The 12th ranked Gators (18-4, 6-1) prepare for their third straight home game Saturday against the No. 25 Vanderbilt Commodores (16-6, 5-2).  The Gators are coming off their sixth straight conference win and 18th straight at the O’Dome.

These are streaks that will continue if the Gators attack the boards with the same intensity as they did against South Carolina on Thursday night, intensity that led to the Gators out-rebounding South Carolina 42-30, including 20-10 on the offensive boards.

Earlier in the week Billy Donovan stressed being more aggressive on the boards and in loose ball situations, especially to his young freshman Bradley Beal who had not been much of a force on the offensive glass in previous games.  Beal responded to his coach’s challenge by grabbing 11 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass on his way to a double-double.

If Bradley Beal can become a routine presence on the boards to accompany his scoring threat, it will only help the Gators to deal with their lack of depth in the front-court.  In the last couple of games it seems that Beal is starting to find his role on this Gator team as a balanced scorer and rebounder.

The Gators next opponent is No. 25 Vanderbilt who opened the season ranked 9th in the AP Poll, but suffered early upsets to Cleveland State and Indiana State and dropped out of the top 25.  Since SEC play began, Vanderbilt has performed more like their early expectations and have worked their way back into a top 25 ranking.

Vanderbilt’s offense is centered around the scoring combination of the SEC’s leading scorer, John Jenkins, averaging 19.9 ppg and Jeffery Taylor who is third in the SEC averaging 17.4 ppg.

The Commodores are an excellent shooting team but have struggled on nights when their shooting hits a cold spell.  This is why the key to the game is that the Gators disrupt Vanderbilt’s shooting by contesting shots and preventing them to get into an offensive rhythm early on in the game.

Look for Scottie Wilbekin to become a major contributor off the bench because of his defensive mindset that can frustrate the Vanderbilt sharpshooters.

With two of the highest scoring teams in the SEC, this game has all the makings of a shootout with fast breaks and 3-pointers that will swing the momentum back and forth throughout the game.

@GridironGator

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Coach Muschamp spoke to media yesterday at the end of National Signing Day and here are some of the things he had to say about this recruiting class:

Will Muschamp’s first real class at Florida is now in the books, as 23 high school seniors signed their National Letters of Intent to join the football program today.

By all accounts this is very good group of players that Muschamp and his staff have recruited. Scout.com says the Gators have the fifth best class nationally. Scout.com’s top five are Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Florida.

Rivals.com, has the Gators ranked third nationally. Rivals.com’s top five are Alabama, Texas, Florida, Ohio State and Stanford. ESPN.com ranks UF’s class fourth in the country. ESPN.com’s top five are Alabama, Florida State, Texas, Florida and Georgia.

So, overall, looks like this group of players is probably the fourth-best group in the country if you combine the three major recruiting sites.

University of Florida Class Of 2012

To win some and you lose some on national signing day, and that is certainly the case for the University of Florida today.

Earlier I wrote that five-star defensive end Dante Fowler Jr had picked Florida over Florida State, but those good feelings soon dissipated with the news that that Lane Kiffin and his USC Trojans had nabbed two top Florida prospects from the Gators when No. 5 defensive tackle Leonard Williams (Daytona Beach, Fla./Mainland) and No. 6 wide receiver Nelson Agholor (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley) both signed with USC. Each was thought to have Florida and USC as their final two schools.

Agholor is particular is big loss as he had a good chance of coming in and starting this fall considering Florida’s lack of depth and quality at wide receiver.

Florida have to hope now that the No. 3 ranked athlete Stefon Diggs (Olney, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel), who will make his college decision on Feb. 10, will pick Florida.

The Gators only have two wide receivers in their 2012 class, in No. 24 WR Latroy Pittman (Citra, Fla./North Marion) and No. 152 Raphael Andrades (Tallahassee, Fla./Lincoln).

Good start to national signing day with the news that five-star defensive end Dante Fowler Jr had picked Florida over Florida State.

Fowler Jr. had been committed to Florida State but Will Muschamp and his staff were able to flip him.

According to ESPN, Fowler who is 6’3″, 236lbs is “an athletic defensive end prospect with the tools to be a productive pass rusher. He has good size. He will need to work to add more good bulk and improve strength, but is a kid that is pretty well put together”.

So far Florida has 15 signed commitments and that number is expected to grow to 23 by the end of the day.

Philadelphia quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg has been a Penn State commit since last July, but on Friday that changed when a source told GatorCountry.com he became the 21st commitment in the Gators’ 2012 recruiting class.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback became interested in Florida after the hiring of Gators offensive coordinator Brent Pease.

Pease and Mornhinweg’s father, Marty Mornhinweg who is the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator, played college football together at Montana and that connection allowed Pease to come in late and snag the commitment of Mornhinweg.

Mornhinweg is one of those smart quarterbacks that offensive coordinator’s love. You know he has been watching film with his dad since he was little, and he will have seen probably every kind of defensive front imaginable.

Mornhinweg is a Rivals three star recruit, and is 6’3″ 215 lbs

While all eyes are on Florida’s 2012 recruiting class, Will Muschamp this weekend landed his second 2013 recruit as defensive tackle Caleb Brantley became the second verbal commitment for the Florida Gators’ Class of 2013.

The 6-foot-3, 285-pounder pulled the trigger on his pledge after the first of UF’s two junior days on Saturday. Brantley could not wait to accept Florida’s offer saying:

“I love Florida,” Brantley said. “My whole family has been Gator fans, and since I was little, I was, too.”

Brantley joins running back Adam Lane, who committed to Muschamp during an unofficial visit to Gainesville last Saturday.

Not only is Florida getting a life long Gator’s fan (hopefully that will cut down the number of students who leave the school after a year), but they also get a player who reported scholarship offers from Florida State, Miami and South Florida. The more times that Florida can beat the other Florida schools to in-state recruits, the better it is for the program in the long-term.

After a phenomenal victory over #18 ranked Mississippi State, the Florida Gators complete a tremendous three-day sweep over two ranked opponents. Led by Brad Beal’s 19-points, the Gators defeated the Bulldogs 69-57. This caps off a five-game winning streak for the Gators and keep them in contention for the SEC title behind Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Check out Coach Billy Donovan’s post-game thoughts by clicking here.

After a come-from-behind victory against Ole Miss on Thursday Night, the Gators basketball team had another key challenge to face that night – travel.

When their plan was delayed over 45 minutes while the flight crew attempted to contact Memphis air control, Billy Donovan and the #14 ranked Gators finally made it home to Gainesville at 1:30am Friday night.  Now, the attention must focus on Saturday afternoon’s matchup at home when the Gators host #18 Mississippi State.

Despite the travel delays, Donovan and his team held their regularly scheduled practice on Friday afternoon.  However, Donovan does not think that any of this is a bad thing.

“I think that we’ll be fine.  They’ve got enough time to get enough rest.  I think we were wise today in practice,” said Coach Billy Donovan.  “I think a little adversity, challenge, never hurt anybody (and) can help our team get better.”

The Gators will need to come together.  On Saturday they not only face a serious matchup problem with the Bulldogs who have Arnet Moultire, Renardo Sidney and Rodney Hood who stand at 6’11”, 6’10” and 6’8” respectively, but the Gators are coming off their worst rebounding game of the entire season against Ole Miss.  In fact, they did not only lose the rebounding game, they were obliterated as they lost by a margin of 18 rebounds on Thursday night.

At this point in the season, the Gators need to pull out a win against Mississippi State in order to stay on track with SEC-top ranked teams Kentucky and Vanderbilt.  A strong defensive effort will be necessary to counteract their opponents’ height advantage but also to guard against point guard Dee Bost.  Bost averages 16 points per game and can be a serious threat from behind the arc on teams that place too much attention on the post.

Adversity indeed.  The Gators have all the adversity they can handle.  The Gator Nation must hope that Billy Donovan is right about the positive impact.  Will the team come together?  We will see Saturday afternoon.

Coach Will Muschamp and his staff have been working hard to pull in some of the top recruits throughout the state of Florida this offseason.  Unfortunately, with the departure of Urban Meyer and most of his staff, recruiting efforts have to rebuild connections with the local Florida high schools and it is not a quick turnaround process.

The current Gator roster has roughly 60 returning players and the team just came off of a 7-6 record.  Gator Fans across the state of Florida were less than pleased with the 2011 finish except that it came with a bowl victory over Ohio State – Urban Meyer’s new team.

With this in mind, Muschamp and staff need to do whatever they can to recruit the top talent to the Florida Gators football team.  In this offseason, this means that Florida is a pipe dream for recruiting and the staff must seek elsewhere to find the talent they need to be competitive in 2012.

According to Rivals.com’s Chris Nee, “the two states that have been the most kind to the Gators are North Carolina and Georgia.”

This shows that Florida is still a highly attractive school and program for athletes from outside the state – but what does it say about their attractiveness inside the state?

Many of the top recruits from Florida are now traveling outside the state to continue their careers at the college level instead of staying home at schools like Florida and Miami University.  This begs the question, is Muschamp really able to get the nation’s top talent – or are they just trying to fill the roster at this point?

It is amazing how much can change for a football program in just two years.  Goodbye Tim Tebow.  Goodbye Urban Meyer.  Goodbye Gator Football!  Muschamp has perhaps the most difficult challenge in all of football as he attempts to rebuild a program and redefine what Florida Gator football is all about.