The annual Orange & Blue Debut will be held Friday night for the first time.
The Spring football game is usually held on a Saturday afternoon, but it is being held earlier so the team can play at night, football coach Jim McElwain said. The Orange & Blue Debut, where half of UF’s football team plays against the other half, will be Friday at 7 p.m. in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Admission will be free for everyone.
Flavet Field and the Stephen C. O’Connell Center parking garage will be reserved for fan parking, according to the Florida Gators website. Flavet parking opens at 3 p.m., and the O’Connell Center garage opens at 3:30 p.m. Shuttles will also run from the Commuter Lot on Gale Lemerand Drive starting at 3:30 p.m.
McElwain addressed the change in a press conference Friday. He said it would also prepare new players, who came to UF in Spring, for Fall games. The Fall season opener is usually at night.
“As you know, in the Fall we try to do different practices at different times simply to prepare you for the different times you’re going to play during the day” he said. “So that’s part of it.”
He also said it would give the team more time to spend with recruits.
“We can spend quality time with them, showing them the campus, the unofficial visits, all the new things we have facility wise,” McElwain said.
Ruth Antony, a UF biology sophomore, said she has been to almost every football game since coming to UF, including the Orange & Blue Debuts.
“It kind of gives you a preview of next season,” the 19-year-old said. “It’s a good foreshadowing.”
She said last year’s Saturday game was more convenient because it wasn’t on a day with classes. She said she wouldn’t skip class to go to the game.
But Friday night won’t be as hot as last year’s game, she said.
“I remember it being very, very hot,” she said. “You know, that whole summer-in-Gainesville feeling.”
Bobby Vanderzalm, a UF management junior, said he would enjoy a Friday night game more.
“Since it’s a Friday night, I’m more receptive because I’ve already done my work for the day,” the 21-year-old said.
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