Gator Country

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• THE BOY WONDER
  Boy wonder basketball recruit heads to Gainesville with a game beyond his years.
  
  At an age when most of the kids in his neighborhood were just learning to get around on a tricycle, Nick Calathes had tossed the training wheels on a real bike and was entering bicycle motocross competitions. He was only 2 1/2, barely out of diapers, the first time he entered a BMX race. He was the smallest kid out there, but the only fear he had was losing.

• LATE BLOOMER
  Calathes’ high school teammate has developed into one of the nation’s top rising freshmen.
  
  The call from Leonard Hamilton sapped all the life out of Chandler Parsons. It was one of those thanks, but no thanks kind of calls --- thanks for committing to FSU two weeks ago, but now that we’ve thought things over, we really don’t think you’re good enough to play here. From future Seminole star to free agent, just like that. Parsons’ commitment to FSU was over faster than Drew Barrymore’s marriage to Jeremy Thomas, which lasted all of 19 days.

• LITTLE GUY, BIG HEART
  Gators long snapper has earned every bit of playing time during his football career.
  
  An assistant coach tapped the scrawny young boy on the shoulder and asked a simple question: “Would you like to help us shoot video if football doesn’t work out?” James Smith still remembers the words.  Every day. “That made me so mad,” Smith said. “That made me want to prove everyone wrong in high school.”

• BIG LEAGUE DREAMS
  After a turbulent senior season, former UF outfielder finds redemption in pro baseball.
  
  What to do on draft day? Brian Leclerc thought about hovering over his computer round by round, minute by minute, but decided to invest his time in others. After all, better to be happy than to brood. “I told myself this year that I was going to relax,” Leclerc said. “I was chilling out on vacation trying to get away from it all, so I decided to sit with (Matt) LaPorta and watch him get drafted on television. That was really nice. I was proud of him.”

• ORANGE AND BLUE TO THE BONE
  Gators’ women’s basketball coach discusses her plans for rebuilding a program.
  
  Amanda Butler is on the move. The past few months the new University of Florida women’s basketball coach has been scouring gyms nationwide for schoolgirl talent. So far, she’s done pretty well this summer, landing two recruits—Lonnika Thompson, a point guard from Trinity Valley Community College; and Susan Yenser, a star shooting guard from Clemson University. Thompson is the passer, the distributor; Yenser is the scorer, the shooter.

• PRIDE OF THE SUNSHINE STATE
  Former star Gator running back approaches 10,000-yard milestone with the Jaguars.
  
  It’s rare for a player to play in the same state throughout a high school, college and professional career, especially a 10-year or longer stay in the National Football League. But when Taylor recently signed a contract extension with the Jacksonville Jaguars, it all but guaranteed that he would join the unique group of players that never left his home state while playing the sport at all three levels.

• FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
  Former Gator Great makes the transition from high school to college coaching.
  
  Twenty five years ago, a farmer’s son emerged from the grit of the North Florida tobacco fields with a dream to play college football.
  The reality was no one wanted a quarterback from a small school and a small town. He threw for thousands of yards and won a slew of titles as a two-sport athlete at tiny Lafayette High School, but hardly anyone noticed.

• CELTIC PRIDE
  Former UF star receiver takes over the football program at Trinity Catholic High.
  
  He could quit; or he could stay. As Ricky Nattiel pondered his options, memories flooded forth. So many young faces. So much promise. So many futures at stake. Well, he decided to take the job. Nattiel is the new football coach at Trinity Catholic High. His first official season as head coach started this spring with the arrival of offseason workouts. Let the bonding begin.

• STEP RIGHT UP, SUCKER, AND PICK YOUR POLL
  Buddy Martin Column
  
  So I was exercising the summer rites of football fandom, thumbing through some of those pre-season magazines the other day, when I found myself suckered in, once again, by these counterfeit shot-in-the dark rankings.

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