May 23, 2025 ~ Shane, JC, Chris Harry

Gator Nation it’s time to dive into the weekend with this LIVE Friday edition of PodUp with Matthews in the Morning! Stay Tuned for a full show hosted by Florida Gators Football Hall of Fame QB ~ Shane Matthews. We have our good friend JC with us today! Second half we’ll be joined by Chris Harry from FloridaGators.com!

Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hi there. This is Steve Spurer. You can join University of Florida Hall of Famer Shane Matthews and also the two-time SEC player of the year every weekday as he brings you all you need to know about the Florida Gator, including news, analysis, opinions, and some of the biggest names in sports. You can find him on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Or you can watch him live at 800 a.m. on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. Good morning. We made it folks. It is Friday. It is pot Matthews in the morning from the International Diamond Center Studios, the only diamond and jewelry partner of the Florida Gator. Got a lot going on. Uh we’ll have JC, we have Chris Harry from Florida Gators.com. He’ll recap the trip to the White House. Talk a little basketball, a little softball. Uh softball cranks up at 11:00. Uh, golf starts today. Lacrosse plays North Carolina in the semi-finals of the for the national title. Uh, if you missed it last night, excuse me, in softball, two upsets already. That’s why I say there’s parody over across college football. Texas Tech goes to Tallahassee, beats the Lady Semis, and the Lady Longhorns go down. The Lady Tigers from Clemson beat them. So, uh, the $1 million pitcher is paying off for the Red Raiders. JC, you’re on the Titan Hotline. courtesy of Comfort Tent. What’s up? Well, good morning. Yeah, you know, I I want to just start with some Florida news that that really captivated me here recently. Of course, the Gator Golf team in their 58th National Championship trip. Uh it’s just an extraordinary story. There it is. Yeah. Glad you’re the only guy who gets to wear that stuff. Well, I’m I’m part of the booster club. There’s plenty of people that they’ll take your checks as well. saw Jack Kaggleó in his uh in aa game last night uh for the Omaha Chancers, I believe is what they call it, hit his first home run as a player. Uh his calling to the Kansas City Royals is imminent. Uh and he will be finishing the year with the Kansas City Royals, which is a great story. Uh and and you touched on Chris Harry’s uh trip to Washington DC. I just wanted to mention a few things. You know, it was a great trip for the the Gator basketball team. huge delegation that was there. I saw Bondi, I saw Donald’s, I saw Scott, I saw Rubio, I saw Moody, I saw KAC. It was just tremendously supported. Uh high praise for Elijah Martin and his two free throws from President Trump. Uh I thought was noteworthy against the Houston Cougars. He mentioned that specifically and and really gave Elijah some high praise. And you know, when I think back and I just want to briefly touch on this, give me a second, QB. This team won the toughest conference in history. They beat four AP top 11 teams in the tournament, including two number two seeds. They trailed by nine points or more in the second half in their last three games. They beat two AP number one ranked teams. They were 5-0 versus AP top five teams. And they were 12-0 to end the season, 10 of which were ranked. And they did this all without a top 100 recruit. So there you have the story of the Florida Gator basketball team. Of course, Todd Golden rewarded with a spectacular, I think, six-year contract, something like that. Uh that keeps him here in Gainesville, I think, for the for the long term, which is what everybody wants. And when you look at that lineup, uh going forward, the um the rotation, if you will, for the basketball team, a lot of the same guys we saw on last year’s team with some new faces. Of course, the big news is Fland and and you’ve got Xavier Lee, these two transfers from Arkansas and Princeton. There’s also another player from Ohio coming in. You’ve got a CJ Ingram here. It’s just going to be a really exciting time next year for the basketball team. But that’s way down the road. And I, you know, I just had to mention that that trip to the White House was so well attended and so um happy and upbeat. It was great to see and I think people should be proud. Very proud. Yep. By the way, Tony wanted you to know on Facebook Live brought to you by Mel Law. They’re the Omaha Stormchasers. Chasing Stormchasers. Chasers. I heard the guy say Chancers. I I didn’t know what a Chancer was. So, the Stormchasers very good, Tony. I do know it was Omaha and he he hit a home run to tie the game at 3-3. I don’t know if they won or not, but it’s not really about winning or losing games. I think it’s about achieving things that will get you uh to the next level, which of course is a major leagues, and he is on his way there. It will be within, I’m sure, couple weeks when we see him in a Kansas City Royals uniform. The Royals are a team that does have a chance at the postseason. So, it’s not going to be something that just play out. They’re going to actually try to win soft this year. So, that’s great. Yeah. Shooter says on YouTube, brought to you by Quality Plum. The story of the Texas Tech coach at softball is amazing. It really is. He was like a high school coach or coached his daughter’s teams. Then he he uh was an assistant then went to Louisiana. Now he’s the head coach at Texas Tech. in year one as them one game away from their first trip to OKC and they went out and got the million-dollar pitcher. So there you go. Very interesting in today’s world. Well, I’ll tell you what else I found interesting, QB. I I don’t know if you want to talk about this, but I don’t see why you wouldn’t. Um, we had the Big 10 in the SEC meeting and what we thought would happen has basically happened and that is top four seeds are going to get first round buys regardless of whether or not football team wins the conference or their respective conference titles and conference champions will still get auto bids. Uh, but the seating is going to be based on ranking which I think is appropriate based on what we saw last year. Um, the final year of the 12 team playoff would be uh upcoming and then when 2026 hits, I don’t think there’s any question we’re going to see 14 to 16 teams expand. I don’t care if people like it or not. They’re still going to watch it. It’s going to be very popular. It’s going to be exciting. Only thing I wish they would tweak is that the top seeds kept a home game. A home game matters. Uh, it should be a reward for being a top seed, not a trip to one of three different uh or four different neutral sites. But maybe they’ll talk about that later. I think it also means that we’re going to see uh conference championship games somewhat be marginalized. I I know that kills you because you love the SEC championship more than anything else, but I think they get rid of that. Now, I didn’t say they’re gonna get rid of it, but it’s going to be different because if you have four SEC teams and four Big 10 teams that are going to automatically be placed in and a 4422 one or four 22 three format, then that SEC championship game will not have to be won because both teams who make the SEC that there that is very true, but as coach Furry has always said, they want to win the conference. You can look at the Todd Golden’s philosophy as well. They had they went and won the SEC basketball tournament. They didn’t even win it. That’s fine. And that’s fine. But there will be a banner hanging and they will always be called the SEC champs. You will get rings and all that stuff. As coach Ferrari says, you can take You can’t take money to your grade, but you can take championships to your grade. JC, compete, JC, learn to compete. Yeah, if if um if we had had this system last year, Texas and and Penn State would have received first round buys. Boise State would have gone from three to nine. Arizona State would have gone from four to 11. Now, Arizona State should get credit for the way they represented their top four seed because, frankly, they should have beaten Texas. They had Texas on the ropes. Everybody saw the game knows that. Um but Arizona State lost. Now, now, now Boise State was never even in the game. And there’s no way they should have been a three seed. I think this little tweak is appropriate for 2025 and then in 2026 it is undoubtedly going to go 14 to 16 teams which then means as far as we’re concerned the SEC is absolutely going to nine games. Um yeah Walton got me my bell the bell from the radio show. Yeah. This is what do you ring the bell for when you make a poignant point that is captivating and thoughtprovoking and Sam Walton the first lady of Gator softball came through big time with a little Amazon delivery. You don’t think she stole that from the uh from the uh Hidden Oak Elementary teacher. No, no, no. It came in an Amazon bag, Zack. Oh, so Sam Sam spending some money for JC. Well, Sam loves me, but I think that Sam is uh is a great uh ambassador for Gator Sports and of course for her husband’s softball team, who we we’re going to be rooting very hard for here in the next couple weeks. This is the best time of the year. They they te it up first pitches in three less than three hours, right? Against the Mercer Fighting Bears. No, no, no, not the Mercer Bears. Um the uh who they playing? They’re playing the Georgia Bulldogs. the the softball in the um SEC. No, they’re playing in the super regionals. Go to one regional. See, that just have another drink or whatever the hell you’re drinking, Jason. I’ve been out of town for a week. Excuse me. I for some reason mer he had Mercer on my brain because of how well we beat Mercer intense he was about the Mercer Bears when we had him on the air. I beg your pardon, folks. Sorry about that, but I was out of town. I should have. Shooter McGavin on YouTube brought to you by Quality Plum says, “Is Todd Golden coaching the Olympic team? No, I don’t know where that came from. Okay. The Olympic team. Really? Yeah. Uh, this is a text from Ronnie in Knoxville, Tennessee. He says, “Good morning. Without Badger, DK, and Montreal Johnson. Which three skill position players do you expect to be our most productive pass catchers this year?” Um, I think Montreal had good hands coming out of the back field. Uh, I’m not crazy about the other guys at this moment other than Katie Daniels at the running back position, but wide receivers, we got enough guys there. I think you’ll see Vernell’s kid, Trey Wilson, Dallas Wilson. Dallas Wilson, uh, the transfer Sturdivant from UCLA. We got dudes there. Dallas Wilson. Dallas Wilson’s the answer to that question that you took a minute and a half to answer. Dallas? No, cuz he was asking about positions, JC, not one position. Well, I thought you said wide receiver. He said three skill positions. Okay. Well, I like Dallas Wilson. I like Jaden Ball and I like um of course I like the quarterback, but the running back. So, there was uh a lot of, you know, when you get on Twitter now with all this nonsense. There’s so much fake stuff out there in today’s world. Uh it was just a fake post. I somebody sent me a post the other day saying how it was like Tim Tibo is now going to be the new athletic director and general manager of football or something along those lines. Like people he was at the White House by the way. Well, he was at the White House too. Yeah. I don’t I’m gonna ask Chris why he was there. I know he’s trying to pass a bill about something else. Uh well, he’s not a congressman, but he’s he’s uh definitely somebody who was there for the basketball celebration. He’s kind of Well, he was he wasn’t there for that. He was there for something else just happened to the Gator Roll now, so he participated. Good. Good. Outstanding. Yeah. He’s kind of like an ambassador of Florida sports. Very much so. Yeah. I think he’s trying to pass a a very worthy Do you know what kind of bill? Yes. It’s about uh child something. I Somebody on here can tell me. I’m not smart enough to know all that stuff, but it’s uh it’s a good bill. Do you know? Sounds good. No, at first I heard about it. I was just curious why Tim was there. Um, but it doesn’t matter. You know, in all sorts of weather, they all come together, right? Isn’t that in the song? So, there they are in DC with 47 and they all had smiles on their faces. Electronics World integration design special smart home automation and entertainment. Affordable local installation service and support. Check them out. Electronics World. What aboutnet you watch? It’s about missing children. JC. Yeah. Okay. Well, very along those lines. Do you Kevin on the Titan text? What’ you watch on TV last night? Uh, what did I watch on TV last night? I actually watched uh I had a lot going home. I was busy, but I had the TV on. I watched the Sims get upset. I watched old girl throw a two-h hitter, the million-dollar pitcher. She also hit a home run, by the way. Stanford wouldn’t let her hit. So, she goes Texas Tech and she’s hitting and pitching. I watched a little bit of uh I watched about I’d say a total quarter of the basketball game. I watched a few minutes of the hockey game and I went to bed very early. JC, these dudes are going to win it back to back if if they keep playing like this. They have won their last three games in blowouts. game seven against Toronto and the first two games against Carolina where they’ve absolutely just demolished the hurricane. It’s it’s it’s almost like they’re playing with their food out there. The Florida Panthers are up 20 with two to go. And I’ve got a ticket in hand for the Eastern Conference winner at Florida plus 325 and the Stanley Cup winner Florida Panthers plus 700. I’ve also got a ticket in pocket for the Dallas Stars uh Stanley Cup winner at plus 550. So, if I get Dallas and Florida in the finals, Stanley Cup finals, you can hedge. Well, I I’ve got two winners. One’s going to win, one’s not, but one’s there. I’m guaranteed a winner. Now, if Edmonton beats Dallas, I’ll win a little less, but I also have them in pocket to win the Stanley Cup. So, Edmonton, Dallas, and Florida all at huge odds. Got them about uh three, four weeks ago. And that’s when you have to do it. You have to do it early if you want to get the better numbers. And so the long number on Florida at plus 700 that that’ll never come back and right now the way they’re playing they have to be considered the favorite to repeat. They physically manhandle Carolina and while we were already sure of the outcome in the Oklahoma City game because the basketball playoffs has turned into the Oklahoma City Open. Okay, that’s what it is. They’re gonna win it. But while that scrimmage was going on, we had real men playing on the ice spitting chicklets. Okay, it was incredible to watch the physical nature of that hockey game. And Florida took it to the Carolina Panthers or Carolina Hurricanes, who by the way are a very big team. Florida had no no business, no problem with them. And so took care of their business. They go up 200. They’re going to win the Eastern Conference and then they’re going to play in the Stanley Cup against Dallas or Edmonton. Yeah. Karen Karen says on Facebook Live brought to you by Mel, Tim’s deal is a child sex trafficking bill. Okay. Well, if 31 bur says, “It’s a good bill, but I know nothing about it.” End quote. Shane should be a senator. Yeah, there you go. That’s about how it is. Isn’t Nancy Pelosi the one who said you don’t need to read the bill until after we pass it? So sit down. Yeah, Nancy. I’m Nancy Pelosi. So anyhow, that’s that that was a great tweet there. The what that guy what Ember just sent you. That is exactly right. He gets a ring. There we go. There we go. Well, our Peachland Dental golf picks right now. How’s that looking? Uh, well, I will tell you I’m looking to see if we have anybody. I have Andrew Novak. Yeah. Who is in tied for 11th? He is our highest uh colonial. Did I take J I didn’t take JT Postner or I take Harrison? No, you did not take JT Post. I took Harris. I get those two confused. They’re the same. Well, they have the same mannerisms. They basically don’t they they are just they look straight ahead. They don’t look either way. Gotti Sheffller is 200 far and he’s five shots back of Oh, he’s only five back of John Pack. Oh, okay. Oh, wait. So, Chef is only five strokes back. Go ahead and put him in as John Pack. John Pac. He is a He You know where he’s from? Where he played his college? No, but he’s the typical first round leader. He’s a semi. Okay. Well, cool. The seinals. Yeah. Excuse me. I’m so excited about the college baseball uh regionals about to crank. Um I got Florida in one of three ACC schools. Uh U and this is from the great Kevin Brockway. He’s got he’s got Florida going to either Georgia Tech according to some source of his. Then there’s of course the Chapel Hill uh regional which I talked about a month ago so he should be quoting me. And then uh the Tallahassee regional he’s got from the USA today. We ain’t going there. I don’t see that. But I do see a possibility of Raleigh, North Carolina with NC State possibly. But or Georgia or Atlanta for Georgia Tech. It’s going to be Georgia Tech or it’s going to be Chapel Hill if they don’t host. And uh that’s what I think we’re looking at. But man, I hate the fact that they’ve got to do it without so many players uh who got hurt. But that’s okay. They’re a tough team and they’ll they’ll they’ll see through it. I guess I I just wish Lou Haymon was playing. I wish a lot of our players were playing battle. Cal says on YouTube brought to you by Quality Plumb. I saw this too and I actually even responded to it. I saw on Twitter Trump signed a bill to stop the oo ah and won’t back down. Yes, I saw that and I said I support this bill 100 million,000%. Even if whatever that I I cannot stand Jason, we talked about this the other day I think with Buddy Martin. Okay. The won’t back down when the student section does the ooh ah it drives me. It may it gives me the you know like when when you get the chalkboard. Yeah. The willies. I I it it I just can’t stand it. So So he So there was legislations. I mean it’s a joke. It’s a joke. Right. So, it’s a joke because you know Trump has a million executive orders and somebody put it on Twitter to stop the uh and I was like this. Yeah. Well, QB, you just got to get up and go to the bathroom between the third and fourth quarter. Yeah. Jean on Facebook Live brought to you by Melin Law says, “Que lacrosse playing today.” Yes. I I mentioned that at the beginning of the program, Jean, you gota you got to chime in for the entire segment. You think Jean is a lacrosse booster? No. Oh, okay. Do you think that you think Jean’s a football booster? Yes, he is. I I think he is. Okay. Do you think football booster? I think the whole family, the Arnold Empire, the uh the dynasty as if you will, the Arnold dynasty is is a football supporter for sure. Oh, man. Ronnie Ronnie’s gonna certainly support his football, right? Yeah. Well, but you didn’t answer the question. I said is Jean. Jean. Well, Jean’s kind of running the shop. I hope. Anyway, I know he basically lives in that trailer and God bless him. He’s a hardworking bluecollar American red-blooded. You need some dirt and you need some gravel. I tell you the job I will say this about Jeep. The job he did on that road between University and 8th Avenue. I don’t know what what it’s called. 20 something. Anyway, that road is one of the best made roads I’ve ever put tires on. And that was Gino and Coke taking care of the good people of Gainesville and the commuters. And and that road between just go out there and drive it today. QB right between University and 8th Avenue. That’s a Gino special. And he he knows his stuff. Great mechanical engineer that Gino and civil engineer. Actually, it would be civil engineering, excuse me. But he’s he is a loyal viewer of this program. We have so many of them and we’re very grateful. I know one I know Jean does need to be a Florida golf booster though. Yes. Yeah. And that he likes gear. We’ll take good care of him. I think I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do it in July. That’s when I get like a paycheck or something. And I’m gonna run down there with you one day. I think I’ll take all your winnings from the Yes. Stars and the Panthers. Well, I leave now that in the account for future football excitement, but QB, I’m going to come down there when you’re down there getting ready to play and I’m going to go buy up stuff. So, and join the boosters. How’s that? Excited. Do that. You gotta do that online. This day in sports brought to you by Campus USA Credit Union where proud member Stephen or Spurer Banks. This day, maybe he lobby is sitting there waiting for a banker. He does them out with a CD or something. He sits there and shakes hands and kisses babies when you Hey, I’m I’m sure he’s looking for the highest CD rates out there. I’m sure he’ll ball in there. You might find him one day. Get a picture as he’s buying another CD. In 2021, the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course, Kiwa Island, Phil Mickelson becomes the oldest player or major winner in history at age 50. And that’s the last damn thing he’s won. Yeah. But it was a great achievement. I played that course two weeks ago. Was he on the They didn’t have the uh That was in 2021. There was no live then, right? Nope. No, there was not. Listen to who he beat. I remember who. I remember Phil winning. Okay. He beat Brooks Kepka and Louis Hazen who are now on the live. Yeah. And basically in living in anonymity, but Well, Louie lives he plays his golf down there at Golden Ocala. Yeah. That’s that’s that’s go down there and get a little $5 Nassau with Louiesie. $5 Nassau with Louis and a CD with coach. Man, we’ve got some financial discussions here that JC John wants you to know on this. This show is just a disaster today. I think it’s great. We’ve got John on YouTube brought to you by Quality Plus says ETH and University run parallel. No, I know. It’s the road that takes you from one to the other. That’s the road I’m talking about. Oh, and that and that road was so bad and and a lot of folks a lot of Gator fans park on in neighborhoods adjacent to that road on football games because of course we have very limited parking for football like just about every other SEC school frankly. So, uh because you know stadiums are built in neighborhoods nowadays or off-campus or on campus in very small areas and there’s not a lot of parking. So, you park in these little neighborhoods that are all around. It’s kind of cool actually, but it’s a little bit of a walk. And that road, it connects Newberry Road or University Avenue to 8th Avenue. And the Gino Road Builders kicked butt. And that’s all I was just saying is how impressed I was with with Gino. Donald on the Titan text line says, “JC, do you have any Memorial Day weekend for us?” Well, uh, Memorial Day weekend picks you I I’ll tell you what. I’ll throw them up on the real quick. Peace Dentl, Gator Nation, number one choice for dentistry in Port Charlotte. Go check them out. peaceland dentl.com. All right, so you got the picks. I got Well, I you know, it kind of caught me off guard a little bit. I I can check what my pending is right now in Hard Rock. Okay, so tonight the Knicks are playing the Pacers. Who you got? But you know, that one’s I don’t know how you can ignore the Indiana Pacers getting eight and a half points after what just happened in game one, which was but one of the biggest collapses in the history of the game. And Indiana is a team that gets very little respect for whatever reason. They got a Hall of Fame coach, okay? They got guys who can light it up from everywhere. Hallebertton is on fire. He’s Reggie Miller part two. And I don’t see why the Knicks, who are a tired basketball team, should be given eight and a half points. That that’s just not that’s just doesn’t. So, if you’re going to take a side, I would take that and I’d look at the under. And I think the under would have hit if it hadn’t gone to overtime, which it should not have gone. I mean, we’re talking about a team that was up 14 points with two minutes to go. They were up seven points with 30 seconds to go or nine points or something like that and lost. That is a a fluke. Now, I think Indiana is going to play better so that they don’t get into that position. I would take the points with Indiana, no doubt about it. And as far as hockey goes, I don’t see Edmonton losing twice in Dallas. But I’ll tell you right now, if the Stars play like they did in the third period of that first game, they will win again tonight. They are that talented and that deep. So Edmonton better not get careless. Give the Stars power plays because they were up 3-1 in that game going into the third period. They gave Dallas three straight power plays. That is that is suicidal. You can’t get careless like that. I do think you can look at another over in that game, but I do think the uh the Carter P is going to either sweep or win in five, but I think they’re going to win it four. And I like the uh Pacers getting the eight and a half. I’ve got the Knicks on a series bet to win it in seven and in six and for the series to go over five and a half. I think you can still get that. Um but they better win tonight. If the Knicks lose tonight, I may not get any of those props and that would really make me sad. Gino says on Facebook Live brought to you by Mel. Thanks for the nice words, JC. We should become Gator Golf Booster since QB is a board member. I think we do that, Gino. I think we do that in July. July for some reason is ringing a bell for me. And and by the time we get there uh in July, they will already won backto-back. Hey, just be careful. Just be careful. If we happen to win the national title, the price may go up. Well, for guys like Jean, that’s not a factor. Even though he wants you to think it is. It’s not. He can take he could. But Jean could buy the damn pro shop. Okay. If he wanted to, he could. All right. J, give us an Indianapolis 500 pick. I couldn’t tell you who’s even racing. I’ll say they had some guy got got in trouble because he was cheating. AJ put in the back of the line. AJ Foy will beat Johnny Rutherford. Gordon John [ __ ] and Aler Jr. will be right behind them. How’s that? That’s when I used to watch that stuff. Right now, a lot of the drivers who are racing are unknown commodities to me. Um, I just don’t follow it like I used to. Sorry. You used to follow it. AJ Foy, Johnny Rford, Aler Jr. Well, name me five drivers from the from the good old days. Well, well, what I’m saying is you named a bunch of Americans except maybe Mario and Drey. Nowadays, I don’t even know. I can’t I mean you probably couldn’t name one one person. Mario Andred is an American. What are you What are you kidding me? He is. Yeah. Italian descent. Mar Andred. Michael Andred. I’m pretty sure. No, actually I think he’s South America. But at anyway, he’s not from America. No. No. His I think his his He’s not Okay. Well, I don’t know. I’m just saying. You just said he wasn’t from We’re gonna look it up right now. Well, he had a kid named Michael Andred who was outstanding as well. Um, tell me where he’s from now. I got to know this on on this show. I mean, people are sitting here with baited breath. What’s your Google say? What’s it say? Well, I’m waiting. I was He’s from Italy. Well, that makes sense. Okay. Yeah. I mean, all right. Like I said, today uh what is today? May 22nd, 23rd. What a disaster. I you know you say that but I guarantee you we got people that enjoyed the show today. We I Hey, I threw out all the basketball that you could want. Talked about the White House, gave you odds, gave you uh baseball, gave you golf, talked about hockey better than any two guys in Gainesville can talk hockey. Well, one guy, I should say. So, I mean, it was it was a great it was a great uh 30 minute segment. Now, you’re going to sit there and you’re going to talk about the basketball team. I’m all good. I think it’s uh I think it’s worth talking about. They won the national championship there. We’re not gonna talk about that. We’re gonna talk about their experience to to Washington. Yeah. Washington DC. And it and you know was crawling through the tunnels of the capital. Did you know if you saw that he had he like opened up one of the the I’m really glad to the floor. I’m really glad he’s coming back man because I really kind of liked him. I I really did. He was one of my favorite players actually. But Elijah Martin I think was my favorite. Many people loved Walter Clayton as their favorite. And uh I thought and watch out for Clab Clab Clabshaw. Clab Urban. Watch out for Urban. Urban didn’t make the trip. I know, but watch out for Urban. He was back home. Watch out for Urban next year. Urban picture. Are you watching JC? You see the picture of Ruben in the uh tunnel there? I I only see it. But I will tell you this. Um the uh Urban’s gonna be a big big key next year. He’s gonna play a lot. Shoot. We’re going to we’re going to go to somebody that knows what he’s talking about. Uh JC, have a great weekend. We’ll see you later. That’s JC Jo the Titan tomorrow courtesy of Comfort Temp. Take a quick time out. We’ll come back. We’ll get a recap step by step what the Gators did up in DC from Chris Harry. You’re watching and listening to Pot Matthews in the morning from the International Diamond Center studios. We’ll be right back. 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Hi there, this is Coach Steve Spurer, and I want to let you know that by popular demand, Spurer’s Grid Iron Grill’s delicious brunch is now served in a premium buffet. You have spoken. We have listened. And we’re now serving Gainesville’s only elevated buffet complete with an omelette station, ginger sage, chicken, sausage, shredded short rib, and of course our chicken and warles. Plus, you can enjoy bottomless mosas and bloody maryries. So join us every Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 3 for the best brunch in town. What’s up everyone? I’m Mike Pouncy and this is my twin brother Maris Pouncy and this is life after football. Let’s go. [Applause] We are the owners of Tropical Distillery and JF Haydens is our Lord brand. We have five different flavors, a mango, a luchi, an espresso, citrus and key lime pie. We pride ourselves on not only being a Florida made brand but also a cocktail solution. With that being said, cheers and go games. [Music] No, growing up in Gainesville, uh, definitely different, you know, especially having a University of Florida there. Um, it was basically like a dream of everybody’s, you know, growing up to just have opportunity to play at the University of Florida. So, uh, everybody doesn’t have that, you know, the opportunity to do so. So, I just feel like me being able to give back to the city that helped me, you know, become the player and the person I am today, it’s like why not just go back and give back. You just become a great person, you know, not just a great athlete or not just a great, you know, teacher or anything, just a great person in general, you know, having those attributes and and those type of characteristics just help people just come become better people. So, uh that’s what I’m trying to do, help the youth just become great. Welcome back to the International Diamond Center Studios. Florida Cracker is the brand for original Floridaidians, great food and southern hospitality in the center of the universe. Brooksville, Florida, florida.com. Back to the Titan, our hotline courtesy of Comfort Temperature. It’s our man Chris Harry from Florida Gators.com. Good morning, Chris. How you doing, my man? Good morning, Shane. How are you? Good. Let’s uh let’s recap this trip. Uh, was this Did you ever go Wait, you weren’t working for Florida Gators.com when Billy was here, right? You were just covering the team. Well, yeah. No, I was I was Yeah, but I mean, never with a national championship. Yeah, that’s where I was going. I came I came after the fact, right? Okay. So, this is the first time you’ve gone with the national championship team. Just kind of give us the breakdown how the trip went and and what you like the most about it. Well, to be specific, in 1997, after the Gator won the national championship, the Spurer Danny Warfl uh season in 96, they went to the White House when Bill Clinton was president. And two, I I I was the beat writer for the Orlando Center. Robbie Andrew and I went and we were the two uh media media boys saw us uh that that went to uh to that one and that and that was cool. Um but it it’s different when you’re on the inside. So you know to to to travel up there with the team and our traveling party that we went with. Um just to explain how it was. I mean it’s a one day thing. We had a charter a group chart from here flies up and you got to understand like uh half the team is scattered all around the country being either for the summer uh like the only people I think who were on our flight um the players Ruben he was here Sam Alexis was here uh Denzel was here um I don’t remember if Will joined us here or up there but I mean like Walt and Elijah and Condo Tommy was coming in from Pennsylvania. He’s home for the summer. I mean, those guys are all flown in and we flew into Dallas and drove and picked them up at their hotel and went to the Capitol for the tour that was given by Congresswoman Cam. And that was really, really cool. I mean, again, I was born in DC. I went on a lot of field trips to these monuments and stuff over, you know, during my whole time growing up there. But to get the kind of first class treatment and special attention that we got and to see faces on some of these tourists as this, you know, Ali is walking through the rotunda and all this stuff and and and he’s got yes, Walter Clayton being pulled aside for selfies. He was very gracious about that. Um and then the whole White House thing. Uh we we we got to see a good portion of the White House was really really cool. And the guys got invited into the Oval Office by Trump um after the uh after his presentation, which was uh obviously that was that was that was something once in a lifetime stuff for those guys. Yeah. I one of my favorite pictures was uh Ruben in the tunnel. Was that the Capitol? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I posted that. Well, see they explained to us that was in the Lincoln that was in the capital was in the Lincoln library. And he the guy said like apparently la uh a couple months ago a a senator a freshman senator from North Carolina had had seen it for the first time and posted it and nobody had ever really made a big deal out of it before but there’s some of those things all around the capital. Okay. And it used to be a way to get people in and out of there back and I think that tunnel was from the you know early 1800s. So, uh, you see if if you put that picture back up, you can see on the back of the people were saying, “Why you why are you saying there’s tunnels? Why are you telling everyone about the secret tunnel?” So, I mean, look at the look at that lid underneath it. A bunch of people have signed it. So, a lot of people have been down in that hole before. And to see Ruben get down there. Um, Mike went down there, too. He’s two, three inches taller. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, you walk down, you walk around a little bit and come and pop back out of it. I didn’t do it. Not Not with my old ass knees. I wasn’t going to deal with that stuff. But, uh, those guys, it was pretty, uh, really cool. But again, the experience, you know, you get to go to the White House, man, and you get to, we met Speaker Johnson. He came and talked to the team. He told about, uh, he went to LSU while Shaq and Chris Jackson were were there, and he told he said he he said he was at the 2019 White House visit for Joe Burrow and that LSU team. And he said he he’s telling uh he’s telling President Fox he’s going look they they’re telling you it’s an hour. He goes getting ready for it to be longer with with him because you know he just let them go wherever they want. He starts doing a Trump impersonation like Mike Johnson did. Let him go wherever they want. And he said uh Trump asked uh uh Coach O. Coach O you want to say something here at the at the at the White House? You want to say something to people? He goes said he he does an impersonation. He goes uh uh Coach O just ducks into the mic goes go Tigers. So, I mean it, you know, this and and then the guy went and worked on his uh big beautiful bill and and you know, tried to pass $4 trillion dollars and whatever. So, so they they had stuff going on, but they made time uh for the Gator that day. And uh again, um I’m I’m really really glad I got to go and glad I got to experience on that front. Brian’s question on Facebook Live brought to you by Mel Law. I know there’s respect from the team towards Aberdine with his decision to go to Kentucky, but there’s any good nature ribbing going on about that decision. Just curious if there was some friendly banner about that or if that didn’t even come up at all. If there was, I didn’t hear it. And I mean, those guys, I don’t know if you saw what Todd said yesterday. I know I, you know, there are some people that are just, you know, just idiotic uh uh mean-spirited jackasses saying stuff about Denzel. um even being allowed to be with the group. And somebody asked Todd, “Huh?” And some people asked Todd and about yesterday because Sam also went, Sam’s transferring to Indiana. He was on that trip also. And uh you know, Todd goes, “Hey, you know, we’re not petty.” He goes, “Those guys were a big part of our team or we wanted them there. Their teammates wanted them there and they deserve to be there.” So, the we’re not petty uh was a nice uh way to to maybe shoot back at some people out there who are that’s all I’ll say about that. Yeah, it’s really I mean, you know, I I I’ve done some I’m doing some stuff for a review of the season and you go back, man, Denzel made some big plays, man, and during the season, and he averaged 14 and a half points. He shot 41% from three during the five games he started in the middle of the season when those guys were hurt. So, you know, let’s give that guy some grace. And, uh, he had a he had a opportunity to do some stuff that will take care of him for a long time and, you know, take care of his family. And, uh, that that opportunity wasn’t going to be afforded him to. Yes, he could have come back and been the starting point guard, but, uh, Florida’s moved on and they moved on in a good way, I think. Yeah. Dan, that’s not a shot at Denzel. Good. Good luck to him. Yeah. Dan wants to know, Chris, did you and the team have to go through background checks for the trip by the Secret Service or someone? Absolutely. he had to provide, you know, information and a couple guys, Will and trying to think, it was Will and it might have been a an assistant coach, their their names didn’t match exactly like Will Will Richard showed up on their list and he was William William Thomas Richard instead of Will Thomas Richard or something. And so he had to he had to wait a little extra time at the at the at the guard shack if you were while while they were checking. Yeah, we had to provide that um a good uh maybe you know couple weeks in advance. I thought one of the coolest things I saw, Chris, and I don’t know if you put it on Twitter or whoever was in charge of the basketball deal where the um guy playing and the violin playing WD. That was me. Yeah. Uh, I mean I mean that’s when you walk into the White House, they had those little acoustic uh people set up there playing that and they played uh and they and they, you know, they they played to the Gators. They played the fight song in that kind of uh uh uh in acoustically they played they played we are the champions up in the band uh for that. They played the the Florida fight song. Um but the won’t back down in, you know, with the violin and the and the and the acoustic guitar was special. I mean, people walking in, they stopped and watched and listened to it because those people were really, really good. And it was a it was a really classy touch, I thought. You’re right. All right. Well, Boogie Flans’s all signed up, sealed, and delivered. Uh, I don’t know if you got to talk to him or whatever, but I saw a clip. I’m not No. of him and Todd. I think it was he was here right before y’all left. Man, that just that clip that I saw on Twitter, you can just tell the relationship. And you know, sometimes this term is taken the wrong way. A player coach. I knew that was coming. Yeah. I could just see that like Todd’s like one of the guys kind of. And it’s funny. I was talking my wife saw that book too. We were out to dinner last night. We were just talking about it a little bit, talked about the same thing and I it reminded me kind of of I mean the interaction is so natural and the connection is is instantaneous. And I a couple years ago when Walt got here, I wrote a really long I want to say 3,500 word story about him because I knew what his impact was going to be and I just wanted to find out about as much as I could about him. So I talked to a lot of people and tried to write a really informative story. But on his official visit uh from Iona, his mom was here and they Todd took the group over to a football practice, a spring football practice. And she goes, “I’m sitting there watching.” And the mom was explaining I was sitting there watching and you know they Todd goes over and grabs a football and starts chucking it around the field with Walt, you know, after practice and stuff and she said it just felt so natural and that’s part of the connection. You know what I’m saying? And we know Walt’s a great football player and here’s this guy, you know, throwing, you know, throwing passes to him and running around and stuff like that. And and it just it’s not stuff that’s thought out. It’s just part of who he is. And uh again, I think I’ve said this before on the show, every time you talk to a team after the game, after Florida won a game this year, it almost whether it was uh Chris Beard or Caliperry or uh Buzz Williams, they all talked about the elite roster construction of this basketball team. And part of that is is matching uh personalities. So, we’ll see. I mean, by all accounts, and I you know, I here Boogie Flan is from New York City. Okay. He was uh the top a top 25 uh player. He was a McDonald’s All-American in his high school class. He signed with Kentucky, changed his mind, went to Arkansas. So, all these things are out there, but um what you hear, what what what I heard from is they did their background check and they said he was a great teammate and that’s going to matter because if you recall when as good as Elijah Martin was, they had they had to pass that teammate uh uh test. And when he came here on his official visit last year, uh Todd sent him out with Will and Walton. You guys figure it out and you guys let me know what what the you get you take the pulse on this guy and everything turned out great as we know and you know hopefully similar circumstances. Florida’s going to be a top five team uh preseason assuming Alex Conan comes back of course. I think I think they’ll still be a top 10 even if Alex doesn’t come back. Top 10. Top 10. But they’re going to have to do something. They’re gonna they they said they was asked about it yesterday. He said they have a contingency plan. If he doesn’t, and that contingency plan, um I don’t know if it means getting another guy. I would think it would. Uh they have one spot, they would have two, but I mean it, you know, it you just don’t just can’t water the ground and have a a 611 uh 10.7 rebound guy grow. So, uh we’ll see. We’ll see what happens with that. But that decision, what is today? Today’s the 23rd. Um, they’re supposed to know something uh probably in the next three days on Alex. I wanted to ask you, I think a lot of Gator people that watch this show may not be familiar with this, but you know, we don’t talk NBA a lot on this show, but the Oklahoma City Thunder is a phenomenal story and their coach was on Billy’s staff and I don’t know if people know that. Tell us a little bit about Mark Dagnall. Dag Dagnal. actually texted him last night and got and said, “Hey, if Florida wins in softball, I’ll be out there Tuesday. If there game five, if necessary, Wednesday.” He goes, “You just worry about the Gator. We’ll get you into the game.” So, uh, I get, you know, I I also also make sure to say I hope there isn’t a game five, right? But, um, yeah, I actually spent time at his at their house a couple times last. Now, Ashley Kerr was a excellent gymnast here. um they met when they were grad students here. Now Todd uh it was a it was a job that was created I want to say in the summer of 2010 and Mark uh uh was hired as a um assistant to the head coach. So that position was created for Mark Dagnol and he was here four seasons um and then he left to go to Oklahoma City when the G- League started as their G-League head coach. I want to say he was 30 years old. Sam Prey hired him. But Sam Prey would come here and watch how Bill how Billy did stuff and of course he was on his radar for some time. Um but that’s how Sam and Mark connected. Mark became the G-League coach. Mark became an assistant to Billy eventually and when uh Billy didn’t want to be part of that rebuild uh losing on purpose stuff and they promoted Mark from Glee coach to head coach and uh he’s he is one of the smartest one of the most intellectually sound and one of the best guys that I’ve dealt with since I’ve been in this position and uh I’m really really happy for him. He’s a He’s a great guy and he is the best. I don’t think there’s any doubt. I think he’s the best branch on the Billy Donovan coaching tree for sure. I agree with that. So, I just wanted to mention that. All right, before we let you go, Chris, softball today cranks up against Georgia in the super regional and here we are once again expecting the game. Yeah, I’ll probably be out there a little bit. I also have golf today. So, Oh, yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know what it is. It’s, you know, tough tough tough tough life for the for the for the former the weekend. So, um, you know, Georgia’s kind of flown under the RA. I mean, I I I mean, we should beat them, but you saw two upsets last night, uh, in women’s college softball. What happened last night? I I did not know who who uh Texas Tech with the million-dollar pitcher went into Tallahassee in one game against Florida State. And then Clemson went to Texas and beat the Lady Longhorn in game one. Wow. Okay. Both road teams have won in the games that have been played, but uh just talk about I mean Tim Walton has done a phenomenal job. We I mean we could sit here for hours and talk about what he’s done with this program, but this team if Keegan Rothrock pitches well, I think they can win it all. Yeah. And again, the the what held them back the the so that little stretch was the, you know, they were so topheavy in in in offense in the order for that for whatever was it two three three years or so, four years. That’s obviously not the case. That started last year with the arrival of some of these players, but the the arrival of the two pitchers last year, now they’re sophomores. Now Tim has been saying Keegan’s going to get better the more she pitches. Well, maybe she should pitch more. But well, you know, we’ll see how he handles his pitchers. But that offensive uh uh was on display obviously last week. Now region I mean Florida’s what 33 and one in regionals since since he’s been here. Uh never lost one uh except for the that one year with the never hasn’t lost one since 200 well to 20 33 and one since 2013. Super regional is a different animal. Obviously, Georgia’s come in here twice before in 2016 and when Florida was the number one overall seed and won on a walk-off homer in game two, ended Florida’s uh two-year reign of national championships and they won here in 2021, but that 21 Florida team couldn’t hit. Um I don’t know what’s going I don’t know a whole lot about Georgia. I know that they what they’re they’re they have I think they’re seven and 16 or something like that in in conference play. They did not win a series all season. That’s that’s correct. And and and they they uh they didn’t play I think they only played two of the top Florida finished sixth in the SEC this year as good as they were, but I think they played Florida played four of the top five teams ahead of them, right? Uh Georgia only played two of the top five teams and I think one of them one&m series I think a game got cancelled. I think they’re going to play two game series because of weather or whatever. But I don’t know how battle tested Georgia is, but I don’t think it matters to get to this point. They beat Duke last week as a Duke was a 14 seed. They went in there and beat them. Um, so, you know, Florida’s been really, really good. Obviously, when it comes to playing at home 11:00 start, you kind of hope uh uh people will come out. That’s a kind of a difficult starting time or whatever, but we know how loyal fans are here. So, the bottom line is the Gator can hit. If they hit, they ought to be able to uh take care of business this week and maybe even do so in two games, I would think. Real quick, we only got a few minutes left, but I talked with Tim last week about it. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a athlete from their freshman to their sophomore year make the jump like Mia Williams did. Uh I mean she has just been raking at the plate. I know you I mean I don’t know how much you talk to white chocolate but what is his thoughts about how she’s gone from a freshman to a sophomore how how well she’s performing? You know I asked him and he said you know I said what will she I asked him last week I what’s she going to ask when I talk? He goes he goes you need to ask her. So but I she doesn’t like talking about it apparently. She doesn’t like talking about what she did last year because I mean what she 167 I think I think she had I think she had maybe 18 RBI’s maybe 12 or some some number like that Shane man she’s hitting 360 she’s got I think 17 homers is it uh 50ome RBI’s uh so she’s making that jump. What if Taylor Shoemaker makes that jump? That kind of jump next year. But uh uh yeah, I mean and and what happened with like Mia Williams is one of the reasons this offense like you talking about Raiken. Yeah. Because there there is no hole. There is there are no holes in this offensive order where like I said a few years ago if you got past, you know, the the the four or five spot, you know, that they’re just battling to turn the lineup over. You can’t do that anymore. And the last week, uh Tim batted Corby to seventh. I saw just to kind of mix things up a little bit uh relative to he plugged in some a lineup. He was trying to get to a lineup that was hitting this. He plugged it in a computer and said try hitting this. You’re not going to walk this player intentionally and you’re going to get to Corbytis. So he was just mixing some things up. Give the opponents some things to think about. But Mia’s Yeah. Uh the jump Mia’s made is fantastic. She was all SEC for a reason. So terrific for her. Yeah. Been awesome. Chris, appreciate your time. Got any good stuff Harry Potter’s working on that people can read? Uh, I wrote a couple. I did a Todd did his uh press conference, first one since the national championship celebration yesterday, and I I did some bullet items to update some people on where things stand. Maybe they can read it and get a some enhancement for what you and I just talked about. So, check out our website. I also wrote a little thing about the Florida Georgia series. So, I’ll be out there all weekend uh to cover the uh super region and then I’ll be in Oklahoma City next week, assuming the Gators advance. Yeah. Somebody asked me the other day. I want I meant to ask you this before you leave. Uh, did y’all get like any kind of like souvenir or anything from the White House? Players got a commemorative Trump coin which is big. He goes, “You need you need to save it. It’ll be worth something one day.” Yes. Yes. It’s a beautiful coin. Beautiful coin. Greatest coin ever. You didn’t get one just players got. Yeah. Yeah. Player play players and the coaches got them. Yeah. Appreciate your time, my friend. We’ll see y’all. Take care. Does Chris Harry join us on the Titan hotline courtesy of comfort? Injuries occur whenever and however and it’s never convenient for sprains, strains, and minor fractures. UF Health Health Orthoare makes it convenient for you seven days a week, including evenings. Walk-ins are welcome. Have a great weekend, folks. 11:00 today. Gator softball golf will be cranking up here soon. I don’t know exactly what time lacrosse plays North Carolina. That’s on TV as well. But we appreciate you chiming in. Appreciate Chris and JC. Have a great weekend. Take care. [Music]