Peterson enters his sophomore season and his second season as a Gators starter. He made 18 appearances with 16 of them being starts. He finished the season with a 6.43 ERA, a 1.71 WHIP and 77 strikeouts in 63 innings pitched. Peterson’s efforts earned him a spot on the 2024 SEC All-Freshman Team.

Clemente is coming off his first season of action with the Gators. He missed his freshman season due to injury and was redshirted. He made 19 appearances, two of which he started. He finished with a 5.34 ERA, a 1.60 WHIP and 39 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings pitched.

He spent the summer with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod League. In six starts up in Massachusetts, he had a 3.00 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP and 29 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched.

Coppola comes into his redshirt sophomore season looking to bounce back from a season that saw him finish with an 8.75 ERA in eight appearances. He missed the 2023 season due to back surgery and it was clear he was coming off recovery from the procedure.

Like Clemente, he spent time in the Cape Cod League, but to lesser success. In two starts with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, Coppola allowed five earned runs over a combined 7 1/3 innings pitched.

He’s viewed as a breakout candidate this upcoming season. If he’s fully recovered and ready to go after further time off, perhaps he could make some noise this season.

The Gators start their 2025 campaign Friday night when they begin their series with Air Force. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.

Florida Gators make massive addition to the front office with a hire that nobody expected

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier has gone out of his way to format their front office in a way that will mirror the operations of a National Football League front office.

On Monday, the Gators announced two front office hires. Nick Polk will be the Associate Athletic Director/Football General Manager and Benjamin Elsner will be the team’s Director of Football Strategy.

The moves were announced on Monday and Napier commented on the hires, specifically the hiring of Polk.

“We are excited about moving forward with building out the front office concept with the addition of Nick Polk,” UF head coach Billy Napier said. “His leadership and experience will prove to be extremely valuable to the entire organization. Nick has a college football coaching background, as well as extensive NFL experience to go along with representing a number of clients that are in college football and the NFL. This is a huge step forward for the Gators.”

Polk comes to Gainesville with a lot of front-office experience. He was with the Atlanta Falcons for 17 seasons, mostly under Thomas Dimitroff, with a significant portion of his work being with the salary cap. That is going to come in handy in the new era of college football we are entering with revenue sharing set to begin.

The hiring of Elsner is a different one, as he comes from the media company The 33rd Team. As their Chief of Staff, he was responsible for a lot of the day-to-day while also handling talent relations, as the company employs a lot of former players and coaches.