LSU transfer Alex Fudge announces transfer to SEC rival

Alex Fudge has made his transfer portal decision. The former LSU star heading to Florida — meaning he’s staying in the SEC.

Fudge took to Twitter to announce he’s joining the Gators on Wednesday. He just wrapped up his freshman season in Baton Rouge and was one of the multitude of players to enter the portal in the wake of Will Wade’s firing.

Lets get to work🔥 pic.twitter.com/FNHmKHHwMv

— Alex Fudge (@iam_AlexFudge) April 13, 2022

As a freshman, Fudge averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game for LSU in 29 games, including one start. He arrived in Baton Rouge as a four-star recruit and was a top-100 prospect in the country from the Class of 2020, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He recently took a visit to Florida before officially making his decision.

LSU, Florida preparing for new-look rosters

It’s the second major transfer portal victory of the month for Todd Golden, who’s getting ready for his first season as Florida head coach. The Gators also landed former Belmont guard Will Richard out of the portal last week.

LSU looked like it was going to lose all 13 players from last year’s roster after 11 of them entered the transfer portal and two declared for the NBA Draft. However, Mwani Wilkinson decided to withdraw his name from the portal and return to the Tigers under new coach Matt McMahon.

The Gators also landed another key piece this week when Colin Castleton announced his return to the program after testing the NBA Draft waters. For Golden, it means the 2022-23 picture is getting clearer as he assesses his new roster.

But there’s more to Castleton’s return than deciding not to go to the NBA via June’s draft. Florida’s NIL collective, The Gator Collective, put together a “very lucrative” deal to keep Castleton in Gainesville, according to GatorsOnline’s Zach Abolverdi.