http://www.gatorsports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/GATORS01/703280361
This article is about the former UF quarterback Josh Portis, and how he is batting for the starting job in the Maryland backfield. "Jordan Steffy enters spring practice No. 1 on the depth chart based on experience. The 6-foot-1, 209-pound Pennsylvania native has been in the system for three seasons and understands the offense better than any of the other signal callers. Portis is a faster, more dynamic runner, blessed with exciting moves and capable of running the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds" (Gatorsports.com, 2007) I wonder how Portis felt this year when he watched how Tebow was used and watched his buddies win the national title...I also wonder if Portis could have pulled off the jump-pass, but thats another topic! :)
I really root against guys that transfer away from our programs, unless its for a valid reason. Ingle Martin was not a UF caliber quarterback. Go to Furman and do something. I can understand that. Mario Boggans not being able to lose weight and get up and down the court for Billy D so he leaves? I dont get that. There has been a bunch of guys from the basketball program especially that have transferred, and I truthfully am happy they are all gone. Still, I cant bring myself to wish them the best. I smiled at every Applebee missed shot and every OK. State loss thsi year. Myabe its just me. Do you guys even care about people when they transfer away? Do you root for them or against them? Just curious...
3 comments:
I read an article in the newspaper about a week before the national championship game about Josh Portis. They interviewed him and asked him that same question that your asking...Are you upset that you transfered and now the Gators are playing for #1? He, of course, said no and that he wished his friends the best. (There is no way he could have pulled off that jump-pass).
I don't necessarily root against players that transfer. I really just don't even care. It is a special thing to be a Gator. Kids would die just to get chance to step on our field or put on that jersey. Those that take that for granted...screw 'em. If your not willing to work to earn your way onto the field...that's your problem. For example, Nyan Boateng transfered to Cal Berkley. People don't know the real reason he transfered...maybe he thought things were going to be handed to him since he was one of the top high school players recruited that year. "A big play artist, Boateng is one of the top offensive players in the state of New York. His size and speed create a lot of mismatches against opposing defenders" (scout.com, 2004). Maybe it was because his girlfriend stabbed him in the leg and just had some issues. Don't know, but don't really care.
Those who just aren't Division 1, SEC type players, and you think you can have an impact at a small Div. 2 or Div. 3 school, more power to you. But the truth is...I don't really care about transfers (but probably would if they went somewhere and did something great).
Once a Gator, always a Gator in my mind. Unless, they make an ass of themselves when they leave (see: James White, Josh Portis' mom). I LOVE how orien greene transferred to ULALA, took them to the tourney, and then got drafted when walsh and roberson weren't; I'm very happy that appleby has become one of the huskies' better players, and the pokes (oklahoma state) are like my 3rd favorite team. And by the way, boggan went to a junior college in between here and ok state, which is where he got his life turned around and lost the weight, so quit hating.
I look at it in a slightly different than ya'll though. My thinking is that they weren't good enough to play here (let's be honest, Appleby could never have gotten the ball up the court against kentucky, he would've gotten ripped every time), but they can go to these other schools and be their best player. It gives me an even further sense of pride and cockiness about university of florida sports.
I feel you on what you are saying about people transfering away from our program. I think I disagree a little from what you are saying though. From what I understand, more often then not, you feel that the transfers that have left UF in the last few years weren't warranted. Like Ingle Martin, I think that he could have played here, he just wasn't going to play over Chris Leak. The guy wanted to start, so he transfered. Someone like Brock Berlin, on the other hand, I don't understand. He was the same age as Rex Grossman and could have chosen to redshirt himself (in order to stagger himself from Rex) or transfer, sit out anyway, and then play. Well, as we all know he transfered, just to have to sit out a year anyway, and played at UM. That, I didn't understand. Then this guy is doing the Gator Chomp and throat slash after being us, like UF did something bad to him.
Ryan Applebee and the other guy that left with him (his name escapes me), those guys weren't playing here and thought they would somewhere else, hence why they left. UF basketball faced a lot of transfers in the time I have been in school here. Orien Green, James White (who was having disciplinary issues), Applebee, etc. I think transfering many times is warranted. That is my feeling. Without truly knowing the ins and outs of a situation, it's hard to make an accurate analysis of the situation.
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