Gators Back on Campus, Freshman DE Princely Umanmielen Shows off New Gear

The Florida Gators football team returns to campus and freshman Princely Umanmielen showcases his experience on YouTube.

The Florida Gators football team is back.

Last week, the Gators football team returned to campus as part of a multi-phased plan to ease the players back to normalcy amid the coronavirus which has disrupted the schedule of the entire world, especially the sporting world.

In their return, the Gators are under strict sanitary guidelines in an effort to limit or prevent any sort of outbreak of the coronavirus, which ultimately can cause the disease known as COVID-19. Players who have decided to return to campus on a voluntary basis will undergo strict health screenings, including a coronavirus test.

Last week, Florida Associate Athletic Director of Sports Health Dave Werner shared the news that 87 players had been tested with 80 results coming back, all negative. The remaining seven test results, which were pending when Werner and UF spoke with the media, have not been shared as of today.

On social media, the Gators football team shared a short video illustrating certain precautions the team will be taking, including a hand-washing station prior to entering the team's "new" weight room, which has been re-located to the team's indoor practice facility. Workouts are scheduled and the team limits how many student-athletes are able to participate at a time.

We're back. pic.twitter.com/Jjv6KRirMw

— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) June 13, 2020

In the video, Gators linebackers Ventrell Miller and James Houston IV are seen entering the facility, making sure to wash their hands before they enter.

"I mean it's a little precautionary washing my hands like this, but when we hit inside of there we're still getting it in," Miller said. "Ain't nothing changed, we're still getting that work."

Houston added, "Make sure you get them fingertips, get the wrist, all that, going to get that good work in today."

While the veterans are accustomed to a typical day in the life as a Florida student-athlete, others players, such as the team's freshmen, have yet to actually experience what it really means to be a Florida Gator. Their initial time at Florida will be a dramatic departure from what they'd typically go through on a year-to-year basis due to the ongoing pandemic.

One aspect of the change has been seen through the eyes of Gators freshman defensive end Princely Umanmielen, who hosts his own YouTube channel, "D1Princely", which he is currently using to document his freshman season at Florida. Last Friday, Umanmielen posted a video that shows his travel from his hometown of Manor (Tx.) to Gainesville Florida.

The freshman defensive end can be seen sporting an ever-popular facemask as he makes is way through the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport to his ultimate destination. Along the way, he spotted freshman defensive tackle, Jalen Lee, who indicated he would be in Gainesville for only a short time before returning briefly to Louisianna.

Because the freshmen dorms are not yet ready for students to live in yet - the school still needs to thoroughly clean each room -, the incoming freshmen are currently staying in a hotel, making a short trip to campus each day they are slated to workout.

In a more recent video, Umanmielen showed off his new gear provided by the school, including a bag, sweats, shirt, cut-off/combined shirt-hoodie, long sleeve shirt, fitted Florida hate, shorts, shoes, and a new sweater all Gators/Jordan brand, something student-athletes are excited about.

"We're gonna get a lot more stuff, but this is just what they issued us for workouts," he said.

On the sweater, Umanmielen said simply, "I won't be using this anytime soon because it's hot as hell in Florida right now." There is currently a high of 84 degrees in Gainesville, Florida right now.

Although it is very different from a typical Florida summer for these student-athletes, at least they're finally on campus. The Florida Gators are back.