Two years ago, after a season filled with success and promise, Micah Handlogten suffered a fractured leg in Florida's SEC Tournament championship game against Auburn.
As he continued his recovery, he planned to redshirt the 2024-25 season to preserve a year of eligibility. However, as Florida's season progressed, he decided to return to the court and forgo redshirting the season.
The move eventually proved fruitful when Handlogten averaged 4.2 rebounds and provided valuable minutes off the bench during the Gators’ championship run.
Now, the Lake Norman, North Carolina, native eyes a return to the court for his first full season since his freshman year.
'He's playing great right now and [is] as healthy as he's been in a long time," head coach Todd Golden said. "You can tell his confidence continues to grow."
Coming off the injury, he was somewhere between 18% and 17% body fat, but during the offseason, he went down to 9%.
"I'm hovering right around 260 pounds now, feeling strong, feeling mobile, which is the biggest thing for me as I wanted to gain strength but to keep mobility," he said. "I definitely can hold my own a lot more."
Beyond losing weight, Handlogten took time during the offseason to improve his offensive game. Throughout his time in college, the Lake Norman, North Carolina native said that he was always a good passer, but now, he focuses even more on scoring off the bench.
Off the court, he has also had to expand his role as a leader.
Unlike last year, this team's leaders are in the frontcourt. With Handlogten being one of the older players on the team, he’s learning to adopt a role as a mentor for the younger players and newcomers.
"We realized that we obviously don't have those three senior guards that were our leaders, and so someone had to step up," he said. "We all kind of took it upon ourselves as the returners to take that step."
Handlogten may not be the primary starting center for this year's team, but his impact is expected to be of the same value. As things stand, he is unarguably the top big man off the bench and has cemented himself as the first substitute if either junior Alex Condon or Rueben Chinyelu are subbed out of a game.
During the offseason and practices, Chinyelu and Handlogten spent a considerable amount of time training hard against each other, creating a highly competitive atmosphere. Handlogten compared it to iron sharpening iron.
"Just being able to go out there and play with guys like that, just being able to play hard, play against guys that want to play hard, it helps everything because you have raised the bar," Chinyelu said. "It helps you get better and it helps him get better."
Handlogten would not be where he is today without transferring from Marshall after his freshman season. He entered his sophomore year looking to make an impact on the SEC stage, following in his father's footsteps who played for the Nets and Jazz.
He started in 32 of the 33 games he appeared in his sophomore year, averaging 5.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. His 108 offensive rebounds were the second-highest for a single season in program history, and his 17.9% offensive rebound rate was fourth-best in the nation for the 2023-24 season.
His future appeared bright until he fractured his leg against Auburn, altering the Gators’ outlook in the NCAA Tournament, which ended in just one game against Colorado.
After 18 months of sitting on the sidelines, anxiously waiting to get back on the court, Handlogten made his return.
In his opening game against South Carolina, Handlogten had a career-high five assists along with two blocks and two steals. His experience was a key factor to Florida's route to its third national championship.
"He was a huge reason why we won last year," Golden said. "Him coming back, his usefulness, his willingness to give up half of his year to be a part of it, he played such an important role."
With about a month until the team opens its campaign in Las Vegas, Nevada, against Arizona, Handlogten's teammates feel confident in his ability to finish his time at Florida on a high note.
"I think he's one of the best centers in America," forward Thomas Haugh said. "He was a huge reason why we won last year ... I think he will be even more impactful for this year's team than he was last year."
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Fall 2025 enterprise and men's basketball beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams.
