Gator Country

The Florida Gators are back in the thick of things for Kenny Boynton (6-2, 180, Plantation, FL American Heritage) after an extraordinary unofficial visit last weekend to Gainesville. Boynton and his family came up, spent the day with Billy Donovan and the Florida coaching staff and by the time the day was over, the Gators were very much in the thick of things for the best class of 2009 scoring guard.

For the last three or four months, there was rampant speculation that Florida was out of the mix. Every time Boynton was interviewed, the talk centered around Duke and Memphis with very little mention of Florida. A lot of that had to do with the way the interviews were conducted. Kenny has kept a lot of things close to the vest and if you don’t ask a question about a certain school, chances are he won’t mention that school. So all this time we were hearing about Memphis and Duke, nobody was really asking questions about the Gators.

Fact is, the Gators have been in the running all along and now it seems they are pushing past everybody. There are a few good reasons for the surge.

1. EXCELLENT FRONT COURT RECRUITING: The Gators are absolutely stacked in the front court for the next two to three years with Dan Werner, Chandler Parsons and Alex Tyus already in school; Kenny Kadji, Eloy Vargas and Allan Chaney entering school in late June; and now with a 2009 recruiting class of Georgetown transfer Vernon Macklin, Erik Murphy (6-11, 220, Southborough, MA St. Mark’s School) and Deshawn Painter (6-9, 210, Chatham, VA Hargrave Military Academy). A never-ending supply of bigs is a guard’s best friend, especially one like Boynton, who only needs a slight opening to get his shot off. When defenders sag to protect the middle, as they’re going to have to do against the Gators, shooters can get their shots. That’s a huge plus for the Gators.

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About the author

Franz Beard

Franz has been writing sports for 42 years in various outposts like Gainesville, Jacksonville, Savannah, Richmond and Miami. He's been writing for Gator Country since 1999 and has served as the site's managing editor since 2004. He is also a contributing writer to Gator Country Magazine.

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