Kenny Boynton is Here to Save the Florida Gators
Words. Jason Jordan
Before John Wall was hogging headlines, there was an equally fierce recruiting war being waged over Florida’s top combo guard Kenny Boynton. In the end he chose to stay home to try and bring the Florida Gators back to prominence.
But over the last few months the proverbial wheels have been appearing to fall off in Gainesville, making Boynton’s commitment invaluable. We chatted with him about everything from his prediction for next season to why he had to nearly shoot Florida coach Billy Donovan with a dart gun.
HighSchoolHoop: From transfers to returnees to NBA Draft entrees, there’s been a lot of movement at Florida over the past couple of months. What’s your take?
Kenny Boynton: Yeah there was a lot going on. But honestly all of their reasons were fairly reasonable. DeShawn (Painter) was worried about the scholarship situation and didn’t want to take that chance. Nick Calathes had a good year, and I expected him to enter the NBA Draft. Alex Tyus actually surprised me, but he ended up coming back. (Allan) Chaney had got into some trouble so I knew he wasn’t gonna be there.
HSH: Do you expect Calathes to come back?
KB: I don’t expect him to come back because right now I think the NBA is talking pretty good.
HSH: Does that mean you could be running the point next season?
KB: Possibly. Erving Walker can run the point too. Coach Donovan hasn’t talked about me running the point or anything like that. But I know that if I need to, I can definitely run the point. I don’t worry about that.
HSH: Florida hasn’t challenged for a national title or an SEC title since winning back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007. Can you get the Gators back to prominence?
KB: Definitely. I feel like everything will be in my hands, and I plan to make a good situation out of it. I know that we’ll go out and work harder than the next team.
HSH: Now that everything is over and you’re headed to Gainesville, who did it really come down to?
KB: I’ll tell you - It came down to Florida and Duke.
HSH: Did you have to call Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and tell him you chose Florida?
KB: To be honest, he was the only coach I let my dad call. I didn’t want to call him. I knew that was the one school that thought they had me. Same if I would’ve went to Duke, I would’ve had my dad call Florida.
HSH: What was the best recruiting tactic a coach used on you?
KB: It was definitely the Nerf dart gun that Billy Donovan used. He really wanted to prove to my family that he cared about me as a person. He told us that he wasn’t gonna talk like a recruiter, he was gonna talk from the heart. And he said the minute we felt like he was recruiting to pick the gun up and shoot him.
HSH: And did you have to shoot him?
KB: Well, he said that my grandmother could sit on the bench and (Florida assistant) coach (Rob) Lanier said ‘OK, time to pick the gun up now!’
HSH: What was your biggest accomplishment in high school?
KB: Probably being a McDonald’s All-American.
HSH: What’s your prediction for how the Gators will do next season?
KB: We’ll get to the tournament and make some noise. We’ll have a few upsets and if everything goes according to plan we’ll be at the Final Four surprising a lot of people.
HSH: When do you report to Gainesville?
KB: June 20.
HSH: Lastly, how have you coped with losing to me one-on-one twice?
KB: (Laughs) Maaaaaaan! Oh my God! I let you win. I let you win. The next time we get up I’m going to beat you 11-0. That’s it! Come on, you know I let you win right? Oh I can’t wait to play you again!