Ep. 176: Early Takeaways from Spring Camp | Gators Online Show

0:00Freight rail does more than move goods. It drives America's economy. Every dollar invested generates another $2.50 in economic activity spurring growth from farms to factories. And here's the best part. Freight railroads fund their own infrastructure, saving taxpayers' billions while powering the economy forward, from reducing highway congestion to delivering goods safely and efficiently. Freight rail keeps America moving. Learn more at AARC.org, such America's engine. At Lidos, we make things smarter and more efficient. From reducing in-person wait times at the Social Security Administration by 73 percent, to already being done with this ad. Lidos, making smart smarter. Now, finding a doctor is a little less challenging. United Health Group is investing in tools that make it easier for patients to navigate health care and pay less. These transparency tools help patients find providers, and this is the big thing. Compare costs up front. The big picture, more transparent pricing, benefits everyone.

1:04And these tools from United Health Group can help patients save hundreds of dollars annually. Learn more at unitedhealthgroup.com slash commitment. At Planet Fitness, no two members are the same. Different routines, different equipment, but they've all got one thing in common. They're strong like you. No matter how you show up, we have best-in-class equipment and free fitness training to help you keep moving, judgment-free. So join today and choose from over 2,800 convenient locations, most open 24 hours and membership options starting at just $15 a month. Planet Fitness, we're all strong on this planet. Hours, amenities, and offers vary. Check out PlanetFitness.com or stop by your local club for details. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering

2:05together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. All right. Good morning, Gator Nation. Happy Friday. What is going on? I am Keith Nieber of Gators Online, part of the on-three network that is Senior Gators, reporter, Zach Alba Verde, also of Gators Online. And this is the weekly Gators online show. As usual, so much to discuss. It was the first week of spring camp at the University of Florida. The first practices of the John Sumeraw era. Zach and I were out there to watch those. We had a pretty good media availability, not only in terms of videos. Not only in terms of availability with interviews, but just viewing windows. And we'll get into that shortly. We're going to give our early takeaways from Florida Gators football practice. We're going to tell you about all the interviews that we were able to conduct after those practices and kind of what we learned from those. And then I'll mention that Florida's got a big recruiting

3:09weekend. Then we're going to get into basketball, obviously. Basketball, the Gator boys are still hot. So we're going to preview the Florida Kentucky matchup this weekend. And you know, discuss whether Florida can maybe get a number one seed as they were last year when they won the national title. Zach, first of all, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing well, man. We're pulling triple duty this time of year, Keith. Yeah, it's, I don't, yeah, I helped out this week. I helped out Zach a little this week and I left Gainesville yesterday thinking, man, I don't know how this dude does this. Zach, everything went smoothly this week. The practices, the interviews, baseball, you did basketball, other than me coming out of Gainesville with two parking tickets. And we got, I got to figure this out. I mean, am I going to have to start taking a moped up from Tampa? And, you know, I don't know, I don't know how we're going to get this, get this solved. You might have to get a bike and ride like Olivia Rew, because you know, that's how he gets around campuses on a big old bike. So maybe just, does he have a seat on the back of his seat? Is there a chance I could ride? That'd be a great viral video. But no, great week in

4:15Gainesville. Zach, before we get into what we saw at the practice, and this is sort of that inside baseball stuff, you know, from a media perspective, we're going to teach people a little bit about what we do. And, you know, normally you get, well, the last few years, you've got 15-minute practice windows. And you don't complain. I mean, you look, you're grateful as a reporter to be able to watch practice, right? But 15 minutes under the last regime meant that that wouldn't, I wouldn't a lot of time. And during some of that time, they would be stretching, too. So you weren't always, you weren't always watching a lot. This year under John Summer, all the viewing window is 40 minutes. Huge jump. So how does that help you as a reporter get out there to the readers and people watching today? How does that help you? Which in turn should be good for them. You tell us. Yeah. Well, first of all, Keith, you and I came up in the Spurrier era where you could just go watch the whole practice all the time. Fans, media, this different time, different age. I'm sure Spurrier

5:18wasn't the only one that did it that way, too. But that's just how we came up. So, and then for a while, the media was out. Like, we didn't even come in to practice. And then, and I want to say, I want to say it was like that under Will Must-Champ. But then Jim McWayne came in and he started doing this. Oh, you could come in basically for like 15 minutes. And we got to assess the roster, see who's out, you know, get to see some position drills and stuff like that. And that has continued basically since 2015 it was. So, for the last 10 years, 11 years, that's how Florida has done practice availability for the media. We get 15-minute window, but usually it's more like 12. I think sometimes they're even as short as 10, Keith. Rarely. But I mean, we didn't get a lot of time. So, the fact that they, and when I say they, I'm sure this is John Somerall's call and decision along with consulting, you know, Scott Burns,

6:24Matt Hutchinson, the communications directors for football. And they have now just given us way more opportunity to see the team. We get to, it's actually it's 50 minutes, Keith. We get 40 minutes of, you know, like actual stuff going, but we're in there for 50 minutes because we get to watch them stretch too. So, like we're in there. We get to see every single position and not for only like one to two minutes because you got to think when there's 10 positions and we're in there for, if we're in there for 10 minutes, 12 minutes, you do the math. So, we're actually getting to see these guys work and it's great for the coverage that gets provided for the fans. They get a better glimpse of the team. It helps the reporters when we talk and write about the team that we've actually seen more of practice and have some knowledge of what's going on. And it's good for the football program and this new staff to have more coverage of their product. And, you know, John Somerall out there running around that practice and fans get fired up from that.

7:28Yeah, it was interesting. I mean, it was also a little overwhelming. There was so much time, you just like, what do I, where do I go? And then obviously, because I'm used to making my lap. And then that was it. That's right. And really the whole thing, the whole point of this isn't about us. This is, if it's good for the media, it's going to be good for you all. I mean, that's what we really hope. I mean, we don't do this for ourselves. We do this because Zach and I inherently and most reporters like to, we're storytellers. We like to, we like to get info and share it with people, right? Exactly. I mean, that's essentially what we do. And so it's been a fun first week in that regard. So Zach, some early takeaways. No, it's good for the goose is good for the gander. Well, that's right. Early takeaways. I mean, now we're watching so much. It used to be only had a few minutes so you could zero, you just zero it in on a couple of things. And that's it. Now it's like all this stuff. So what are some of your biggest, and I'm going to share mine too, obviously, but this is really more about your, your thoughts here. But what are some of your early takeaways from practice and things that caught your eye in that first two sessions, one two's dad should say in one Thursday, both in the morning. Yeah. A few things. One of them is that

8:32Gerald Chapman's not alone. He knows exactly what I'm talking about. Gerald Chapman is not alone in being one of the very, you know, vocal coaches at practice. He's got other guys that are out there, you know, bringing that same type of intensity, including the head coach. I mean, John Someral, he is different in the way that he goes about how he conducts himself at practice. He's running around drill to drill. You know, I jokingly tweeted that he's, you know, he can be a mad man. But obviously there's a, there's a purpose to everything that he's doing. There's, you know, there's a method to the madness. And I just think his fire, his energy, it feeds off, you know, the guys, the rest of the guys feed off at coaches and players. So, you know, Scott Carter tweeted this after the game. And yeah, I love, you know, some people may not,

9:35you know, take what he says, take it with a grain of salt because he's a team reporter. He's embedded with Fortigators.com. Listen, man, Scott ain't going out there and saying anything, pushing propaganda. All right. Like, I know Scott, Keith, you know, Scott. And I thought he, I mean, the guys, he's been watching practices as long as I have. We both got to the, to the program in 2010. And he's seen way more practice than I have. I've only seen 10 minutes. He's, he's watched all of them. He's in there the whole time. And his takeaway, I thought was spot on. And he said that this, this program it feels like has gotten a personality transplant. And it obviously bleeds down from the head coach. So, look, that doesn't mean that they're going to win more games. That doesn't mean that this is a, a better, you know, a method to go for the program or direction to go for the program. But it's a different direction. And it's a different feel. I can feel it out there. I know Keith can as well. And certainly Scott being there for the entire

10:38practice, he has seen that. And the players feel it, you know, Jaden Woods is like, man, I'm, I'm used to having my head coach kind of be laid back. And I've had to get adjusted to John. So, in a good way. So that, I think it's something that's one of the biggest takeaways I think. We can dig into the team too. But we've got to start with that. Yeah. And I should, what I should have said is I should have just said, let's start with John. And then we'll get in the other guys because I wanted to just give my quick thoughts to that. So Zach and I work together, obviously. And sometimes you'll get a message that says, hey, the boss sends you a message and they're watching. They're like, when you, when you get a message from the boss, Zach, you know, they're watching. So maybe you'll work a little harder than you normally. That's not to say we're lazy. But I think that's true with everybody watching. When the boss comes into the office on a, on a given day, you pick it up a little bit. And so I mentioned that because John's some role is basically, like you said, going from position group from position group throughout the practice. Now, so for those of you that don't follow this closely, like we do, that's some coaches do it. Some bill, Billy Napier stuck with the offense

11:41in the quarterbacks, predominantly. And so he wasn't necessarily going from position group to position group. Now I think Zach, I think he got a little more evolved in the defense. Correct. In 2024 and 2025. I want to say he did, but he wasn't going from position group to position group in the spring. Like we're seeing from John. So in doing so, those guys, the meaner too, in his energy. Oh, that's correct. That's true. So high energy guy going from station to station, running sprint and getting over there. And he's not. He's not yelling at screaming at them. He'll jump in and interject some comments. But he won. He's not getting in the way of the position coach. So anybody that thinks he's micromanaging on the practice field, he's not at all. He is not, and that's his goal. He is goal is to not get in the way. And Buster Falker said the same thing with the offense yesterday. His goal is to not get in the way. But to keep an eye on things and offer instruction when he can. So he's not slowing things down. He's not getting in the way. He's basically complementing what like the running backs coaches already teaching the running backs. Then he'll go on to the next stage. But those players know at any given point in time, they don't

12:43know when he's going to show up. So you got to be on your peas and cues basically. And I think that, you know, it's a practice. And we like to think they're focused every single practice. Yeah. But Zach, we can't everybody should they be focused every single snap, every single rep of practice. Come on, man, we're all human. Okay. But when that boss is there, the coach, when he's watching, you're probably going to amp it up a little bit. You never know when he's going to be watching. But, but again, I never saw him get mad, get mad at anybody. And by the way, there were coaches. You mentioned the guy. He would say he got mad at him. I'll let you tell that story. But he wasn't yelling and squealing, see him losing his mind. And maybe he does at times. But it was controlled energy. And it was controlled energy. And it was really fascinating to watch. I mean, he's just wants to keep his eyes on everything. So then when they have meetings later, he actually knows what's going on. And he didn't have to take the word of a position coach. Now, he's only there for a couple minutes at a time. And then he's on to the next one. But it's giving him some insight. It's it's allowing him to feel a part of the entire team.

13:43And there they feel like a part of what he's doing too. And then also, Zach, we saw him and if I'm running too long here for Jimmy's at, but what we've saw what we've seen him do is actually get out there on some plays and kind of do the drill with the player in a sense or run alongside them and shout out and structure. It's been really fascinating to watch. He said it, Zach, I'll bring you bring you back in here. Whoops, where we go here. He said it. John Someral said he is, he loves practice. It is evident that he's not full of crap here. He's it's pretty obvious this guy really loves being out there. That you're on mute, Zach. It's obviously something that the players are getting used to. And I think that they've they've have to come to embrace. It was interesting here in, you know, Brad White, I asked him like, you know, what's it like being out there with John after sort, you know, working with him as an assistant coach at Kentucky. Now you're reunited with him, but in a head coaching role, like, is there a difference being out there with the field?

14:47Like, what's he like now that he's got this job? Brad is like, man, he's the same guy. Yeah, like when he goes out there and he crosses that line, he brings the same intensity as when he was a linebacker coach. And he's now just going around giving that to every single group. And you're right, Keith, I didn't think about that, but just the, the suddenness of when he could show up and making sure you got to stay on, on your pees and cues. And you're right. During the second practice, like I'm filming the linebackers and all of a sudden, he just shows up and, you know, it's getting kind of getting after guys for kind of walking after going through drills and trying to keep the energy up. So they're not letting these guys stand around. I also think too, you know, to go back to the rusty wit story. You know, he said that the guys on the first day, he brought them over to him to break him down. And one of the cornerbacks didn't sprint to him, which is I guess what they're required to do when they're coming to break down. Because of that,

15:49he required two up downs. And he's making these guys do up downs as another play is happening. And I guess the these guys are in the way. And, and, and witz says, some are all just yells at him, what are you doing? Get him off the field. We got to go. And it's so it just, I mean, anybody can get it, right? Like that's his head strength coach, you know, feeling the wrath. And, again, it's a, it's a different vibe environment at practice. Not saying it's better, not saying it means they're going to go 16 and 0. But it is a jolt. I think of energy that's been infused into this program. We're going to get into what we saw from the quarterbacks. Obviously, it's pretty early. And I'm not Bill Walsh. I said, right? He said, I'm waiting the Saturday. That's right. That's right. Well, Saturday for anybody or everybody watching is the first day in pads. And that's really, that's when the men separate from the boys. But Zach, before we get into some some of the individual guys from a talent perspective, were there any guys whose bodies,

16:55body composition for, you know, what they gain, what they lost, anybody that kind of stood out to you. And if not, that's okay. I mean, there was a lot going on. We're going to watch a lot. But anybody really stick out to you. Freight rail does more than move goods. It drives America's economy. Every dollar invested generates another $2.50 in economic activity spurring growth from farms to factories. And here's the best part. Freight railroads fund their own infrastructure, saving taxpayers billions while powering the economy forward from reducing highway congestion to delivering goods safely and efficiently. Freight rail keeps America moving. Learn more at AARC.org slash America's engine. At Lighthouse, we make things smarter and more efficient. From helping the VA cut disability exam processing times by half, to already being done with the Lighthouse, making smart smarter. United Health Group is simplifying healthcare by investing in tools to help patients know more and pay less. These tools help patients find providers and

17:59compare costs and save hundreds of dollars annually. Learn more at unitedhealthgroup.com slash commitment. At Planet Fitness, we don't think you should have to pay a ton for everything you need to get stronger. Best in class equipment, free fitness training, and over 2800 conveniently located clubs to choose from. Most open 24 hours, all judgment free, with membership options starting at just $15 a month. So whenever you show up, you can give everything you've got. Join the club in person online or on the free PF app. Hours, amenities, and offers vary. See club for details. Planet Fitness, we're all strong on this planet. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering

18:59together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. For sure. I mean, obviously the the one that jumps out and unfortunately, he kind of looked like he, you know, was came up limp and not seriously, he walked off the field. Um, but Joseph and Bachu, man, I mean, that's he's certainly the story right now, 23 pounds. I mean, that's, that's impressive that he's put on. Creatine, right? And that what they say? Creatine and milkshakes. Creatine and milkshakes. One guy, I take it, Zach, I tracked him yesterday. Jaden boss, six foot one, 228 pounds. Man, that guy looks good. He always looks good, but he looks even better now. He, if you can look big and lean at the same time, he does a manual. Oh, I'm going to need you to help me out here. Zach. Oh, yeah, but I have the defense defense event transfer from Jacksonville State. You know, he's been hot and cold and practice. He's got a lot to learn, but body wise, what did you

20:00think of that, uh, that, that six foot, whatever, six foot six, close to 300 pound by frame? That was impressive. One of the, um, one of my favorite parts from practice the first day was the video, a John, I tweeted it out. It did numbers on, on X of him running down during the special team's drill that they start practice with and looking like he's ready to tackle one of the guys, uh, himself, but on in that clip, you see Joseph Humbachi and Rod Kerney running down and to see, uh, him, excuse me, oh, yeah, but Dio, run down and to see him moving at his size. Number 99. There you go. Very, very impressive. I mean, very, very impressive. Uh, he was moving for a guy that big and, and like you said, he's, you know, he, his first day, there was certainly some, uh, some welcome to the SEC moments, just, just getting used to the standard that Chapman holds these

21:00guys to. It's obviously it's all out of love. Um, but he, he's certainly impressive. You know, just another guy I want to mention, uh, the guy that lost the most weight this off season, um, Keith, Byron Lewis. He was 211 last year. He's down to under 200. He's 198 right now. And, um, don't sleep on him in the running back room. I'll say that, um, you know, I know that there's a lot of talk about the transfers and we got to see Duke Clark last year. Um, I do think Byron Lewis is going to have something to say about that rotation. So, um, he looks obviously leaner and, um, he's, he's, he's dropped some weight. He's also a Gator's online favorite because he retweets everything that Zach and I write. So, Sean's a pirate. He's got the good work, young man. I'm gonna look at Byron some day. Uh, he's, he's one of the nicer ones out there. Zach, some guys that caught mine just from a body composition standpoint. I mean, LJ McCray looks fantastic. Yes. I mean, he's moving well. And, you know, we had an insider. You had an insider the other day. And,

22:04and in that insider was, hey, you know, we're hearing that he's had a pretty strong off season. And then sure enough, we talked to the coaches and we're getting into that a little bit later, but they, they've been raving about him. So I thought he looked good here. A freshman receiver. I don't know how much he's going to play this year. Probably not much down the road is, he's a down the road, guys. A guy that's got to develop a Marquez, Daniel, out of Tuskegee, Alabama, six foot five frame and he fills out that jersey. Zach, you know, sometimes his six five receivers come in thin and there's no butt. There's just nothing to them. They got to really gain weight. He looks physically like he's ready to get out there. He's got to learn the other stuff, but physically impressive. People are going to be like, you get, that guy's one of those guys gets off the bus first. Drake Stubbs. Boy, he always looks good in pads. I mean, he just looks, he just looks so ripped out there. Laganzahay were obviously. It's a good looking group. It's, it is. There's no question about that. I think that's it from that perspective. Well, I do want to say on, on that note, Keith,

23:05because Laganzahay were, if you didn't see it, Rusty Whit said that he thought he might be the strongest DB in the SEC just based off what he's done in the weight room. And you know, we've heard some other guys. I think Miles Graham was like, I can't believe how strong he's gotten. And I just, man, I love Brad White on Thursday, Keith, just like, like my man was not going to talk up any of these guys until he's seen them in pads. Like he just not doing it. And when I asked him about Laganzah, like instead of feeding into that narrative or that storyline of him being so strong, which he is, Brad detailed all the things that he needs to do as a defensive back to be able to play safety in the SEC, like to hell with how much you can get benched. Not that that doesn't matter. Not that that's not impressive for Laganzah, but like as a defensive coordinator and the guy coaching him, that's what he's worried about. That's what he's focused on.

24:08Obviously, Rusty's going to tout, you know, what he's been able to do with Laganzah this offseason. But he's got to translate to the football field, translate that to the football field, soldiers, so many others. That's a great point. In about Laganzah, hey, we're not in if you wanted to talk more about like, you know, Brad White said, hey, he's a 50-50 guy right now. That means he's winning half the plays, losing half the plays, but the 50 he's winning is based on what you just talked about, that incredible body, that incredible athleticism. So once he learns the other half, once he learns the scheme, once he learns, as Brad White said, what the other offense is trying to do to you, that's important. We never even talk about that. I mean, that determines your success in a game largely, too. Have you figured out what the goal of the other offense is and their approach to attacking? So he's got a lot to learn, but just when you talk about the physical ability and I mean, he's an athletic freak. They love that. Zach, let's see, there was one other thing I wanted to say. I think that's it there. All right, so on the body comp part,

25:10but the quarterbacks. Now, we both got to watch the quarterbacks on this weekend. Zach, something fascinating is happening here. Now correct me if I'm wrong. All off season, it was all about air and filo. Can, can, can Tremel Jones keep up with him? And after two days of practice, I'm hearing people say, well, I know that Tremel throws it pretty well. I wonder if Filo can keep up with him. All right. And we did hear Buster Falker again. That may be something you want to address a little bit later, but he said, look, just for everybody knows, Aaron Filo, who played for him at Georgia Tech came in. I hope I'm not stealing your thunder here, Zach. And he knew the terminology, but that didn't really give him too much of a head start. Yeah, he knew the terminology, but offense is always a work in progress. And you still got to drop there in the form. But, now, obviously, we haven't seen him taking where they're not going to take hits in spring, but we haven't seen them throwing on anything but air. But just from the sheer perspective of throwing the football, what did you think of those two guys? They're the top candidates to be QB1 in Gainesville. So what do you think, Zach? Yeah, I mean, look, I really got to watch a little bit more of the quarterbacks the second day and kind of highlighted that in the piece that I wrote, Keith kind of

26:17focused on ball and some other players. But at the quarterback position, man, it's very clear that like, this is a true QB competition. Like there's, Aaron Philo did not walk in here with a leg up in this competition. As John Sumeral has said, he said that. And it's true. Like, we've seen it. We've watched it. We can't necessarily talk about everything that we've seen because they did let us watch some stuff off the record. But like, this is a, I can say this, it's a true competition. Like, there's not a guy that's got an advantage right now or that they're playing favorites with or that there's some preconceived notion that they're trying to set this guy up to win the job. It ain't happened. Like, that's number one. And number two, to your point, Keith, we're only seeing the viewing period, right? They have not put on pads yet. He's got to do this in 11 on 11. But from the viewing periods that we've seen from

27:20the first two days and the videos that have come out from them and the passes that have come out from them, yes, there is a lot of people that are excited about Tremel Jones strong in the football. Yes, he's probably got a better arm than Aaron Philo. And now that's not, that alone is not going to win him the job. He's also probably a better athlete than Aaron Philo. That alone is not going to win him the job. But he's got some things about him that clearly you're going to help him have a case to win the job. And I would expect that both of these guys are going to get every opportunity in the spring in scrimmages to get reps with the first team, to get drives with the first team to show what they can do. But this is not a situation where Aaron came in with the advantage and Tremel's having to prove the coaches wrong or prove himself. That's not how it's going. You and I had both heard during the off season that he had that Tremel Jones had been doing really well and he was throwing well and doing things that they liked and every time we would report

28:20it, it'd be a little pushback. Oh, come on guys, it's Philo's job. Well, it does feel like it's an open cubic competition. I think these guys can elevate each other's act. They're going to push each other. By the way, the other quarterbacks, you know, we shouldn't forget about Aaron Warner will griffen the true freshman by the way. He's throwing it well out there. So it just feels like it's going to be one of these two guys at the end of the day and I think most people would agree with that. But Tremel Jones, the ball comes off his hand hot. I mean, he's got a live arm. There's no question about that. But Zach, you mentioned open practices under the Steve Spurrier era or in the Steve Spurrier. Well, I used to go to those. I was there as a young reporter and we would watch a couple young quarterbacks throw the ball. I'll say three of them. Terry Dean, super live arm. Eric Cresser, maybe the best star I've ever seen. Danny Worfell, maybe the weakest star I've ever seen of a guy at Florida weakest in terms of being able to throw it a long distance. Well, guess which one won the highest trophy? So you can never look. There's so much more that goes into and goes into playing quarterback and by the way, Buster Falker said the same thing.

29:24And John Somerall said the same things. Buster, who is going to be the guy that wins wins this job? Who's going to be KB1? The guy that can score the most points and the guy that can lead us to wins. That's exactly what Buster Falker said that is all they care about. So forget about 400 yards of game and stats and this, that and the other who looks pretty and all that that is not what they care about. That is not who these stat, these coaches are that's not what they're about. They're about wins and losses, right? And they're going to try to identify the guy that leads them that has the command of the team that has the command of the offense, all those intangibles. And that's what you can't judge in practice. Obviously, look, they're throwing against air. There's nobody coming in on them. And clearly, Aaron Filo has proven to be, and I have no favorite in this. I mean, I like Tremel Jones. I've covered him since high school, but I'm taking it like Uzak and even an impartial look at this. I think they both are talented, but you got to give Aaron credit, Aaron Filo credit, in games that in which he played at Georgia Tech, he did rise to the occasion. That's probably the one thing yet we don't know about Aaron Filo about Tremel Jones. In high school, they both elevate

30:25their teams. You love to see that. They're both popular locker room guys. You love to see that. So I don't know. I mean, I think people are looking at the quarterback position and thinking, ah, maybe Florida doesn't have a star. Well, maybe, maybe not time will tell. But even if not, the goal is to win. Stetson Bennett won a national title, Zach. I mean, do you know what I mean? Like, so that's what they're trying to identify. Who's got that winning gene? Who's got that Kerwin Bell gene, that Chris League gene, that, you know what I mean? Who can elevate this team and elevate this program? So look, we don't suspect they're going to have any kind of decision on this thing until right near the first game, there's a long way to go. But, you know, where's Tremel Jones, Zach has had a little more heat on the ball, a little bit more velocity. Aaron Filo, I heard somebody say, well, I saw him throw a ball in the dirt. Yeah, that happens. But I saw him throw a great throw. I saw him throw some great throws and I saw him throw some balls where I thought, you know, there was only one guy that would have been able to catch that ball if that was a game. And that was the receiver. And that's important. Well, long way, look, long way to go. And I'm not a QB evaluator to begin with. So, but we're not, we're not going

31:30to, you know, designate somebody as a favorite right now, but the one thing that I am going to say is that it's true competition. So for people that thought that this was Filo's job to lose, and that's how the spring was going to play out that that is not how it has started. I think that's just that's an important thing to know. And you know what Keith, another takeaway from you know, on this topic is that I don't think that this is just that quarterback. Like I think that they are, you know, for a lot of the returners and the guys that have been in the program and guys that have gotten opportunities to start or that they're in line to start, I think this staff is going to give them the opportunities maybe first. You know, I think there's something to be said about adding transfers to a program and then just plugging them into the starting lineup right away. And versus making them earn it and show that they deserve to be in the starting lineup,

32:30I think that there's some of that happening right now with this with this staff. And that's, that's good to see because that creates competition, doesn't divide the locker room, doesn't make the the returning guys feel like they're, you know, they're they've been set up to not even get the job. So there's a lot of competition that's going to be had these next few weeks. Exactly. There's a lot of people who want to know about the offensive and defensive lines. And I haven't had much info on those. And one of the reasons and Brad White said it for us, the defensive corner. He said, listen, I personally am not going to learn about the trenches, like you said earlier in the show, until guys are in pads. Well, that starts Saturday. So we'll obviously start having more and more about those groups. But you know, it is hard to tell. I mean, we're out there a long time, but they they're not really doing too much in terms of pushing and shoving from an offensive line and defensive line standpoint. It's working with the sleds and things like that. And the offensive line, I've seen them do a lot of agility type things. And it's it's all about learning technique right now. But I watched Phil Traut one on Thursday. I mean,

33:33he's he's a focused teacher. He is he's a guy that I could tell Zach wasn't going to, doesn't move on to the next thing until the kid gets one thing right. They don't get it right. They'll do it again. So it's been fascinating to watch. But I suspect both of us are probably going to get a lot more into the old line and the D line next week. Now you to your credit, you have spent a lot of time with the defensive line. And you've been you've been down there for a lot of Gerald Chapman who's fun to watch. But any takeaways from the defensive line group, new guys, old guys, when we talked about L.J. McFray earlier, you ever wonder how far an EV can take you on one charge? Well, most people drive about 40 miles a day, which means you can do all daily stuff. No problem. Go to work, grab the kids at school, get the groceries, and still have enough charge to visit your in-laws in the next county. But they don't need to know that. And the best part, you won't have to buy gas at all. The way forward is electric. Explore EVs that fit your life at electricforall.org. JustWorks helps small businesses support their teams with everything from HR

34:37to better benefits. Whether you're hiring, automating payroll, expanding globally, or tackling compliance, JustWorks offers transparent pricing in 24-7 human support. Hire and manage talent without juggling multiple platforms or hidden fees. And get your team access to premium benefits like health insurance, 401k, and commuter perks. Learn more at justworks.com. They do your human resources right so you can do right by your people. JustWorks for your people. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, Proud Partner of Team USA. From unsolved mysteries to unexplained phenomena, from comedy goal to relationship fails, Amazon Music's got the most ad-free top podcasts,

35:42included with Prime. Because the only thing that should interrupt your listening is, well, nothing. Download the Amazon Music app today. Every day, excessive delays and denials from big insurers keep patients from accessing the care they need. And when care is urgent, these delays can be disastrous. These practices cost billions in wasteful spending, driving up costs for American families. But while big insurers put up barriers, America's hospitals and health systems are in your corner, navigating endless reviews and appeals to get you the care you need when you need it most. It's time to curb these harmful practices and put the focus back on patients, brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Health Care. Man, I wish I could say some of this stuff, man. Gosh, he's funny. Gosh, I wish I could just say some of this stuff. We can't quote the coaches from practice, Scott, we're going to respect your rules, but gosh, and it's great too, like he's not,

36:44um, he's not degrading these guys. He's not disrespecting these guys. He's not challenging their manhood. Um, well, maybe a little, maybe a little, but like he is an intense coach. And look, dude, like those recruits that come to practice, they know what they're signing up for. Like they're right there watching it. And he is not holding back at all. Um, like I said, an Emmanuel had a bit of a welcomeness to the SEC moment. Um, but I think that they've got a, they've got a good deline room. They've, they've got some guys that they're going to be able to count on. Um, there's others that they're still pushing along and going to have to try to get to that level. Some of the new transfers and stuff. Um, but it's, that is for any reporter that's out there, any fan or spectator that's out there, if you get to go to a forward football practice, that is 100% one of the highlights, uh, is, is watching Gerald Chapman's position drills. Zach, I know there's a lot of curiosity on the inside of the, of the defensive line. But,

37:47man, when I'm looking at that strong side defensive end position, it's so ultra, it's ultra important. I mean, you need them in the backfield, honestly. You need them to set the edge more than it. I mean, that it is a crucial component to this defense. And it looks like it may be one of the, it very well could be the strongest position on the team. I was just saying because you've got Cameron James back now, somewhat limited in the spring coming off shoulder surgery. He's not going to be hitting, but he's out there doing drills. Looks great, looks great physically. He's coming off of his kind of break out season for the Gatorsack. You've got L.J. McCray, who I don't think he took too kindly all the talk about what's happened. L.J. McCray, he's a bust blah, blah, blah. I'd done anything. And he's heart last year for starters, but a manual can say it came back when he wasn't 100% anything. That's right. And manual, I mean, we have a dayo. We have a dayo, comes in high priced NIL guy, the same position, you got cam James, you got a manual. And then you know, L.J. McCray's kind of the forgotten guy and something lit a fire under him this off season. And Brad White, the defensive pointer told, I told yesterday's that that he's been a pleasant

38:52surprise. He's like, I didn't know what to expect. He's been a pleasant surprise. Okay. They're starting to see what L.J. McCray's all about changed his body composition. And they said, by the way, I think he looks great. And they said, no, he's still got a ways to go. Yeah, he looks good, but he's still working on that. And so a focused L.J. McCray adds a third player to that position. And by the way, Zach, those guys can also go play the other defensive end position if they need to, right? I mean, him and cam James, I think, I think a manual being in his size is probably locked in its strong side defensive end for defensive end spots. And he can move inside to the three technique or the four I, but it's a it's a fascinating group. Zach, any other position groups you want to highlight and in your takeaways or running backs look good, the linebackers we never talked about them, they're loaded. We haven't even mentioned once the receivers, Zach. So any thoughts are really on an Eric Singleton? We can do that with the player interviews. We got to we got to hear from them. Rob in the comment section, you might you might be on the What's Rob there? He was Rob.

39:58Yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, those are the ones that that certainly stand out. I mean, the last guy we got to mention before we get into some of these interviews and the things that we learned probably probably the, how would we say this key? The biggest takeaway? The biggest. What you got? As he can't be him. As he can't is gone viral. Shout out to Dylan, my former student working for Sports Illustrated. He got a good clip of as he cannot practice that did numbers. And it's been a sight to see this guy run around at practice catching passes. We got to hear from Buster Faulkner, who was who spoke very highly of, has he recruited him his entire time when he was at Georgia Tech. So they like him. They want to get his weight down. They 100% think that he could be a tight end for them at the SEC level. So, but yeah, I mean,

41:02watching him run around Keith, he's he's been one of the literally the biggest takeaways. New some new to new guys. We'll get into the interviews as well. But yeah, Eric Singleton, everybody's fast as we thought. Cam Julie in the secondary looks good. I mean, there's it's early. So we're trying to, you know, we're trying to balance the fact with it whether a guy looks good or not with the fact that it's it was two practices. So anyway, you ready to get into player interviews or anything else? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. I'll play your interviews and coach interviews by the way. So you got a bunch of coaches this week. And I am going to start when back to John Someral just briefly here's that because he did something interesting during his press conference after the first practice of the John Someral era. And somebody asked him about Dallas Wilson, because Dallas Wilson is a slight injury to his foot. And I'll get into a little bit more of that later. And and John Someral said, I'm just going to give you the whole rundown of the entire team. Who's art and what the deal is? What the deal is on the injury? How long

42:03we think they're going to be out? What they could do? What they can't do? And it was forthcoming to say the least. And you know, Zach, we know people that we know somebody that covered him at Tulane. And they said, this is how he was going to be. And he probably wouldn't change. And that's exactly who who he is. And he hasn't changed. And I thought that was an interesting just as a from a reporting again, to get back into the minutia of our jobs. But again, that then we're able to get to the readers. Hey, here's exactly what's going on. Here's exactly who's heard. And it's not lower body injury. It's, hey, dude, he had a shoulder. He had shoulder. I mean, you know what I mean? So what did you think of that? Yeah, I mean, it was great. It was transparent. You know, even when he ran through the guys that were out that he didn't list their injuries when we when we asked him, well, hey, what are those guys out with? He gave us everybody. So it just look, I know those guys are entitled to their privacy. And I understand at times the gamesmanship involved in not putting injury information out there. I will give, you know,

43:06I do want to note though that Napier did at the start of spring last year give a full injury report. And he did list all the guys' injuries. That was really the only time that he ever did that though. So it seems like this is going to be the norm for John. But it just it just takes away the question marks. It takes away the storylines and the narratives around injuries. It keeps reporters from then focusing on injuries or trying to dig into injuries or trying to update every time we go out to practice. So is this guy back or is he doing more today? Like if you just come out and say what their status is and what their usage is going to be, that just completely removes those questions and it removes those narratives around injuries. And I just think it's a good way to kill the story Keith. Yeah, I mean, just kill it. Yes, smart. All right, Zach, just from the coaches' interviews. And I'm going to point out Zach interviewed Zach and I get to talk to with the other media coaches and players. So from the coaches, what were some of the things that

44:10stood out? And obviously you talked to John someone, you talked to the strength director of strength, Rusty Witt, you spoke to the offensive coordinator, Buster Faulkner, you talked to the defensive coordinator, Brad White, and you talked to Jonathan Galante, I want to say. Yeah, Jonathan Galante, yep. Galante, excuse me, very good interview with him, special teams coordinator. So what were some of your takeaways from those press conferences? What'd you learn? Yeah, I mean, Galante is very impressive. I mean, he's a guy that's got expertise in the special teams arena. Like you can tell the guy knows this stuff. He's fired up to coach it. He's very excited about the fact that he's working with a guy in summer all who emphasizes special teams. We got to see that at the starter practice. Like they do special teams to kick things off. So he spoke very highly of the guys that he brought over from Tulane. It seems like the other ones are still kind of settling. And although he said that the Texas A&M transfer has been a pleasant surprise. But really, I mean,

45:12it was I think about hearing kind of what he had to say just about the special teams emphasis. And that's something that I think we see. There's guys coming up to him saying that they want to start on different jobs and things like that. So that was good to hear from Jonathan. It was obviously great to hear from Buster and Brad. You know, Buster, man, he's a ball coach. And we say that all the time. But like, it just I enjoy hearing him talk about the game and hearing him talk about the way that he how he sees things and kind of just his no nonsense. He just calls it like he sees it. He's not here to talk things up or hide things up. Like he's just a ball coach, man. And he definitely, I think speaking to the quarterback situation, echoed some of the things that we've been saying about that. There's going to be nobody that's got an advantage built in advantage here. And he had great things to say about Tremel. Obviously, he gets to get a lot of his guys, though, as well. They came over from Georgia Tech,

46:18so he's excited about that. And then Brad White, I mean, we mentioned it already, Keith, but like just the way that he, I mean, he had some great things to say just about installing his scheme, some of the impressions of the personnel that he's got to work with. But he really was reserving judgment on what he's got and kind of the physicality that he has on that side of the ball because he wants to see these guys play. So I don't know. I mean, sometimes you don't always get that from a coach. They'll come out there and kind of talk up their team, talk up their guys. Brad was not going to do that. And I just, I respected the honesty, even if as a reporter, you know, that's not necessarily giving you what you want. But he maybe is just the fact that he's coming out there and saying what he's saying, you know, we're, we're laying his message and kind of how he feels about this thing. So Buster Faulkner, you know, I think somebody asked, I don't know if it's you or somebody else's act that said, what's your number one objective in the spring?

47:21You're thinking, I find a quarterback at the offensive. Now, his, it was a big picture thing and it was identity. We got to develop an identity. What is the identity of the Florida football program right now? It's got to be developed now. Now's when you develop it and identify it. And later on is when it, you know, it becomes evident to people like us. And basically he said, look, there's, there's, and all the coaches said this, there's times out there right now where they're plotting through, they're fighting through, they're getting things done. And then there are times they're not. And they're trying to see what the, get them to their limit to get them to understand their limit. I want to say it was Brad White then said, you know, as his coaches are having to push and prod them through right now. But ultimately, leaders on the team are going to rise to the top. And they're going to be the ones that are pushing and pulling their teammates through, maybe even more than the coaches. One thing I noticed about all the coaches that spoke to us this week, Zach, there was no air. And again, sometimes in John's summer, I'm glad he did this too. He said, he said in one interview this week, hey, I'm not, this has nothing to do with the old staff.

48:23I'm just talking about what I'm seeing now. So I want to be clear about that. What I'm saying now only relates to what we're seeing this week. Zach, you said it yourself. These guys are so good at just talking to us, which us being, if they're talking to us, they're really talking to everybody watching because we're the conduit. And explaining things. And there's not an air of condescension, right? It's just, hey, they're explaining things how they work now. And obviously this is the low stress season during this, during the season, we're not, you know, it's different. But they're explaining the process. They're explaining where they are now, where they hope to be in a few weeks, where they're trying to ultimately get to. They're explaining how they're going to train across train guys at certain positions. They're, they're just very good at explaining things and not making us feel like idiots and making us feel like we're me and you and everybody, like we're learning something. I felt like I'm learning, I felt like I learned something from each of their press, each of their little press interviews. Did you? Oh, yeah. Same way. Well, 100%. 100%. Like they're, again, they're, they're, they're not going to come out there and that they're not just trying to like

49:25sell you a dream. But, but their expertise is on display. You know, one thing I want to mention from, from what Rusty wit, because I, because I did not mention him, like we got to dig into a little bit more about the gauntlet. And then, you know, I reported this at Gator's online in my Intel piece the day before camp started that based on what we had heard, Vernell Brown and Kanye Clark were like the standouts from the gauntlet workouts. Like, didn't lose any workouts. We're really impressed in the coaches and the staff by how they went about those workouts and and that Jaden Woods was another guy that, that was in that category. So, and then we got to hear from Jaden Woods and, and Vernell Brown and talk to them about it. But, hearing from Rusty wit, Buster Faulkner, and I think some are all as well. Man, man, they had high praise for Vernell Brown the third. Like, Buster Faulkner said that he's the, what did he say that he was the, the most

50:28that he spent more time in the film room than any other receiver that he'd ever been around. In the building. In the building. In the building. In the building. And so, like, yes, he's, he isn't, he impressed with the gauntlet workouts. He did not lose a gauntlet workout. And for those, what we talked about the gauntlet last week, I don't think that we mentioned this, this part about it, which I think is important. Like, they've got these six stations and you're in groups and you're going through these stations. But when you're in groups, you're going one-on-one against another guy through each station. So, it is a one-on-one competition, even though you have a group. So, with that being said, Vernell Brown the third did not lose a one-on-one battle. I believe Kanye Clark did not either. And I think Jaden Woods lost one, everyone except for when he went against Vernell Brown the third. So, Vernell Brown impressed in that aspect, but also the way that he's gone about taking on a leadership role,

51:28how he is in the building, how he is in the film room, Buster Falkner and have sat down for one-on-one meetings. And he's been blown away about how just his knowledge of offense and his football expertise for a guy that's going into his sophomore year. So, I think we need to mention that because, let me shut out to Vernell for performing that well in the offseason. That's one of the reasons why he got the number one jersey, which we hadn't talked about. You ever wonder how far an EV can take you on one charge? Well, most people drive about 40 miles a day, which means you can do all daily stuff, no problem. Go to work, grab the kids at school, get the groceries, and still have enough charge to visit your in-laws in the next county. But they don't need to know that. And the best part, you won't have to buy gas at all. The way forward is electric. Explore EVs that fit your life at electricforall.org.

52:47Do your human resources right so you can do right by your people. Just works for your people. Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. That's about yet. That's number one's back. Who's a bigger? I don't want to say fan, but who's a bigger? I'm trying to find the right word. I know you, you, you, you, you just marvel at what Vernel does, right? I mean, you just, I mean, he's a special person. I mean, I mean, I can't even say a player. He's a special person. I would agree with that 100%. My Vernel Brown to you is Jaden Bob, obviously. I I've hit my wagon to Jaden. But no, you by the way, I love that you brought up and I'm glad you

53:51brought up Vernel Brown because remember, Jonathan Galante, the special teams coach, talked about him too. We saw Vernel. Vernel was doing punt block yesterday. Now, obviously it wasn't 11 on 11 out there. It was just one guy. He got to the punter faster than anybody that I saw. I didn't watch it for the whole 10 minutes or eight minutes that they did it. Kormani McLean, by the way, did a heck of a job on one of them too. But his acceleration is incredible. I couldn't believe it. And when it's just fascinating to watch him, there's nothing he can't do well. And he's also, like I always say, he's a pro's pro. He's, and I said, this was his high school, Zach. I'm gonna, I'm gonna beat my chest here. He, he would be a great representative for the University of Florida. I've never had a doubt. I've been interviewing the kids since his 15, 16 years old. You've probably known him longer than that. He's everything we thought he'd be and maybe even quite frankly more to be honest. And he can go out there and start at cornerback right now. Yeah. I mean, he can start at corner receiver. So he's at punt block. And I'm thinking, God, man, they could put him at punt block. And then I remembered he's also maybe the best punt returner in the SEC. So you're

54:53like, where do you need him? Where do you want him? The guy can do so many things. He gives coaches so many options. It's, it's just incredible. And then, and then Ignite said he can play every single receiver spot, which we know. But yeah, the kids ridiculous. So the coach, the good stuff from the coach take away and, and shout out to him and Bryce Thornton. You know, they both got the number one jersey and it was, they, they earned it. You know, that's one of those things that's sort of new. When I came back from covered Auburn, I didn't even realize that was a big deal. When I had been covering Florida years ago, it was number 11 was the, was the one you wanted, you know. Yeah. So player interviews, we got, I hope I'm not missing anybody. We got four good ones this week. Miles Jayden Woods. Yeah. First time I've, we're gonna, or the, or the, uh, Fab five. Fab five. I had never been there in person for a Jayden Woods interview. Impressive, man. I mean, I hate when people are like, oh, well spoken, they say it like it's a surprise. That, that dude's smart. And he is thoughtful and he's just engaging. He was great. But all four of them really were. So Miles Graham, Jayden Woods, Verna Brown and Dallas Wilson, who I just love his interviews. He's just, he's so

55:57full of energy in life. But, and shout out to the guy for coming to talk to us when he's hurt. Yeah. Both of them. Yeah. Both of them. And those you don't know, Miles Graham's also in a non-contact Jersey right now, as he comes back. What was his injury? Um, shoulder, shoulder surgery. So he's fine. He's going to be doing some stuff and he's going to do more and more stuff throughout the spring. But John Somerall said he won't be doing any tackle. I guess surprise or setback was Dallas Wilson being out. Yeah. So from the Miles Graham interview, there's so many takeaways. So I'm going to keep this sort of limited here is that he talked about, hey, after I committed to resigning and returning to the Gators, John Somerall said, all right, let's, I need your help. But I mean, you got to get some of these other guys back too. So he worked on Jayden Woods and some of those guys act. So what were your thoughts on what Miles Graham had to say about trying to retain, uh, his buddies? Yeah. I mean, he, he was somebody that took that on. You know, we, we heard from Vernal Brown, the third who kind of said that he didn't do that. Um, he,

56:58you know, I think he was in communication with some of these guys. Uh, Miles is more of a recruiter. Miles is more willing to, to kind of have those conversations. Um, and, and he did. He, he took it upon himself to talk to these different guys. And he was the first one, uh, that got on more with John so much so that after his introductory press conference, I believe we've told this story before on the show, but after his introductory press conference, he waited around, um, to take a picture with John that, that, that picture that he put out on social media the day of Somerall's introductory press conference. That wasn't planned. That wasn't something that they asked Miles to do. He asked, he stayed around and asked to do it. So he, he really got on board with John pretty quick. And I think that he was instrumental in recruiting some of those guys back. Obviously from, from Jaden Woodstand point, uh, he was, you know, he was the one that was, you know, actually at, at risk of being gone. Like he actually entered the portal, went and took another visit. Um, and he said

58:03that going out there and, and, and getting that, uh, in home visit from, uh, Somerall, Brad White, Bam Hartman and, and, and kind of hearing just how they wanted to use them. But more importantly, just talking life. And like he was like, he said, when we got there, we didn't really talk too much football. And he knew coming out of that visit that those were the guys that he wanted to play for. But I mean, he was, you mentioned Jaden Woods is like, up front this man. Like he didn't shy away from talking about Texas. The fact that he took a trip there, like he had great things to say about Will Musham, but at the end of the day, um, after evaluating his options and, and seeing what both schools and staffs had to offer, he felt like Florida was the better fit and the better option, which is, I think something great for the Gators that they went toe-to-toe with Texas and won that battle. So Texas and Will Musham, who obviously, I mean, he's the guy that got Dante Fowler to gain. So I mean, you're talking about a guy that knows how to recruit that sort of position. Yeah. So, uh, the thing I, by the way, Brad White, the defensive coordinator said this

59:05about Jaden Woods yesterday, the game comes easy to Jaden Woods. So Zach, when I look at Jaden Woods, again, first time I've been in an interview session with him, he's big, but he's not the biggest guy on the team. He's muscular, but there are guys that look more like Mr. Olympia than him. He just looks like a regular football player, and that tells me that it's up here that it's, it's, you know, he's the strongest guy out there. Him and ball, I guess, or whatever. He's one of the strongest guys on TV. Him and tall is him and ball. He's got the want to, because again, I mean, some guys, I mean, like Robert Kim Dichy, the NFL player, yeah, he just look different than everybody. Jaden, he, he plays different than everybody else. He works out different than everybody else, but looks wise. I mean, he's, he's in great shape. I'm not saying that, and he's tall, and he's all, but he's, there are bigger guys in him. And, and that's kind of was my takeaway. It may sound stupid, but it's not one of the, he's not a first guy off the bus type body. Yeah, and it just makes me think, man, this guy must just have it. He must just be a refused, well, they got it. I refused to lose guy. And that would have been, well, I'd love to see a

1:00:07video him going against Vernell Brown. I know. I know. They, they need to put that out. Okay, I'm not. I think he said, then they say they were, they recorded, they got video. I said, I met some of the creative people yesterday. Some really good, good, good young people working their tails off for Florida. And, man, but you guys want to go viral. I'd watch that. So, Jay, well, here's something, well, what you got? What do you got? No, go ahead. Well, you mentioned, you wish you could see something. You know what I wish I could see? The race between Eric Singleton and Vernell Brown 3rd. You wrote about a, another race from years ago, didn't you? That's right. Yeah, the Chris Rainey Jeff Demp's race. But that was a big thing that got revealed on Thursday, Keith, was that Dallas Wilson and Vernell Brown said that Eric Singleton clock 23 miles an hour on the catapult. And then Vernell told us that he did it beating him in a race. And then we found out from Vernell that he was 22.99. He's not exactly crowbar. Yeah. And for those that don't know, like, that's based,

1:01:10if you're running that fast, you're sub four four. Like you're in the fourth three range if you're running that fast. If I had to guess, I'm wondering who the two or three fastest gators of all would be. You got Demp's obviously Jeff Demp's right. John Capel. Now the only thing about Capel, he was better at the 200 than the 100. But I'm guessing his 100 time was still pretty good. So there was a guy, there was a guy, believe it or not, there was a guy in the 70s. He never made it to Gainesville. And you track people will know. You got me on this one, Keith. No, but he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He was from the Panhandle of Florida. Houston, McTeer. And he was from, I think he played at Baker High School, but he was like five foot seven in the floor. It was going to bring him in for football. But instead, he went to run track back when they ran the hundred yards instead of the hundred meters. He was around nine seconds flat. So oh my god. Yeah. But, but, but he never played for four. So I say, I say it's got to be Demp's or Capel, Capel with the long speed, maybe, but, but Eric Singleton could be one of those guys.

1:02:15It's like top 10 or better. Maybe all time. I mean, some are all city at Olympic speed. Yeah, I'd have to look into that. I think I thought I saw his best 100 was like 10 four, which is really good. But like, I've seen guys at 10 one running in college. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So I mean, but just the fat. I mean, god, let's just be a Chris. Here we go. Chris Rainey's people were mentioning, but yeah, I mean, they've maybe another one too. Uh, kind of I feel like there was another. Well, you know, there were two players. Oh, I tried to start that they had that never really, never really saw the field or or. Capel, Capel was never the player. You in hope track. The guys that are true track, got track guys first. You know, this you've seen this. They never quite are as good at football. I want to say in the late 80s, Louis Oliver and Tony Jones, maybe, is going way back. I think they were on Florida's national championship four by one team. And I think they had the fastest four by one in the country. And that was four. I know another

1:03:15guy that they recruited. Now that I'm thinking about it, he ended up coming to where you were working. Anthony Schwartz. Anthony Schwartz. Yeah. He was fast. He was he was a 10 one guy in high school. I mean, that is insane. What do you think you would do? What do you think you would have done as an 18 year old Zach? I wasn't pretty good shape. I'm thinking 12 seconds for me. You know what I mean? Oh, I want to say, I think who I might have been thinking of might have been was in my cell like my cell had a pretty I think my cell was a little track starish in high school. So it's a speed out of the state of Florida, man. Yeah. Florida's always had some burners out there. Stacey Simmons. Oh, there you go. Stacey Simmons might have been the guy I'm thinking about in the late 80s that might have been the fastest one. And he played in the NFL for a lot of years. And I think might have been even a pro bowl or at one time. But all right, Zach, a couple of other guys, you got to interview a couple of our favorites, Vernel Brown and Dallas Wilson. I mean, nobody loves Dallas Wilson. I've covered it since high school. You've been around Vernel forever. What would you take

1:04:17away from those two interviews to just engaging young dudes, man? Just just really good guys. Yeah. I mean, obviously for unfortunate for Dallas that he's starting this spring out. He's got a great mindset and outlook about it. You know, he said that, you know, when Paul Sylvester, he told him that he's going to have to shut it down that that normally he would have gotten irritated. But, you know, he just said, Hey, man, like I need to get right. You know, that we don't have any games coming up the season still a while out. So as disappointing as it is for him to not be out there, he wants to be 100% for the year. He was out there going through the gauntlet like he'd healed from his season ending foot surgery enough to be out there going through workouts, but, you know, flared up. He didn't have any, you know, structural damage that was done with whatever the setback is, but it's enough inflammation and that he's, you know, in a boot. But again, Kudos to him for coming out and talking about it.

1:05:18You know, I think delving into what last year was like for him as well, getting that hot start to the season, which also was delayed because of an injury and then having to go out in the Georgia game and just, you know, be, be not be able to contribute during the coaching change and everything that happens. So he's looking forward to getting back out there. Both he and Vernell, around the third got the new looks too as well. They got the new air dues and Vernell was great, man. You know, both he and Dallas had a lot of great things to say about the receiver room. Like I, you know, I mentioned that they revealed that Eric Singleton ran 23 miles per hour, but both of them made it clear that there's like, it's not just a three-man show with those two and Eric like they've got other guys in their room that can contribute. They're excited about the talent and I can't wait to see what Vernell does now. And with a year under his belt, but more

1:06:20importantly, with the staff and in an offense, I feel like that's really going to be able to showcase his skill set. By the way, my pick for the best fastest guy, the best of the bunch of all the fast guys to play for Florida that was also awesome. It's got to be Percy Harvin, right? Oh, yeah. My guys were good players. Some of the guys were decent players. He was the best player, you know? Well, and fast too. I mean, he won. Dems fast, but he'd be Chris Rainier in a race. Yeah, unbelievable. Zach, any other takeaways? By the way, I think I still maintain that Vernell Brown's going to be 150 catch guy. I thought it would be in four years. When we first talked about that, I'm not thinking it's going to be three years. I think he's going to be remembered as an all-time gator. Great. Zach, as we're watching all these guys' interviews and looking on the field, I keep thinking to myself and I cut you off. I asked you a question and cut you off. I keep thinking, there's far too much talent for them to have only one four games left. You ever wonder how far an EV can take you on one charge? Well, most people drive about 40 miles a day, which means you can do all daily stuff, no problem. Go to work, grab the kids at school, get the groceries, and still have

1:07:24enough charge to visit your in-laws in the next county. But they don't need to know that. And the best part, you won't have to buy gas at all. The way forward is electric, explore EVs that fit your life at electricforall.org. A few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Exfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America,

1:08:27sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching. We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA. I agree. I agree. I mean, I will also say, though, that I I'm not surprised that they ended up where they ended up because of the the quarterback situation. And if they could run it back again with a full offseason with DJ Lagway, the results would probably be different. But at the same time, it's funny, man, they say things happen for a reason. If Will Greer never gets popped for steroids, what is the gym acoin era? Like, I mean, they could have won the SEC Championship in 2015 with Greer. And

1:09:31who knows how that tenure would have played out? Because listen, man, there ain't nobody they're going to say that gym acoin didn't put together some talented rosters because Dan Mullin took them in one with them. He had his flaws, obviously, as a head coach, which is why he didn't work out. But like that, that Will Greer situation did him in. And I got to say Keith, like, between Napier, not giving up play calling and then having DJ, you know, have what happened to him, that did him in as a head coach. And who knows who knows what the 2025 Gators could have been and what the Napier tenure would, you know, how that would have played out had some things going differently. If he went hired Charlie Weiss and DJ never gets hurt, but those are big what ifs. You just gave me a great idea for the all time what ifs. I was thinking, you know, the great coach Lou Holtz died this week. And he, I believe verbally agreed to be Florida's coach back in 1978.

1:10:32That's a hell of a what if, that's a hell of a what if, maybe that changes. Maybe there's no Steve Spurrier if there's Lou Holtz. I mean, I mean, what if I'm speaking of Lou Holtz? I mean, what if, what if Herbert Meyer goes to Notre Dame? That's right. Well, Ron Zuck told me that there was no way in hell. He said there was nobody in hell. Urban was going to Notre Dame when he looked at the two rosters and he saw what Zuck had recruited the gains though. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all you guys to bring up the bad memories of Wil Greer, but I still I still stand by the fact that Florida could have won should have won the SEC. That's a hell of a story. Did Zach, I'm adding that and by the way, uh, crew and Bell doesn't start in 1984. If Dale Dormony, the starting quarterback doesn't tear his ACL one week before the opener. Hey, man, we never see Kyle Trask. If if Felipe Franks doesn't get hurt, you mean the QB whisper didn't know that the guy in the bench was better five times better than the guy that was playing. Yeah. Yeah. The same QB whisper that started Emory Jones over Anthony Richardson. Yeah. He unbelievable. All right. You ready to move on to

1:11:34anything else? Or do you want to move on to Hoops? Yeah. Let's talk Coops. Okay. And Zach, I'm sorry. You had a thought and I jumped right in and and cut you off there. No, you're good. Oh, you went out. Florida basketball at Rup Arena, famed Rup Arena on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Gators ranked number five. Zach, they are 24 and six overall 15 and two in the SEC. They've already won the SEC for the eight time SEC regular season championship for the eight time in school history. Unbelievable. They've won 10 in a row. Kentucky's 19 and 11 and 10 and seven. Well, that ain't that great for a $22 million roster. I gotta say. They were expecting a little bit more up there. But look, all time in this series, Kentucky leads 110 to 43 and about 30 of those have come in the last, you know, 40 years. Not at Rup Arena, but in Lexington because for years, Kentucky played at Memorial Gym in Kentucky. And Florida's 12 and 55 all time in Lexington. Zach, it's not an easy place to play, but the Gator boys. They stay hot, man. They stay hot. They stay hot. Yeah,

1:12:40what are your thoughts going into this game? And if they win, can they get a number one seed? What do you think? Oh, man. I mean, you look at the analytics. I mean, it's coming down to them in Yukon. Like, and obviously Yukon's got the head to head. So that's the advantage that they have over them. But Florida has a lot of other metrics that are in their favor. The way that I think they played as of late is going to help their argument. Certainly for Florida fans out there that want the one seed. Yeah, be rooting for Marquette this weekend, because I think an upset on the road at Marquette, if you if you come were to lose, I think that that that could help the Gators get over the hump. But you know, if they end up as a as the number one, two seed versus the number four, one seed, I still think that they can end up on a path to make it to the final four regardless. So

1:13:43you know, it's obviously going to be interesting to see. We don't know yet. We have I'm going to head to Todd. Talk to Todd here shortly, but you know, Thomas Halk status for this game. You know, what that's going to be. You know, I do sense though that even though Florida has the SEC regular season title wrapped up, they're not they're not going into rub looking to like take the foot off the gas or rest some guys or do some load management. Like I I think they're going for that number one seed Keith. And I think they want to keep their win streak going. I think they want to do everything that they can to have the highest seed possible. And that doesn't that doesn't include mailing it in in Roperina. Todd Jollin would never. Yeah. Gold's winning me more. Forget about all the wins. Like the guys won a national title. He's not trying to impress me, but watching him during games where he's like, he's so funny. His mannerisms. It's basically, it's basically, I don't know. It's just I love it, man. I love that he's animated. I love that

1:14:47he gets into it. And it's like, I don't think the ref's hate him. I think he's just kind of need look. I mean, maybe I'm wrong. But I think he's just me. It's part of the game to him. Like it's just and then the games over and hey, we're all buddies again, you know. But Zach, this team is interesting because this this giant win streak. And we've seen some interesting, really interesting brackets, right? And we're not bracketologists. But I've seen a couple of them. I was lost my train. I thought they're sorry to BS my way through about 15 seconds. Seen a couple brackets that that had Florida with the potential second round matchup against Miami. Now, that would be Juicy in Tampa. You don't know which way these things are going to go. But like you said, it really doesn't matter whether or one or two C getting back to Ripperina, even some of the Florida's best teams have not been able to win there. I think last year's team lost at Ripperina if my memory's correct. Yeah. And then and then you had the the white chocolate game where they won up there. I mean, you never know what you're going to get it rough. But it this is a great team. We need to make a point here of letting everybody know

1:15:50that Todd Golden did win his 100th game as Florida coach. The other day Florida is just rolling right now. I know what I was going to say. What's most impressive in this 10 game win streak to me Zach is there's been no let up. There's been no let down game. They used to always even their best teams would go to a place like Oxford, Mississippi when there was nobody there. And by the way, when they just played there, there was nobody there. And yet it wasn't they weren't flat. They were into it. And and that's what separates the great teams from the just the really good teams. And it's impressive. I thought the let down. Maybe you know, you're watching the first half of the game last week. Zach, I'm at the baseball game. You're at the basketball game and I look up and they're down 10. I go down to play or interviews for baseball. I look at my phone and they're up 20. And like, there's 10 minutes ago. They were losing. What what the hell happened? It's just uncanny what this team is is able to do Zach. I've never seen a Florida team flip the switch like this team. I don't know if they're going to win it all, but they they can just turn it on and score. And I mean, they're getting over every game's 100 points now. This is like

1:16:55I don't know more than more than last year's team per game. I mean, they're averaging more offense. Yeah. Some other intriguing early potential matchups. I saw maybe a being in the same region as a Texas tech. That would be, you know, that was that's where it all really a couple of moments in that game, you know, and then the potential to get matched up against one of these teams that they lost to in non-conference. That's just there's going to be a lot of people looking forward to that. Could you imagine if it comes out and three of the teams they played this year were number one seeds? I mean, that's impressive. You know, and now it's been a hell of a run. Tommy Hauke to win so much with him not out there last week just speaks to this great depth and versatility. And now though, the guards, is that current number on your at most of these games? It just looks like flan, just like what everybody predicted, the chemistry would come. They just look so much more comfortable flan and Lee out there now. You know, you watch those games early in the season and I was like, man, is boogie flan? Like, I don't, I didn't get all the

1:17:56fuss. I'm like, he's just dribbling it and basically handing it off to the next guy. I mean, now he's making shots. He's making, I mean, the guy is just, he just doesn't look like the same guy that he looked like back in the set. No, he and Lee have really kind of settled in. I think that that's been key for them because that's taken their offense, that's taken their team to the next level. Both of them have been really good about their three point shot selection as well. You know, early in the season, they would, they'd be liable to jack up seven eight threes in a game and they're just not doing that now. They're really decisive in the paint too. Like when they're driving or when they're penetrating, whether they're dishing it, whether they're making a move to go to the basket, you know, fading away like these, they've shown an array of moves and it's been impressive to see both of them kind of come into their own show why they were so highly touted coming out of the transfer portal. I mean, both of these guys were top 40 transfers. Boogie flan was

1:18:57a top 10 transfer and I mean, yeah, you mentioned, you know, the other night, like not missing a beat with halk out to see CJ Ingraham step in, hit back to back threes to kind of spark them on an 18 O run. I mean, CJ Ingraham looks like he's going to be a dude for the gators next year. Isaiah Brown's continued to do what he does and then urban clavs are off the fence has been huge. You know, it was great to see Mike a hand logged in, get the start as well. They've just got, they're so deep man, like they've got so many pieces. I believe Alex Floyd could get in there and make a play if they needed him too. So it's it's it's been it's been the reason why they're on this win streak. Keith is because all these people have stepped up. We know. I think Todd Golden said and is said in interviews. I believe I've read or seen him say this that they're 80, but essentially 80 for, you know, the big games of the NCAA tournament. But you're right. They got guys beyond that. So if you're in a game and you're up 27 in the NCAA tournament, you don't have to play your guys all the way. You can get them rest or God forbid,

1:20:01somebody gets hurt. If somebody gets hurt and then you need a C.J. England to move into that eight, you probably think he could, right? So anyway, I think that's it. I think we made it. Anything else you want to add? Yeah, I mean, that and you know, baseball in action this weekend, softball. I mean, there's so much going on this spring, man. I'm also you. Obviously, we love the fall time, Keith, but spring is the busiest time. I think on campus easily. Yeah, baseball team, I believe, is one 13 straight games now after an opening day lost to UAB. They look, they look so bad that day and they look completely different since it's baseball. You're playing a ton of games. The Lady Gators golf invitationals this weekend. That's a team nobody's talking about. And yet they're ranked pretty highly. They've got some championship potential. So we'll keep an eye on that as well. If you like what we're doing, hit the like and subscribe button down below. For all your spring football coverage, make sure you go to gatorsonline.com. Zach's had some incredible observation and intel

1:21:04pieces. Also, I need to point out that it is a huge, huge recruiting weekend for John big and company this weekend. They're going to have some big dudes in town. So make sure again, you follow Corey Bender and Blake Alderman and gatorsonline.com for more on that huge, huge weekend. Zach, I got to throw in one more thing. If somebody wants to sponsor the show, the numbers are rising. The gatorsonline boys are hot is what a lot of the kids are saying out there. And so hit us up. We love to take on some sponsors. Zach, you did a great job as always. I appreciate it. I hope you have a good weekend. I hope everybody watching has a good and safe week and a lot of gator action going on and we will do it again next week. That is it. Take care, my friend. Take care, everybody.