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Florida Gators visit Opportunity Village in Las Vegas

Untitled designby:Nick de la Torre•12/16/22•

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Las Vegas, NV - December 14, 2022 - Engelstad Campus: Vanessa Stegall and members of the University of Florida Gators during the Opportunity Village player visit prior to the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl. (Photo by Al Powers / ESPN Images)

The Florida Gators have had quite the week in Las Vegas. Outside of their welcome party on historic Fremont Street, the team has practiced and on Thursday had two opportunities to serve the local Las Vegas Community.

The Florida contingent included Jeremy Crawshaw, Trey Smack, Austin Barber, Ricky Pearsall, Trevor Etienne, Dante Zanders, and Richard Gouraige.

Billy Napier is big on service. The Gator Made program works to better the student-athletes’s off the field but also gives them opportunities to give back to their community. While guests in Las Vegas, Florida continued that service with two separate events.

Watch the Gators’ trip to Opportunity Village

Founded in 1954, Opportunity Village is a not-for-profit organization that serves people in the Southern Nevada community with intellectual disabilities, to enhance their lives and the lives of the families who love them.

Opportunity Village is dedicated to helping people with severe intellectual and related disabilities become the very best they can be. Through vocational training, community employment, day services, advocacy, arts, and social recreation, citizens with severe disabilities are able to find new friends, realize future career paths, seek independence and community integration, and unleash creative passions.

On Thursday, Staffers and players from both OSU and Florida assisted the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation. The foundation provided approximately 400 disadvantaged children from the Las Vegas area with much-needed new shoes, socks, and other supplies. Kids will get sized and then select their new pair of shoes from the Goodie Two Shoes semi-truck with the help of the Beavers and Gators.

Trey Dean, Jason Marshall, and Rashad Torrence sign posters for children at the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation event
Trey Dean, Jason Marshall, and Rashad Torrence sign posters for children at the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation event
Amari Burney and Scooby Williams take kids through football drills
Amari Burney and Scooby Williams take kids through football drills

Gators announce captains for the Las Vegas Bowl

Florida will have just two captains for the Las Vegas Bowl and both will be playing their final games in Orange and Blue. Linebacker Amari Burney and offensive tackle Richard Gouraige will serve as Florida’s captains.

Burney will finish his fifth season with the Gators in the Las Vegas Bowl before beginning to prepare for the NFL Draft. Gouraige will also play his final game as a Gator and will soon be in Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl.

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