GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the NFL Draft for the Florida Gators as eight guys were drafted.
Andrew Spivey, Bailiegh Carlton, and Ethan Hughes give you their thoughts on the eight guys that were drafted, plus we give our thoughts on the guys who signed free-agent contracts.
Andrew, Baileigh, and Ethan also recap the diamond sports as both softball and baseball took their weekend series against Missouri and Vanderbilt.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, back with Ethan and Baileigh. Guys, we’re post NFL Draft, so that means we’re a little bit closer to football season. Ethan, you were right. The Gators did take a series against Vandy, and it was a wild series. Baileigh, go up and have Missouri come to town and take two out of three, and now just sit a game back of Arkansas still. Rough series pitching wise at times for the Lady Gators. Overall, good weekend for the Gators. Eight guys drafted. Some surprises there, and we’ll get into that. First of all, Ethan, we got to know the story about the water park. The man goes to the water park, hurts his arm. He’s MIA for the Vandy series. I mean, did you just want to miss the Vandy series? You thought it was going to be that bad?
Ethan: To be honest, missing the Vandy series was actually one of the first things that went through my mind after it happened. Just couldn’t happen any other time of the year? What happened, basically went to a water park, got on a waterslide, and couldn’t figure out how to get off the tube when we got to the pool. It was like a two-person tube, but for whatever reason they only had one person in a tube at a time, so I had a hard time trying to figure out how to get out of it without flipping the thing over on top of me. I ended up rolling over onto the concrete steps and dislocated my shoulder. Was not very fun that day.
Andrew: So, you’re on the 10-day IL, or we going to put you on the 60-day IL?
Ethan: 60-day is not necessary. Probably 10-day, and then need maybe a couple Minor League rehab assignments before I get back.
Andrew: There you go. Let’s recap that series real quick. Gators put it on Rocker and win Game 1. Then they lose. No. Sorry. They lose Game 1 to Rocker. Put it on Leiter, and then turn around and win Game 3. First of all, how Vandy with as great of pitching they are do not have a #3 starter is wild to me. Whatever it may be, the Gators take advantage of it. For all the talk about what’s going on with this team, I say it all the time. It doesn’t matter how you start. It’s how you finish. I think this team is starting to finish how we thought this team could be. Obviously, a little bit different. The pitching isn’t as good, but Jud Fabian’s starting to hit a little bit more. You’re seeing Nathan Hickey still hit really good. Chris Armstrong started to come around. Is this team hitting the strides at the right time, Ethan?
Ethan: It definitely seems like they are. That Vanderbilt team was a team that I still think as of now would be the favorite to win the National Championship, with those two starters that they’ve got. It was just an incredible offensive series. They scored 23 runs in three games against the best pitching staff in the SEC, I think by a pretty decent margin. They got three homeruns and five runs off of Jack Leiter, who a couple weeks ago people were saying that he was basically the equivalent of having a Major League starter stuck in a college uniform.
Then pitching wise, they didn’t get a good start from Franco Aleman in Game 1, and that ended up costing them. Tommy Mace, same thing. Didn’t get off to a great start, but he’s able to battle through it and give them eight innings, and that ended up being a huge factor in Game 3, because then they were able to have Jack Leftwich, Christian Scott, all available to go basically an unlimited amount.
Then also, I think one of the underrated parts of the series that nobody has really talked about is in Game 1, when they got down big, they battled back on offense and forced Vanderbilt to have to use their Game 3 starter, or the guy who had been starting the last couple weeks in Game 3. They ended up having to use their closer. Even though they didn’t win that game, they forced Vanderbilt’s pitching situation for the entire weekend to get flipped over and give the Gators the advantage the last two games, and they took advantage of it.
Andrew: I think that’s the biggest thing is this team is starting to really battle. I don’t want to say they didn’t battle at the beginning of the year. That’s not fair to say. At times at the beginning of the year it did look like this team, when they got down, they kind of folded. Again, I’m not saying they did. It put that impression out there. This looked like a team Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter have the potential to be one and two in the MLB Draft here in June. Overall, good series. Jud Fabian starting to hit as well, like I said. I think it’s safe to say Jack Leftwich is starting to settle into that bullpen role. Looked really good on Sunday overall. There’s nothing wrong with being an MLB closer. You’re going to make a lot of money.
Ethan: Yeah. I think the interesting thing with him is going to be, because they still don’t really have three starters that you feel great about, at some point do they try to move him back into the rotation, once you get into the postseason, or do you try to make him a Michael Byrne type where he’s a closer that can go basically however many innings you need him to go?
Andrew: If it’s me, I leave him in his role, because I think what we talked about a couple weeks ago is the biggest thing for Leftwich, and that is it’s mental right now. Stuff is fine, but it’s the mental part of what happens when I get in trouble, and I think moving him back and forth would just cluster his mind up even more. I say leave him there. Obviously, I’m not Sully. I don’t make the big money, but if it was me, I’d leave him in his role, let him go and figure it out. Listen, the Rays made it to the World Series last year with an opener. It can be done.
Baileigh, let’s go to softball real quick. Two out of three against Missouri. Saturday’s game was just bad. Overall, pretty good series.
Baileigh: I don’t know that I’d call it a good series. Missouri’s good, so it’s good to go in there and win two out of three, but really I’d say Florida just escaped from that one, which sometimes that’s what you’ve got to do in the SEC. So, in Game 1 it took a comeback win. Game 2, like you said, it was awful. Run rule in five innings. We won’t even talk about it.
Andrew: First one of the year, right? That’s the first run rule of the year, right?
Baileigh: I think they said 2019, which last season was barely a season. It’s been a while since anyone run ruled Florida. Natalie Lugo, I think she only made it like an inning and a third. It was a rough day for Florida. Then Sunday they just couldn’t get their bats off their shoulders until the seventh inning. Hannah Adams comes in clutch again. They’re always having to rely on her to do that. She steps up, hits a three-run homer in the seventh inning to win the game. Sometimes that’s what it takes, but Florida’s really just got to get more consistent up at the plate right now.
Andrew: Same story all year. It seemed like in the Alabama series it was getting a little bit better, and things were starting to improve at the plate. Then it kind of goes back to what we’ve said all year, or most of the year. The bats are going to determine how far this team is going to go. You can’t rely on Lugo and Chronister and the rest of the staff to throw gems every week. You just can’t. That’s going to be a problem that you see in the World Series. Teams are going to be able to hit those girls. It just is what it is. They’re going to get hits. Even Clayton Kershaw, the best in the world, they always get hits at some point or another. You’re going to have to figure out a way.
A game back with Arkansas heading into the last home series, right? Or is it the last series overall?
Baileigh: The last series overall. Arkansas, I think they play a double-header today. No. They played last night.
Andrew: Right.
Baileigh: So, Arkansas doesn’t play anymore this season, and then Florida has to go win this series. We’ll see what happens.
Andrew: Who is it this weekend? Tell us.
Baileigh: This weekend is Texas A&M.
Andrew: Should be a sweep.
Baileigh: I think so. I don’t think Texas A&M has much for Florida this weekend, on Mother’s Day weekend. It should be a good series, but we’ll see. Like we said, you just never know what’s going to happen with the bats for Florida, especially on Friday nights it seems like they just can’t come out quickly. That’s been the story of the year, I think, too. We’ll see how it goes. I think you’ve just got to have someone other than Hannah Adams who can come up and get those big hits in these games.
Andrew: It seemed like Kendyl Lindaman was starting to come around, especially in the Alabama series, and now it looks like what’s really going on there? It’s like I said before. Same old story, different year. This team will go as far as the bats can get them.
Baileigh: Yup. Agree.
Andrew: Ethan, this weekend. Who’s the Gators got?
Ethan: They’re at Kentucky Thursday through Saturday.
Andrew: Okay. Give us the rundown.
Ethan: Kentucky, they’re not a great team. They’re NCAA Tournament bubble type team, so this should be a series that the Gators should win. If they’re going to compete for the SEC Championship and kind of make up for the sweep they had at South Carolina earlier this year, this is a series that you would like to see them possibly sweep.
Andrew: Is it two games back or one game back?
Ethan: They’re one behind Vandy and Tennessee, who are tied for the lead right now.
Andrew: That’s right. Okay.
Ethan: They’re two games behind Arkansas for the overall SEC lead.
Andrew: Right. Absolutely. There you go. So, big weekend for the Gators in the NFL Draft. Eight go, so they don’t break the record. Kyle Pitts, the highest drafted overall tight end ever, as my Atlanta Falcons take him at pick #4. Passed on Justin Fields. I don’t know. I hope it don’t come back to bite us. I love Kyle Pitts. Think he’s going to be great in the offense. I don’t know. We’ll see. Glad to get to see Kyle play in Atlanta. Then Kadarius Toney goes to the Giants. Good pick. I think him and Daniel Jones goes really well. Then Kyle Trask slips to the second round and goes to the Bucs. Listen, is there a difference in the money between the first round and the second round? Absolutely. But if you’re Kyle Trask, what better team to go to and learn from than Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs?
Baileigh: Yeah. When that happened, I was just like, wow. That is the best opportunity he could ever imagine getting. Really awesome for him just to be able to sit back there for a little bit, learn from Tom Brady, and kind of go back to what he does best. I think it was overall a really great Draft for the Gators. Like you said, Trevon Grimes totally slipping out was a big shocker. They didn’t hit the record, which was crazy, because we’re seeing all these other guys go, and I’m like, they’re going to get it, because Grimes has to go.
Andrew: When Evan McPherson went, I said it’s a done deal. They got it.
Ethan: Yeah.
Baileigh: Exactly. Then we’re just waiting and waiting, and it doesn’t come. It’s like teams are picking up guys off the street before they’re drafting Trevon Grimes, and I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. Anyone have an idea of what the deal was?
Andrew: Ethan?
Ethan: I have no explanation for why Trevon Grimes didn’t go. Going back to Kyle Trask for a second, the one thing I hope for him is Tom Brady’s kind of gotten a reputation for not always being great with his backup quarterbacks. He pretty much forced the Patriots to trade Jimmy Garoppolo. I just hope that it’s a little bit better of a situation now that Brady knows that he only has a couple years left, we think.
Andrew: Yeah.
Baileigh: Yeah. I just don’t think Trask is going to be any kind of threat to him, like maybe he would think some of these other guys are, even though nobody’s challenging Tom Brady. He is going to be a guy that’s just going to be willing to sit back and learn. Even though everybody says, I’m going in, I’m going to compete, I’m going to try to win the starting job. When Tom Brady’s in front of you, you just sit back.
Andrew: You’re not winning the starting job with Tom Brady.
Ethan: You wonder if Trask being this long-time backup actually helped his Draft stock. If he had been a starter through high school and throughout his college career, do the Bucs take a guy like that knowing that they’re going to have to sit him for a couple years first?
Andrew: I said that a couple weeks ago. I thought it was fine, because he’s not going to come in, and he’s not going to cause problems. He’s not going to be like Jordan Love and the Aaron Rogers situation right now that’s turning crazy. Obviously, it doesn’t matter who comes in. They could sign Drew Brees tomorrow, and he’s not taking Tom Brady’s spot. Tom Brady’s not caring about it. I think it helps. Obviously, I think it’s a good pick, because there’s no Tom Brady. Tom Brady’s the best quarterback of all time. But if you’re looking at a small comparison of what it is, Kyle Trask is a very accurate quarterback, a very smart quarterback, not as mobile, like Tom Brady, but he can still get outside the pocket if need be. It’s a good fit. The offense is already built for what Kyle Trask does really well, so I think it’s a good pickup.
I was heading into the Draft kind of hoping that was where it was going to go, he was going to be able to go to the Bucs, and the Bucs even said they thought about drafting him in the first round. I think it’s a good pickup. He gets to stay close to where he’s been for the last few years. I think there’s nothing wrong with it.
Kadarius going to the Giants though, I think it’s a good fit, because I think Daniel Jones has been looking for that weapon and really needing that guy. I think Kadarius Toney goes up there and is instantly probably the best playmaker they have right now, outside of Saquon.
Ethan: Yeah.
Baileigh: Definitely. He can definitely turn their offense into kind of an explosive one. I think it is a great fit. I think he ended up in a perfect situation. I don’t have much else to say about him there. Really good for Toney.
Ethan: I was a little surprised that he went as early as he did though. I thought he’d be more of a late first round guy, and he went #20.
Andrew: I think we said it last week. Teams got desperate. When Chase went off the board, Devonta went off the board, and Jaylen Waddle went off the board, teams got really desperate, because the drop off. I know people were so high on Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore don’t hold a stick to Kadarius Toney as far a playmaking ability. Kadarius Toney’s a good player. I mean, Elijah Moore is a good player, but he ain’t Kadarius Toney. I think teams got very desperate very quick, and I thought it would. Obviously, it would have been fun to see him in Jacksonville with Urban Meyer’s offense, but we’ll see. I like the pickup. I think it’s great for Daniel Jones. I think it’s a homerun hit for Daniel Jones.
Baileigh: Yeah. Like you said, that’s what we see in these Drafts is once those players start going off the board everybody’s just like, got to get my guy. Got to get my guy before it’s too late. That’s definitely what happened there.
Andrew: Thoughts on Kyle Pitts?
Baileigh: I think it’s exactly what most of us expected to happen. Really awesome for him. Top drafted tight end of all time. He’s continuing to just build his legacy already, before he’s even in the NFL. Really good for him. I know you’re a little disappointed skipping over Justin Fields there.
Andrew: I don’t know. Before I get hate from Florida fans, because I’m going to get hate from Florida fans. Here’s the thing. I’m not disappointed. As a Falcons fan, I see Matt Ryan’s career starting to dwindle down. You got pick #4, good quarterback there in Justin Fields. Get him, let him learn from Matt Ryan for two years, and be ready to go. The offensive playmakers with Julio and Calvin Ridley, now if they trade Julio Jones it’s a big different story. I don’t think the playmakers were such a big deal. Now, the argument to that is Kyle Pitts is a once in a lifetime tight end, so yeah. I’m not upset. I just question.
Ethan: I think one of the Draft analysts, it might have been Kirk Herbstreit, said that if he had to make a bet on which player would be most likely to be in the Hall of Fame out of this Draft class, it would be Kyle Pitts. I think there’s not really a whole lot of argument there, because quarterbacks are inherently very high risk, high reward. Pitts is the one guy in this Draft class. I think it would be a major surprise if he’s not a multi time Pro Bowler type of player.
Andrew: Right. Here’s the thing with Pitts. You can make the argument he was the second-best player in this Draft, behind Trevor Lawrence. That’s just the case of the NFL Draft in that quarterbacks go first, because it’s a quarterback driven league. Had the Jets not traded Sam Darnold, he’s probably a Jet right now. Love Lamical, that’s my buddy. Sorry, but you don’t want to be a Jet. Probably a good thing for him that he wasn’t a Jet. Overall, I think he was the second-best player in this Draft. Like you said, I think you can make the argument that he’ll be a multi time Pro Bowler. I think the scary thing for everyone is this. Kyle Pitts continues to get better every year.
Baileigh: Yeah.
Ethan: Yup.
Baileigh: For sure. I think you’re right. He’s just going to continue to blossom there. I might have to unfollow him on Instagram though, because ever since he got drafted he’s signing all these contracts, and every post is an ad. I’m going to have to get some Bose earphones. He’s got all kinds of contracts coming his way.
Andrew: I’m kind of upset with my boy Kadarius. Adidas? Come on, KT. What are you doing, man? Adidas isn’t even around anymore.
Baileigh: You got to take what you can get.
Andrew: Yeah. But we’re not running a three strike life.
Baileigh: Whoever’s paying the most money. I don’t care. I’ll take it.
Andrew: Adidas, if you’re listening, the three of us would like an endorsement contract. We’ll take it.
Ethan: I’ll take Reebok or whoever. I don’t care.
Andrew: How shocked are you guys that Evan McPherson was drafted as high as he was?
Baileigh: Go ahead, Ethan.
Ethan: Sorry. I was surprised, just because you think when somebody’s drafted in the fifth round, a kicker like that, you’d think there’d be this run on kickers afterwards, and there’d be three or four guys taken. He ended up being the only one drafted. Either the team that drafted him misjudged how the situation was with specialists. I never think there’s ever a good justification for taking a kicker or a punter before the seventh round. Just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me to use a Draft pick on a guy that you could find as an undrafted free agent or draft somebody equally as good a couple rounds later. It’s good for him. He’s one of the highest drafted, maybe the second highest drafted Gator kicker ever, or something like that.
Baileigh: I was shocked. I was just sitting there watching and everything, and all of a sudden, I see his name come up, and I’m like, crap, let me get my computer. I was not expecting it at all. It’s great for him. I’m really happy for him, but I didn’t even expect him to get drafted, to be completely honest. It’s definitely a big shock. Cincinnati needed a kicker. They’ve had some struggles, so I guess you got to do what you got to do. I was definitely a little bit surprised there.
Andrew: I think the biggest thing, I could have seen him getting drafted. I always say this. The seventh round Draft picks are kind of just let me get a Draft pick, so that I make the pick. I kind of thought he’d be sixth or seventh, in that range. Obviously, he was by far the best kicker in the Draft, and I think he’s going to have a good career, for sure. Like you said, I kind of thought it was maybe a little high. Good for him. Nice little payday for him. Not much more than an undrafted free agent, but still good. Again, I think he’ll be fine. I think he’ll be their kicker next year. Glad to see it. It makes his decision look even better coming out of the Draft.
I’m like you guys in that I’m kind of against the whole drafting a kicker, even late. I just am. I think there’s always the opportunity to get a kicker in the undrafted free agents. Who knows, McPherson might not have been there. Good for him.
Slaton. Slaton went a little higher than I thought he would go.
Baileigh: Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. I kind of saw him going in that range. Again, awesome for him. Florida just had a lot of those players that were right there in those last few rounds that we were just waiting to see when they were going to get taken. Go ahead, Ethan, on him.
Ethan: I was a little surprised. I thought he’d be more of a seventh round, undrafted free agent type of guy. He’s extremely athletic, obviously, very big guy. Guys like him don’t grow on trees. I was a little surprised to see him go ahead of Stone Forsythe though. That was the biggest surprise for me was how far he dropped.
Andrew: That was going to be my next thing. We heard he could potentially go third round, and he goes, what, fifth?
Baileigh: Sixth.
Andrew: Sixth. That was definitely a little bit of a surprise. Then to see Kyree Campbell not get picked.
Baileigh: I didn’t really see Campbell getting picked, but I was a little shocked to see Forsythe drop so far. I didn’t see him as that third-round pick, like we kind of talked about last week, but I definitely thought there was a time where offensive linemen were going off the board one by one, and you kept thinking maybe we’re going to hear his name, and we just weren’t.
Andrew: When Alex Leatherwood went as high as he did, I thought Stone’s going to go third round.
Baileigh: Yeah.
Ethan: I thought it was going to happen at that point, but then just kept thinking what do these teams know that we don’t?
Andrew: Right.
Ethan: Are we missing something here? Then eventually, Seahawks grab him in the sixth.
Andrew: Marco goes to a really good team fit wise with the Diamondbacks. I’m thinking baseball here. The Cardinals. Arizona Cardinals. Go out there where they like to play that press man that Marcos really good at. I like that pick as well for both Marco and the Cardinals. I think it’s a really good pickup. I said it before, and I’ll say it again. I think at times the defense scheme [INDISTINCT] Marco the best of worlds, so let’s see what he does in the League.
Baileigh: Yeah. I think he went right around where we kind of thought he was going to, maybe a little bit higher. Like you said, a good fit for him. Really hoping he does good things in the League. It was unfortunate the way his career at Florida ended, but you’re always hoping the best for these guys. I think it will be a place where he can kind of blossom at the next level.
Andrew: Shawn Davis. What do you think of that pick?
Ethan: Without knowing a whole lot about the Indianapolis Colts, I don’t really know a lot about them, but he went about where I thought he would. Just hopefully the Colts will use him the right way, like we talked about last week, and they won’t try to make him line up man to man or anything, and they’ll let him be basically a old-school linebacker type of safety.
Andrew: Right. Yeah.
Baileigh: He’s going to be a special teams guy, at least for the start of his career, and then we’ll kind of see where he goes from there. I think that’s how he’ll kind of start out there.
Andrew: Did you think that was about where he would go?
Baileigh: Yeah. I think that’s where most people kind of had him pegged.
Andrew: Again, I like the pick for the Colts, as long as they use him the right way. I like that pick. I think they will. I think they’ve done enough homework on him to know that and to understand just what he’s best at and where he could line up. Again, I like that pick. I do. I hope that Shawn’s able to get in there and do all the special teams and earn himself a job and have a long career. I think he will, as long as he can stay healthy.
Baileigh: Yup. That’s the thing with him and a lot of these guys is just making sure that they keep their bodies right. It’s been a problem for several guys who went in this Draft. We’ll see. Hopefully it all works out for him.
Andrew: Who am I missing that got drafted?
Baileigh: I think we covered most everybody, didn’t we?
Andrew: I’m trying to think here. We went Marco, Shawn, Trask, Pitts, Toney, Forsythe, Slaton, and McPherson. Yeah. That’s all eight. Let’s go back to Trevon for a second. Obviously, it was unexpected that he went undrafted. It goes back to kind of what we talked about last week when we were doing the preview. Trevon’s inconsistency I think hurt him at times. His ability to go up and make plays is unbelievable. His body size, unbelievable for an NFL guy. Fits the NFL style to a tee. Everything is there for him. It’s just the inconsistency and never putting it together there.
I will say this. I don’t know, well I do know. After the fifth round, I think it’s almost better to be an undrafted free agent. Go pick your team. Brian Johnson knows him really well with the Eagles. Knows what he’s going to get there. While you always want to hear your name called, I think after the fifth round it’s okay to be an undrafted free agent and go pick your team.
Ethan: You basically get to call out your new teammates and say, I think I can beat these guys.
Andrew: Right.
Baileigh: Yeah. I still think everybody wants to have that, that they can always say they got drafted. I don’t know. It was just really shocking for me. We’re seeing so many of these guys go off, and we’re like, is this guy really better than Trevon Grimes? What are we missing here though?
Andrew: One of my guys from the South Alabama Jaguars was picked ahead of him, and that was an absolute shock. Let me tell you. That was a shock. What do you think of the Eagles with him though? I think it’s a good pick, because Jalen Hurts loves to throw the fade. Let him go up and get it.
Baileigh: Yeah.
Ethan: Yup.
Baileigh: I think it’ll be good for him. Honestly, I don’t watch the Eagles very much, so I can’t just straight up tell you what he’s going to do there. Hopefully it’ll all be good for him. I think, like you said, a good thing having Brian Johnson there, someone he can kind of lean on, is good for him.
Ethan: I don’t think any of us have missed much by not watching the Eagles last couple years.
Andrew: Carson Wentz has went from really good to really bad, so we’ll see what they do with Jalen Hurts. Not the highest on the Jalen Hurts train. I will say this too. I was a little shocked Brett Heggie didn’t get picked in the sixth or seventh round. I really thought he would, because of his ability to play everywhere and because of his just nastiness that he plays with. I was shocked that he didn’t get drafted higher up.
Ethan: I thought going into the Draft that he had a chance to get drafted, but then once we started seeing Stone start sliding, kind of thought there’s no way he’s getting drafted ahead of him. So, then kind of lowered the expectations a little bit. By the time Day 3 came around, I kind of expected he wasn’t going to get picked at that point.
Andrew: What do you think about him going to the Giants?
Ethan: Got a good running back to block for, Saquon Barkley. That’s about all I know about the Giants, honestly.
Baileigh: On Heggie, I don’t know. I didn’t really think he was going to get drafted. I wish he would have, because he was a player I enjoyed watching at Florida. Always a really good guy to talk to. I think the biggest thing with him is just what his longevity is going to be with his body holding up.
Andrew: For me with him, do you guys think he makes the roster? I think he does.
Baileigh: I think he does. Like you said, just having that kind of nastiness about him, and his versatility. I think it will pay off for him eventually.
Ethan: If he stays healthy, he’s on their active roster next year.
Andrew: I agree. Same thing with Trevon? What do you all think of Trevon?
Baileigh: I don’t know. I think he will, especially like we’ve talked about. He’s a good special teams guy, something else these teams are looking for. We’ll see. I think he’s definitely a guy that can make a roster.
Andrew: What’d y’all think of his tweet about throw dirt on my name? Who was he referring to?
Ethan: Ain’t no telling really.
Baileigh: He’s one of those guys that’s always putting out stuff like that. You never really know what they’re going to say.
Ethan: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, he still has like this victim complex on Twitter and stuff all these years later.
Andrew: Incredibly weird.
Ethan: Some of these guys, they like to always feel like there’s somebody out to get them. I guess if that makes you play better, go for it.
Andrew: Right. Donovan Stiner to the Steelers.
Baileigh: Yeah.
Andrew: Thoughts.
Baileigh: Good for him.
Ethan: Good for him. I hate to say this, but I’d be very surprised if he makes their roster.
Andrew: I thought it was a weird fit. Donovan Stiner is not a heavy hitting safety, and the Steelers are a nasty defense.
Baileigh: Yeah.
Andrew: Who else are we missing? Did Brad Stewart get picked up?
Baileigh: Not that I’ve seen.
Andrew: I haven’t seen anything on Brad Stewart. Am I missing anybody that’s been picked up?
Baileigh: I don’t think so.
Ethan: Did Kyree Campbell go anywhere?
Andrew: I haven’t seen Kyree either. Let me do a double check here.
Baileigh: I’m looking to make sure. I haven’t seen anything.
Andrew: I haven’t seen anything on Kyree. He’ll probably be a guy that is picked up as training camp gets closer, that kind of stuff. I think that’s it. Kyree did not get picked up, which is very surprising to me.
Ethan: That’s very surprising. Brad Stewart, I kind of didn’t expect him to get picked up, just because he wasn’t that great of a player at Florida. He was at times, but not consistently. Then he was suspended the first couple games of every season it felt like. He didn’t even start playing till October. I guess teams aren’t going to take a chance on somebody with average talent, and then you add in all the off the field stuff too.
Andrew: Right. That obviously hurts you. We say that all the time. Some people don’t always agree with it. What you do off the field matters, especially in the NFL. You got a 53-man roster, and then you have the limited practice squad. You can’t have someone that’s going to be suspended.
Ethan: If you have extraordinary talent, they’ll make an exception for you, but if you’re not an amazing player, they’re not going to put up with somebody that they don’t know if he’ll be able to play on a given week.
Andrew: Right. I’m going to throw a curveball at you guys. We hadn’t even talked about this. Next year, what do you see the Draft looking like for the Gators?
Ethan: The obvious I think first round would be Kaiir Elam. He seems to be showing up top 15 in just about every way too early mock Draft I’ve seen. He’d be probably the only one right now you could say would go Day 1, go first round for sure. Day 2, maybe Jacob Copeland with a really good season, that I think he’s capable of having.
Andrew: Right.
Ethan: Brenton Cox.
Andrew: Zach Carter. Zach Carter’s the one that I think has the biggest rise next year.
Baileigh: Yeah. Definitely has the chance to make that big jump in his last season. I’m trying to think if there’s anyone else that we’re missing here.
Andrew: Those would be the big ones. Obviously, Trey Dean is a guy who has all the talent in the world, that I think once he’s able to get a ton of playing time at safety I think he’s a guy who fits the NFL really well and could do some things at that position. Justin Shorter’s another guy who has the athleticism and the size to play in the NFL. I think he’s a guy there. Obviously, Ventrell Miller is kind of limited a little bit, because of his inability at times to cover at that position. We’ll see what the two defensive tackles, who are transfers in, so far. Those two guys have looked good in the spring. That hasn’t been anything in the fall against competition, so we’ll see there.
At running back, it’ll be interesting to kind of see. I think it’s always going to be tough for running backs at Florida to have breakout years, just because they like to play so many.
Ethan: Yeah.
Baileigh: Yeah. There’s just no opportunity to have that big season for them. Let me ask this. If Emory goes out and just lights it up, what happens?
Andrew: See you.
Ethan: He has first round upside, for sure. He has the mobility that Trask didn’t have that kept him from the first round.
Baileigh: Right.
Andrew: Quarterbacks don’t come back if they can be drafted.
Baileigh: Yup.
Ethan: Yeah. There’s just too much to risk, because if you get hurt you go from first or second round to undrafted.
Andrew: Right. Look at Davis Mills at Stanford. Just an average quarterback. He gets picked.
Ethan: Yeah.
Andrew: Unless you’re one of the one or two quarterbacks, you’re going to go sit, so it doesn’t matter. Obviously, if Emory comes out and has a good year, I do. I think he could bolt. The good thing is you have Anthony Richardson ready to go.
Baileigh: Right. Good situation there.
Andrew: Go ahead.
Ethan: Some of the linebackers they got, I think they’ve got a lot of players, particularly at linebacker, that I think have a high upside that could shoot up Draft boards that right now aren’t really up there, like Mohamoud Diabate, Ty’Ron Hopper. They got some guys like that that really I could see going anywhere from Day 2 to undrafted at this point.
Andrew: Same thing with Jeremiah Moon. If he could stay healthy and show something, he’s a guy that you’ll see on a Draft board somewhere.
Ethan: Khris Bogle is another one we haven’t mentioned yet.
Andrew: Yeah. He’s one. Andrew Chatfield’s another one. Several guys that you could see. Again, we talk about Kadarius Toney going as high as he did. Heading into this time last year, he was a seventh round pick.
Baileigh: Yeah.
Andrew: Had you told people last year Kyle Trask would go as high as he did, and Kyle Pitts would go as high as he did, most people would have laughed at you.
Ethan: Kyle Pitts went from being end of first rounder to greatest college tight end prospect of all time real quick.
Andrew: Exactly. Any final thoughts?
Baileigh: Do we want to talk about the NIL stuff a little bit?
Andrew: We’ll get into that next week. We’re kind of running out of time here. It’s going back and forth. It was at one time going to be postponed. Now it looks like it’s going to be back in July. Let’s give it a couple days to filter out some more. That way we can spend some more time on it. We’re going to talk that and talk some of the rule changes for practices. We’ll spend that next week on our podcast.
Baileigh: All right. Sounds good. That’s pretty much all I had then.
Andrew: Ethan, what’s the prediction this weekend?
Ethan: I think they take two out of three. I think they’ll lose Game 2, would be my prediction.
Andrew: With Mace.
Ethan: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay. There you go. Guys, we appreciate it. As always, follow us @GatorCountry on Twitter and Instagram. @GatorCountry on Facebook. Check us out on the website, as we’ll be having a lot of stuff go live this week with the diamond sports, recruiting stuff as well. Just less than a month until the recruiting gets back underway on campus. The Gators will be hosting their little barbeque on June 1, so less than a month now. As always, guys, we appreciate it. Make sure to check us out and give us a thumbs up if you like the podcast. Thanks, guys.
Baileigh: Thanks, guys. Bye.
Ethan: Bye.