than a 6-1 forward has any reason getting.
The coaches encourage the daily confrontation. Edwards obliges them.
“I push them as hard as I can,” he said. “That's rewarding to me.”
If that sounds at all farfetched, especially given the time commitment compared to the playing time reward, Pelphrey found a wonderful way to put the walk-on existence in context.
"They have more fun playing the game and is less frustrated than anybody on the court because everybody else has expectations in their mind of what they should be doing, even if it's something they're not able to do,” Pelphrey said. “It's ironic. A guy like Lexx, he's actually getting more out of it. The experience is greater than a lot of guys that are much more heralded, talented and play more.”
It goes back to understanding the role.
After all, they're here to serve.
But for one night, they'll be celebrated.
