Special to The Sun
The Florida men’s basketball program has received National Letters of Intent from three incoming freshmen for 2019 – Scottie Lewis, Tre Mann and Omar Payne – all of whom rate in the top 35 of the ESPN 100 rankings of the 2019 class.
“We’re happy to officially welcome these guys to the Florida family,” UF coach Mike White said. “Our goal is always to bring in guys who excel both on and off the court, and we expect these young men to be great additions to our team in both regards.”
The three signees will join the Gators for the 2019-20 season, as three current Gators will exhaust their eligibility this season: KeVaughn Allen, Kevarrius Hayes and Jalen Hudson.
Scottie Lewis
G | 6-5 | 185 | Colts Neck, N.J. | Ranney School
* Five-star wing who is an explosive athlete and exceptional finisher.
* Rated No. 13 in the ESPN 100 rankings.
* Competed in the 2018 NBPA Top 100 camp and participated in the 2016 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team minicamp.
Tre Mann
G | 6-4 | 185 | Gainesville, Fla. | The Villages
* Combo guard with range and the ability to facilitate, rated a five-star prospect by 247Sports and a four-star by ESPN.
* Rated No. 30 in the ESPN 100 rankings.
* Competed in the 2018 Pangos All-American camp.
Omar Payne
F | 6-9 | 210 | Kissimmee, Fla. | Montverde Academy
* Four-star big man with the ability to guard multiple positions.
* Prior to enrolling at Montverde, Payne played at Osceola and helped the team to a state championship.
* Rated No. 35 in the ESPN 100 rankings.
Congrats on making the best decision of your young lives! Very excited to see these three come in and crush the enemy!
Awesome post!
Welcome to Gator Nation young recruits! We will be cheering you all the way!!!
Awesome logo! Didn’t really care for it when they introduced it, but now it’s Gator history and tradition. Congrats young fellas, and Go Gators!
Thanks Joe.
this has got to be one of the better recruiting classes in the country and a reason to be excited about the future of basketball at UF. big guards are a good thing to have in todays game and athletic big men too. hopefully coach white is happy, if so, then I like where this program can go.
Our success will be determined by our 4 & 5 positions. Just like with Donovan’s teams. 1-3 is always pretty good. The difference between a good team and a great team for us is the 4 & 5. Need at least 3 very capable players and preferably 4. If we are constantly settling for outside shots, we’ll lose.
With these 3 we get 2 scorers and a big man. Once Hudson, Allen and Hayes leave we will get rid of the dead wood. With the current players and theses 3 additions we should have a great team. I can’t wait for next year.