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GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we try and project the Florida Gators football team’s depth chart that will be released on Tuesday. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the depth chart position by position and also take a guess at how many “or’s” will be on the depth chart. Andrew and Nick also give you some of the latest news around the program heading into the Michigan game on Saturday. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, it’s game week, my friend. It’s here. Couple days, and we’re Dallas bound, brother. Nick:                         Yeah. How about that? This off season seemed, for me at least, to go by a little quicker. Probably because I had baseball all the way up until about a month and a half ago. Andrew:                 Yeah. It did seem a lot quicker. It was busy time for us. Recruiting got hot, and things went by quickly. Was a much shorter off season, but I don’t think you and I will complain about that, because football season’s pretty fun, or pretty cool, as Coach Mac would say. Nick:                         Pretty cool. We’ll get into it. Michigan will release their roster in four days, three days, on the 30th. Andrew:                 Do we believe that? Nick:                         Yeah. I think they’ll release it. If not, then they’ll have to answer that Freedom of Information Act. They’ll release it on their own. Andrew:                 Are they going to redact any names? Nick:                         Maybe. Maybe put pseudonyms for people. Andrew:                 That’s one thing I really don’t get. Anybody can figure out the roster if they really want to, probably 30 minutes, maybe not even 30 minutes, worth of work, and you can figure out the roster. It doesn’t really make sense to me. I understand the depth chart kind of. Once again, most people can figure out the depth chart by just watching last year’s games, and then watching your spring game and plugging it in, and going off of reports and stuff like that. Nick:                         We’re not even talking about a depth chart. Andrew:                 No. That’s what I’m saying. Nick:                         College coaches are so paranoid. I’ve grown accustomed, at least, to not even expecting a depth chart. They’re not going to give me a depth chart, because the world would fall. The sky would fall down if they had to release a depth chart. Just to say who’s on your team? Andrew:                 That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying that I get the depth chart. Do I completely understand it? No. I don’t get the roster, because the roster is pretty dumb. Nick:                         Yeah. We don’t have a roster yet. What do you mean? You can’t have somebody stand outside of your practice and say, “56, what’s your name? Where are you from?” You don’t know who’s out at practice with you? Andrew:                 Hey, Coach Skip, send me your linebackers. Hey, Coach Shannon, send me your safeties. That takes maybe five minutes for them to ask around. I don’t know. Florida did make a little news that they’re going to announce their depth chart on Tuesday. That’ll be interesting. We’ll see what that is. You and I are going to break that down here in a few minutes. We’re going to break down our depth chart, and we’re going to play a little game of how many ors will be on the depth chart. Nick:                         There’s going to be a lot. There’s going to be a lot. I’m setting the over/under at 9.5. Andrew:                 We’re going to talk about that here in a minute. Let’s kind of recap everything from last week. Kind of a slow week from getting to see stuff, that kind of stuff. Monday they were off because of first day of classes. It was kind of a preliminary game week,

GatorCountry.com brings you a new podcast as we learn more about the Michigan Wolverines heading into their game against the Florida Gators. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre brought on Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News to get her take on Michigan through fall camp so far. Andrew and Nick asked her about the Wolverines quarterback competition, plus the mood of camp. Andrew and Nick also talk about Jim McElwain’s latest press conference and much more in this podcast. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:​What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, 10 days, as we’re taping this to kickoff in AT&T Stadium, or Jerry’s World. Nick:​Jerry’s World. Looking forward to Dallas. As always, back in football season, shoot me bars, restaurants. What do I need to see while I’m there? I will put on Instagram my eating feats while in Dallas. Andrew:​It’ll probably be a lot. Nick:​Yeah. I’ll be eating a lot. Andrew:​We may check out a Texas Rangers game. We’re kind of hoping to see Mr. Mike Trout. If there’s anything else cool, I’ve never been to Dallas. If there’s anything else cool, we’ll have Thursday evening and Friday morning. If there’s anything cool Nick and I should check out, let us know. We may have to check it out. Nick:​Yeah. Today we figured time to start, Jim McElwain joked today that they haven’t gotten into Michigan prep yet. They know who Michigan is, but now you’re going into game week. Andrew:​Actually, he doesn’t know who Michigan is. He’s got a bounty on their roster. He wants to see a roster. Nick:​A lot of people do. We’re going to bring in, I’m going to apologize to her for messing up her last name, but Angelique Chengelis. Last try to say that. We’re going to talk to her. She covers Michigan football for the Detroit News. We’re going to see if she has a roster, or if she can shed some light on the roster, and help you guys get to know an opponent that’s not really too familiar. Florida and Michigan played two years ago, but I think Michigan had 35 seniors last year. So far from the same team that they faced two years ago. Andrew:​And, as Jim McElwain says, “They’re faceless.” Nick:​Yeah. An opponent has no face. Game of Thrones, threw that in. Pat myself on back over there. Andrew:​It’ll be interesting to see how long Harbaugh keeps this up, the no roster kind of thing. I kind of find it dumb, I guess is the best way to say it. If anybody really wanted to get a roster, all they have to do is kind of check out things, and spend a little time doing it. I think that’s borderline crazy for them to do that. Jim McElwain did speak on Wednesday, didn’t name a quarterback. We’ll get into all that in a little bit. Didn’t name a quarterback. Did go over the injuries. Injuries are getting a little bit lighter for them. They went over their plays in a scrimmage. Surprise, surprise. It happens every time. Not sure why it was news on Wednesday though. Nick:​No. Andrew:​Nick, let’s not make her wait any longer. Let’s holler at her, and get her thoughts on the Michigan Wolverines. We’ll come back and give our thoughts on the Florida Gators. Nick:​Joining us now, Angelique Chengelis. We literally just went over that, so if I butchered it that’s on me. I tried to get it right there. From the Detroit Free Press, to talk a little Michigan. Angelique:​Actually, the Detroit News. Nick:​The Detroit News, sorry. Probably a rival too. I heard that I stirred up your work day with my Jim McElwain quote, and probably sent all of the beat writers in Michigan into a frenzy a little bit. Angelique:​It was great. To me, that’s what’s fun about college football are these little subtle jabs here and there, especially in non-conference.

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we talk about the confidence of this Florida Gators football team heading into week one against Michigan. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre talk about how the mindset is different this year for the team and why that has to do with the veterans this year. Andrew and Nick also discuss which freshmen could see playing time for Florida this year either at their position or on special teams. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, back with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, it was kind of a normal week finally. Nobody deciding to be knuckleheads and get in trouble, and I think we’re okay with that. Nick:                         Yeah. Not bad. A quiet week’s not a bad week. Andrew:                 Yeah. Let’s keep that quiet week going for a little while. Practice this week. Guys had Wednesday off. They’ll break camp on Saturday, so school starts the following week. It’ll kind of be game week kind of action. Next week they’ll start kind of introducing the game plan for Michigan more in depth than they are. I mean, they’ve been working in Michigan stuff, but next week they’ll kind of implement the game plan. They’ll start having their normal game week practices, probably even have a scrimmage next Saturday or next Friday to emulate the game week. So this is kind of the last full week of camp week. Nick:                         Yeah. You get like 7-10 days out, that’s basically what you’ll get in the regular season. You use the first part of camp, what they’ve doing, you use that first part to install, learn, focus on yourself. Kind of like a bye week. Then after that you start getting into actual game plan for Michigan, and we’ll have some Michigan writers on to help us game plan for Michigan next week. Andrew:                 We’ve talked to several people. Not to brag on ourselves, but I feel like we have hit the up to date information from practice probably the most of anyone. That’s why you should join Gator Country. Shameless plug. We’ve talked to people, Nick, you as well as I, and we’ve heard Mac say he wanted this fall camp to be uncomfortable. Nick, correct me if I’m wrong, but everyone one I’ve talked to said it’s been uncomfortable. It’s been hard. Had someone say it was hard as hell. It was much more difficult than last year. It was something that Mac preached. Guys are saying that they’re feeling a lot more comfortable now with things. I personally think this is a football team ready to go into Michigan. Nick:                         I think you can really start focusing in on that when you get into Year 3 of the same coaching staff. Coming from South Florida, I follow a lot of the Dolphin beat writers, follow the Dolphins, and people are always asking the Dolphin beat writers, “Why are the Patriots able to do this? Why are the Patriots able to do that?” Omar Kelly, who’s one of their beat reporters, said, “They’ve been in the same system for 14 years.” Players like Marcell Harris, they’ve had two different coaches. There are still guys on this team that have had two different coaches. I remember Andre Dubois told me in his redshirt senior year, “I’ve had five position coaches in five years.” There’s something to be said for continuity. I think you’re able to start pushing limits and pushing that, getting comfortable being uncomfortable, when you’re not having to think on the field, “What am I supposed to do in this play?” Just being able to be familiar with the routine, with the playbook, with all those other things, lets you focus on other details and let’s you get comfortable. Andrew:                 I think that’s a good point. It’s beginning to feel comfortable. It’s odd to say that there’s still guys that are Muschamp guys, but it’s true. It is. There’s more Mac guys than anything. I say this, and, Nick, we didn’t even talk about this off the air,

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast that’s loaded with news on the Florida Gators football team including the big news that seven Gators will miss the Michigan game. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what happened and talk about how bad the Gators will miss those seven guys. Andrew and Nick also break down Friday’s scrimmage where the quarterback position had two guys look really good in the Swamp. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:​What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Saturdays and Sundays weren’t supposed to be busy. Nick:​I was supposed to be on a boat. I was supposed to be hanging out, chilling. Gators had different plans for me. Andrew:​Yeah. I was supposed to be doing the same. Different things. Saturday started with a whirlwind of smoke, and usually where there’s smoke there’s fire. It broke on Sunday afternoon. We’re taping this Sunday about 5:30, and seven Gator players have been suspended for the season opener against Michigan. ​Obviously, Nick and I can’t get too much into the details of the why, simply because Nick nor I want a lawsuit against us. So seven players will be missing the Michigan game. Only one starter, if you want to look on the bright side of anything. Nick:​There’s a way to go about reporting stuff, and channels you go through as a journalist to fact check and get sources. You can’t go on just one or just two. If you’ve got 10 people telling you 10 different things, that doesn’t mean you have 10 sources. It means you’re probably getting run around by people. Sometimes you have to sit on stuff. We know about stuff that’s going on, and you can’t talk about it, because there’s an integrity that you have to have when you’re a journalist. You never want to drag somebody’s name through the mud when they’re not involved, and that can happen. ​If we run with stuff the first time we hear it, I’m sure you’ll agree with this, most times the first time you hear a story is not 100% accurate. You have to go through channels and talk to a bunch of other people, and you never want to accuse somebody or put somebody’s name out there that isn’t involved in a situation. Then you get a player, player’s uncle, brother, friend, and I Google my buddy’s name, “I wonder what he’s doing up at Florida.” Now all of a sudden there’s a bad Google search for him for something that he didn’t do. ​To me, you just have to be careful, and I think your buddy, Trey, up there in Nashville, I think he did a good job reporting it on his site. He runs the ReadOption.com, and he has the Ultimate SEC Show. I think he did a really good job and really went about dotting his I’s and crossing his T’s before he put stuff out there. It was pretty accurate. Andrew:​Yeah. I think it’s one of those things. It’s where you better be right, and even if you are right, it’s one of those situations where there was no proof. There is no hard evidence of this. It’s all hearsay. Obviously, we have this confirmed by multiple, multiple, and more multiple people. All people we trust and believe. It’s still one of those things where you hold back. Again, we knew there was going to be no criminal accusations. It was just going to be handled internally. ​We know one site, I don’t even call it a site. I call it a blog. Posted about criminal charges of felony, all this other stuff. That was never the case. That was false. Had several freshmen involved. Like you say, Nick, you get parents involved, especially these guys that are out of state, when they’re getting called and their parents are like, “What did you do?” The kid’s like, “I don’t know. Why?” They’re getting these reports. It looks bad. It looks bad on these people. What do you expect from some of these people? Hey, Antonio Callaway and Treon Harris got in trouble because of dorm room noises, so what do you expect?

GatorCountry brings you a Florida Gators football fall camp update for week two of practice in this new podcast. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the offensive line as the Gators are dealing with Martez Ivey’s latest injury. Andrew and Nick also talk about the secondary and how much the receiver position has changed since Jim McElwain arrived in Gainesville. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, football is in the swing, as we all know. We talked about it last week, but in my opinion Monday started football season, when the pads got to popping. Nick:                         Yeah. You get a little something going, and start playing some actual football. It’ll be interesting to see. Florida went back at it on Tuesday, but we were not there. It was an early morning practice. They were out there, I think, around 9:00. Andrew:                 They had to beat that heat. Nick:                         Yeah. Yesterday I said it to Mac, and he did not agree, but, man, it was hot yesterday. I was out there sweating yesterday. Andrew:                 Got to make them feel uncomfortable, as Mac says. Nick:                         I was uncomfortable. Andrew:                 Well, I think it’s good for Florida, because when you go into the season the heat’s not an issue. You’re going to play some hot games. Tennessee’s probably going to be a 3:30 start in the middle of September. That’s going to be a hot game. You look at the first game that’s going to be inside is probably not going to be hot. It’s not going to be cold for them, even though it’s indoors. And then you got the night game start for the second game. When you look at Tennessee, and even really into October, when it’s still hot, not this hot, but it’s still hot. It’s a good thing for Florida. Interesting on Sunday. They went indoors, so that was a break up from the heat a little bit, even though it was raining. Still, it was a hot day on Monday. Nick:                         Hot day on Monday. Florida likes that. They like training in that, but the first game you’re indoors at Jerry’s World. Next game is a night game, but you do have Tennessee. They already announced Tennessee as a 3:30, and you’re going to get Georgia as a 3:30 game. We’ll wait to see. I’m sure you’ll get some of these Tennessee, Texas A&M, those will probably be some night games. We’ll have to wait and see that. But it’s always an advantage to practice in it. Not every team that you’ll play this year will be practicing in that kind of heat, and it’s kind of an advantage. They talk about that with the Dolphins. Growing up a Dolphins fan, you like to play New England at home early, because they’re not playing in that kind of heat. Bad side of that is you’re going to go have to play New England late, and you’re going to be playing in the snow, and you’re not ready for that. It’s interesting. If you have an advantage of heat, go ahead and practice in it. To an extent. You don’t need to have people dying of heat exhaustion out there. Go ahead and wake up early a couple days and get out of the heat, if you can. Andrew:                 I think it’s a good mix up of having both, the heat and then going indoors a little bit and doing it. Also, the one good thing about the heat is, as Mac’s been saying all fall, is the uncomfortable. You can kind of see what happens when they’re tired. I mean, you’re going to get tired a lot quicker in that heat, and see what it is. See who is lazy about their mechanics, their fundamentals. Offensive linemen, are they still getting off the ball, that kind of stuff? You kind of get to test that more so in the heat than anything. It’s always a positive for Florida schools in general. I mean, it’s hot everywhere, but more importantly for Florida schools. Nick,

GatorCountry.com brings you a new podcast as we recap the biggest Florida Gators recruiting event of the summer as the Swamp hosted Friday Night Lights on Friday. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the big commitment from quarterback Matt Corral, plus the momentum that comes along with him committing. Andrew and Nick also break down how big of an event FNL was for the Gators and how the Gators have changed the event of the last few days. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew:​What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, I thought it was supposed to be Paradise Camp in Miami, but it was paradise/party time/maybe resurgence in Gainesville. Nick:​Paradise Camp turned into a small gathering of friends and family in Coral Gables. It’s somebody’s paradise. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Maybe it’s paradise for somebody. Andrew:​I can’t remember who tweeted it, but somebody tweeted, FSU’s cooking, Florida’s gaining recruits, and Mark Richt’s handing out sticks for the annual roasting of the marshmallows down at Paradise Camp. Nick:​You know me, South Florida is paradise. Andrew:​Before we move on real quick, I have to hit on this, and we’re going to hit on it more in a little bit. One fake guy goes down at Ole Miss, Richt next. Nick:​That was a mess. Not going down what you thought he would go down for, but going down all the same. Andrew:​He might want to go down for this more. I mean, at least he goes down with a reputation of being a … I don’t know. Anyway, let’s go on, Nick. We talked about it Monday or Tuesday, whatever day we podcast last week. Can’t remember. All the days kind of running together here. We said it was going to be big. ​Someone on the message board said three to five commits, starting on Tuesday, for the end of Friday Night Lights. Flew by that. Seven, and you and I are recording this at 2:00 on Sunday. I think this podcast might be late on a commit. I think. We’re doing this at 2:00, so Monday morning when you guys are listening to this, we’re saying there’s seven commits, could be eight. Could be eight. We’ll see. Nick:​Yeah. That’s the problem with podcasting early. Andrew:​It’s one of those things where we’re screwed. Whenever we do it, it’s going to be a little late, but whatever. It’s a podcast. You guys are about to hear some fire ass stuff, so let’s go, Nick. Here it is. We talked about a quarterback. We thought that a quarterback could be in the mix by the end of the weekend, and it is what it is. ​People were saying Justin Fields was the guy. I said Justin Fields was the guy. I make no mistake about it. I said it from the beginning, I thought Justin Fields was the best quarterback in the country. Dare we say that Matt Corral was the Plan B guy, but if you want a Plan B guy, how about the #3 quarterback in the country? Matt Corral out of California. Nick:​If the rankings hold on, I’m talking about Rivals here, if the rankings hold on he’d be the highest rated quarterback commit Florida’s ever gotten. Andrew:​Everyone knows his off the field situation, where he got into a little altercation with Wayne Gretzky’s son out in California. Nick, you were around him like I was all weekend. I had the chance to speak to him a little bit and casual. Nothing but respectful. Never did he show this weekend that he was a turd or had attitude issues or anything like that. Several of the guys that were around him, commit wise, everybody seemed to all have a love for the guy, seemed that they all like the guy. I would say that it was a one-time thing. ​Everybody comes in with a little bit of baggage. I mean, you look at a guy like Percy Harvin came in with some baggage. Did he stay clean all the way through Florida? No, but had a hell of a career and took Florida to two national championshi...

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we break down what happened at SEC Media Days last week, plus much more. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain had to say, plus we break down Friday Night Lights and the big week of recruiting camps this week. Andrew and Nick break down which prospects are visiting Florida this week and who to watch for. Also we break down the Florida Gators baseball season and which players are returning to school and who went pro. TRANSCRIPT: Andrew::​What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, back with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we took our summer hiatus. You took a little vacation. I took a little vacation. Now it’s time. It’s time to go. The GC Podcast is back, and we’ll be going weekly. Let’s do this. Nick:​Covered 70-some baseball games, so I took a little time off after that. Went on a cruise with the family. My liver is recovering, and I got a nice little tan. Andrew:​That’s all that matters. Nick:​Yeah. Andrew:​That’s all that matters. I think I speak for you when I say that we will cover 70-some baseball games every year, if it results in a Natty. Nick:​Yeah. That was my first time out there. My first time out in Omaha, ever, and being a baseball guy, being someone who played college baseball, that was always a dream, to see it. I never got to see Old Rosenblatt, but it’s such a cool experience. If you have the chance to go out there, it’s such a well-run event, and, obviously, if you’re a Gator fan, last year would have been the year that you’d like to go out, other than the first six trips that they made, 10 trips that they made. Last year would have been the one to do it, but it’s a great event, win or lose. Andrew:​Did you get a chance to go see the little miniature Rosenblatt that they put up? Nick:​Yeah. That’s over by the zoo, and I think, if I remember correctly, it’s like exactly where home plate was. It might even be one of the home plates that they used, and then it’s the miniature field. I didn’t go to the zoo. Everyone’s telling you, “Go to the zoo. Go to the zoo.” I’m not a zoo guy. Andrew:​If I want to see animals I’ll just go to the woods. Nick:​Yeah. I don’t want to go to the woods or see animals. You do you. Andrew:​I’m just saying, if you want to see animals, don’t pay. Just go out to the woods and see a deer. Drive down the interstate. You’ll see a deer. Nick:​Those scare the hell out of me. You were in the car, I think. We were driving through Alabama, I think Media Days or something. Driving with David Bowie, our photographer, I saw like 10 of them on the way home from FSU last year. Those things would wreck my car. Not even trying to see a deer on the side of the road. Andrew:​We’ll go ahead. Let’s just go ahead and talk about that real quick, before we move into Friday Night Lights, Media Days, and everything. Let’s just go ahead and talk a little bit about that baseball team. We talk about this, and you and I are two of the guys that know baseball well. Baseball is a game of failure, a game of luck. I mean, let’s just call it what it is. You can have Texas Leaguers. You can have a ball that’s hit just a fraction not on the nose, and it’s caught. ​The pieces fell Florida’s way this year, maybe not the best team Florida’s ever had, and I think you would agree with me, but there was something different about this team. It was a team, I guess I can say that. It was a team, and it didn’t seem like there was one guy that strayed away from the others like in years past. Not calling any names, but even guys like JJ, who were the superstar, kind of seemed to build into that team aspect. Nick:​It really was a team. At some point of the season they started talking about Mike Rivera called home,

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we talk about the newest Florida Gators quarterback, Malik Zaire who’s planning to transfer to Florida this summer. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the move for Zaire, plus talk about the big weekend for the Gators recruiting classes last week, plus talk Justin Fields decommitment from Penn State. Andrew and Nick also break down the diamond sports and what the baseball team has to face this weekend in the Super Regionals this weekend. TRANSCRIPT: Zaire Talk   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, it’s June. What the hell are we doing with a jam-packed show? Nick:                         Stickball sport, one of them is still going on, and, as you know, the bags under eyes probably tell it, recruiting never dies, never sleeps. I guess Coach Mac and those guys are trying to fill up that, what is it? Swamp ’18? Andrew:                 Yeah. Swamp ’18, and then Gator ’19. Yeah. All Bite ’18. Sorry. All Bite ’18. Nick:                         All Bite. That’s it. There you go. That’s on me. Andrew:                 Then let’s not forget, the biggest non-secret of Malik Zaire coming to Florida is official. Nick:                         The worst kept secret, and people are freaking out about it. You just kind of kept telling them. Like, listen, if the kid was going to go somewhere else, he wouldn’t have pushed back his decision three times. Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s what you get for listening to the Rivals and the 247 guys over at Texas trying to tell you he was going to be a Longhorn. Nick:                         You remember when that Texas site came out, and was like, he’s thinking about going to Harvard too? I called you. I was like Harvard? Who are these people talking to? Andrew:                 Yeah. Obviously wasn’t talking to him. I mean, if he was going to Harvard, he might as well stay at Notre Dame. Nick:                         If you’re going to go to Harvard, you can go to Harvard, but he’s trying to play football at the highest level. Andrew:                 Yeah. Exactly. Well give a rundown here. We’re going to start with softball and baseball, and then we’re going to finish up with some Zaire talk and some recruiting talk. Jam-packed. We’ll fly through the stickball sports and spend the majority of the time on Zaire and on recruiting. Justin Fields decommitted on Tuesday night, during the softball game. Maybe the worst kept secret. Nick:                         That is eye emoji all day long. Andrew:                 Yeah. Nick:                         Two eye emoji on that Justin Fields decommitment, even though you had been telling people on our site to expect it. Even when it happened, you got to drop that eye emoji. Andrew:                 That’s one of those bombshells. That’s that. Also, I pissed off Miami fans. What’s new? Nick:                         You rang that bell yesterday. Ding! Ding! Ding! You had Bruce Buffer on your timeline going, Ladies and gentlemen! Andrew:                 Yup. Nick:                         Went toe to toe with the ‘Cane Gang. Andrew:                 Oh yeah. Let’s start with it. Nick, 17 innings, six-hour softball. Don’t ever tell me softball doesn’t play long, because my eyes were getting crossed. Nick:                         How dare you? That was one game. We had a five-hour, 400 pitch game, and that was regulation. Andrew:                 Ugh. I’ll say this, and you and I can talk about this here right now, I guess. You and I start baseball and softball in February. Don’t miss a game. Cover every game. Then you get morons on our timelines from blog sites, this site, that site. They all want to come in and give their expert opinion.

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we discuss the Florida Gators diamond sports as the baseball team was selected as a national seed on Monday. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre also break down the SEC spring meetings that are taking place in Destin this week and the big topic is the graduation transfer rule. Andrew and Nick discuss that and Malik Zaire possibly choosing Florida if the rule is changed. Andrew and Nick finish the podcast by talking recruiting and the Gators softball team in the Women’s College World Series starting on Thursday morning. TRANSCRIPT: [Title]   Andrew::               What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, back with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we took a little break, but, my oh my, do we have a lot to talk about today, my friend. Nick:                         Lot going on. SEC spring meetings, the stickball sports are still playing, and it’s about to ‘cruiting camp time. Andrew:                 Yeah. The diamond sports had great years, and look what they’re doing now. One’s headed to OKC, the other one is #3 overall national seed. Think about that for a second, Nick. Softball is the #1 overall seed. Baseball is the #3 overall seed. Not too bad. Nick:                         Baseball start 0-3 in the SEC. Then they were 6-6. They were 9-8. I kept telling people, it’s a long season. Kept trying to say, this is a good team. People were saying, Nick, all season long, or throughout the fall, when I’m going to watch them play, going to watch them practice. Telling people, this is a really good team. Sully really likes the freshmen. Seeing good things. I was just getting called a liar. I was getting called a liar again on Saturday, when they lost 16-0 to Arkansas, in a meaningless SEC Tournament, but #3 overall seed. Florida is the only team in the country that has been a national seed in eight of the last nine seasons. So, I mean, that’s all but two years that Sully has been at Florida, Florida’s been a national seed. Andrew:                 Not too bad. I mean, trust me, I got called the same thing. I was told that I was stupid, because softball lost the opening game of the SEC Tournament, and then when they lose the opening game to Alabama. Tim Walton’s a failure. Don’t know how to do this. Yeah. It was there. What I would like for people to remember is this, when Florida won back to back national championships, they won a grand total of one SEC Tournament game. Nick:                         I think people take a football attitude towards baseball/softball. Listen, in football, if you go up … So, Florida lost to JU. If Florida were to, football wise, pay for JU to come in and lose to them, yeah, that’s an embarrassment. In softball, and more specifically in baseball, there’s so much parity. There’s so many kids. There’s only 11.7 scholarships. Someone might not be able to afford to go to Florida, and Florida can’t give them enough money, and they end up at JU, or they end up at UNF or FGCU. There’s a lot of good teams, and it’s a long season. One loss to a softball team, one loss to a baseball team, over the course of a 50+ game season is not the same as a football team losing one out of 12, one out of 13. Andrew:                 Exactly. That’s exactly it. When you think about the parity of, I mean, Coastal Carolina was your baseball national champions last year. Nick:                         They did not make the tournament. Andrew:                 Yeah. Nick:                         39-17-1. I was talking to Ryan Young, who writes at SEC Country. He actually covered Coastal Carolina last year, and he kind of followed them. You know how you get an emotional investment into teams that you cover. He kind of followed them throughout their course this year, and said, they just need to win a couple games. Then, kind of like what happened to Miami, the last week of the season,

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we talk Florida Gators recruiting for both basketball and football as the staffs are out evaluating players this spring. Andrew Spivey and Zach Hughes first break down the recent offers from Gators basketball coach Mike White and how the 2018 class is shaping up so far. Andrew closes out the podcast by breaking down each position for football and who they main targets are at each position as the Gators start to get visits set up for this summer. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here, and we’re joined by my man, Zach Hughes. Zach, we appreciate you coming on. Going to do a little special recruiting podcast. Talk some hoops and talk some gridiron. How you been, man? Zach:                        Absolutely, man. I’m doing great. Just enjoying this time of the year. Recruiting’s really picking up, I know, for the both of us. On the football side, and just getting done with the April eval recruiting period, where coaches can go out and watch some of these AAU tournaments. It’s been real interesting, and it’s been a great evaluation period for the staff to go out and see a lot of the top targets. Things are really heating up now. Andrew:                 Everyone, I think, kind of knows the football recruiting process in general. Break down for me the way basketball is. What is it with the basketball? Are they going to the schools now that the basketball season’s over? Is it more going to AAU tournaments? What’s the staff doing to evaluate these guys? Zach:                        They’re allowed to go to the schools. Obviously, there’s some dead periods in there, but during the summer, the first two sessions of the big shoe company circuits, like Under Armour and Adidas and the Nike UIBL, they can go to the first two sessions. They can’t go to another one until July. Until then they’ll just be doing a lot of evaluation and all that kind of stuff. They’ll still be able to keep in touch with them. July is when they’ll be able to go see them again. The Florida staff was all over at the first two session of the main circuits of Under Armour, Adidas, and Nike, and were able to see a lot of the top guys on their board. Also, 2019 guys. We saw a lot of 2019 guys get offered through the evaluation period, and also a couple of ’18 guys. They’re obviously putting a lot of work in. They’re doing a great job so far through this AAU period. Andrew:                 Let’s go dive into that a little deeper here. We know they’ve got the 2017 class pretty much wrapped up. Do you think that’s wrapped up? Do you think that’s done? Zach:                        I do. Obviously, they’re waiting to see what Big John does, if he’s going to come back next year or if he’s going to leave, but I do think, even if he does leave, that there is a possibility that they keep that scholarship for the ’18 class, because the ’18 class is loaded. They’re in a great position with a lot of prospects. One of our questions, I’ll go ahead and kind of get into that, because that kind of deals with what you’re asking me, is Sid Wilson, who is an ’18 recruit recently reclassified 2017, and we’re in his top six. A lot of people, we had a question with him reclassifying to 2017, what does that look for us as far as being able to pick him up if Big John leaves? Obviously, he would have to leave for that to even be under consideration, but, like I said, I do think that we may save that. Sid is actually on an official to Yukon tonight and tomorrow, and then this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, he’ll be at St. Johns. I think there’s interest there, but I do think he ends up elsewhere. I don’t think he’ll be that much in play for us. I think the ’17 class is kind of set in stone right now. Andrew:                 Okay. You go on to look at the ’18 class. It’s a big class overall for them.

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we preview the NFL for the Florida Gators prospect this coming week. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre talk about all the Gators prospects and who could be the first off the board for Florida this year. Andrew and Nick also talk about the latest in recruiting, plus the latest with Notre Dame transfer Malik Zaire. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:         What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, a little bit of a break for us, but we’re back and it’s officially draft week. About 300, 350 guys will have their dream come true on Saturday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Nick:               Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Andrew:         Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Sorry. Big, big week for a lot of guys, including several Gators. Nick:               Yeah. This is what you’ve worked for your entire life. You go to college, and I’m sure you love your university and love your teammates, your brothers there, but the end goal and the goal your entire life has been to play in the NFL. So, Thursday night you get the first round, and second and third round on Friday. A lot of dreams realized those two days. Even those guys that go in the later rounds, or even go un-drafted. We talk about guys who are getting drafted in the sixth, seventh round, sometimes they and their agents almost would rather not be drafted and get to pick your spot after that. Look at Brian Poole of an example of somebody who didn’t get drafted last year, and then all of a sudden, before he knows it, starting the Super Bowl. Andrew:         That’s a good point. When you get in the sixth and seventh round, there is no guarantee for anything. So, if you get picked up as a free agent, you get to basically pick your team. Nick:               Pick your situation. Andrew:         Yeah. Pick the depth chart and all that. You talk about Brian Poole. There’s several guys. His name forgets me, but the guy from the Patriots who had the game winning interception. Nick:               Malcolm Butler. Andrew:         Yeah. Couple years ago, that was a free agent as well. A lot of guys. Nick, several Gators going to go this weekend, but one had a weekend that he would kind of like to forget. Nick:               It actually stems from a little bit over a week ago on 4-13, April 13th. It’s not like he was out doing this week. I had some people saying, “What is doing out at the bars five days before the draft?” Well, it wasn’t this week. This is kind of like an onion, you peel back a layer, and all of a sudden there’s 30 more layers. You’ve got one side saying that the police lied, the other side saying that Brantley’s lying, and, all of a sudden, this person is lying. Just a lot of stuff going on. Huntley Johnson, who is representing Caleb Brantley, he alleged that the initial report that the police falsified the report. The victim’s attorney is saying that Caleb Brantley is almost triple this girl’s size, and he knocked her out. There’s witnesses saying that Caleb Brantley did it. On Monday morning, Brantley, through his attorney, through Huntley Johnson, filed a written plea of not guilty, according to the court records. Whether or not he did this, it’s really terrible timing for him, with the draft coming up. He’s a guy who probably projected second or third round. Maybe a Friday guy, maybe even middle to late third round. Some teams will just scratch you off, off their list, because of something like this. Even if it’s just an allegation, it’s not a risk that they’re willing to take when they’re investing millions of dollars. Other ones who maybe really liked you before are now trying to scramble for any type of information, and right now, because of everyone pointing fingers and saying the other one’s lying, it’s really hard to figure out who to believe.

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators spring game that took place on Friday night in the Swamp. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what they liked in the game, plus what they were able learn about the position battles during the games. Andrew and Nick also talk about the latest recruiting news as the Gators picked up four commits over the weekend, plus talk about the diamond sports. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, the Gators on the winning track on Friday in the Orange & Blue game. Nick:                         Yeah. It’s always weird. I was joking with somebody. We were talking about baseball, and somebody says, “At least the football team’s going to win this week.” I said, “Well, they’re also going to lose.” He said, “But they could tie.” I said, “If you tie, everyone loses.” Andrew:                 This is not Will Muschamp football where it’s tied. Wanted to talk about something real quick before we really dive into this. You and I were talking about this mainly in the press box about the game being boring. Had a chance to watch the Florida State game, and then the Auburn game, and spring ball just really has, the spring game really has just taken a turn for the snooze fest. It wasn’t just Florida. It was all three of them that I watched this weekend was just a snooze fest. I’m not sure what the answer is to make it exciting, but it’s just not anymore. Nick:                         I think you’re right. It’s not just Florida. Florida State, who else did I watch? I watched Ole Miss. I just wanted to see Shea Patterson. I didn’t see Auburn. Andrew:                 Okay. Nick:                         Ole Miss, same thing. I think coaches are still working on things. The coaches want to treat it as more of another practice than a game, but I don’t like Jim McElwain’s we didn’t want to show Michigan anything. Come on. Don’t make an excuse for it. Just say, “Listen, we only get 15 practices. We don’t think just throwing a ball out there and letting guys play a game is the best use of our fifteenth and final practice.” Okay. To say, “We don’t want the team we’re going to play in five months to see our spring game and know what we’re going to do then.” Come on. Andrew:                 Yeah. Do you see the point in throwing out your new packages? Sure. You don’t throw out your new packages in the spring game, but don’t make an excuse. Like I said, it wasn’t just Florida. It was the Florida State game. Good grief, the crowd at the Florida State game was awful. Nick:                         Looked like a baseball crowd. Andrew:                 I don’t know what the announced attendance was, but if it was anything over 10,000 they were lying. Auburn was the same way. Like I said, I don’t know if there’s a good way to really do it, to make it exciting. If you talk to some fans, they did find it exciting. I guess it just depends on what you wanted to see. There was some exciting moments in the game, but as far as exciting all the way through, no. I think you can almost cut it to a half, and be fine with it. Second half is a snooze fest. Some positives. Some, I don’t want to say negatives, some head scratchers in the game, Nick. It all starts with the quarterback play. I think you and I said this on Friday, or Thursday of last week, when we did our podcast. We were all going to focus on the quarterback play. I don’t think we learned anything from Friday’s game for the quarterback play. Nick:                         No. I kind of don’t know why people were, I guess you have every right to be excited. I just don’t think we saw much from the quarterback play, and I don’t like that we only saw one quarterback play against the … Andrew:                 First team?

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we preview the Florida Gators Orange and Blue game on Friday night in the Swamp. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what they’re looking to see at each position, plus what the biggest things to look for. Andrew and Nick also talk about the prospects expected in attendance on Friday, plus talk Masters for this weekend. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, had a little bit of a hiatus, but we’re back. We’re ready. Let’s do this thing. Nick:                         I’m ready to be back. This is probably the best week of the year. You’ve got what I think should be a national holiday in Opening Day for Major League baseball. You’ve got the National Championship for college basketball. Congratulations to UNC. And it’s Master’s week. Then, you throw in a little Orange & Blue game, and you’ve got a beautiful week. Andrew:                 Got a great week. It’s kind of weird. I mean, it’s not weird, but the National Championship game is kind of third in that whole deal. Master’s weekend is, in my opinion, the greatest sporting event out there, and then you have Opening Day. Then it’s probably the National Championship game. Kind of in the shadows. Nick:                         Yeah. I think it was a great game. Obviously, the big talking point was– Andrew:                 Hold on, there’s a whistle being blown. There’s a whistle being blown again. Nick:                         Big talking point was the officiating, but to me it was a good game. They kind of let them play those last six minutes, and that was a great way to finish it. I think you and I are also a little biased when it comes to baseball. Opening Day for baseball should just, to me that’s sons, dads going to games, skipping work. It should just be a holiday. Cancel work for Opening Day. Andrew:                 I did cancel work in the afternoon. Nick:                         You cancel work for most Braves games. Andrew:                 That is true. I have to say, was able to go to SunTrust Park last Friday, and, Nick, I do, and I am biased. Do not disagree with that, but there are certain ballparks that when you walk in you just feel on top of the action. That is SunTrust Park. It is unbelievable. I said it was a lot like Cincinnati’s ballpark. I know some people have said other parks. I haven’t been able to go to as many parks as I would like to. Cincinnati was a park that I thought it was a lot like, and it was on top of the field. For a guy like myself, I want to be on top of the action. I don’t like to be far away. SunTrust park’s beautiful, Nick. Beautiful. Nick:                         They’re doing a really good job, all the new ballparks really. You got into a situation where baseball was going crazy, and owners were thinking money, money, money, and they built these huge stadiums. That’s not really how baseball’s supposed to be watched. I grew up having to watch the Marlins play in a football stadium that was way too big for them. To me, when the Marlins got their new park, when that snake, Jeffrey Loria, was able to steal $500 million from the city of Miami to build a baseball park, that was my first experience. That’s the same thing. There’s no bad view. You’re right on top of the action. Even if you’re sitting in the nosebleed seats, you feel close, because you’re not pushed back like you would be in a football stadium. All these new baseball stadiums, I think they’re really realizing that we’re fighting HGTV, we’re fighting streaming. We need to create an intimate experience that’s something that what you’re going to get at home. Andrew:                 Fenway Park and Wrigley Field have been around for 100 years for that reason. Nick:                         I got to go to Fenway a couple y...

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we’re joined by Zach Hughes who helps us recap the Florida Gators basketball team’s Sweet 16 berth, plus preview the game against Wisconsin. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre ask Hughes what it’s going to take for the Gators to beat Wisconsin and also how the Gators big men are playing lately. Andrew and Nick also recap the Florida Gators football team’s latest practices, plus how the diamond sports did this past weekend on the road. TRANSCRIPT:   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, busy weekend for the Gators, softball, baseball, football, recruiting, and Sweet 16 birth. Nick:                         Yeah. Some drama. I feel like the first day of the tournament was a chalk, not too much excitement, and then the round of 32 happened. Down goes Villanova, #1 seed. Down goes Duke, #2 seed, and really Florida’s path, I think they were probably in the second toughest region, their path to the Final Four may be a little easier now. Not to take anything away from a very talented Wisconsin team that they’ll play Friday in Madison Square Garden. Andrew:                 It was blowout city in Orlando. First Xavier blows out Florida State, and then Florida turns around and blows out Virginia. Didn’t see that coming in both of them. Now, I expected Florida to win the game. Didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was, and definitely didn’t think Xavier was about to blow out Florida State like they did. Nick:                         No. Florida State just big fat egg. Andrew:                 Yeah. We’re going to be joined by our new guy, new basketball guy. Zach Hughes is going to come on. Little background on Zach, he coached basketball while in college at the University of Mobile down in Alabama, and moved on after being a GA there, and is going to write for us. Do some basketball. Do some basketball recruiting. Help with some football as well. Nick, I know you and I are excited to have him on. We don’t like basketball very much. Nick:                         Not that we don’t like it. Neither of us grew up playing basketball. You and I don’t like talking about things that we don’t know. We know softball. We know baseball. We know football. Just like to be informed on what we talk about, and when you talk about someone who’s been a graduate assistant coach, he’s been around the AAU circuit. He’s been around recruiting. Knows the ins and outs, and I think we’re going to have a very educated voice talking to you guys about basketball now. Andrew:                 And basketball recruiting, which everyone likes. We’ll get to him in a second, Nick. I wanted to recap everything. Football had a weeklong practice last week. Had one on Monday as well. They got out and got in full pads. Your baseball team lays an egg, gets swept up in Auburn, and softball continues on that train there, Nick. Nick:                         Tim Walton’s squad is just motoring through. Florida really struggled with the pitching, and they’ve got some issues going on now. Andrew:                 We’ll dig into that more here in a second, after we talk to Zach about basketball. We’ll dig into that, and we’ll dig into a little bit more of what Jim McElwain said on Monday about the football team. We’ll get into more of recruiting, as there’s a big Junior Day coming up. Nick, without further ado, let’s go to our man, Zach. Welcome back, guys. We’re with my man, Zach. Zach, tell everybody what makes you a basketball guy, and what you just a great Alabamian. Zach:                        What’s up, everybody? Like you said, I’m Zach Hughes. I’m from Montgomery, Alabama. I went to University of Mobile. It’s an NAIA school in the great Mobile, Alabama, of course. Home of Andrew Spivey. I worked for the basketball team for four years,...

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we look at the Florida Gators basketball team’s draw in the NCAA tournament and how they match-up. Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down what the Gators need to do, plus they look at week two of the Gators spring football practices. Andrew and Nick also talk about what’s going wrong for the Gators baseball team, plus what is going right for the softball team this year. TRANSCRIPT: NCAA bb Preview   Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, March Madness is officially here. It got underway Sunday night, and the Gators are back in the tournament for the first time in what? Three years now? Nick:                         Has it already been three years? Andrew:                 Yeah. They missed it in 2015. Missed it in 2016. First time in three years. Seems like not too long ago they were making it to the Final Four with Will Yeguete and those guys. Nick:                         Florida will, I guess, kind of return home in a sense, to Orlando, a place that they played earlier in the year as they were beginning their nomad season, while the O Dome was getting renovated. Andrew:                 They played what seemed like … Nick:                         They played three games at the Wide World of Sports, back in Orlando. Andrew:                 Seemed like they played all around the state, and they did, something that was brought to my attention, they did play in 2014 in Orlando for the NCAA Tournament. Going back there. When you look at the teams that are in Florida’s bracket, East Tennessee State their first round opponent, UNC Wilmington, and then Virginia, you would think Florida should be definitely the beneficiary of home court advantage. Nick:                         Orlando is a huge hub for Florida Gators fans. Lot of alumni, lot of boosters live there. That stadium, that arena, will be packed with Gator fans. Eastern Tennessee is 25-7 on the year, and I’m sure they’ll have some people coming down. It’s their tenth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, so I’m sure they’re excited, but Orlando’s just I expect that arena to be orange and blue from top to bottom. Andrew:                 I mean, for me, and I was talking with this earlier on Monday with someone, and I said, “It’s kind of tough to judge Florida right now.” They lose two to Vandy, and they lose the game to Kentucky. Part of me thinks, Vandy just has Florida’s number, and Kentucky is Kentucky. Most people, if you would say you split with Kentucky each year, most Florida fans would be happy with it. Part of me looks at a Florida in a way of, “Okay, they’re struggling,” and then part of me looks at it and says, “Well, they’re really not. They played the team that has their number, and they played Kentucky.” Is that kind of where you look at it as well, Nick? What’s your mindset? Nick:                         You’re saying that Florida is only in the same breath as Kentucky in the SEC? Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s kind of what I was saying. It’s tough for me to say Florida is struggling and be 100% correct, because if they don’t play Vandy they’re not struggling. Chance are they’re not going to play Vandy in the NCAA Tournament. Nick:                         I think the team has definitely looked different since losing John Egbunu. Let’s just face it. The SEC is not very good at basketball. What did they get six teams in? Five teams in? Andrew:                 Five, yes. Nick:                         Five. I still don’t think they’re very good. I don’t expect an SEC team, outside of maybe Kentucky, and I don’t even think Kentucky is that great when you come into it. I don’t expect an SEC team to win it all, but I think, if you look at where Florida is as a five seed, and the kind of season that they had,