Some interesting news came out on Monday morning as Colin Castleton, a 6’11” transfer from Michigan, confirmed that Mike White reached out and showed some interest. If that name sounds familiar to you it should—the Gators recruited him hard out of high school before ultimately losing out to the Wolverines for his services. Originally the 128th ranked player in the 2018 class, the Dayton Beach, Florida product was seldom used in his two seasons at Michigan and that likely played a role in his decision to leave. However, Michigan is losing both of their other centers on the roster to graduation so it looked like Castleton was on pace to get a big role so there is a chance there are other factors at play. Castleton did commit to John Beilein, not Juwan Howard who is not the head coach, and there is a chance that this relationship simply didn’t work out.
Castleton has had over 50 schools reach out since entering the transfer portal four days ago, and it’s interesting that Florida just now decided to reach out. There is a chance they wanted to wait out the initial avalanche of schools that contacts and, quite frankly overwhelms a student athlete the moment they enter the portal, and perhaps there is a chance they had to think things over regarding the state of the program and scholarship situation before reaching out. After spending the last several offseasons reaching out to tons of transfers, both of the graduate and regular varieties, the Gators have been awfully quiet this year and haven’t been getting in touch with many players. The players they did contact entered the portal weeks ago and they reached out quickly, but the last few weeks have been quiet. Some speculate that this is due to optimism that Keyontae Johnson and Andrew Nembhard will both return to school, meaning they won’t have any scholarships open. Whether or not you believe that, it is curious behavior that the Gators have been in touch with significantly less transfers than the last few offseasons.
Of the players that Florida did contact, most were big men and Colin Castleton fits into that mold at 6’11”. At that height he shows good offensive instincts and is a willing passer, something understandable considering offensive mastermind John Beilein wanted him on campus. Though his sample size of college games is relatively small he has been an impactful rebounder in short stints and has shown a pretty good ability to move his feet defensively. Additionally, his height as well as his quick feet allow him to get from low post to low post and be a great shot blocker, something required of all big men nowadays.
As a recruit he was listed at 200 pounds and as a freshman he was listed at 210, but then as a sophomore he went all the way up to 235. Looking at his frame that weight might be a little exaggerated and it still seems like he could have some bulking up to do. That’s part of the reason he’s such an enticing transfer target as if a redshirt year to develop his body could turn him into the high caliber of player many people expected him to be out of high school.
With the way the NCAA has been giving out waivers over the last few years you can never rule out that possibility and with Castleton there may be a chance, even if it’s slim, that he gets the opportunity to be immediately eligible. He played less than 50 combined minutes in conference play and had DNP-Coach’s Decisions in 6 of them and that light usage could help his case. It’s extremely far from a sure thing that he could get a waiver, and who knows if it’s something he would even want, but the way the NCAA has handled transfer waivers it has to be discussed.
If the Gators ended up having a scholarship open they could definitely be in the mix for Castleton. They were one of his final schools in the recruiting process and Castleton made his decision late in the process in June of 2018 when the Gators didn’t have scholarships open. Former assistant Dusty May was the lead recruiter for him and he’s obviously gone so there may need to be some other relationships built but considering he’s from Florida and liked the Gators in the high school recruiting process they should absolutely have a chance.
Castleton mentioned he wants to make some initial cuts to his list of schools later this week, so this will be a situation to monitor.