Former Gators show up in big way for spring game

GAINESVILLE — Dan Mullen said he wanted to involve former Gators in the program and that was clearly the plan during the team’s first touchdown drive Saturday.

Redshirt freshman Kyle Trask connected with former UF safety Lawrence Wright for a 52-yard touchdown pass to start the second quarter.

Decked out in a white jersey with a blue No. 4, Wright, 44, caught a perfect spiral before collapsing in the end zone for the score.

A few minutes later, Feleipe Franks hit a wideopen Travis McGriff for a 60-yard touchdown pass. McGriff, 41, was a wide receiver for the Gators in the late 1990s.

“I think it’s a great deal just to get some of the Gators back into it,” running back Jordan Scarlett said of seeing the former players back out on the field. “Those guys always come out to talk with us after practice and teaching us about the Gators standard and what we have to do.

“Getting those guys back involved will bring some juice back into our program. Those guys will show us how it was back in the day and we can reiterate those things.”

There were about 170 former players on hand for Saturday’s festivities, including Percy Harvin, Errict Rhett, Cornelius Ingram, Quincy Wilson, Elijah Williams and Jalen Tabor.

New kicks

With former Gators kicker Eddie Piñeiro and punter Johnny Townsend anticipating the future with the upcoming NFL draft later this month, UF introduced a new kicking unit Saturday.

Jorge Powell, a redshirt senior from Coral Gables, is taking over the placekicking duties and the new punter, who will also take over the holder duties, is former Orlando Boone standout Tommy Townsend . He is Johnny’s younger brother.

Powell made a 35-yard field goal in the game and Townsend, a redshirt-junior punted twice for an average of 45.5 yards.

“It was a cool experience to see Tommy out there,” said Johnny Townsend. “Me and Tommy have worked together for years and finally seeing him out there taking over the stage I once had, that was a cool experience. We’re each other’s biggest supporters.”

Top recruits watch game

UF had numerous prospects in the crowd for the spring game and two of the biggest on hand were a pair of Alabama commits — former Port St. Joe running back Trey Sanders of Bradenton IMG Academy and safety Brendan Gant of Lakeland Kathleen.

While Gant said he remains committed to ’Bama, he said the Gators also remain in the hunt and he wanted to check out the energy in the Swamp generated by the new head coach.

“They still have a shot. That’s why I’m here. I just wanted to check everything out and see what the atmosphere was like … see what [Mullen] had to say,” Gant said.

Miami commit linebacker Jesiah Pierre of Mount Dora Christian, the No. 1-ranked player in the Sentinel’s 2019 Central Florida Super60, was also in attendance. Georgia is another school he is considering, while FSU has said it plans to offer him a scholarship as well. So far, he remains committed to the Hurricanes.

Former UF commit Marcus Tillman Jr., a linebacker at Orlando Jones High who decommitted from Florida about seven weeks after Mullen was hired, also was at the Swamp.

Tillman said the Gators remain in the picture, but he is considered to be an Ohio State lean. He said Clemson is also high on his list. Tillman had 10 teammates with him Saturday, led by a pair of top 2019 prospects in CB Daquan Evans and DL Raymond Cutts, as well as 2020 recruits CB Dominick Hill , DT Bryan Moore, ATH Dacarri Allen; and 2021 ATH Jadan Robinson; 2019 WR Chris Hampton; 2019 E Markenslay Louis-Jean; 2020 WR Rodney Echols; and 2020 ATH Mendez Jean-Baptiste.

Wide receiver Dionte Marks of DeLand, one of the Gators’ seven 2019 commits, was also in the crowd.

Quarterback Gino English, a 2019 Winter Park prospect, attended the game as well.

Etc.

The 28 points the Orange team scored in the second quarter was a new record for most points scored in a quarter. … Alums Gary

Condron and Bill Heavener were the celebrity coaches for Saturday’s spring game. Both were members of the Gator Boosters board of directors and both made significant contributions to the university, including the athletics department. …. The estimated attendance for the game was 53,015. It was the highest figure since 2009.