Basketball recruiting doesn't tend to have the same cache and interest as football just because of the overall lack of volume of commits the Florida Gators get year over year and because of the added importance of the transfer portal, but Todd Golden and crew did pick up a big commitment on Tuesday night.
Literally.
Jones Lay is listed at 7'0" and 230 pounds and is a three-star prospect out of Moravian Prep in North Carolina. He is ranked in the top 150 according to Rivals and is ranked as the 20th-best center in the country.
South Carolina was the only other notable school that was in the running.
Florida's 2025 national title squad had a cache of depth with big men that few teams were able to match, and Lay should be able to work his way into the rotation in time.
Baseball releases schedule
Gator Baseball released its schedule for the 2026 season.
Florida is going to open play on February 13 with a series against UAB, and will have other non-conference weekend series against Kennesaw State, Miami, and High Point.
Midweek games will be the normal cache of in-state opponents. There is no USF or UCF on the schedule this year, but Florida does have Stetson, FIU, FAU, FAMU, FSU, Jacksonville, Bethune-Cookman, and UNF on the slate.
Once SEC play begins, Florida will have a series against:
- South Carolina
- At Alabama
- At Arkansas
- Ole Miss
- At Georgia
- Auburn
- Texas A&M
- At Oklahoma
- Kentucky
- At LSU
Last year, Florida was abysmal to start SEC play before a massive rally got the Gators safely into the NCAA Tournament, where they promptly bombed out after two losses to East Carolina.
Volleyball falls to UNC
Florida Volleyball's four-game winning streak came to a screeching halt in a three-set sweep against UNC.
The No. 11 Gators fell to the No. 25 Tar Heels 25-23, 25-18, 25-21.
While total errors in open play were close (19-17), the overall attack just wasn't as crisp as Florida would have liked, as they had a .155 hitting percentage compared to UNC's .213.
Florida returns home on Sunday to play No. 20 Baylor.