Senior Preston Tucker needs only one hit to take the Florida record as the third-ranked Gators prepare for their final regular-season series. The Gators open their series at Auburn tonight at 7 p.m. with Tucker sitting at 319 career hits.
The UF outfielder tied Mark Ellis’ career mark on Tuesday by going 2-for-3 in a 12-7 loss at Samford. The Gators are on an extended road trip in Alabama, playing in Tuesday’s game, a three-game series vs. the Tigers ending Saturday and starting the SEC Tournament on Tuesday.
Tucker is hitting .304 this season with 13 doubles, 12 home runs and 38 RBI. Barring injury or a long slump, he should break the record some time during the road trip.
RG Jon Halapio has been one of the best players on the offensive line the past two seasons. (Orlando Sentinel file photo)
After a great vacation, I’m back with a continued look at Florida’s football team by position following spring practice. Up next is the offensive line. You can check the previous breakdowns of the quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and tight ends/fullbacks.
Top players: Xavier Nixon (Sr., 6-6, 309), James Wilson (RSr., 6-4, 327), Jonotthan Harrison (RJr., 6-3, 309), Jon Halapio (RJr., 6-3, 325), Matt Patchan (RJr., 6-6, 279), Chaz Green (RSo., 6-5, 300)
Strengths: Experience. The offensive line struggled last year with depth and a lack of experience. But this season, the Gators return four regular starters – Nixon at left tackle, Harrison at center, Halapio at right guard and Patchan at right tackle. Green got plenty of experience despite an ankle injury and Wilson returns for his sixth season after winning an NCAA appeal. The experience returning doesn’t guarantee the line will be better, but it should be better prepared for an SEC schedule and be more cohesive.
Weaknesses: Numbers and depth. Last season, Florida didn’t have the bodies it needed to compete in practice and games. While that has improved this year, UF is still short of where Will Muschamp would like it to be. Ideally, the second-year coach would like 15-18 players at the position. The Gators currently have 13 on scholarship. Some gained experience last year, but others remain question marks. Redshirt freshmen Trip Thurman and Tommy Jordan didn’t play last year after having shoulder surgery. True freshmen D.J. Humphries and Jessamen Dunker enrolled early, but can they make contributions at a position that takes a while to develop?
Outlook: With most of the line returning and a new position coach in Tim Davis, there’s plenty of room for improvement here. Increased depth leaves the hope that can happen, and it will need to if the offense will finish better than 105th, as it did last season.
John Rosatti is the prime example of what the American dream is. His life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, however through it all he persevered. Brought up in New York City in working class he was able to rise above and become a very successful business man and truly live the American dream.
The Formative Years
John Rosatti grew up in Brooklyn, where he was born. His parents both held working class jobs and from an early age John learned that dedication and hard work were essential do a successful life. It was very intelligent and excelled culture to which he took part in. He was like any other Italian child who lived in the neighborhood; he attended the Catholic Church regularly and went through the Catholic school system as well.
Influences
John grew up enjoying the large, family dinners he and his relatives commonly had. They would routinely sit around the dinner table for hours exchanging wonderful stories and enjoying fantastic home cooked meals. One of John’s favorite relatives was his grandfather, John Adam Bassett, who was a decorated United States Naval Officer. His grandfather had changed his last name from Rosatti to Bassett in order to avoid discrimination in the workplace. He served valiantly during World War II, and his heroics are documented in the book, “Force Mulberry: The Planning and Installation of the Artificial Harbor of U.S. Normandy Beaches in WWII” (Whitehead Press). It was from his grandfather that John Rosatti learned the importance of a hard day’s work.
Hard Work
John learned from a young age the importance of working with your hands from his father, who he regularly went to work with at the local boat docks. There, he acquired many mechanical skills that would eventually lead him to a successful career in the automobile industry. At the age of 21, John married his first wife, Joann, and opened his first car dealership. The dealership he bought in 1978 was located in Flatbush, NY and sold Oldsmobiles. This venture turned out to be very successful and his dealership was regularly named as a “Top 100” dealership by Ward’s Automotive. John went on to form a group of dealerships labeled the Plaza Auto Mall. This allowed him to expand his business outside of New York, and into New Jersey, Nevada and Florida.
Family
After 18 years of marriage, John and Joann made the mutual decision to get a divorce. However, the two remain friends to this day. After a few more years of hard work expanding his empire, John met and married his second wife, Bonni. They were married on the island of St. Thomas, surrounded by friends and family, and moved to Brooklyn to start a family. They had three children together, who grew up attending church and Catholic schools in the Brooklyn area. In 1997, John lost his father in a horrible car accident. Three years later, John also lost his beloved wife, Bonni, to a serious car accident. Left with three young children to care for, John began spending more time at home raising the kids, while also running his many business ventures.
After moving his family to South Florida John met his now long time dedicated girlfriend Dawn. Together with his children they have forged ahead in both personal success and business ventures. Despite the tragedies suffered John was able to fulfil his life aspirations including buying a plane as well as starting a yacht business. John’s story is the American dream. Born and raised in Brooklyn by blue collar parents he rose to the top and became a successful businessman with many business ventures. He is a man that should be looked to with admiration for his perseverance, fortitude, and work ethic.
By all accounts Florida’s 2013 recruiting class is terrific, it is ranked in the top five nationally.
So with recruiting for next season gong so well, it is not a surprise to hear that UF is already working on the Class of 2014.
On Thursday, a Florida Gators football coach watched Palm Beach (Fla.) Dwyer receiver Johnnie Dixon at practice, and apparently liked what he saw.
“Coach (Aubrey) Hill was out at my practice today,” Dixon told Gatorcountry.com. “After practice he told my coach that I was looking real good and that he was offering me a scholarship to Florida.”
The 6-foot 186-pound Dixon now has four scholarship offers.
Florida joins Alabama, Florida State and Miami as the lone schools to offer Dixon. Even in such company, Dixon said the Gators’ offer is special.
“I grew up a Florida fan,” Dixon said. “So, this is a dream offer from a dream school. It really means a lot to be offered by Florida so soon.”
That being said, this summer Dixon is planning trips trips to the schools that are recruiting him the hardest thus far.
“I want to camp at Florida for sure this summer,” Dixon said. “I’m also going to try and camp at Alabama, Miami and Florida State.”
As a sophomore last season, Dixon had 365 yards and five touchdowns receiving while adding 95 yards and another two touchdowns rushing.
ESPN’s Mark Schlereth thinks Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler will be a good long-term fit for the Broncos.
TotalBroncos
The off-season has been quiet for Florida so far with only minor personnel news arising.
LB Graham Stewart, a true freshman last year, announced last week he is leaving the program. Muschamp said he placed no restrictions on his options, and Stewart will go to Connecticut.
“I’m going to petition the NCAA for him to be eligible immediately,” Muschamp said. “He’s a great kid. A family situation occurs like that and you’re so far from home, you deserve to have that opportunity and not have any penalty for it.”
Tevin Westbrook will move from defensive line to tight end.
“We wanted to give him a look in the spring but we were really thin up front on defense,” Muschamp said. “We think he can help create some edges in the run game.”
Westbrook had two tackles in three games last year.
With the wind, which is so often a non-factor in the increasingly humid days of May in Gainesville, swirling across the court and scattering a water bottle or two, Allie Will—the number one women’s tennis player in the country—set her feet and let rip on a exquisitely-timed and powerful forehand. As it had just moments before, the ball blew by her Washington State opponent, skidding to a stop at the wall behind the baseline at center court at Linder Stadium. Above that wall, the Gator tennis fan faithful—an eclectic mix of sun-baked senior citizens, young kids and their thirty-something parents, sporadic groups of students, student-athletes from other sporting codes—broke into an equally diverse blend of cheers. Of course, there is the ubiquitous “Let’s go Gators!” but many also yelled Will’s first name, an example of the intensity and familiarity that epitomizes the experience of watching this talented group. Across six courts in singles play, the Gators women’s tennis team, currently ranked second in the nation, blanked Washington State: to put the domination into perspective, not one of the team gave up a set on way to the 6-0 victory.
Although one could write about any one of the players on the team to talk about the relentless energy and effort brought to the court on that day, Will is both the most talented and most intriguing player on the team. To describe fragments of her match is a poor imitation of how tennis, like all sports, is about momentum and the capturing of that momentum, but it does give a glimpse of why if you have missed this team play live, you’ve missed something special. In the third game of the first set, Will, a junior and All-American, was engaged in a war of attrition with her opponent, a player who favored long, looping forehands to combat the precision and speed of Will’s strokes. After going back and forth in a rally where Will could not quite deliver the knockout blow, a deep ball caught the WSU player off-guard, and Will sprang on the misplaced return; delivering a forehand as emphatic as a boxer’s left hook, the Florida Gator blasted a clean, brutal winner. Not so much a punctuation mark but rather promise fulfilled, it proved to show that Will wasn’t going to lose the match. Not now, and definitely not here on this home court, with a hungry and victory-infatuated crowd watching.
As the wind grew in strength and began pushing the ball from where each player intended to place it, Will kept her composure; indeed, she took advantage of her opponent’s sagging on-court demeanor. (In one exchange, the WSU player, rather than return the ball to her Gator opponent, hit it wide onto a neighboring court, an action that elicited a subdued dressing down by the match umpire.) To extend the boxing metaphor, the WSU’s player’s frustration came from the fact that Will’s consistent, commanding forehand had the effect of an extended flurry of body shots. Eventually, something has to give. But it wasn’t just the case of extended force leading to victory; Will dominated the second set with finesse, too, at one point hitting a drop shot with spin into the unpredictable win that escaped the long reach of her opponent.
It is probably unfair to focus on one player when talking about a team that when in action displays the sort of passion and will to win that could make even a casual fan an enthusiast. But Will really does epitomize what is great about this squad. Thus, it is the team’s head coach, Roland Thornqvist, who, in an interview with The Gainesville Sun, so succinctly described what is so extraordinary about Florida women’s tennis today:
“It’s really interesting to see and be a part of a team that is so driven and has the desire to win like these guys,” Thornqvist said. “It is remarkable to see how they prepare. Before the match as a coach, you don’t have to do much. We roll out the balls, we give them water and they take care of everything else. It is really a unique group, and a lot of that stems from an incredible desire to win. I feel blessed to be a part of it.”
As the team continues to advance through the tourney, do not miss the opportunity to watch them play. Will might be the most explosive, but she is also representative of a team that does what Gator fans value above most everything: win, and win with an exclamation point.
Florida’s Michelle Moultrie was named the SEC Player of the Year last week, giving the school back-to-back honors for the league’s top softball player. Outfielder Kelsey Bruder received the award last year.
Moultrie was one of seven Florida players named to All-SEC teams this year, marking the fourth consecutive year she’s earned that honor. She was a second-team pick in 2010 and 2011, making the All-Defensive team last year, and was an All-Freshman pick in 2009.
Moultrie ranks second on the team with a .376 average and 10 home runs. She has a team-best .635 slugging percentage and a .481 on-base percentage. On defense, the offense has a perfect fielding percentage with no errors and 66 putouts.
She is the fourth UF athlete to pick up SEC player of the year honors, joining Marcin Cieslak and Elizabeth Beisel in swomming and Lauren Embree in women’s tennis.
Pitcher Hannah Rogers and catcher Kelsey Horton were named to the second team. Four Gators were named to the All-Freshman Team – pitcher Alyssa Bache, first baseman and pitcher Lauren Haeger, third baseman Sami Fagan and left fielder Jess Damico.
Denver Broncos defensive linemen receive instruction from coach Wayne Nunnely during training camp in 2010. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
Denver Broncos defensive line coach Wayne Nunnely has retired after 36 years coaching football. Defensive linemen Elvis Dumervil, Robert Ayers, and Kevin Vickerson, and Mitch Unrein released the following statements on Nunnely.
Elvis Dumervil –
“He’s a great man and a great mentor off the field as well. He helped me become a mature person off the field. He’s a great technician coach. He was always fiery and he always had it in gameday and practice—he always came with it every day to work. Those were things I learned from him. No matter how you feel, you have to come to work every day, day in and day out. It’s all about consistency and he showed a good example and was a role model for our defensive linemen.”
Robert Ayers –
“He definitely was, in my opinion, a very great coach in this league. He’s very established, and if you look at his résumé and the guys that he’s coached there are a lot of Pro Bowlers and a lot of great players. He’s going to be missed and we definitely learned a lot from him. He brought a lot to work. Guys fed off his tenacity. His passion for the game was intense and we all fed off that.”
A big special shout out to my coach, Wayne Nunnely.. 37 yrs in the game and a true Role model as a man.. Thanks for the time together..
— Robert Ayers Jr (@1_900_ayersjr) May 14, 2012
Kevin Vickerson –
“Coach Nunnely is all about perfecting your craft. He’s a perfectionist. He wants you to do everything with technique and just work hard. It’s something he preached to us. All the guys are going to miss him this year.”
Mitch Unrein –
@Denver_Broncos D-Line Coach Wayne Nunnely retired today after 36yrs in the game. Thanks for everything that you taught me! #GreatPerson
— Mitchell J. Unrein (@MitchellJUnrein) May 14, 2012
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