Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Inside the Florida basketball weight room Thursday, strength and conditioning coordinator Preston Greene had his freshmen group getting after it. 

"Not much energy in here today," Greene barked, as UF's three rookies quietly went about their business.
 

There may have been a lack of energy on thist particular day, but there has been no lack pof results in the run-up to their first season as Gators. 

Yes, back by popular demand, it's that time of year for "Befores & Afters."

The freshmen trio of Andrew Nembhard, Noah Locke and Keyontae Johnson arrived for the Summer "B" term in July and immediately were introduced to collegiate conditioning. The manner in which they dove into the dog days of "strong man" summer workouts is one of the reasons the three figure so prominently in the 2018-19 season, which opens in just over three weeks. 

Nembhard, the 6-foot-5 Canadian point guard by way of Montverde (Fla.) Academy, was 181 pounds when he checked in, but has since put on 14 pounds of muscle to push himself to 195. Nembhard needed it, also, considering all the bodies the Southeastern Conference will send at a first-year playmaker, especially one who likes to get into the lane. 

When Locke, the shooting guard from Maryland, showed up, it was evident he'd been doing some lifting and scored decent marks on his initial strength assessment. He was at 9.8 percent body fat and already has knocked nearly 2 percent off that figure to get to 8 percent. 

Johnson, the 6-5 wing, admittedly was no weight-room warrior while growing up in Virginia and starring at both Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy and Oak Hill (Va.). Though arguably the team's best athlete, he could barely do a single chin-up at first, but has added eight pounds of muscle to his 7-foot-1 wingspan, up from 219 to 227. 

[Note on Johnson: Not sure how much he can improve on the 41.5-inch vertical he arrived with, but time will tell.]

Anyway, check out the 'Then vs Now' for the new guys.  
      While we're on the subject, let's check in on the progress of some veterans, using a larger sample size.  

Kevarrius Hayes was a railish rookie center from Live Oak, Fla., when he showed up in July of 2015. His check-in numbers: 201 pounds, a 155-pound front squat, 195 on the bench, a 34-inch vertical and eight chin-ups. 

Now? 

Weight: 228 
Front squat: 275 
Bench: 240
Vertical: 37.5
Chin-ups: 17  Fifth-year senior wing Jalen Hudson transferred here from Virginia Tech in June of 2016. He was in pretty good shape then and was good for 10 chin-ups and a 35-inch vertical jump. Now he's got a 38-inch leap and can crank out 21 chin-ups.  Forward Chase Johnson has perhaps reconfigured his build more so than anyone on this roster. The raw numbers aren't staggering, but the overall look of the West Virginian is just different. Johnson, who was shut down in December of his true freshman season after suffering a second concussion and eventually was granted a medical redshirt year, used his time off the court to train. He is up from 202 to 219 and added 35 pounds to his bench-press, from 180 to 215. The definition in his shoulders and back are considerable.  Sophomore guard Mike Okauru has done some impressive things to his body, which should really help on defense, an element of his game the Gators figure to lean on some this season. Okauru got here with Johnson two summers ago and managed nine chin-ups and a front squat of 185. He's up to 16 and 260, respectively, and has shown to be more physical on the floor with his new-found strength. And, finally, there's redshirt freshman Isaiah Stokes, whose conditioning circumstances have been extremely unique. In high school, Stokes was a terrific 6-8, 270-pound post player, but after suffering a season-ending knee injury his senior year he underwent an arduous and lengthy rehab, along the way gaining nearly 50 pounds because he was unable to run and maintain cardio conditioning until being cleared to run this past summer. His knee just wasn't ready to bear the load of the weight he was carrying. And, remember, he didn't have the benefit of UF's support system (especially, Greene and trainer David "Duke" Werner) until July of '17.

Throughout Stokes' comeback, Greene has viewed it as a process that will be far more rewarding at the drop-dead ending — as in the start of the season — versus providing periodic updates. Therefore, Stokes, who has dropped a bunch of weight and lately has been hitting required times in team sprints during practice, will get his own Before/After blog just before UF's tips off the regular season Nov. 6 at Florida State.

"He's making progress," Greene said. "Leave it at that."

Have faith, Gators (Stokes included), that it will be worth the wait.

And weight.