Florida
Three Former Florida Gators Nominated for 2025 Hall of Fame
The National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame on Monday announced the ballot for its 2025 class, which includes three former Florida Gators.
Former head coach Urban Meyer (2005-2010), defensive lineman Alex Brown (1998-2001) and defensive tackle Brad Culpepper (1988-2001) make up the group of Gators on this year’s ballot.
In six years leading the UF football program, Meyer brought Florida back to highs previously felt during the Steve Spurrier era. The Gators won two national championships in three seasons, two SEC championships in three seasons and won three SEC East titles in four years.
His 65 wins in his six seasons are third in school history, and his 81.7% winning percentage is second.
After leaving Florida, Meyer spent a year away from football before becoming Ohio State’s head coach prior to the 2012 season. He won his third national championship as a head coach in the 2014 season by winning the first College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Meyer left Ohio State after the 2018 season with an overall record of 83-9, three Big 10 titles and seven division titles (the Buckeyes finished first in their division in 2012 but were ineligible for postseason play.
Including his head coaching stops at Bowling Green and Utah prior to his stops at Florida and Ohio State, Meyer’s 85.4 winning percentage is third in FBS history.
Should he be inducted, Meyer would be the fifth UF head coach in the Hall of Fame joining Charles Bachman (1928-1932), Ray Graves (1960-1969), Doug Dickey (1970-1978) and Spurrier (1990-2001), who was inducted as both a player and a coach.
Brown and Culpepper’s nominations are the newest accolades in a long list of personal awards for the former Gators.
During his time in Gainesville, Culpepper was a consensus First Team All-American (1991), NFF Campbell Trophy winner (nation’s top scholar athlete) and two-time All-SEC winner. His 47.5 tackles-for-loss remain the sixth-most in school history. After his career ended, UF inducted Culpepper into its Athletic Hall of Fame as a “Gator Great.”
Brown left Florida in 2001 as one of the greatest to ever wear the Orange and Blue. His 33 career sacks and 13 sacks in a single season remain school records to this day. His 2001 campaign, during which he broke the sack record, led to him being a consensus First Team All-American, finalist for the Lombardi and Nagurski awards and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
The 2025 inductees will be announced early next year with the induction to be held on Dec. 9, 2025 at the 67th NFF Annual Awards Dinner in Las Vegas.
Overall, Florida has 14 former affiliates who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, 10 of those being players. Steve Spurrier was inducted as both a player and a coach. The Gators’ last inductee was former quarterback Tim Tebow in 2023.
Austin Smotherman will carry a three-stroke lead into the weekend at the Cognizant Classic at The Palm Beaches.
Smotherman followed his opening 62 with a 2-under-par 69 on Friday at PGA National’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That brought him to 11 under, comfortably clear of Taylor Moore, who is in second after his second straight 4-under 67.
Cognizant Classic scoreboard
“Yeah, leading a PGA Tour event, come on, pretty awesome,” Smotherman said.
Smotherman, 31, is in fine position for his first win on the PGA Tour since turning pro a decade ago. He has won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour, including last June.
Afterwards, he credited himself with playing “Austin Smotherman golf.” When asked what that meant, he responded, “as boring and simple as it can be.
“That’s what I want to do out there. I feel like I ball strike it good enough to have that kind of boring golf, a bunch of fairways ideally,” he said.
He suffered three bogeys Friday after a bogey-free opening round, but the key stretch for him after starting on the back nine was between Nos. 17 and 3. He birdied four holes in that stretch, starting with a 54-foot bomb at the par-3 17th hole.
“Anything under par I thought would have been (good) following up a round like yesterday, which was a special one,” he said, “and try not to get too far ahead of myself thinking I’m going to make every long putt I’m looking at, like kind of was the feeling yesterday, and then today I still make a 55-footer on 17.”
Moore overcame a bogey in each half of his round with three birdies on either nine, more than counterbalancing the rough patches to earn his second straight solid score.
“I think very different 67s,” Moore said when comparing his rounds. “I didn’t hit many fairways yesterday, kind of grinded a lot, had a couple chip-ins, which obviously helps. I thought I struck the ball much better today. Drove it in the fairways on the par-5s, I felt like. Yeah, still had a few up-and- downs, obviously, with the tough windy conditions this afternoon, but overall I thought it was solid.”
Canadian A.J. Ewart had the round of the day, a 64 that powered him to 7 under for the week. He’s tied with Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (72), and Joel Dahmen is in fifth at 6 under after a second consecutive 68.
Ewart, who played for nearby Barry University in college, came in with some familiarity.
“We used to come and watch this tournament when I was at school. I think I came up here twice, maybe three times and watched,” Ewart said. “I had never actually played the golf course, but I felt like I knew it just from watching it.”
Irishman Shane Lowry, one of the most recognizable players in the field, is in a large knot for sixth at 5 under after posting a 67. Defending champion Joe Highsmith made the cut on the number at even par.
Notable players who missed the cut included Webb Simpson (1 over), Gary Woodland (2 over), Matt Kuchar (2 over) and Canada’s Adam Hadwin (3 over).
Kim maintains narrow lead in Singapore
Auston Kim maintained a narrow lead over three seasoned competitors with a 3-under-par 69 on Friday at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Kim carded five birdies and a double-bogey at the par-5 16th hole at Sentosa Golf Club to move to 9-under par, one shot ahead of major champions Minjee Lee of Australia (64 on Friday) and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (67) and three- time LPGA Tour winner Haeran Ryu of South Korea (68).
Lurking two shots back at 7-under in the no-cut event are Australia’s Hannah Green (66), Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (68), Sweden’s Linn Grant (69) and England’s Mimi Rhodes (69).
Kim, an LPGA Tour member since 2024, has been knocking on the door of her first tour win. The American has eight finishes in the top 10 and was the runner-up at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship last season.
“I think just sticking to my process. I’m trying to earn each shot and win each shot and win each day,” Kim, 25, said of her strategy heading into the weekend. “I can put a hundred percent of my focus into every single shot and try my best to execute each time, I’ll do well.”
Lee soared into contention with an eagle at the par-4 second hole and six birdies in a bogey-free round.
“I think just I holed a few more putts out there,” Lee said of the difference between Friday’s play and her opening-round of 72. “I holed a few long ones and I also holed out for eagle on the second. That always helps the score.”
Jutanugarn had six birdies, including three straight from holes Nos. 5-7, and one bogey.
Ryu collected four birdies in a round free of bogeys, but not free from pain.
“Today, my neck was so bad and I cannot turn it around, it’s so hard, my neck,” Ryu said. “But yeah, golf is not perfect. I just think about it, just hit the fairway and the green. Yeah, that’s good for me. There’s a lot of birdies, and yeah, I’m so happy.”
Angel Yin matched Lee for the low round of the day with a 64 to move into a tie for ninth at 6-under.
Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand (72) remained a 2-under posting four birdies and four bogeys.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand is tied for 33rd at 1-under after a round of 70.
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