Good Morning Gators: Kelsee Gomes shout-out; Phlan Fleming delivers
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The Gators football team celebrated Mardi Gras with their team breakfast Tuesday morning.
Direction of sports nutrition, Kelsee Gomes, and her staff served the players a holiday-themed meal and decorated the Gator room with beads and colors. The Cinnaroll’s and other food items apparently hit the spot.
After breakfast, Florida defensive tackle Gervon Dexter and running back Demarkcus Bowman both took to Twitter to show their appreciation for Gomes, who joined the program in late December.
“Just wanna give a shout-out to @kelsee_gomes she doesn’t get enough recognition but she’s literally the best … We Appreciate you,” Dexter posted.
Bowman quote-tweeted Dexter and was more specific on Gomes’ value to the Gators.
“She like the oil for a car,” Bowman said, “so without that oil that car ain’t gone crank.”
Gomes came to UF from North Carolina, where she was the director of sports nutrition since 2015. Prior to that, she served a coordinator of sports nutrition for the Gators from 2012-15.
Gomes, among her many responsibilities, selects Florida’s nutrition athletes of the week every Monday based on players’ hitting their weight goals, showing progress or sticking to a plan.
“My role here is to make guys kind of understand how nutrition can benefit their body while they’re here at UF,” Gomes said in the video feature below. “The guys are able to get made-to-order omelets. There’s a large buffet. There is a dietitian at every single one of our meals. So, this is where our staff gets to be a coach and makes sure that guys are eating with what is going to be congruent with their goals.”
In other Florida football news
- With camp approaching, Gators Online will preview Florida’s offense, defense and special teams over the next two weeks. Up next: the running back position.
- Gators Online’s Nick de la Torre continues his countdown of 10 players he’s excited to see heading into spring camp with defensive end Princely Umanmielen.
UF recruiting roundup
- Top-50 overall recruit Eugene Wilson III highlighted Florida’s visitors list for March 1, the first day of the quiet period.
- Following his trip on Tuesday, Wilson gave UF a perfect ’10’ review and interacted with coaches and players during a team workout.
- Gators Online’s Corey Bender has submitted an On3 Recruiting Prediction in favor of the Gators for an On300 prospect.
- Top-100 defender Zavion Hardy is a major priority for Billy Napier’s staff and will be visiting Gainesville this weekend.
- Four-star linebacker Terrance Love has been communicating with Napier and plans to take a trip to UF at the end of this month.
- After earning an offer Monday from the Gators, 2023 defensive lineman Kamran James will waste no time getting to campus.
- Elite cornerback Ellis Robinson IV, the No. 4 overall recruit in the 2024 class out of IMG Academy, has locked in visit with Florida.
Gators sports roundup
- The Gators men’s basketball team rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit Tuesday night to defeat Vanderbilt 82-78.
- Florida guard Phlandrous Fleming Jr. provided late-game heroics with a late block and the go-ahead 3 in the final 30 seconds.
- The UF baseball team slugged out 11 runs on 13 hits to finish a season sweep of the UNF Ospreys at Harmon Stadium.
Let’s keep talking
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Gators Twitter updates
Florida coach Mike White and the Gators celebrated their comeback win over Vanderbilt with some Soulja Boy:
Drums or flats? UF football players and staff members offered their opinions in the fifth episode of Gator Cam.
Florida director of on-campus recruiting Bri Wade and personnel analyst Joe Hamilton were ready for the dead period to end Tuesday:
