McElwain Announces Collins as Defensive Coordinator

 Former Mississippi State defensive coordinator Geoff Collins is headed to Florida.

Article by SCOTT CARTER
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gators head coach Jim McElwain is starting to place his stamp on the program.
McElwain announced Tuesday that Mississippi State assistant Geoff Collins will join his inaugural UF coaching staff as defensive coordinator. Collins has been Mississippi State’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach the past four seasons.
He was a nominee this season for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach this season.

Mississippi State leads the country in red-zone defense, allowing opponents to score just 60 percent of the time inside the 20. The seventh-ranked Bulldogs (10-2) held opponents to 19.4 points per game this season and finished with 36 sacks, the most since former UF offensive coordinator Dan Mullen took over the program in 2009.
Mississippi State was one of the season’s biggest stories as it reached No. 1 in the national polls for the first time in school history with Collins’ defense – he is nicknamed the ‘Minister of Mayhem’ for his aggressive approach – playing a pivotal role.
“I got to know Geoff personally during my time at Alabama and have stayed in touch with him since and his defenses have been successful everywhere he has been,” McElwain said. "It was important to maintain some of the same philosophies and concepts that have made the defenses around here successful with this hire and our players will continue to progress under his direction.
"Coach Durkin will continue to coach the team through the bowl game,'' McElwain added. "I have the utmost respect for his professionalism and have full confidence in his abilities to lead and coach the team.”
The 43-year-old Collins began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1993 at Western Carolina, his alma mater. He worked his way up the ranks and was Nick Saban’s first director of player personnel at Alabama in 2007.
He crossed paths at Alabama with McElwain, who joined Saban’s staff as offensive coordinator from 2008-11.
Collins has strong ties to Florida. He left Alabama to become linebackers coach/recruiting coordinator at UCF from 2008-09, and spent a season at Florida International as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach in 2010.
Collins joined Mullen’s Mississippi State staff in 2011 as co-defensive coordinator and was in full charge of the defense the past two seasons. In his first season, the Bulldogs ranked in the top five in the SEC in total defense, rushing defense and passing defense in 2013.
In 2014 Mississippi State’s 36 sacks rank second in the league behind Missouri’s 40, led by defensive lineman Preston Smith’s nine.
Collins will replace current interim head coach/defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, who is preparing the Gators for their Birmingham Bowl matchup Jan. 3 against East Carolina.

Offshore Lessons on the Volvo Ocean Race

Article by  Agathe Armand  Photo by Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race

It has been a long leg for Team Alvimedica, and a slow, never-ending finish at sunset, in Abu Dhabi waters.

The Turkish/American boat did lead the race early on, stopped to assist Team Vestas Wind when their competitors hit a reef north of Mauritius, resumed racing and caught up with Team SCA and MAPFRE.

But they were finally overtaken by the Spanish team and ended the leg in a painful drift across the Gulf.

Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

“This leg has had its ups and downs and we definitely need to work on our consistency,” admits Charlie Enright, the skipper.

“But we’ve got a good plan in place and we’ll work on the best way to achieve it.”

For the youngest crew in the race, this leg was all about learning. Learning about the race – four of them are rookies, learning about their boat, learning about their performance at sea.

“We’ve had a lot of time together and conversations naturally evolved from the fun things to our performance,” explains Amory Ross, the Onboard Reporter.

“We’re happy about boat speed. We know we’re competitive in a straight line; we just need to know where to point the bow. It’s not a personal problem or a chemistry issue. Our greatest attribute is we’re a young group of guys looking to improve.”

They’ve learned about the reality of the race too, and its ruthlessness.

“The Vestas incident is something that will stick with us for a long time,” sighs Mark Towill, who admits feeling “a bit mentally drained.”

Having suspended racing for 9.5 hours to provide assistance to the blue boat, the Alvimedica guys can now apply for redress.

“And we’ve just been bleeding miles to MAPFRE these past days,” adds Mark. “Yes, a little down, but excited to wrap this up and prepare for the next leg.”

Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

Charlie and his eight teammates are now looking forward to debriefing properly in Abu Dhabi. Some are heading home; others are staying in the Emirates before the next leg.

“Part of us want to start Leg 3 tomorrow,” concludes the 30-year old skipper, “but it will be good to have some time to rest and reflect. We’re excited about where we are. It’s just a matter of refining some small things.”

Team Alvimedica finish time: 13 29 23 UTC / Elapsed time: 024d 21h 29m 23s

Gators Turn Attention to Birmingham Bowl

Interim head coach D.J. Durkin attended a Birmingham Bowl press conference Thursday. (File graphic)

Article by By SCOTT CARTER GatorZone.com Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The mission for Gators interim head coach D.J. Durkin since the departure of Will Muschamp and arrival of Jim McElwain has been to maintain normalcy.

Easier said than done when the former head coach has left the building, the new head coach has barely been in the building while on the road recruiting, and the current assistants are wondering what's next.

As if that's not enough, the players are in the middle of finals and the holiday break is near.

Normalcy isn't what it usually is but at Thursday's Birmingham Bowl press conference with East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeill, Durkin said the Gators are staying the course with the Jan. 3 matchup against the Pirates on the horizon.

"We had practice this morning before we headed out, and our guys had great energy and enthusiasm and they are ready to go,'' Durkin (photo, right) said. "There’s a lot of change and a lot going on at our place right now, but the best thing for our guys is to get back on the football field. They really enjoy one another, playing with one another, so they are looking forward to another opportunity."

The Gators (6-5) face an East Carolina (8-4) offense that ranks second in the FBS in passing with an average of 367.2 yards per game. Senior quarterback Shane Carden threw for 4,309 yards and 28 touchdowns and led the Pirates to a win against Virginia Tech -- the only team to beat Ohio State this season -- and a 70-41 rout of North Carolina on back-to-back weekends in September.

Florida's defensive coordinator the past two seasons under Muschamp, Durkin is well aware of the East Carolina's offensive firepower.

"Our guys know the challenge we have ahead of us,'' Durkin said. "Everyone keeps mentioning all the stats and numbers, which are very impressive and eye opening. The most important thing to me, when you turn on the film, is that they have a group of guys who play the game the right way. They play really hard and with great energy. They have great enthusiasm, and you can tell they take great pride in what is going on."

Durkin wants the Gators to do the same, something Muschamp stressed to the players prior to his departure. With McElwain on board and in full evaluation mode, the returning players have a lot to play for heading into next season.

After not making a bowl game last season, the Birmingham Bowl will be the first postseason game for the majority of Florida's underclassmen. Meanwhile, East Carolina is making its third consecutive bowl trip and is coming off a 32-30 loss to UCF in the regular-season finale.

In his fifth season, McNeill said facing the Gators' defense would be a stiff test for his team.

"We know we’re playing a great team," McNeill said. "D.J. has done a great job there, and I’m not saying that because he’s sitting here. He’s been in it and been at some top places and done a great job on defense as well as running the team.

"That’s one of the hardest positions [interim coach] to be in, and I was in that position at Texas Tech at the Alamo Bowl."

The game will be Durkin's first as a head coach. However, it won't be his first at Legion Field. As a freshman at Bowling Green in 1996, the Falcons traveled to Birmingham to face Alabama in the season opener. The Crimson Tide won 21-7.

Durkin seeks a different outcome this time as the Gators try to clinch a winning season with a victory.

Between now and Jan. 3, he'll try to maintain normalcy as much as possible.

“Change is always a difficult thing, but it is a part of life – not just football, but a part of life," Durkin said. "Our guys are going through the process and responding well to it. I told the team that life does not stop for anyone. You have to keep going, and our guys understand that. We had a great practice earlier today, and they are going to be ready to go.”

Gators keep settling for field goals in their annual rivalry showdown.

Article and Photo by the University Of Florida.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida is hanging with top-ranked Florida State in their annual rivalry showdown, but the Gators keep settling for field goals.
They made the first four, but have missed the last two.
Meanwhile, Seminoles money kicker Robert Arguayo's 37-yard field goal with 3:37 remaining has put FSU up 24-19 in their rivalry game Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Austin's Hardin's fourth field goal of the game, a 32-yarder early in the third quarter, pulled UF within 24-19, but FSU quarterback Jameis Winston, shaking off three first-quarter interceptions, threw a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes to tight end Nick O'Leary to rally the Seminoles to help rally the Seminoles from an early 9-0 deficit.
Hardin isn't the only member of the UF special teams with significant contributions tonight. The Gators got a huge lift just before intermission their punt coverage team it stormed FSU's Cason Beatty and smothered him while in his kicking motion, thwarting the kick, forcing a loose ball and taking over at the Seminoles 15-yard line.
On first down, freshman quarterback Treon Harris threw a perfect wheel-route pass to tight end Clay Burton for a 15-yard touchdown with 47 seconds to go before halftime. Burton, with the first touchdown of his career, was being covered by 275-pound defensive end Mario Edwards, who had no chance.
That play, along with Hardin's field goal to open the second half, accounted for UF's 10 straight points to pull the Gators back within two.
Florida had a great chance to retake the lead late in the third quarter when defensive back Brian Poole made his second interception of the game and his 27-yard return gave the ball at the FSU 33. But two plays later, wideout Latroy Pittman was called for holding, then got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty arguing the call. The play cost UF 25 yards in field position and eventually Hardin missed a 52-yard field goal just wide to the right.
FSU attempted a fake punt on the next possession, but linebacker Alex Anzalone was there to thwart it and giving the ball back to the Gators.
Demarcus Robinson's spectacular leaping, toe-tipping reception gained 41 yards to the FSU 25. From there, though, it was a penalty, a negative-yardage run and a 42-yard attempt by Hardin that was again wide right and not even close.
Another chance, another missed opportunity.
The Gators' defense got it done early, but its offensive counterpart couldn't take advantage of turnovers and field position. Instead, Hardin kicked field goals of 52, 39 and 43 yards for a 9-0 Florida lead.
Field goals, though, don't hold up well against an offense as explosive as the Seminoles.
Sure enough, FSU turned the game -- and all the momentum -- just after Winston's third pick gave the Gators a first down at the Seminoles 9. Instead of padding the score and going up 12-0 or 16-0, Harris' short pass to Tevin Westbrook bounced off the tight end's shoulder pads and into the arms of FSU linebacker Terrance Smith at the 6-yard line.
Smith went 96 yards for a game-altering touchdown.
After a Seminoles defensive stop, Winston drove his team 93 yards in 12 plays, hitting O'Leary on third-and-goal to give FSU its first lead of the game.
The Gators could not mount anything offensively on the ensuing series and Winston again took advantage. Aided by a 15-yard unsportsman conduct on freshman defensive lineman Gerald Willis -- who wasn't even playing and yet threw a forearm at Winston after a scramble play carried him into UF's sideline -- Winston finished an eight-play, 83-yard drive with a 6-yard TD pass to O'Leary.

Gators Pull Off A Win Against UAB 56-47

Article by Chris Harry GatorZone.com Senior Writer Photo by University Of Florida

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Talk about trouble in paradise.

Florida trailed Alabama-Birmingham by two points with just over three minutes to play. The 18th-ranked Gators weren’t hitting shots, weren’t making free throws and weren’t doing much of a job stopping the Blazers either, as UAB’s confidence exuded both on the floor and on the bench.

UF appeared on the verge of Paradise Island Lost.

But something happen. The Gators sprinkled in a series of stops with a couple baskets and seven straight free throws to score the game’s final 11 points and stave off what could have been a really, really bad defeat and instead pull away for a 56-47 victory in the loser’s bracket of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Six different UF players accounted for those 11 points, with Chris Walker, Jon Horford, Michael Frazier and Kasey Hill combining to go 7-for-8 down the stretch from the free-throw stripe, both Hill and Dorian Finney-Smith converting field goals and Horford coming up with a huge blocked shot when the UAB was down four with a minute to go.

Basically, the Gators made plays down the stretch on a night when few were made in the 36 minutes leading up to the decisive flurry; and they were made by some guys who didn’t make them in numbing late-second losses to Miami last week and Georgetown less than 24 hours earlier at Imperial Arena.

“That was huge tonight for us,” said Frazier, who had 14 points and eight rebounds, of the his club’s collective finishing act. “I think we took a step. As a team, just getting stops when we needed to get stops, we’d been struggling with that. So I was happy to see us do that tonight.”

Happy just to get a win, especially the way things went the night before -- with Georgetown guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera bombing in a 21-footer with three seconds left in overtime for the win -- and giving the Gators (3-2) a date against No. 5 North Carolina (4-1) Friday night at 8.

With junior Eli Carter sidelined by soreness in the left foot he sprained last week, freshman guard Chris Chiozza sparked UF off the bench with 13 points, three assists and six steals, while helping pace an offense seemingly grinding its way between first and second gear. Horford had eight points, eight rebounds and his huge blocked shot, while Walker tallied seven points, six rebounds and a block in just 11 minutes.

In fact, let’s talk about two of Walker’s points.

The Gators trailed 47-45 when the 6-foot-11 center made a move to the basket and was raked back to the floor. At that point, Florida was 6-for-15 from the line for the game. So here came Walker, just a 46-percent shooter there for his collegiate career, stepping up with a chance to tie the game.

He swished both.

On UAB’s ensuing series, Florida played great defense and forced a desperation 3-pointer as the shot-clock expired. It missed, Chiozza rebounded and Horford was fouled in the halfcourt. He knocked down both his free throws to give the Gators a two-point lead.

Once again, more great defense hurried the Blazers (2-4) into a late-clock situation and an errant shot. At UF’s end, Hill made a nice baseline move and finish to push the margin to four.

Another Florida stop led to a Finney-Smith dunk with 50 seconds to go for a six-point lead, and the Gators went on to complete the deal.

“We put ourselves in position to win,” UAB coach Jerod Haase said. “[But] there were defining moments late in the game.”

The Gators did the defining.

“One of the things you want to see in an event like this with a quick turnaround -- after an emotional loss yesterday -- is could we play better today? And I thought we improved in some areas,” Donovan said. “Some times, offensively, we’re getting bogged down, but other times we’re getting good looks.”
Most of the time, they're not going in.
UF shot just 34 percent for the game and at one point just before the late flurry was at 27 for the second half. Given the Gators problems putting the ball in the basket, Chiozza’s contributions off the bench all the more critical. Not only did he bomb a 28-footer as the shot-clock expired for one basket in the first half, he also had a steal earlier in the game that led to a driving layup where he faked a behind-the-back pass, cuffed the ball and laid it in with a defender on him.

“I just did what Coach Donovan told me to do before the game,” said Chiozza, who swiped all six of his steals in the first half, coming two shy of Clifford Lett’s 25-year-old school record of eight in a game. “Just go out there and play defense and have a defensive mentality and try to anticipate on defense.”

His teammates, eventually, took his cue.
Just in time.

UAB was hitting at a 59-percent clip until going on that 0-for-7 finish to the game.
“We’re 3-2 right now, but we could have won every single game ... and we could have lost every single game,” Donovan said. “That’s the reality of it.”
Another reality is another game -- against the Tar Heels, no less -- in 20 hours.

Gators Heart breaking 66-65 OT Defeat

Article Chris Harry GatorZone.com Senior Writer

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Billy Donovan keeps talking about how his young basketball team needs to be scarred and dealt some painful lessons to find out what it takes to be successful.

Well, a few more games like the Florida Gators have had this season -- and losses like Wednesday night’s gut-punch in the Battle 4 Atlantis -- they may need plastic surgery to repair the gashes.

Georgetown guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera buried a 21-footer jumper from the top of the key with 3.5 seconds left to hand 18th-ranked UF a knifing 66-65 overtime defeat before a raucous crowd of 3,200 crammed inside the Atlantis Imperial Arena.

Smith-Rivera’s shot came eight seconds after Florida point guard Kasey Hill, mired in a dismal shooting slump to open the season, was fouled throwing in high, arching, off-balance bankshot and made the free throw to give his team the lead with 11.5 seconds to go, making the final sequence all the more frustrating.

“You can focus on the last play, but I wouldn’t have felt great even if Rivera’s shot was off,” Donovan said. “Sometimes, winning is delusional because sometimes it does away with what is actually real. Not that I want to see them go through pain and suffering, but these guys need to be hardened. They need to understand what goes into it and what it really takes, so hopefully a night like tonight will harden them a little bit.”

Those words echoed the coach’s post-game remarks of nine days earlier when Miami guard Angel Rodriguez nailed a 3-point shot in the final seconds to halt UF’s 33-game home winning streak; and a little bit like five days ago when Louisiana-Monroe, out of the Sun Belt Conference, erased an eight-point deficit in the final two minutes at the O’Connell Center, forced overtime and threw a wicked scare at the home team before the the Gators inched away for a win.

Maybe the reality of playing a second straight late-night tip will be a kick in the head; especially one in the loser’s bracket. Florida (2-2) will take on Alabama-Birmingham (2-3), which was waxed by No. 3 Wisconsin 72-43 in the early evening game, Thursday night at 9:30.
Happy Thanksgiving, guys.

“It’s tough,” senior center Jon Horford said after carding a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. “You have to play to the end. We’ve go to get more intense. We can’t let [opponents] get comfortable. And that’s on all of us.”

The late-game letdown spoiled the return of junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith and junior guard Eli Carter, both of whom were sidelined for games due to injuries. Finney-Smith (above right), out since suffering two hairline fractures in his left hand, came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points and grab six rebounds. Carter (below left), who missed the ULM game after spraining his left ankle, had six points on just 2-for-14 shooting, but his ability to penetrate and draw help defenders spaced the floor and led to offensive rebounds and put-backs.
"We were going in not knowing what we would get from them," senior walk-on forward Jake Kurtz said. "But they obviously provided a pretty good lift for our team."

There were 21 lead changes, plus 10 ties, including a big one Florida had an opportunity to break and get out of the converted ballroom about 15 minutes earlier.

It was Carter who had the ball in his hands and a chance to win the game in regulation with the game tied at 34.3 seconds left, meaning the Gators could hold for the final shot. After a few handoffs, Carter rocked and drove into the meat of the collapsing Georgetown defense, where forward L.J. Peak packed the in-traffic shot attempt with two seconds to go, sending the game into the extra period.

Donovan said afterward he would have preferred a kick-out pass in that sequence.

“He’s got to find the open man on that play,” he said.

After Hill’s basket, Hoyas coach John Thompson III took a timeout.

“This felt like a middle-of-the-season or end-of-the-season game,” he said. “Both teams could have packed it in.”

Neither did, but the Hoyas finished it.

With 11.5 on the clock, Peak inbounded under the Hoyas' basket to guard Paul White, who dribbled up the left sideline until he could get a pass to Smith-Rivera in the frontcourt. The 6-foot-3 junior, took two dribbles until his feet were just inside the 3-point line at the top of the key, rose up over UF defender Michael Frazier, who was a tad off balance, and rained his shot.

Swish.
“I was just thinking of getting to the spot I was most comfortable on the floor," said Smith-Rivera, who led all scorers with 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting, despite going 0-for-5 on 3-point attempts. "And that’s where I ended up getting to."

“We came up one play short,” Kurtz said. “That’s something we have to do better.”

That and a lot more, according to the coach, who pointed to 16 turnovers versus just 10 assists and just as well could have mentioned 35.9-percent shooting for the game and 9-for-28 from the 3-point line (32.1 percent). Georgetown (4-0) also shot 49 percent for the game, including 5-for-6 in overtime.

“We don’t play the right way. We don’t,” Donovan said. “We’re not an overly talented team and we don’t have a lot of size. We’re a team that can be hard-working and unselfish team, but we need to move and pass the basketball.”

Evidently, they need to be scarred, too.
This one had to hurt.