Report: Florida Gators Forward Colin Castleton Receives Eligibility Waiver

The Florida Gators have received good news from the NCAA as forward Colin Castleton has been granted immediate eligibility.

Photo credit: Brandon Brown, Sports Illustrated-WolverineDigest

Florida Gators forward Colin Castleton has received a waiver from the NCAA granting him immediate eligibility after transferring from Michigan, as reported by Jeff Goodman of Stadium. He will be able to play in Florida's 2020-21 season, however it shapes out amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Castleton, who played high school ball for Father Lopez Catholic (Daytona Beach, Fla.), announced his plans to transfer to Florida on April 27th. During his career with the Wolverines, Castleton averaged six minutes per game in 44 appearances, recording 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds per game with a field goal percentage of 50 percent. He improved his field goal percentage from 40.9 percent as a freshman to 54 percent as a sophomore while more than doubling his minutes.

Following forward Kerry Blackshear Jr.'s graduation this offseason, Castleton's immediate eligibility is exactly the news head coach Mike White wanted to hear from the NCAA. Castleton is still growing as a defender but offers the length and frame to command the paint on both sides of the ball as a stretch four, as he continues developing. 

It will be intriguing to see if Castleton can continue shooting as effectively as he does with more minutes and opportunities. If so and should he meet his potential, the Gators could have quite the big-man to pair with All-SEC forward Keyontae Johnson.

Below, you can find a snippet of what Florida is getting in Castleton from Sports Illustrated-WolverineDigest's Brandon Brown. Sports Illustrated-AllGators' full interview with Brown regarding Castleton can be found here.

[Castleton]’s a very, very skilled big man. He can actually handle the ball off a shot fake and drive to the rim. He can step out and shoot it but didn’t really do it much at Michigan.

He’s long and pretty crafty around the rim when it comes to creating angles and getting up good shots as well. He definitely needs to get stronger and more aggressive on defense and when rebounding but he’s got a great frame to do just that.