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Hi, Gators fans.
Even though it’s only February, there’s nothing like an announcement about Southeastern Conference media days to get us excited for the upcoming season...
🎤 SEC announces media days schedule
The SEC last week announced the schedule for this year’s football media days from July 17 through July 20.
This year will be different because the event is being held in Nashville, Tennessee, for the first time.
The Gators are set to make their appearance on the third day of the four-day event.
The full schedule is below. The schedule is listed alphabetically by school for each day and not by order of appearance. A more detailed daily schedule will be released by the conference closer to the event.
Monday, July 17
LSU - Brian Kelly
Missouri - Eliah Drinkwitz
Texas A&M - Jimbo Fisher
Tuesday, July 18
Auburn - Hugh Freeze
Georgia - Kirby Smart
Mississippi State - Zach Arnett
Vanderbilt - Clark Lea
Wednesday, July 19
Alabama - Nick Saban
Arkansas - Sam Pittman
Florida - Billy Napier
Kentucky - Mark Stoops
Thursday, July 20
Ole Miss - Lane Kiffin
South Carolina - Shane Beamer
Tennessee - Josh Heupel
🐊 Former Trinity Christian RB adjusting to life as Gator
Former Trinity Christian Academy running back Treyaun Webb decided to forgo his final semester of high school in Jacksonville to enroll early at Florida.
Now, Webb is adjusting to life as a college student and training with the football team. Since he enrolled early, he will be able to participate in spring football practice starting the first week of March, allowing him to get a head start preparing for his freshman season.
You can watch his interview with Gators Breakdown host David Waters and the Gator Collective’s Bob Redman, courtesy of the Gator Collective.
🏈 Florida has offensive targets for 2024 class
The Gators are off to a great start to the recruiting class of 2024.
Four recruits have already pledged to the orange and blue, and there are plenty of interested prospects to make this Napier’s best class yet.
In an episode of Gators Breakdown, David is joined by Will Miles, with Read and Reaction, to break down the top offensive targets.
💰 Florida allows universities to help set up athlete pay deals
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed into law a bill to allow universities to help set up endorsement deals for college athletes in the state.
Florida was one of the first states to pass a law allowing college athletes to profit off their name, image or likeness, but it didn’t allow people affiliated with universities to help secure endorsement deals. The new law lifts that provision to make Florida more competitive with other states that don’t have the restriction. The legislation passed unanimously through the House and Senate during a recent special session.
NCAA rules allow athletes to strike deals with third parties. Schools are prohibited from paying athletes and can’t be involved in negotiating contracts. That has led to the rise of booster-run and financed collectives to negotiate the potentially lucrative agreements with college athletes. Having collectives operate outside the purview of the athletic department they ostensibly represent creates potential problems for schools.
Most notably in the state, as we all know, quarterback recruit Jaden Rashada from California signed with Florida in December but asked for and was granted his release after a deal with a collective that was potentially worth more than $13 million fell through.
☹️ Castleton breaks hand
We have some bad news, Gators fans.
The Florida men’s basketball team will likely be without forward Colin Castleton for the rest of the season.
Castleton broke his right hand during the second half of Florida’s 79-64 win over Ole Miss last Wednesday in Gainesville.
GAME RECAPS: Castleton breaks hand, Florida beats Ole Miss 79-64 | Arkansas beats Florida 85-64
Without their leading scorer and rebounder, the Gators fell 85-64 to Arkansas this past Saturday in Fayetteville.
This week, Florida (14-13, 7-7 SEC) hosts Kentucky on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will either be on ESPN or ESPN 2. Then the Gators will be in Nashville on Saturday to take on Vanderbilt. That matchup is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m., and you can watch it on ESPN 2.
✉️ Send us your Gators thoughts & questions
David and I want to hear from you. Do you have any thoughts or questions about the Gators football program? Agree or disagree with something we’ve said? Let us know here, and we’ll share our responses to your questions.
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