Florida Gators

Jon Bostic has made the short walk from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium over to Florida’s practice fields hundreds of times. But, as the rising senior linebacker takes his final spring hikes back and forth, he can’t help but feel as if those first steps out there happened yesterday.

The old man on Florida’s defense isn’t looking to get nostalgic, but, as he enters his fourth season in Gainesville, he admits that his Gators career has flown by.

He went from immediately moving from safety to linebacker his first spring to becoming one of the captains and leaders of Florida’s defense. From wide-eyed to highly regarded, Bostic will enter the 2012 season as one of the SEC’s top middle linebackers.

But he wouldn’t be where he is without help from one of the best to line up for Florida.

From the beginning, Bostic’s first defensive coordinator, Charlie Strong, made sure Bostic clung to former star Brandon Spikes. Bostic was to be a sponge when around him.

One of the toughest activities with Spikes was watching film because of how meticulous he was.

“If there’s one thing about him, he sits in the film room and, when I say he finds the little things, he finds the little things,” Bostic said about Spikes’ scrupulous film time.

Spikes was hard on Bostic at times when it came to dissecting film or just learning how to be the defense’s quarterback, but it was something Bostic needed. The thing Spikes wanted to get across to his understudy was that he had to be the leader in his actions and his words, meaning laziness wasn’t an option. Spikes didn’t want his position to take a dip after he left.

So, for three years, Bostic has tried to emulate Spikes while trying to come into his own. He has gone through three defensive coordinators, taking little things from each to enhance his game. He has learned to gain weight the right way, and he enters his final spring wanting to get Florida’s defense back to its ferocious ways.

Bostic knows he can’t play every position at once, so he has taken it upon himself to monitor everyone. Bostic has grown from a shy, 225-pound hybrid player three years ago to a 245-pound outspoken superior. He is reaching out to younger players, getting onto older players and communicating his ideas more to coaches.

Florida returns 10 of 11 starters from the nation’s eighth-ranked defense, but, Bostic said, if Florida’s defense wants to progress in 2012, depth has to be stronger. Immediate help arrived in the form of three early enrollees -- juco defensive tackle Damien Jacobs and freshmen Antonio Morrison (linebacker) and Willie Bailey (defensive back) -- but Bostic said those who sat last year have to be more prepared this time.

“We’re going to need all the depth we can get this year,” he said. “Last year, we didn’t have as much depth at any position like we would have liked it.”

That led to a lot of bending in Florida’s defense and even some breaking against tougher running teams such as Alabama and LSU. If the Gators want to dig themselves out of their two-year rut, Bostic said, the defense has to continue to improve. The lack of discipline from a year ago has to be changed. Consistency has to take hold. No longer can players get away with deciding when they’ll go full speed, Bostic said; it has to be every day.

Bostic started to see an attitude change almost immediately after Florida’s bowl win over Ohio State, as the seven-win season didn’t sit well with players. In postseason drills, Bostic saw more fire and desire from players. The competition was intense as players looked to separate themselves before spring started.

A couple of days into spring practice, and Bostic said he still sees that tenacity from youngsters and vets.

“They figure it’s either now or never, and that’s a good thing,” Bostic said.

“It’s creating competition all over the place and making everybody better.”

It’s not just the defense that has impressed Bostic. The offense, which yet again is searching for its identity, has made strides. With help from a defense that refuses to let it get very comfortable, the offense has generated more confidence.

But it won’t be an overnight transformation, Bostic said. There has been a gradual push in the right direction, but there’s plenty of work to be done.

He knows the perception of Florida football isn’t exactly flattering right now, but, if everyone comes together this time, Bostic expects the Gators to turn a head or two this fall.

“We’ve had a lot of things happen, but the talent is still there,” he said. “The talent hasn’t gone anywhere.”

OMAHA, Neb. -- Florida center Patric Young told reporters Thursday that he intends to return for his sophomore season instead of entering the NBA draft.

The 6-foot-9, 247-pound Young has been projected as a late first-round pick by most draft analysts. He’s averaging 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in his first season as a starter.

“That’s always great news,” Gators coach Billy Donovan said. “I think Patric has learned a lot this year. I don’t think this year was as easy for him as I thought it was going to be. I think a lot of times when you’re a player that’s in a role, and all of a sudden you go from a role to a primary position, your impression of what you think your role is going to be like might not match up to it.

“I think Patric ... probably realized he’s here to grow, and he’s much better today than he was a year ago. I think next year he would be even better than he is this season.”

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The relationship between Florida quarterbacks Jeff Driskel and Jacoby Brissett really wasn’t tested last season when they were competing to be the backup to starter John Brantley.

It will be this spring, though, when the two are battling to succeed Brantley in the Gators’ first quarterback competition since the 2003 season.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- So, you're the Florida Gators and you're busy trying to solve Virginia's vaunted pack-line defense. The last thing you need is an executive order for failure. But that's just what President Barack Obama has on his bracket -- an opening-round loss to the Cavaliers. Did Mr. Obama really diss the state of Florida? In an election year?? Let's move on to the links:

West Region breakdown
Eamonn Brennan looks at how the West will be won. He says Virginia may be the most intriguing No. 10 seed in the bracket.

Top 5 NBA prospects in West Region (Insider)
Chad Ford concludes his look at the top 5 NBA prospects in each NCAA tournament region with the West. Florida's Bradley Beal and Patric Young are high on the list.

The future of West region teams (Insider)
Sixty-eight teams made the NCAA tournament, but each of them know if they want to return they need to recruit well. Here's a look at what each team is losing after this year, what kind of recruiting class they're bringing in and what it means to their hopes of making future NCAA tournaments.

Five teams that need the 3 (Insider)
Some big-name teams will live or die with their long-range accuracy and need to connect from behind the arc to advance. John Gasaway picks out the five with the greatest need. You already know Florida is on the list.

Bilas: Pick-by-pick bracket analysis (Insider)
Jay Bilas draws from a season's worth of film and live scouting to make his bracket selections, taking Insiders pick by pick to the title game in New Orleans. Find out if Jay has the Gators getting out of Omaha, Neb.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan is doing a lot of nitpicking these days.

When you’re the No. 1 team in the nation with a 16-1 record and have just tied a school record for consecutive victories, there’s really not much going wrong. So it’s all about fixing the little things as the Gators prepare to begin Southeastern Conference play this weekend at home against Vanderbilt.

"We’ve still got some things to work on," O’Sullivan said after the Gators’ 9-2 victory over sixth-ranked Florida State on Tuesday night in Gainesville. "We missed a couple signs [against FSU], a couple of hit-and-run signs, made the error there that scored the two runs. But overall, how disappointed can you be?"

Not very, because UF is playing pretty well in every aspect of the game. The Gators came out of the FSU game leading the nation in home runs (27) and are hitting .312 with 62 extra-base hits. Of the seven players with at least 50 at-bats, six are hitting .300 or better -- including catcher Mike Zunino (.417) and right fielder Preston Tucker (.313). Those two have a combined 13 home runs and 39 RBIs.

"The bottom half of our lineup is really swinging the bats well," said Tucker, who has six homers and 16 RBIs. "When the bats come alive there, and there’s guys on base for guys at the top of the lineup, it’s really tough to pitch to a lot of these hitters."

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Twitter was popping shortly after South Florida took apart California. The cause? Jakarr Sampson (Akron, Ohio/Brewster Prep) reached a decision. A decision that caught many – myself included – by surprise.

After saying on March 9 that he was locked into visiting Florida and Providence, Sampson ended his recruitment with the school he began it with. St. John’s is the final destination for this springy combo forward who hails from the high school LeBron James attended.

“Coach [Steve] Lavin has love for me,” Sampson said. “I felt that. I bonded with those players when I committed last year, and it was hard leaving them.”

Sampson said recently he was into Kansas, Baylor and Florida, and reiterated that Providence coach Ed Cooley outworked a lot of people. Regardless, Lavin has his man. Lavin worked hard to regain the pledge. St. John’s lost Sampson when he failed to qualify last fall.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida needs to find a quarterback, a running back, a couple big-play receivers and an elite pass-rusher.

But Will Muschamp’s main goal for the Gators this spring -- which began with a two-hour workout on Wednesday afternoon -- is to fix a turnover problem that was embarrassing in 2011. UF ranked 113th nationally in turnover margin (minus-12) and forced the fewest turnovers in school history.

"It's really a minor miracle we won seven games," Muschamp said. "You can't win games turning it over and not getting turnovers."

The Gators’ 14 turnovers were the fewest in a single season since the school began compiling fumble stats in 1950 (the previous low was 17 in 2002). The number could have doubled, however, had UF managed to hang onto the 15 dropped interceptions Muschamp said the Gators had in 2011.

It’s not like the coaching staff didn’t emphasize it in practice, either. They drilled over and over, worked on stripping the ball from the quarterback on a sack, and practiced pulling it from the ball-carrier’s hands. But the Gators had a three-game stretch against Alabama, LSU and Auburn in which they didn’t force a turnover, and they only forced eight turnovers in Southeastern Conference play. Four of those came against Kentucky.

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In this episode of RecruitingNation 411, our recruiting experts go over the secret to Penn State's recent recruiting success, the impact of North Carolina's sanctions, Missouri keeping talent in-state, and a recruiting battle that's heating up out west.