Photo credit: Andrew West – USA TODAY NETWORK
The Florida Gators are advancing in preparation for their Week 5 meet with the Eastern Washington Eagles in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, with Alachua County emerging from the typhoon largely unscathed.
The game was postponed for 24 hours on Tuesday, UF reported, before Hurricane Ian landed as a Category 4 storm near Cayo Costa, Florida early Wednesday afternoon. By the time Hurricane Ian made landfall, the ninth tropical cyclone of 2022 was blowing winds at 150 miles per hour, five less than Category 5.
As of Thursday morning, the storm’s overnight move eastward across the state had proven to spare Gainesville from significant damage, rainfall and flooding that the region had originally braced for.
Napier shared Wednesday night, however, that based on the storm shifting throughout the day, more than a dozen UF players had families who must have been in high impact areas.
The program actively assesses each situation and intends to assist these families in any way possible, with the GatorMade program and Senior Director of Student-Athlete Development/Alumni Relations Venrell Brown Jr. being heavily involved in these efforts.
“We asked players earlier in the week to keep us posted on any potential issues,” Napier said. “As the storm has moved on, we have 15 or 16 guys on the team who have families who could be highly exposed, some of whom have already evacuated or whatever.
“So I think a lot of that will happen after the storm. We’ll see what kind of damage we have. I think that’s where we can really help families as an organization.”
Storm relief efforts began Thursday morning in southwest Florida as Ian continued to march northeast, reaching the Atlantic Ocean by early afternoon and beginning to flood areas. just south of Jacksonville, Florida after destroying central areas of the state overnight.
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US President Joe Biden hinted that Ian “could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida history” following a briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the storm as a “500-year flood.”
The team took shelter Wednesday evening after training was moved forward an hour and were given a day off Thursday as a precaution if the hurricane remained on a track in the center -North Florida.
Given the avoidance of damage in the region, Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe announced that seven community builders would join the regional urban search and rescue effort in Port Charlotte, Fla., on Thursday, alongside officers from Ocala and Marion County.
Due to the postponement of this week’s game, the Gators were able to change their one-day schedule without sacrificing game preparation. In fact, Napier believes the modified schedule can be beneficial when it comes to players recovering from training.
“We’re going to kind of continue our program [on] Friday, Saturday, Sunday like Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” Napier acknowledged. “So that’s where we are.”
Naturally, Napier was asked at the time if he thought the storm would distract players from the task of preparing to face Eastern Washington on Sunday. While Napier and his team have been proactive in providing players and their families with applicable resources, he believes continuing to train and prepare for the game can be beneficial.
“I think kids are more resilient than adults sometimes, just to be completely honest,” Napier proclaimed. “And, you know, I think this group, they like to train, you know, they’re competitors. I don’t know if it’s not kind of healthy to some degree, to have something to do to stay on task.
“And then obviously we’re doing everything we can to help support them, especially tonight. You know, Kelsee Gomes and Josh Thompson have worked extremely hard to provide them with resources, the training room. I want say, all parts of the organization here have kind of upped their game a bit to support the players in this time. So the number one thing at the top of the list here is the safety of our players, our staff and family. So we’re going to turn the page here once the storm has passed and focus on what’s next.”
Kickoff between the Gators and Eagles is scheduled for noon ET on Sunday, October 2 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
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