Carter's Corner: Richardson, Baseball, Ledecky, More Gators Tidbits
Monday, June 20, 2022 | General, Scott Carter
We're publishing the summer issue of Two Bits magazine next month, and with July the one month of the year when the Gators don't put on a uniform of some kind, trying to work ahead a bit.
Still, as these words pop up on the screen, the College World Series plays on in Omaha, Southeastern Conference Football Media Days are next month, and one of the busiest months in recruiting is unfolding.
A few notables of interest to Gators fans who might not be plugged into Twitter 24/7 (hopefully, for your sanity, that's most of you):
-- Six Gators baseball players have entered the transfer portal since the end of the season: C Mac Guscette, P Nick Pogue, P Timmy Manning, OF Corey Robinson, INF Jorge De Goti and P Karl Hartman. Even prior to the transfer portal era, you could count on a half-dozen or so players leaving the program after nearly every season as head coach Kevin O'Sullivan retooled the roster with recruiting classes ranked near the top nationally. Guscette's departure is probably the most surprising, but look for O'Sullivan to dip into the portal for a change as the Gators move toward 2023.
-- Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson is among the participants in the 26th Annual Manning Passing Academy this week at Nicholls State University in Louisiana. Richardson is one of the college quarterbacks serving as a counselor and certain to learn something with former NFL quarterbacks Archie Manning, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning on hand. Richardson met Eli last week during Manning's trip to UF to film a TV spot. The MPA runs Thursday through Sunday.
Here are our last four QB announcements for this summer! #MPA2022 is almost here… 💯 pic.twitter.com/t9chyeaqk4
— Manning Passing Academy (@mpa_info) May 20, 2022
-- Former Stanford star and Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky is training for the 2024 Olympics at UF, serving as a volunteer assistant swim coach for the Gators. Her training is going well based on her performance this week at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She won the 17th medal of her career at the World Championships:
-- The Gators added three more team national titles to their list during the 2021-22 athletic season: women's indoor track, women's outdoor track, and men's outdoor track. The list continues to grow and in honor of Titletown, the UF Alumni Association has a new T-shirt out:
Gainesville truly is Titletown! For the past 13 complete seasons, 11 different sports amassed 24 national team titles in an unbroken streak of national championships. For a gift of $24, we'll send you a T-shirt celebrating UF's impressive stretch of wins. https://t.co/uLtANt6eQJ pic.twitter.com/5NXx5pnv1S
— UF Alumni (@ufalumni) June 21, 2022
-- Gators head coach Billy Napier paid tribute to his late father, Bill Napier, on Father's Day Sunday. Napier played for his father at Chatsworth (Ga.) High before playing collegiately at Furman University:
"My father didn't tell me how
— COACH BILLY NAPIER (@coach_bnapier) June 20, 2022
to live. He lived, and let me
watch him do it." #HappyFathersDay #REPRESENT pic.twitter.com/6tornL502r
QUICK READS
-- Gators OF Jud Fabian, a second-round pick in the 2021 MLB amateur draft, details his improved plate discipline as he prepares for the 2022 draft ...
In the attic above his parents' house, @GatorsBB Jud Fabian worked on cutting his strikeout rate and improving his MLB Draft stock after going in the second round last year. A story on Fabian's recalibrated approach @TheAthleticMLB:https://t.co/58PuEBFxuh
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) June 17, 2022
-- First-year Gators head coach Todd Golden and his staff brought their analytics with them to Florida, and G. Allan Taylor of The Athletic writes about Jonathan Safir and his role ...
If you're intrigued by analytics — the way they are applied to coaching decisions, team building and player development — you'll like this story on #Gators director of basketball strategy Jonathan Safir. https://t.co/elbS1HxcYV
— G. Allan Taylor (@GAllanTaylor) June 21, 2022
