Florida Gators News: Anthony Richardson has a mixed night, Soccer loses opener, more

Former Florida QB Anthony Richardson has had a rough go of things since the Colts drafted him. Between injuries and inconsistency, Richardson has lost his starting job and is treating this preseason as an audition to become a potential trade piece.

He got the start for the Colts in their preseason opener, and it was a mixed-bag performance. He quickly went viral after throwing an interception on his third pass of the game. Now there is debate over whether the pass was dropped or if Richardson threw it behind Coleman Owen, but the result gave the Patriots the ball at the 33.

Richardson finished 11/14 for 145 yards, and he ran for another 53 yards, but he also had a fumble on one of his scrambles.

After the game, Richardson stated, “I don’t think I played that well today. It was decent, we moved the ball a little bit, but I think we can definitely improve.”

Soccer drops its opener to UCF

Florida hopes to turn over a new leaf and revive its once-proud soccer program. As we have chronicled from time to time, the program has taken a nosedive, and it hasn’t won three games in a row since 2019.

Thursday night marked the debut of new coach Nick Zimmerman, and 20 minutes in against UCF, Florida looked like a whole new team. The Gators went up 2-0 in less than 20 minutes with goals from Zoe Main and Adia Symmonds. UCF got a goal back before halftime, but Florida still led 2-1.

The second half got away from the Gators as UCF scored three more unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead before Hannah Jibril scored a consolation goal in the final minute.

UCF won 4-3.

For what it is worth, Florida outshot UCF 24-11, so there are at least some attacking ideas that haven’t been present in past years.

Trey Smack has a big debut with Green Bay

Florida fans knew Trey Smack had a big leg, but we have also seen kickers struggle over the years when transitioning to the NFL. On Thursday night in his preseason debut, Smack looked right at home with the Green Bay Packers.

Smack drilled field goals from 37 yards, 58 yards, and 38 yards to go 3-3 on the night. 

Smack also hit a separate 58-yard kick that didn’t count only because Green Bay accepted a penalty against Pittsburgh on the play.

Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game, “To put him in that situation and to hit two 58-yarders in one game is pretty incredible. Really strong first performance. Now he's got to stack on it.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow