Category: Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE — The Florida football team welcomed pleasant practice conditions following a couple of scorchers to kick off fall camp. The Gators took the field Friday evening after rain showers drenched the area earlier. It was the third of 17 practices prior to Week 1 preparation for an Aug. 31 visit from Miami. The school provided a 15-minute viewing period for media during individual drills. Top takeaway: Florida’s top receivers suffered some dropped passes during routes against air. A perfect intermediate pass from quarterback Graham Mertz grazed the fingertips of Wisconsin transfer...

DALLAS — Besides taking on college football’s toughest schedule, Florida faces one of the sport’s tallest orders: secure coach Billy Napier’s future with the Gators. SEC Media Days in the Lone Star State spotlighted the looming challenge and the third-year coach’s job security — a common theme back home. “When you’re on social media 24/7 … you see it,” quarterback Graham Mertz said. “You can’t help but not see it.” But Napier and the Gators are not listening to the nay-sayers following a 5-7 season that ended on a five-game skid leading to sweeping offseason changes to UF’s staff and...

DALLAS — Georgia defender Mykel Williams fielded questions Tuesday at SEC Media Days with his game face firmly in place. But when tailback Trevor Etienne entered the conversation, the menacing pass rusher broke into the wide, knowing grin. Asked what the Florida transfer brings the Bulldogs, Williams simply said, “Juice” — and laughed. Etienne’s addition energized a program seeking some new playmakers on offense. While his impact has yet to be felt on Saturdays in Athens, his departure was an offseason gut punch in Gainesville. UF’s most explosive playmaker down the stretch could now be its...

UF slugger Jac Caglianone took a unique path to the Gators’ home run record, but nothing was going to stop him during a College World Series elimination game Wednesday with Kentucky. Coach Kevin O’Sullivan had the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Caglianone bat leadoff for the first time in his career to pressure the Wildcats and force them to pitch to him. He responded with a single, followed by a stolen base — only the fourth of his career — to set the stage for the Gators’ 7-run opening inning. “I was kind of the lead-off guy that everybody wanted me to be,” he said. “I kind of embraced that role...

Written off weeks ago, the Florida baseball team did the improbable behind an unlikely hero to earn a shot at the sport’s ultimate prize. UF No. 9 hitter Michael Robertson’s 2-run hit into the left center-field gap propelled the unseeded Gators (34-28) to an 11-10 win Sunday night at No. 6 Clemson (44-16) to end a 5-hour, 5-minute marathon in the bottom of the 13th inning and sweep the Tigers in the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional. The unseeded Gators are headed for the College World Series for the 14th time in school history and ninth time under coach Kevin O’Sullivan. But it is the only...

After just slipping into the postseason, the Florida baseball team is an odds-on favorite to reach the College World Series. The Gators’ 10-7 win at Clemson to open the best-of-3 NCAA Super Regionals gives coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s surging squad an inside track the eight-team CWS. Game 1 winners have advanced since 1999’s introduction of Super Regionals. Game 2 is at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Florida (33-28) overcame a 3-0 deficit Saturday after two innings and seized control with a seven-run fifth inning highlighted by a three-run home run from star slugger Jac Caglianone. “It wasn’t quite the...

GAINESVILLE — Florida outfielder Ashton Wilson entered the Gators’ final weekend to salvage their season having done little to suggest what was to come. But Wilson ended the NCAA Stillwater Regional as its MVP, an X-factor for a resurgent team and folk hero for a frustrated fan base. Wilson’s performance at Oklahoma State came out of nowhere, but just in the nick of time. With consecutive wins while facing elimination against the host, the unseeded Gators (32-28) advanced to this weekend’s Super Regional at No. 6 Clemson (44-14) with the fewest wins of the 16 remaining teams and a realistic...

GAINESVILLE — Florida shooting guard Walter Clayton Jr. will return for his senior season after leading the Gators in scoring and helping them to their first NCAA tournament bid since 2021. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound combo guard explored his professional options, including a trip to the G League Elite Camp, where he averaged 15.5 points in two games. But the native of Lake Wales decided another season at UF was in his best interest. Clayton, a transfer from St. John’s University, led the Gators with an average of 17.6 points to earn All-SEC honors as Todd Golden’s squad averaged a...