Friday Sports Update

The baseball trading deadline ends with a flurry of activity, a former Gator basketball player in the NBA is in town, a football poll is out and more in our Friday Sports Update…

** The Major League Baseball trading deadline has ended with a lot of activity and big names sent packing.   The Tampa Bay Rays trade pitcher David Price to Detroit, the Boston Red Sox unload just about everybody including pitcher Jon Lester to the Oakland A’s as several teams try to get better to reach and go far in the postseason.

** Former Gator basketball standout and current NBA star Corey Brewer will be in Gainesville and Ocala this weekend holding his annual camp for kids.

** The USA Today Coaches Preseason Football poll has been released and FSU, the defending national champion, is ranked number one.   Seven SEC teams are in the poll but Florida is not one of them, unranked for the first time since USA Today took over the poll in 1991.

** Better news for Florida on the recruiting front as it gets a verbal commitment from offensive lineman Mike Horton from Atlanta in the 2015 class.   Another Georgia product, linebacker Adonis Thomas, announces today for either Florida or Alabama.

** The Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies take place this weekend in Canton, Ohio.   The 2014 goes in that includes linebacker Derrick Brooks, wide receiver Andre Reed and defensive lineman Michael Strahan.

** Current Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice met with the media for the first time since his domestic violence incident with his then girlfriend and now wife.  He called the incident the “biggest mistake of my life” as his teammates attended the event in support of Rice and his apology to his wife and to the organization.