Todd Golden discusses transfer Alex Fudge, recruiting the state of Florida
Alex Fudge was one of four portal additions by Gators men’s basketball coach Todd Golden this offseason, and the only transfer from the SEC and the state of Florida. He committed to UF on April 13 and was officially announced by the program the following week.
During his press conference last Thursday, Golden discussed what Fudge brings to the 2022-23 roster.
“I think a lot of potential,” Golden said. “He’s super young. He was a highly recruited kid out of high school, played about 10-15 minutes a game on a good LSU team last year as a freshman and now he’s a sophomore with us. He just turned 19.”
The 6-foot-8, 185-pound forward averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in his lone season in Baton Rouge. He has an opportunity to make a big impact for the Gators with his rebounding in the frontcourt, which was one of the team’s weaknesses last year.
Golden is also high on Fudge as an offensive prospect. He boasts a seven-foot wingspan and was a four-star prospect out of high school who averaged 17.9 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 5.7 blocked shots for Lee High School (now Riverside).
“He’s a guy we saw a lot of good things on the defensive side of the floor at LSU,” Golden said. “I think he’s got a lot of potential offensively that was untapped a little bit with him just getting more confident and just playing within the system we’ll have for him will be beneficial. He’s someone I’m really excited about. He’s really a great kid.”
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When Golden was introduced as head coach of the Gators on March 23, he made an emphasis on recruiting the Sunshine State.
“We’re going to try to build a fence around the state of Florida and make sure that we’re involved with every great student athlete within this footprint, and then we’ll go regionally,” Golden said.
He reiterated this strategy last Thursday when discussing the importance of signing highly touted 2022 guards Denzel Aberdeen and Riley Kugel out of Orlando while bringing Fudge, a Jacksonville native, back to his home state.
“They’re from Florida and want to be here and can be, along with Alex, a Florida kid we were able to bring back,” Golden said. “So, we have some momentum that way, hopefully as they experience some good things in our program I think it will rub off on the next class, so on and so forth.”
