GAINESVILLE, Fla. – They don't open preseason camp until the end of the month and as of Wednesday, the Gators' season opener against Miami stood 52 days away.
Close enough to imagine the intensity at Camping World Stadium but dozens of workouts and practices away.
That fact was evident everywhere you looked Wednesday as players passed through the hallway outside the curtained off locker room currently under construction and set to be unveiled soon.
This is the time of year when a college football team sort of resembles a construction zone.
Defensive end
Jabari Zuniga's shirt was soaked with sweat following a session in the weight room. Others grabbed post-workout snacks from a food cart outside the training room. Quarterback
Feleipe Franks stopped by in preparation for an afternoon workout.
Zuniga is confident that by the time the Gators step on the field Aug. 24 in Orlando, they will be where they need to be.
"People are competing,'' Zuniga said. "It's competition everywhere. People are also paying more attention to the little things, like touching the line and finishing through [in drills]. I feel like the mentality of the whole team is really coming around."
With most of the coaching staff on break, Gators strength and conditioning coordinator
Nick Savage has the players' full attention. Savage's program benefited the Gators greatly in Year 1 under head coach
Dan Mullen, and based on a random sightings Wednesday, it's clear several players have made notable progress.
While waiting to talk to a couple of veteran players, I had to do a double-take when freshman offensive lineman
Ethan White walked by. White was listed at 6-foot-5, 390 pounds when he arrived on campus in January as an early enrollee. He has easily shed more than 50 pounds over the past six months while toning muscle.
Offensive lineman
Jean Delance is another player who passes the eye test physically, which is a good sign considering Delance's emergence at right tackle during spring camp. While fans ponder the possibilities over the summer, it won't be long before tangible results arrive.
Until then, the Gators will continue to train with an eye toward the next-to-last Saturday in August. As for other Gators-centric items of interest, here are some of the latest headlines:
-- Former UF basketball standout
Chandler Parsons, the first player in school history to be named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year (2011), is once again on the move. Parsons was traded by the Memphis Grizzlies to Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday in a three-player deal. The perspective in Memphis is
one of a huge contract that didn't pay off, and in Atlanta,
it's one of uncertainty considering Parsons' recent injury history and unfulfilled expectations in Memphis.
-- Sticking with hoops, former UF guard
Brett Nelson is a head coach. Nelson was named head coach at Holy Cross on Wednesday after five seasons as an assistant at Marquette. Nelson played for the Gators from 1999-2003 and was a member of
Billy Donovan's first Florida team to make the Final Four in 2000.
-- With 28 home runs entering Wednesday night's game against the Yankees, Mets rookie
Pete Alonso is drawing comparisons to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who captured the game's imagination in 2017 when he hit 52 home runs and was named American League Rookie of the Year. Alonso is on pace to hit 53 home runs this season and will participate in the Home Run Derby as part of the next week's All-Star Game in Cleveland. Alonso already has set a Mets single-season record for home runs by a rookie, eclipsing the mark set by
Daryl Strawberry (26) in 1983. The first former UF player to be named an All-Star since
David Eckstein 13 years ago, Alonso's breakout season got me wondering if he owns the single-season record for a former Gator in the big leagues. The answer is no, but Alonso has an opportunity to set the mark if he maintains his power surge in the second half. The record currently belongs to late Indians third baseman
Al Rosen, who played at UF in 1941 and '42 before entering professional baseball at the onset of World War II. Rosen belted 43 home runs and drove in 145 runs for Cleveland in 1953, earning American League MVP honors. In his first full season in the majors in 1950, Rosen blasted 37 home runs and was
an excellent player in his time. Meanwhile, ex-Gators standout
Brad Wilkerson hit 32 home runs for Montreal in 2004, leaving Alonso some work to do if he is to become the single-season record holder for home runs in the majors by a UF player.
-- The Gators enter the 2019 season with arguably their most talented group of skill players on offense since the
Urban Meyer era. Coincidentally, one of those players -- receiver
Trevon Grimes -- started his college career playing for Meyer at Ohio State. Grimes' stay in Columbus was short-lived and he transferred to Florida following the 2017 season. He enjoyed a breakout season for the Gators in 2018 and developed into a prominent target later in the season. UF beat writer
Will Sammon of
TheAthletic.com (subscription site) offers a film analysis on why Grimes could be the Gators' top playmaker:
-- As a closet Sixers fan -- I'm old enough to remember the days of
Dr. J. and
Moses Malone cracking the Lakers-Celtics rivalry of the 1980s to win an NBA title -- Philadelphia's signing of ex-UF standout
Al Horford gets two thumbs up. The Sixers are a franchise on the rise and a veteran of Horford's stature could do wonders on and off the court. In introducing Horford to the City of Brotherly Love,
The Philadelphia Enquirer turned to some quirky facts you may or may not know:
-- Continuing a theme here of basketball players on the move, add Gators forward
Isaiah Stokes to the list. News broke late Wednesday afternoon that Stokes has put his name in the transfer portal and is searching for a new home following the recent arrival of graduate transfer
Kerry Blackshear Jr.
If you haven't read the backstory of how Blackshear landed at UF, check out colleague
Chris Harry's i
n-depth story here. For more on Stokes,
here is a story by
Edgar Thompson of
The Orlando Sentinel.
-- Ex-Gators quarterback
Tim Tebow has started to heat up at the plate,
connecting for his second home run in four games on Tuesday night via
The New York Post. In Tebow's hometown of Jacksonville, he is making news not with his bat, but with his wallet. Tebow recently purchased his second home in Jacksonville according to the
Jacksonville Daily Record. Looks like he'll have plenty of room for visitors based on the photo.
-- Speaking of ex-Gators quarterbacks, did you see some of those throws
Danny Wuerffel made last weekend in the American Flag Football League championship game? The 45-year-old Wuerffel, a member of the Florida Fury, still has that touch when the end zone is within range. I'm not sure it's one of the greatest football games ever played as the
YouTube promotion states, but it's great to see Wuerffel healthy and back on the field after his health scare a few years back.
-- The Gators have increased their pay for assistant coaches from a season ago, highlighted by a raise for defensive coordinator
Todd Grantham that was reported months ago.
Thomas Goldkamp of
247Sports.com breaks down where the Gators stand in relation to other staffs heading into Year 2 for Mullen.
-- What a time to be alive if you are a Gators baseball fan living in Erie, Pa. Tuesday was especially special. Former Gators
Alex Faedo and
Logan Shore held a meet-and-greet at the ballpark as teammates in the Detroit Tigers organization. In fact, Faedo (5-5, 3.36 ERA, 94 SO in 83 IP) was named to the Eastern League All-Star team earlier this week. His former Gators teammate, Shore is 2-7 with a 4.60 ERA in 62 2/3 innings of work. Former Auburn pitcher
Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 MLB amateur draft, is also a member of the SeaWolves' starting rotation.
