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OL Payton Kirkland Enjoys ‘Surreal’ Official Visit With Florida Gators

Published

3 years ago

June 12, 2022

OL Payton Kirkland Enjoys ‘Surreal’ Official Visit With Florida Gators

Picture: Payton Kirkland; Credit score: Zach Goodall

It’s kind of completely different for gamers once they take their official visits to applications, together with to the Florida Gators as Dr. Phillips HS (Orlando, Fla.) offensive lineman Payton Kirkland realized following his three-day affair with this system, in a position to absorb all that Florida has to supply earlier than making his ultimate resolution on the place to go on July 23.

Kirkland and fellow 2023 recruiting class, classmate LB Malik Bryant will probably be asserting their dedication on the identical day. The occasion will give everybody in attendance an thought of what went into their selections whereas celebrating their commitments on the identical time.

Previous to that, although, are official visits with varied applications. He is already made an official go to with Oklahoma, with Michigan State and Miami nonetheless on the horizon. A brand new college that hasn’t been talked about a lot, although, Texas A&M is probably getting into the combo as Kirkland continues his recruitment ahead.

“The offensive line coach has an incredible relationship with my offensive line coach at my college as a result of they have been right here at Florida collectively,” Kirkland mentioned on Sunday, shortly following his go to to Florida when requested concerning the Aggies probably getting into the fray.

Kirkland is referring to, after all, Texas A&M offensive line coach Steve Addazio, who coached at Florida from 2005-10 in varied roles, together with OL coach and TE coach. His present OL coach at Dr. Phillips, Adam Sitter, was a high quality management coach at Florida alongside Addazio at the moment.

Nonetheless, this go to was all about Florida, in the end, and it gave Kirkland a possibility to indicate his Mother, Veronica, the college in-depth. The expertise was completely different, capable of see the coaches of their pure habitat as a part of the “surreal” expertise, Kirkland shared.

“It is simply seeing coaches of their pure habitats moderately than them being at college in your face and watching apply and with the ability to sit down and have a troublesome dialog,” Kirkland mentioned. “This course of is a troublesome course of and difficult conversations should be had. And that is one thing that loads of youngsters slip up on is having these powerful conversations.”

At 6-foot-6, 345 kilos, Kirkland tasks as a sort out on the subsequent degree, particularly a left sort out. Florida, nonetheless, sees him as extra than simply that, realizing that he has the power to play all 5 positions alongside the offensive line. One factor’s for sure, Kirkland mentioned, the Gators have a plan for him.

“They see me coming in and being an affect, really as a left sort out,” he mentioned. “They see me, no matter grade, they really feel like I am a really gifted participant, and I’ve made myself useful of with the ability to play all 5 positions on the offensive line. So, if there is a senior forward of me at left sort out, they will put me at guard, subsequent 12 months they will bump me as much as sort out.”

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Kirkland is not essentially undervalued, nonetheless, coming in because the No. 23 offensive sort out within the nation, in response to On3 consensus and the No. 279 total participant within the nation. That is not too dangerous, however the logic is sound, making himself as useful as doable will solely add to what groups can see him being and doing inside their program.

Florida having a plan for Kirkland is “superb,” he added. It is one thing that has caught out to him as he continues ahead with the method.

“Quite a lot of guys, they’ve uncommittable gives, this, that and the third. , no matter what the rating says, instructing and movie would not lie. So, it is loads of guys who’re extremely ranked that do not have the instructing and so they haven’t got the assets that I do,” Kirkland defined.

“So, you already know, I really feel I’ve a step forward of all people in my class when it comes all the way down to a psychological side, the bodily side and basic points.”

That’s a part of the rationale why Kirkland has ye to be denied a spot. He has the traits that translate to the following half degree, one thing that not each recruit might need, no matter their present “rating.”

Particularly, in relation to Florida, the workers being real has been one of many issues which have stood out. Regardless of when he involves this system, having already visited a number of instances on unofficial visits over the previous few months, they’re constant, nothing that head coach Billy Napier has completed every part that he mentioned he’ll do since he arrived on campus.

“It is the truth that every part stays the identical. The message stays the identical, the folks keep the identical, and the attitudes keep the identical. The coaches, they’re fairly open with the gamers, they’re fairly open with the recruits as properly, you already know, nothing adjustments right here.”

There’s nonetheless a lot to do between now and July 23. Kirkland will return house in spite of everything of his visits this month and sit down along with his Mother to determine what is perhaps greatest for him shifting ahead. Florida is squarely within the combine, however make no mistake, no crew that is at the moment on his radar has been eradicated, nor will probably be at this second.

“I already know what it’s in Florida, you already know, it is only a matter of determining the place I wish to go.”

Keep tuned to AllGators for steady protection of Florida Gators soccer, basketball and recruiting. Observe alongside on social media at @SI_AllGators on Twitter and Florida Gators on Sports activities Illustrated on Fb.

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3 most underrated signees in Florida State football's 2025 class

Published

6 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

3 most underrated signees in Florida State football's 2025 class

Florida State football had an embarrassing 2024 campaign where it finished with a 2-10 record. This is not the expectation of what the Seminoles are all about.

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Head football coach Mike Norvell understood the urgency as he could not allow the program to snowball into a laughing stock after a productive 13-1 season in 2023. Norvell was heading into a pivotal sixth season with his job on the line.

As a result, he went out and hired a ton of new coaches on his staff, including Gus Malzahn, Tim Harris Jr., Herb Hand, Tony White, Terrance Knighton, and Evan Cooper. This was uncharted territory for Norvell since he had never had to fire multiple coaches like that.

Nonetheless, we were wondering how the Seminoles’ 2025 recruiting class would play out with new coaches as well as the struggling year in 2024.

The recruiting class did well, and it finished with the 20th-best in the 247Sports Composite rankings (prospects can still sign in February). In this article, I want to highlight three of the most underrated signees from Florida State’s 2025 recruiting class.

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U.S. Amateur runner-up Noah Kent is transferring to Florida

Published

14 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

U.S. Amateur runner-up Noah Kent is transferring to Florida

Noah Kent is heading home.

The 2024 U.S. Amateur runner-up is transferring to Florida, he announced Saturday. The sophomore at Iowa, whose hometown is Naples, Florida, entered the transfer portal earlier this month, and he made his decision to join coach J.C. Deacon and the 2023 national champions come next fall.

Because of NCAA rules, Kent won’t be eligible to compete for Florida until the 2025-26 season, but he can finish his sophomore year with the Hawkeyes. This fall, he placed in the top 13 all four tournaments, his best finish being a T-5 at the Fighting Irish Classic.

And, of course, he has a tee time at Augusta National Golf Club in the spring.

Kent will essentially be the fourth member of Florida’s 2025 signing class, which ranked second in the country on signing day. He’ll join a talented roster that includes Parker Bell, Mathew Kress and Jack Turner, though with new NCAA roster limits coming, there’s bound to be some unprecedented roster turnover in college golf before the start of the 2025-26 season.

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State Your Case: Do Panthers or Lightning own state of Florida? | NHL.com

Published

21 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

State Your Case: Do Panthers or Lightning own state of Florida? | NHL.com

There are two NHL teams in Florida: the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

They are separated by about 250 miles and have been fierce rivals since the Panthers joined the NHL for the 1993-94 season. The Lightning joined the League a season earlier.

Florida (21-11-2) and Tampa Bay (18-10-2) meet for the first time this season at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, CRIPPS, SN, TVAS).

The teams have played each other 157 times in the regular season; the Panthers have gone 77-51-19, and the Lightning are 70-64-13. There have been 10 ties.

For years, the rivalry was a parochial affair, deeply important to hockey fans in the state but under the radar nationally. Lately, though, Florida supremacy has often meant NHL supremacy.

The Panthers are the reigning Stanley Cup champions and defeated the Lightning in five games in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round last season to start that title march. They reached the Stanley Cup Final two seasons ago, going on a miracle run before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights. The season before that, they won the Presidents’ Trophy with an NHL-best 122 points but lost to the Lightning in a second-round sweep, marking the second straight time that their noisy neighbors ended their season.

The Lightning won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021 before reaching a third straight Final in 2022, losing to the Colorado Avalanche. Tampa Bay won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2018-19.

This season, each team is on course for another appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and has a point percentage of better than .600.

So which team has the merits to claim bragging rights in this all-Florida showdown as the rivals face off for the first time this season? That’s the question debated by NHL.com senior writers Amalie Benjamin and Dan Rosen in the latest installment of State Your Case.

Benjamin: Let’s lay out what the Lightning have accomplished in their 32-season history: They’ve won the Stanley Cup three times, becoming the first team from Florida to win it when they took the championship in 2004. But that doesn’t come close to what they’ve accomplished during the past 11 seasons, starting in 2013-14, when they became a powerhouse. They’ve been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs 10 times in those 11 seasons, making the Stanley Cup Final in a whopping four of them. Let me repeat that: Four trips to the Cup Final in the past 11 seasons, winning twice, in 2020 and 2021. And if that’s not enough, they made two more trips to the Eastern Conference Final, in 2016 and 2018. Forget Florida’s team. They’re the team of the past decade in the entire NHL.

Rosen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what have you done for me lately? Florida’s team fluctuates. It was the Lightning. It is the Panthers. They’ve got the Stanley Cup. They went to the Stanley Cup Final two years in a row. Sure, a few years ago, this wasn’t even a debate. Florida’s team, the Panthers? Please. No shot. Even the top executives with the Panthers would tell you that. But things change. With success come the riches. Just think about the past three seasons for the Panthers: Presidents’ Trophy winners in 2021-22, Stanley Cup Final in 2022-23, Stanley Cup champions in 2023-24. The Lightning lost in the 2022 Cup Final, lost in the first round in six games the next season and lost in the first round in five games to the Panthers last season. Florida’s team is Florida.

Benjamin: OK, sure, you have a point. Florida has done pretty darn well lately. But let’s see how history will judge the state of Florida and its hockey teams. Hall of Famers? The Lightning have got ’em. Though Steven Stamkos has moved on to the Nashville Predators, the Hall of Fame is going to come calling, and the forward will go in as a member of the Lightning. Add in coach Jon Cooper, forward Nikita Kucherov, defenseman Victor Hedman and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, and you’re talking at least five future Hall of Famers on a single team. That’s not just good, that’s historically good. It’s a group whose names are synonymous with winning, with the Stanley Cup, with the state of Florida. That’s powerful. That says the Lightning win this debate, no question.

Rosen: I have a question. Is Aleksander Barkov not paving his way to the Hall of Fame? Is Sergei Bobrovsky, with a Stanley Cup ring, 400-plus wins and two Vezina Trophy wins as the NHL’s best goalie, not a lock for the Hall of Fame? Is Paul Maurice, who could finish his career with at least the second-most coaching wins of all time, along with his Stanley Cup ring, not also a lock for the Hall of Fame? In the way-too-early department, could Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart be future Hall of Famers? I lied. That’s four questions. But you get the point. You brought up the Hall of Fame and I countered. That’s why the Lightning do not win this debate without question. Could they win it? Yes, certainly, if we were having this debate in 2023. It’s almost 2025. It’s a different world. It’s the Panthers’ world, at least in Florida. The Lightning are just living in it. At least the sun is still shining on them too.

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