If you are like me, you never heard of Nimrod Tishman until late July. Nimrod really broke out in the international hoops scene in the 2009 U18 European Championship. He averaged 18.3 ppg to go with 4 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 6 games. Nimrod is a 6′ 5″ point guard that looks a lot like Nick Calathes on tape. Florida just has one true point guard, Erving Walker, on scholarship, and incoming freshman Kenny Boynton planned to handle some point.
N-Rod was a huge addition to the Gators roster by Coach Donovan. The Gators tried to pick up highly touted point guards John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and Lamont Jones after Nick Calathes left to play for Panathinaikos out of Greece.
The NCAA Clearinghouse is still reviewing his amateur status since Nimrod played on Maccabi Tel-Aviv club team. He has already enrolled in classes and will be wearing Al Horford’s old jersey #42.
It is less than one week until the kickoff of the 2009 season. On Saturday, September 5, Charleston Southern University comes into The Swamp to take on the defending BCS National Champs. The Gators are paying $450,000 to get CSU to travel to Gainesville. So who are the Charleston Southern University Buccaneers?
Gators vs Bucs
The Buccaneers are a member The Big South Conference, and have been picked to finish fifth from The Big South media. Head coach Jay Mills, now in his seventh year at CSU, holds a 34-33 record with the Bucs. They are going to have a new starting quarterback when the come in to The Swamp. This with be their fourth starting QBs in as many years.
CSUsports.comreports - “Who starts the Florida game for us will very much depend on the shape each quarterback reports in,” said Coach Jay Mills. “We have great competition and depth at each position, and that is no different at the quarterback spot. We know they have both worked hard and will continue to do so, so our staff will evaluate them daily. It is our policy never to move anyone down in the depth chart, it will be up to the other guys to step up and take the starting role.”
Does this mean they are going to be a complete push over for the Gators? AP writer Pete Iacobelli got this quote from Running back Antwan Ivey, “We’ve got a notion we can shock the world,” he said. “We’re not going in thinking we’ll lose. I want to win.”
I don’t think we are going to see an Appalachian State performance from CSU. Here is how we should judge the game, and what to look for.
Does the Gators first team defense completely dominate CSU offense? While they are on the field the defense that returns all starters should not give up any points and we need to see the Defensive Line own the line of scrimmage. We should also keep an eye on Omar Hunter, Troy Epps, Earl Okine, and William Green to see if they are able keep up where the first team left off.
Is John Brantley ready for prime-time? The first time the Gator Nation got to see how Tim Tebow would manage a game was the 2nd half of the Western Carolina, so do the Gators put this game away early in the first half and allow Brantley to get the majority of work in the second half of the game? It would even be nice if Jordan Reed were able to get some game action.
Does any Wide Receiver want to be the man? Riley Cooper and Deonte Thompson will get the start at wide out, and they need to show one of them can replace Louis Murphy. The Gators Wide Receivers were a question mark all summer long, but in the last week have added new worries. Freshman WR Andre Debose’s hamstring injury is not going away and may be worse that thought. Also Senior Carl Moore’s career may be in doubt due to a back injury.
Keep the Injuries away! In a game like this the main thing you want is all the players to come off the field with out any injuries.
The game will air on Sun Sports in Florida and throughout the SEC region on FOX Sports South and FOX Sports Southwest. The game will also be called on the Gators Radio Network and XM Radio.
Gator fans–it is only one more week till the 2009 Gators Football season kicks off. During the past week the Gators have dominated the college football news. It all started with the Gators making AP poll history. The Gators were able to get 58 out of the 60 votes and received the most first-place votes ever.Lou Holtz also shocked everyone when he said that Notre Dame would meet Florida in the BCS National Championship this season. I’ve heard everything from rumors that Lou has completely fallen off his rocker to rumors that he is putting pressure on Charlie Weis because he would like to see his son Skip Holtz take the Notre Dame job. Either way one of the teams he picked was right.
SI’s Stewart Mandel has Tebow well positioned to become all-time best. Mandel looks back over the last 25 years and ranks some of college football’s best QB. If the Gators, led by Tim Tebow, are able to win another National Championship, it would be hard not to have Tebow at the top of that list.
One of Tebow’s top targets this season will be Aaron Hernandez. Hard Knox Sports says Aaron Hernandez is Not The Best SEC Tight End. Hernandez is a pre-season All SEC 2nd team selection behind D.J. Williams of Arkansas. Both of the players are great talents, but I think that we are going to see Aaron used in a ton of different ways this year for the Gators. He’ll have plenty of opportunities to build on his stats and will have a great shot at the end of the year to claim the title of Best TE in the SEC.
No shaving eyebrows in the locker room
This week the Zooker took some heat from Coach Meyer about the hijinks under the previous coaching staff. Meyer told Jeremy Fowler:
“When we first got here five years ago they had freshmen in a separate locker room and it was a bunch of tin lockers over there and they weren’t allowed to walk [into the regular locker room],” Meyer told reporters Friday. “Think about this for a minute: this is a big-time college football program and we had some fights because they treat their freshman like they were non-people.
“‘Don’t walk through here, we’ll kick your tail, we’ll shave your eyebrows.’ It took us awhile to break that great culture we had here. That was tremendous. You don’t win many games, but you beat up freshman and shave eyebrows. Absolutely unbelievable.”
Zook issued the following statement Friday night in response to Meyer’s comments.
“I was surprised to see that, once again, five years later, we’re blamed for something else at Florida. But by now I guess I shouldn’t be. This one was most disappointing because it implies we didn’t look out for our players. From someone who wasn’t there at the time. I can assure you I’ve never, ever been accused of that. I thought I was too much of a players’ coach.
“The implication is incorrect — there is no place for hazing in college football and we’ve put a stop to that if we’ve ever seen it. I applaud Florida for fostering what they say is a wonderful family atmosphere. I
would invite anyone to talk to any of our players here at Illinois and, although we don’t look for media opportunities to brag about it, it is a wonderful family atmosphere.”
Meyer claims he didn’t intend to criticize Zook. “I made a comment about the previous locker room arrangement and how that can lead to issues such as separating freshmen. There was no intent to criticize the previous staff or coach Zook. Obviously the locker room arrangement was that way for a while.”
After all that, the teams just need to put on some pads and play it out on the field.
The Gators and recruit Victor Hampton have parted ways. Word came out that Hampton is no longer on the Gators’ commitment list for the class of 2010. Victor was kicked off his Independence High football team, and after Friday Night Lights, the Gators backed off him. Cody Riggs is the name that is popping up as the replacement in this class for Hampton. Riggs is 5′ 8″, 160-pound and runs a 4.3 40-yard dash. He is also being recruited by FSU and Tennessee.
He told NoleInsider.com: “I would say Florida is my leader right now because I’ve been there more recent so I have a better feeling for Florida. I also went there twice this summer.”
How often do you watch highlight tapes on offensive tackles? Seantrel Henderson is one that you need to check out. He dominated defensive line last year as a Junior. All the scouting services have him as their top lineman of the 2010 class. The Gators are one of 50 plus teams that are recruiting this 6′7″ 295 lbs stud. Check out the tape for your self.
From Humble Beginnings To The Top Of The College Football Mountain.
Dr. Kevin McCarthy’s Historic Photos of University of Florida Football takes Gators’ fans on a visual history of the Florida Gators Football program. This book is a must have for any Gators fan and should be displayed proudly on your coffee table. With the success of the Gators Football program in the last few years, there are lots of new fans that may not be aware of Ray Graves, Steve Spurrier the player, and the early years of the program.
Historic Photos of University of Florida Football starts out by taking the reader on a journey back to the program’s modest beginnings. The University of Florida official records have the football program starting in 1906, but Dr. McCarthy was able to dig up photos of the building blocks of Gators football dating back to 1902. It is refreshing to see those early photos from the turn of the 19th century when the players battled on the fields with little more than a leather helmet and shoulder pads smaller than any woman had on in the 1980’s. Those early teams were not the most dominant of the era, but they did lay the foundation for Gators Football.
The 1930’s ushered in a new era for the Gators when University President John Tigert III set a priority to build Florida Field. Any fan today has the image of “The Swamp” ingrained in his or her mind, but it is shocking to see that home started out as a field the size of most high school stadiums these days. Also during this time, the Gators took their game on the road to play colleges in the Northeastern part of the US. We take for granted the ease of travel today, but back then each of these road games was an adventure and McCarthy captures some of these early trips.
After World War II, the reader sees the team photos start to grow, both in the number of the players and the size of the players who suited up as Florida Gator. McCarthy does a great job of capturing the accelerated change of the game. These photos of the post WWII era just feel like the players are moving faster. This era also began a time known for its cheesy staged photos. It was very popular to have a Gator on a leash, and one of the best staged photos is on page 120 with Steve Spurrier on the shoulders of Coach Ray Graves and another unnamed coach.
Its safe to say that a book on the Gators reviewed by a Gator fan is going to get rave reviews, but I would love to see some more of the post 1996 Gators in the book. All Gators fans need to have the three years of the Zook regime captured in print. What better way to to keep us humble with this great run of success than to remind us of the tough times in the recent past. Also, I feel is hard to consider a complete history of the Gators without the shot of Chris Leak holding the Waterford Crystal football in his hands or any photo of Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow complete.
Historic Photos of University of Florida Football is now on sale and is available on Amazon. If you have a Gator fan on your Christmas list, then you are already finished shopping for him or her. If you’ve just jumped on the Gators bandwagon after BCS Championship number one or two, then this is a must read to show you the history of Gators football before Tim Tebow. In fact, I’ve been a Gators fan as long as I can remember and still learned a good deal about Gators Football from this book.
Bonus: Can you name the player on the cover of the book?
The inside scoop - I did not pay for this book and was asked to review it by the its publisher. The book was sent to me with no strings attached, and I was free to give my honest opinion of the book.
Here is some of Percy Harvin old High School highlights. Coach Meyer is good at finding talent, but it was safe to say after watching Percy here he was a very safe recruit. Havrin had 32 touchdowns (19 rushing, 13 receiving) in three seasons, and is the only player in Florida history to have 100 yards rushing and receiving in a game.
Ike Hilliard puts on one of the greatest moves of all time and breaks the ankles of two Florida State Defensive Backs. He finished his career at Florida with 126 receptions for 2,214 yards and 26 touchdowns. The video quality is not that great, but the move more than makes up for it.
With Stephen Alli coming in early, the Gators are still in the market for another Wide Receiver for the class of 2010.
Kenny Still come on to Gainesville
Kenny Stills could be the player to fill that spot. Kenny is a 6′ 1″ and 171 lbs WR out of California. ESPN has him ranked at #38 in the WR class of 2010, while Rivals has him ranked #22, and Scout reports him as the #6 best WR. Kenny would fit in well with the speedy Gators. He posted a 4.3 time in the 40 yard dash.Everyone raves about how well he runs routes and how great his balance is once he is running with the ball.
As a high school Junior he caught 62 passes for 1,500 yards and 17 TDs. Kenny is also being recruited by UCLA, Oklahoma, Penn State, Cal, Tennessee, Michigan, LSU, USC, Nebraska, Stanford, Arizona State, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Boise State, Arizona, and San Diego State.
