Men's Recruiting: #9 - Florida

When you’re a recruit and you’re looking at Florida you expect to see a hard-nosed training program. Gregg Troy can charm you, but you don’t expect to get smoke blown up your rear-end. Florida trains hard and you know it coming in – not exactly a formula you’d expect to work on a Millennial Generation raised on self-esteem.

Somehow, it works though. Maybe it’s why Florida teams carry themselves a little differently than other SEC teams. Maybe it’s why Florida is so well-represented internationally. Maybe you need a little more reality and a little less self-esteem to succeed at the highest levels.

It’s definitely a reason why our top-rated recruit, South African Sebastien Rousseau, will be coming to Gainesville. “I was attracted to Florida by its renowned tough training programme and the amazing swimming of Ryan Lochte” the flyer explains.

Rousseau, who will finish his prep studies in December and join the Gators in January, holds the African continental record in the 200m butterfly and his short-course time converts to a blistering 1:41.4. His 200 IM also converts to the fastest-incoming time. At best, the Olympian will help Florida lead all teams in individual NCAA event winners. At the very least, Rousseau helps ease the loss of NCAA Champ Brad Ally.

The lack of Millennial self-esteem mumbo-jumbo also worked domestically as the Gators mined the best source of domestic talent – the National Junior Team.

“We have never signed three NJT members in the same year,” Troy said of the new high-water mark. “As a group, we’re extremely excited about who we’ve signed and we have filled some obvious voids.

Over the past year Jason Taylor and John Orban have regularly met one another in the finals of big races. Taylor is the Junior National 400 and 800 freestyle champion where Orban was a finalist. Now the two, who swam in different classes in the Florida prep ranks, will be able to train together with

Hungarian Olympian Csaba Gercsak to give the Gators three of the top distance recruits in the nation. Not only has that, another member of that 400 final, Ben Correll, joined Gator Nation. The SwimMAC Carolina is probably a better IM’er and will help ease the loss of Ally.

Sprinter Scott Sommer is a late bloomer who captured the 2A state titles in the 100 and 200 freestyle. “Scott has been a surprise swimmer in the state,” Troy said. “We feel extremely fortunate and lucky to have him. His performance at the state meet this year took him to another level.” Eric Moore should also develop into a sprint presence for the Gators, but may take a little more time.

Breaststroker, Evan Wollman fills a need for the Gators. Though is versatility might not yet be that of the rest of the group (hence the low ranking), Troy feels he’s, “One of the best breaststrokers in the country. He has a bright future with the University of Florida.”

Most of Troy’s recruits do. While he admits that the class, is “multi- talented and very experienced at international levels” the true value is that they know what to expect. Success.

1	86.86	Rousseau, Sebastien	Cape Town, RSA	Vineyard SC Cape Town
59	65.74	Taylor, Jason	Miami, FL
78	64.04	Correll, Ben	Charlotte, NC	Mecklenburg Aquatic Club
82	63.53	Sommer, Scott	Ocala, FL	Central Florida Marlins
102	61.66	Gercsak, Csaba	Budapest, Hungary
112	60.82	Orban, John	Sarasota, FL	Sarasota YMCA Sharks
176	56.10	Moore, Eric	Lakeland, FL	Brandon Sports & Aquatic Center
483	36.39	Wollman, Evan	Hyattsville, MD