Gators Unlikely Rise: From Under Recruited To No. 1 Seed

It's hard to imagine now that this dominant Gators' team was initally assembled with unranked talent

Tyler Carmona | Mar 21, 2025

These young guys have come a long way during their time with the Gators / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

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Florida Gators

As the Florida Gators men's basketball team (30-4) heads into the NCAA Tournament as a one-seed, it's worth noting how overlooked the players on this team once were.

No McDonald's All Americans. No five-star recruits. As a matter of fact, the team’s top two scorers were unranked prospects coming out of high school.

While the Gators may not be loaded with future lottery picks, the group is made up of selfless, effort-driven players.

Gators head coach Todd Golden, a former walk-on at St Mary's College, understands and has seemingly embraced the benefits of being overlooked.

“We think of our whole staff as kind of being underdogs,” said Golden. “And you know that mentality, that chip, is a big part of why I think this team has been successful.”

Crossing Over

During their high school days, three of the team's top contributors earned more attention for their talent as football players rather than their current sport.

First-Team All American guard Walter Clayton Jr was once a two-way star (wide receiver/defensive back) at Lake Wales High School (Fla.), even earning a verbal offer from Florida and other well-known schools like Georgia and Notre Dame.

Clayton Jr transferred to Bartow High School (Fla.) after his sophomore season, where he decided to focus on basketball. Despite leading the Yellow Jackets to two Florida 6A State Championships, the future SEC Tournament Player of the Year remained unranked as a basketball recruit, eventually earning a scholarship to Iona during his senior season.

Similarly, transfer guard Alijah Martin was a three-star quarterback with Division One offers from programs like Tulane and Southern Miss. but was also unranked as a basketball recruit. Martin went on to play at FAU, where he made the NCAA All-Tournament team in 2023, after leading the Owls to a surprise Final Four appearance.

And there's Alex Condon, the team's defensive anchor, who grew up playing Australian Rules Football before a six-inch growth spurt prompted him to direct his focus toward basketball. Despite switching sports four years ago, he showed enough potential to still be considered as a legitimate AFL prospect. Last summer, he signed a Category B rookie contract with the AFL’s Collingwood Magpies, allowing him to be paid before playing in the league.

Knowing Their Role

While some of the team's top role players may not boast the multi-sport background as the aforementioned former football stars, Will Richard (three-star/Belmont), Micah Handlogten (unranked/Marshall), and Sam Alexis (unranked/Chattanooga) earned their stripes at smaller universities before transferring over to Florida.

Richard was Golden’s first commitment out of the transfer portal upon taking the job at Florida back in 2022. The third-year head coach explained that one meeting with Richard was all it took to realize that he was dealing with a high-character individual.

“The funny thing is, out of the six guys that we saw on that trip, he was the only guy that ended up coming to Florida,” said Golden. “When we first met with him, we’re like, ‘Dude, this guy seems awesome. Great attitude, great eye contact, just super mature. If we can get this guy, I think it’d be a really good start’.”

Since arriving in Gainesville, Richard has scored more career-three pointers than any transfer in program history. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound combo-guard exemplifies the prototypical “three-and-D” player, leading the team in steals this season and having led the team in three-point shooting back in 2022.

Handlogten has been another key addition. Coming out of high school, the 7-foot-1, 235-pound center was unranked, with his only offer coming from Marshall. After earning Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year honors, Florida landed him in the transfer portal.

During his first season as a Gator, he posted the second-best single-season offensive rebound total in program history (108) before fracturing his leg in the SEC Championship Game. Late in the season, he decided to negate his medical redshirt and surprisingly returned late in the season, even serving as a key contributor to Florida’s SEC tournament semi-final win over Alabama (10 rebounds, four points, one block).

Leaving Their Mark

Although the team has a unique path, this isn’t a Cinderella Story. Florida is a legitimate title contender that hovered around the top five all season before winning the SEC Championship.

“I think we have really, really good individual talent in our program, but we have great team talent,” Golden said. “Our guys really enjoy playing together. They care about each other. There are real relationships in that locker room. I feel like you can see that when you watch our team play.”

With the tournament in full effect, plenty of teams will crumble in the face of adversity. Florida, on the other hand, was built by it.