Chomping at the bit for Florida Athletics
The Florida Gators will be featured on SEC Network for the entire day of Monday 7/25. The 2016 SEC gymnastics championships will kick off the coverage at midnight eastern time. Tune in and tell us about your favorite memories of UF athletic accomplishments.
Adarius Lemons committed to the University of Florida on Sunday, after previously being committed to play football at North Carolina.
Lemons is a four star running back from Clearwater, Florida and was apart of the ESPN Jr. 300.
Lemons participated in Florida’s annual recruiting gala, Friday Night Lights, to open this weekend, and represents the Gators’ second commitment this weekend. Linebacker James Houston committed to Florida Friday night shortly after the completion of FNL.
(Photo credit: @adariuslemons official Twitter page)
Gainesville- James Houston from American Heritage High School in Fort Lauderdale is the Florida Gators’ first commit of the night after the Friday Night Lights camp.
Houston is a three star linebacker , and is the Gators’ eleventh commit in the 2017 cycle.
Florida head coach Jim McElwain acknowledged the commitment with his customary “Chomp Chomp” tweet:
#ChompChomp!!!!!!! #Swamp17
— Jim McElwain (@CoachMcElwain) July 23, 2016
Gainesville- A 19-year old woman was raped behind 101 Cantina on West University Avenue in midtown Gainesville early Thursday morning. Initial reports were that two employees of the bar/restaurant broke up the incident. These reports were not untrue, however, they left out the fact that one of these heroes was University of Florida walk-on linebacker Cristian Garcia.
Garcia, who works security at 101 Cantina, spotted the rape while taking out the garbage and “saw a man pressing the woman up against the dumpster.” The suspect told Garcia that the female was his girlfriend but Garcia soon realized that the woman was unconscious. Garcia continued, “I pulled the guy by the shoulder and said ‘get off.’” Garcia said the suspect, also intoxicated, threw punches at him before slipping and busting his face against a wall.
The rape occurred at 2:20 AM Thursday morning, and police announced that Christopher Lee Shaw had been detained by the end of the day with the help of surveillance video.
Although Shaw admitted to “making out” with the woman, he denied any sexual contact happened, which Gainesville Police Department officers say was completely contradicted by the video.
Shaw was booked in the Alachua County Jail, with his bond placed at $500,000. GPD officers “have reason to believe” that Shaw may have raped other women and anyone with any information is asked to come forward and contact GPD Detective Cpl. Amanda Prince at 352-393-7618, or anonymously report rape at http://www.reportrapegainesville.org.
Cristian Garcia is a redshirt junior linebacker for the University of Florida football team who appeared in one game in 2015.
(information from the Gainesville Sun was used in this article)
The Gator Chomp will be live tweeting from Friday Night Lights and will be updating each commitment as they come in tonight. Keep track with us at:
(@GatorChompBlog): https://twitter.com/GatorChompBlog?s=09
Friday Night Lights is the Florida Gators showcase for some of the top talent in the country and the biggest day on the recruiting calendar at UF.
Gainesville- Former Florida Gators shortstop Cole Figueroa has signed a major league contract with the Miami Marlins.
Miami is the third organization that Figueroa has been a member of in 2016. During the offseason, he signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Figueroa made the Pirates opening day roster thanks to a .260 batting average in 57 plate appearances during spring training. However, Pittsburgh designated him for assignment on June 24 after his batting average dipped to .154. The Dodgers claimed Figueroa off waivers and optioned him to triple-A Oklahoma City. Figueroa elected for free agency upon being designated for assignment on July 11.
Figueroa was a stand out shortstop at Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, resulting in being drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the ninth round of the 2006 draft. Figueroa, however, chose to play at the University of Florida instead.
While at Florida, Figueroa was named a freshman All-American by multiple publications. In 2008, Figueroa was named a Golden Spikes Award finalist after leading the Gators in average, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.
Figueroa was selected in the sixth round of the 2008 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres. Figueroa has played in the Majors with the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, but has also been a member of the Padres and the Dodgers organizations. He is the owner of a career .208 batting average with nine RBI in eighty-four career plate appearances.
Figueroa’s father, Bien Figueroa played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1992, and managed several minor league teams.
Former Florida Gator basketball player Mike Miller has signed a two year deal with the Denver Nuggets worth in excess of $5 million.
Miller was one of the first huge coups for long time Gators head coach Billy Donovan, choosing Florida because of the opportunity to build a program. Miller led the Gators to the 2000 NCAA championship game before losing to Michigan State. Shortly after the loss, Miller declared for the NBA draft.
Miller was chosen with the fifth overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic and won the 2001 NBA Rookie of the Year.
Miller has had a journeyman’s career in the NBA, having never been the go-to guy, but success has seemed to follow him. From 2011 to 2015 Miller appeared in five straight NBA finals, and winning two.
For his career Miller has averaged 10.8 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, and 2.6 assists per game, while playing for Orlando, Memphis (twice), Minnesota, Washington, Miami, Cleveland, and Dever.
Florida cornerback and All-American candidate Jalen Tabor made several media appearances in New York today. Tabor took the same flight with Jim McElwain on the coach’s trip to Bristol, Connecticut for his ESPN tour.
The most interesting thing to come from Tabor in NYC was his thoughts on suspended WR Antonio Callaway.
Jalen Tabor expects Antonio Callaway to play for #Gators this fall, said he’s in top shape – https://t.co/WosjMNyjCP pic.twitter.com/jjNjLzLgf0
— Thomas Goldkamp (@ThomasGoldkamp) July 19, 2016
Tabor was quoted as saying, “We think he will be back. We’re just waiting on the process with the school that we’ve got going…Me and Callaway work out on our own a lot, so he’s still in tip-top shape and ready to compete for the Gators this fall.”
Callaway has been suspended since January, however he is on campus and working out using the UF facilities.
Another interesting tidbit that Tabor stated was that the next great DB at UF is Chauncey Gardner a true freshman, who Tabor says is already a better (trash) talker than himself.
(photo credit: Sirius XM NFL Radio)
Florida football coach Jim McElwain will appear across the ESPN platform today as part of the network’s annual “car wash.”
Coach Mac will appear along with several SEC head coaches including Alabama’s Nick Saban, new Missouri head coach Barry Odom, Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, and Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze.
It was reported earlier this summer that Freeze was never a candidate for the UF vacancy that McElwain filled after new South Carolina coach Will Muschamp was fired following the 2014 season. Freeze has been the target of several recruiting violations and an ongoing NCAA investigation.
Per UF these are the times Coach Mac will appear on the television platform of ESPN:
By: Brian Fox, Editor-In-Chief
Gainesville — Two University of Florida freshmen were arrested early Monday morning. This wouldn’t have made headlines in the area had it not involved two wide receivers that Jim McElwain and the Gators football team is expected to rely heavily on.
Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells were arrested and charged with two felonies after firing a BB gun at someone inside the Keys residence dorms. The shooting resulted in shattered glass on a door and on two panels surrounding the door on the south side of the building. The damage was estimated in excess of $1,000, resulting in one of the felony charges. Both players admitted to the crimes and were booked into the Alachua County Jail.
Cleveland was the number two ranked WR in the nation last year and flipped his commitment from Houston to UF on signing day. Cleveland and Wells were childhood friends in Jacksonville before Cleveland relocated to Texas before high school.
McElwain, has to send a message to these two student-athletes. A suspension is necessary given the circumstances, despite what the charges may be lessened to (if not completely dropped).
Less than a decade ago, Urban Meyer ran a loose ship, eventually seeing it spiral out of control. “Mac” can’t allow that to happen this time. To be fair to the head coach, he has released a statement, albeit short and concise, indicating that he will come down hard on the players involved.
Here’s a statement from Coach McElwain on Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells. pic.twitter.com/bzkwWexdLt
— Gators Football (@GatorsFB) July 18, 2016
McElwain simply stated that “This is not behavior that we expect, and as I often talk about, there will be consequences for their actions.”
Hopefully, McElwain can teach his team about risk/reward and consequences from this incident. It would be wise for the rest of the team to learn from the mistakes of two high profile freshmen, and it would serve the McElwain’s best interest to set the tone that this behavior will not be accepted at the University of Florida.
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