GAINESVILLE, Fla. – We can probably agree it's never easy to whittle this annual list of outstanding individual performance to just 10 names. At the same time, we can also agree that the student-athletes that did make the cut provided moments that made all Florida fans stand up, take notice and (in some cases) cheer.
NCAA rules prohibit the publication of recruiting news relative to prospective student athletes, so we won't – more importantly, can't – get into details here.
But football coach Billy Napier, coming off a 6-7 first-year campaign and dealing with some external negativity, got his program in sync with UF's new collective, Florida Victorious, and had himself a positively savage run of verbal commitments in June that everyone in Gator Nation and in the social media recruitnik-verse was buzzing about. OK, so it was far from an "individual" achievement, but Napier has been under quite the microscope and appears to have altered the narrative on how he handles (in Napier's words) "the talent acquisition business."
We'll talk (and write) a lot about the future Gators down the line … when we're allowed to.
9) Fond Farewell to Class-Act Championship Coach
Bryan (left) and Ben Shelton in 2022.
That Bryan Shelton resigned in June to coach his rising-star son wasn't exactly a shock, but that didn't make the official news any easier to take.
Maybe all those championships did.
Florida had zero national team championships and two individual NCAA champions in its history when Shelton took over the program in 2013. The culture and talent base wasn't great at the time, evidenced by the first-round NCAA Tournament exit his first season. Shelton, though, built the program up to win the SEC Tournament in 2016, then won league regular-season titles in 2019, 2021 and 2022, a rampage interrupted only by the COVID pandemic in 2020 and included a streak of 24 consecutive conference match victories from 2021-22.
His crowning achievement, though, came with the 2021 NCAA team title, the program's first. The Gators upended No. 1 Baylor in the final, with Shelton's freshman son, Ben, claiming the title-clinching point in front a partisan crowd at Lake Nona, Fla., mere miles from the hometown of standout senior Sam Riffice, who a week later captured the singles-draw championship for a UF clean sweep of NCAA hardware.
Pretty cool stuff, right?
Well, in 2022 it was Ben Shelton winning the NCAA singles championship, with father and son sharing yet another emotional celebratory embrace and thus checking virtually every box the head coach possibly could imagine.
Ben turned pro a couple months later. Bryan, the league's four-time SEC Coach of the Year, put in one more season with the Gators in 2023 and announced June 2 that he was stepping down to coach his son on the ATP Tour, where Ben has rocketed from No. 547 to No. 32 in less than a year.
On June 23, UF announced the hiring of Adam Steinberg, a 32-year Division I head coach who led Pepperdine to the 2006 NCAA men's title and for the last nine years had been at Michigan. Let the new era begin.
In the meantime, good luck, Bryan (and son). And thank you.
8) "AR" to Indy at No. 4
Anthony Richardson, alongside NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, models his Indianapolis Colts jersey on draft night April 27 at Kansas City.
The list of Florida players taken in the top 10 of the National Football League draft during the so-called modern era (since the NFL-AFL merger in 1966) is a short one. Quarterback Anthony Richardson not only joined that list in April, but put his name near the top of it when the Indianapolis Colts plucked the third-year sophomore with the fourth overall pick.
The 6-foot-4, 244-pound Richardson had a fairly pedestrian season statistically (54 percent completion, 2,549 yards passing, 17 touchdowns, 9 interceptions, plus another 654 yards and 9 TD rushing), but he was always the best athlete on the field on Saturdays – may well be on most Sundays, too – and did what he could with the talent around him on a team that ultimately finished 6-7. The Colts went 4-12-1 last season and now have a franchise quarterback to build around, as Richardson was greeted by Hoosier State types along the lines of the treatment Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, both No. 1 overall selections by the Colts, got in their day.
Richardson joined tight end Kyle Pitts, taken fourth by Atlanta in 2021, as the fifth-highest drafted Gators since the merger. The only players to be selected higher: quarterback Steve Spurrier (3rd by San Francisco in '67); wide receiver Wes Chandler (3rd/New Orleans/1978); defensive lineman Gerard Warren (3rd/Cleveland/2000); Dante Fowler Jr. (3rd/Jacksonville/2015).
7) Big Man on Campus, Big Man in SEC
The last three years have been the best three years of my life. This place is nothing short of special. Thank you Gator Nation for the unconditional love and support. As one chapter closes another one begins. Gator for life 💙 pic.twitter.com/7F9ZXjNMpA
The best recruiting job Todd Golden did in his first season as UF men's basketball coach was convincing two-time All-SEC forward Colin Castleton to return for a fifth season. Castleton not only became the 12thGator to garner three-time all-league honors (the first to do so since Kenny Boynton in 2013), but was selected to the first team for the first time, in addition to being named USA Today SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
If only his stellar season hadn't been cut short by a broken hand with just over two weeks to go in the regular season.
When the 6-foot-11, 240-pound Castleton, who transferred from Michigan in 2020, exited in a Feb. 15 home win over Ole Miss, he was averaging 16.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and team-record 3.0 blocked shots per game. Castleton three times tallied at least 25 points and 10 rebounds in a game during the season, a combination not achieved by a UF player since Dwayne Schintzius in 1989.
After Castleton's injury, the Gators – minus the best all-around low-post presence to wear a UF uniform since Joakim Noah – lost their next three games and five of the final seven to finish with the program's first losing record since 2015. Castleton, though, let the Florida faithful know how much he appreciated his time as a Gator with the above tweet. Great Gator, class act and now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers after signing two-way contract with the club in June.
6) Sky-High Season
Skylar Wallace batted .447 during 2023, breaking the previous single-season UF mark previously held by Hall-of-Famer and USA standout Michelle Moultrie (.443 in 2011).
Fourth-year junior Skylar Wallace, in her second season since transferring from Alabama, took a wrecking ball to Florida's offensive record books during the 2023 season.
The shortstop from Woodstock, Ga., set single-season program records for batting average (.447), slugging percentage (.980) and on-base percentage (.595), as well as wedging her way into the top 10 in five other categories: stolen-base percentage (2nd/.968), triples (3rd/8), runs scored (5th/72), home runs (5th/19) and walks (6th/51). Wallace, who reached base in 55 of Florida's 56 games during the season, was the only player in the country to total at least 65 hits, 70 runs, 55 RBI, 50 walks and 30 stolen bases.
To no one's surprise, Wallace was named the SEC Player of the Year, but that was just a warm-up to her postseason accolades. The TUCCI/National Fastpitch Coaches Association named Wallace the Division I Player of the Year, the first Gator to be so honored since the award's inception in 2016.
And she's got another year left.
5) Holy Trinity!
PERFECT 10.@Gym_Trin's last career vault, is perfect.
If the following sentence sounds familiar, well, it's because we wrote basically the same thing a year ago.
Trinity Thomas was the 2023 Honda Award winner as the nation's outstanding gymnast. Thomas was so honored in 2022 also, the first Gator to claim back-to-back Hondas since tennis superstar Lisa Raymond in '92-93 (and third all-time, along with swimming icon Tracy Caulkins).
The Florida gymnastics record book is now basically a Trinity Thomas almanac after what the York, Pa., product did during her five seasons, the last of which was cruelly impacted when Thomas, the favorite to defend her 2022 all-around title, suffered a lower leg injury during the NCAA regional round and was forced to scratch from two events at the NCAA Championships. With Thomas unable to compete in the beam and floor, the second-ranked Gators finished second to defending champ Oklahoma by .15 of a point.
Yet Thomas, even operating at less than 100 percent, still wowed the Fort Worth crowd in the next-to-last routine of her magnificent career when she scored a 10.0 on vault for the 28th perfect score of her career, tying the NCAA record.
She bowed out as one of three gymnasts in the country with five 2023 regular-season All-America honors and became the second three-time SEC Gymnast of the Year in league history. Thomas is the only gymnast in NCAA history with at least five 10s in each of the four events after leading the nation in perfect 10s for a third straight year.
Last week, Thomas was named 2023 SEC Female Athlete of the Year, mere days after UF coach Jenny Rowland announced Thomas had joined the staff as a student assistant coach.
4) All that Jas
The Jumps Queen 👑 struck again, breaking the Outdoor Triple Jump Collegiate Record at NCAA Outdoors (14.78m/48'6")#GoGators 🐊 pic.twitter.com/04ibqPazZp
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) June 15, 2023
On the final day of the NCAA Women's Track and Field Championships, redshirt junior Jasmine Moore popped 48 feet, 6 inches in the triple jump. How good was it? The UF news release read like this: "Personal Best, School Record, Facility Record, Meet Record, Collegiate Record, 2nd Best Jump in the World this Year."
Moore, you may recall, won the long jump and triple jump events at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA meets in 2022. She set NCAA records in both at the '23 indoor meet, then did her thing at the '23 outdoor meet in Austin, Texas, (not far from her hometown of Grand Prairie, Texas) giving Moore seven of the last eight NCAA and SEC horizontal titles.
The Honda Award named Moore as its 2023 track and field recipient, making her just the second Gator so honored in the sport, joining fellow jumper Yanis David, circa 2019.
— Gators Track and Field & Cross Country (@GatorsTF) June 17, 2023
She finished second at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the fall, but an injury – one neither she nor her coaches and trainers ever talked about – forced UF redshirt sophomore Parker Valby to pass on the SEC Indoor meet and scratch from the 3,000 meters at the national indoor meet March 2.
More than two months later, Valby appeared to be favoring a lower body injury during the 5,000 meters at the SEC outdoor meet, yet still managed to surge ahead of Alabama reigning champion Hilda Olemomoi and hold off her Crimson Tide rival down the stretch to claim the conference title.
And if Valby was still injured when it came time for the NCAA Championships then everybody should be so injured. Valby absolutely destroyed the field – even lapped one runner – in a time of 15:30.57 that was nine seconds better than Utah Valley State runner-up Everlyn Kemboi. Valby's time set a facility record that was the ninth-fastest in the country and, coupled with the aforementioned big meet from Moore, helped the Gators finish second in the women's team standings
What happens if Valby is completely healthy next year?
2) Jac Of All Trades
Sophomore Jac Cagliaone shattered the UF single-season home run record with 33.
A year ago, it was centerfielder Wyatt Langford whose individual exploits on the baseball diamond graced this space, most notably for breaking UF's single-season home run record on a team that reached the NCAA regional final.
In 2023, Jac Caglianone shattered Langford's record on a team that claimed a share of the SEC title for the first time in five years and reached the final game of the College World Series.
Obviously, what happened in Omaha, for both Caglianone and the Gators, remains relatively fresh in the collective consciousness of the Orange & Blue universe. Time will take care of that.
The offensive fireworks, though, are in the books forever.
When the final gaudy numbers were official, Caglianone had blasted 33 homers – pulverizing Langford's record by eight – and finished with a slash line of .323/.389/.738, to go with a program single-season record 91 RBI. He was the only Gator to appear in all 71 games this season (starting every one), and also led the squad in hits (91) and total bases (708). On the mound, Caglianone was the team's No. 3 starter and went 7-4 with a 4.34 ERA.
Fred Biondi became the third stroke-play NCAA champion in Gators history and two days later made the clinching putt to give UF its first men's team championship since 2001.
Fifth-year senior Fred Biondi arrived at Grayhawk Golf Club on Memorial Day for the fourth and final round of NCAA Championships stroke play five shots behind the leader, Georgia Tech's Ross Steelman, in the race for individual medalist honors. He made his third birdie of the day on the sixth hole and quickly found himself just one shot off the lead.
Biondi, from São Paulo, Brazil, was two strokes back with three holes to play, then went par-par-par over to finish, while Steelman went bogey-bogey-bogey. Biondi's 3-under round of 67 put him alongside Bob Murphy (1966) and Nick Gilliam (2001) as the only players in UF's illustrious golf history to capture the NCAA individual crown. The first South American to win, as well.
This achievement, by itself, would warrant consideration for the No. 1 spot. Biondi, though, wasn't done. He helped take the Gators, who qualified for the match-play quarterfinals for the first time in school history, on a magical thrill ride over the next two days. It ended when Biondi's counterpart in the national-championship finals, Georgia Tech's Hiroshi Tai, conceded a short par put on the 18th hole that clinched Florida's first NCAA team title in 23 years, with a 3-1 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
The moment immediately gave way to an emotional (and, yes, tearful) celebration on the green, with Biondi's post-match remarks dripping with humility, grace and gratitude for his years in the Florida program. What a way to go out.
