Thanks for all the support. I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Anyone with comments/questions/suggestions please email me at: bdfoxjr@chomptalk.com
Tim Tebow homered in the fourth inning of the St. Lucie Mets’ 3-2 road win against the Florida Fire Frogs in Kissimmee on Sunday. The game was played in front of 4,115 fans, and Tebow received a standing ovation as he circled the bases. Tebow also hit a double to left field in the eight inning.
Tebow!!! @TimTebow hits a solo homer in the 4th inning to tie the game 2-2. It’s his 4th home run for St. Lucie. #STLMets
In 25 games with St. Lucie, Tebow is hitting .317 with 4 home runs and 14 RBIs.
But Tebow has also drawn crowds everywhere he has gone. Florida has averaged just under 800 fans per game over the course of the year, but the first three games of this series has seen almost 15,000 fans pack the park.
Watch Tebow’s fourth homer since his promotion to High-A:
The Florida Gators received a huge boost in their recruiting class for 2018 on Saturday. 4-star QB Matt Corral has announced his commitment to the University of Florida via Twitter.
Corral is rated a 4-star prospect by several recruiting gurus including 247 sports, but is also considered a 5-star recruit by several others such as Rivals.
Corral is a 6-2, 196 lb, pro-style QB that fits the offense that head coach Jim McElwain and OC Doug Nussmeier have employed since arriving in Gainesville.
Corral is the #2 pro-style QB in the 2018 cycle by 247sports.com, he is also the #23 rated player in the nation overall.
Nussmeier was the primary recruiter for Corral, who showed up at Friday Night Lights from Long Beach, CA. Corral also had offers from Georgia, Southern Cal, Alabama, and Michigan, among others.
The Florida Gators have received the commitment of 2018 safety Randy Russell. Russell is a three-star prospect from Opa Locka, FL according to 24/7 sports.
The Florida Gators are starting to pick up some momentum in recruiting. After securing 4-star IMG Academy OG Curtis Dunlap, Jr. on Tuesday, the Gators have landed the commitment of 4-star TE Kyle Pitts.
Pitts is a 6-6, 239 lb Tight End from Warminster, PA. Pitts attends Archbishop Wood High School in the Philadelphia suburb.
Pitts is the #153 prospect in the ESPN 300 and ranks as the #2 TE prospect in the country. Pitts had a final three of Florida, Georgia, and Virginia Tech, but also had offers from many of the top programs in the country including Alabama.
Pitts is the ninth prospect to commit to the Gators for the 2018 cycle with Florida’s biggest recruiting event, Friday Night Lights, set for Friday.
4-star TE Kyle Pitts rides a roller coaster to his commitment 🎢
The Florida Gators enter the 2017 season with questions in their secondary. On Thursday, those questions became a whole lot more pressing.
Senior starting S Marcell Harris has suffered a torn Achilles in his right foot and will miss the entire season per a UF release. Harris will likely be able to receive a medical waiver and return to Florida next year.
Harris and Nick Washington were the only players on the Florida roster with experience at the safety position.
Harris was set to be the leading-returning tackler having made 102 career tackles. Harris also had two interceptions in 2016 and forced and recovered one fumble.
This is a huge blow to Florida’s secondary and means that a true freshman will likely get a lot of reps.
Former Florida Gators DE Dante Fowler was arrested in St. Petersburg, FL on two misdemeanor charges Tuesday night.
After receiving a complaint about his driving through an apartment complex, Fowler allegedly got out of the car and confronted the man who complained. The police report said that Fowler hit the man causing his glasses to fall. Fowler then stepped on the victims glasses, breaking them. The report also states that Fowler then grabbed a grocery bag with liquor in it and threw it into a lake.
Fowler, 22, was released from custody Wednesday morning on $650 bond after being charged with simple battery and mischief.
Fowler was the #3 pick in the 2015 Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars after spending three years in Gainesville.
Veterans are expected to report to training camp next week in Jacksonville.
Florida lands a commit, and McElwain has finally gotten into the IMG Academy
Photo courtesy of scout.com.
The Florida Gators gained a huge commitment from an ESPN 300 prospect on Tuesday, just three days before the annual recruiting event, Friday Night Lights.
Curtis Dunlap, Jr is a 6-5, 368 lb 4-star offensive guard from the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida and announced his commitment to play at UF via Twitter.
Dunlap is ranked #122 in the ESPN 300 and is the #27 overall prospect in the state of Florida.
Dunlap had a whose who of offers from many of the top programs in the country including in-state rivals Florida State and Miami.
Dunlap is the ninth prospect to commit to Florida for the 2018 class.
Check his sophomore highlight reel at the bottom of this post courtesy of ESPN.
__________
Getting a foot in the door at the IMG Academy
While adding a commitment from a 4-star prospect before Friday Night Lights is a big deal, the bigger deal is where he came from. For the first time under Jim McElwain, the Gators have secured the commitment of a IMG prospect.
IMG Academy is a college preparatory school in Bradenton that attracts some of the best athletes in the world.
Despite only having a football team since 2013, it has quickly been established as the best football program in the country.
But how good are they? In January 2017 SB Nation did the math and found out that if you only took the 2017 ratings of the IMG players, they would have accounted for the #5 overall recruiting class.
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones made headlines in February 2016 by offering more than 20 IMG prospects a scholarship on the same visit.
In 2016, the school produced eight of the top-50 prospects in the state of Florida. In 2017, that number increased to ten.
Unfortunately, despite being only 174 miles away, Florida was unable to land any IMG prospects.
In 2018, eleven IMG prospects made the Florida top-50, and while many are committed to other schools, Florida now has it’s foot in the door.
Curtis Dunlap Jr’s sophomore highlight reel, courtesy of ESPN:
Former Florida Gators pitcher Austin Maddox was recalled by the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Maddox made his Major League debut on June 17 and pitched a perfect inning in relief during a 7-1 loss at Houston. Two days later, Maddox pitched a shutout ninth at Kansas City.
Maddox was sent back down to Triple-A Pawtucket shortly after. Boston and the New York Yankees played 16 innings of baseball on Saturday, and the Red Sox exhausted eight pitchers.
The two teams will play a double-header on Sunday, and Maddox will likely toe the Fenway Park mound for the first time in his career.
The official release from the Boston Red Sox:
__________
Tim Tebow saw his twelve game hitting streak end on Saturday in a 4-3 loss at the Fort Myers Miracle. Tebow finished the night 0-4.
The St. Lucie Mets have two games left against the Miracle, then a three game set at home against the Jupiter Hammerheads, before facing the Florida Fire Frogs in Kissimmee for four games. This is the closest to Gainesville that Florida fans can see Tebow play in the Florida State League.
__________
In other Tebow news:
New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson told reporters on Friday that “I don’t foresee that kind of scenario” where Tebow gets a Major League promotion in September.
Many have speculated that the Mets, who are out of contention in the National League, would promote Tebow in September when the rosters can expand. Alderson squashed those rumors though.
The St. Lucie Mets of the High-A Florida State League were forced to play a double-header on Thursday after Wednesday night’s game against the Daytona Tortugas was postponed.
In game one, former Florida first baseman Pete Alonso hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for the only score of the 1-0 Mets victory.
Game two provided many more fireworks, however.
In a 4-4 game in the bottom of the seventh (yes, double-headers are only 7 innings each in the FSL), former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow casually strolled into the batters box and smacked a first pitch opposite field home run for the walk off win.
ChompTalk.com 