Viral Florida walk-on Bennett Andersen surprised with NIL scholarship ahead of Final Four

It has been a whirlwind few days for Florida’s Bennett Andersen.

The walk-on guard made his 9th appearance of the season in UF’s Sweet 16 win, scoring for the 2nd time in the 2024-25 campaign. He then went viral on social media after a postgame interview in the Florida locker room.

Now, he’s getting a surprise NIL deal. A representative of the Walk-On’s sports restaurant chain stopped by UF practice in Gainesville to inform Andersen of a $10,000 scholarship from the restaurant provided as NIL compensation.

Florida basketball’s official X account posted the video of Andersen being surprised with a check from the sports restaurant chain.

the heart of a walk-on Bennett “Buckets” Andersen pic.twitter.com/R7WEnh0V71

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) April 1, 2025

Andersen, nicknamed “Buckets,” has scored twice this season. He played 1 minute in the Gators’ Sweet 16 win over Maryland. Andersen’s postgame interview with UF student reporter Talia Baia of ESPN Gainesville went viral on social media, generating national media attention and more than 8.6 million views at the time of publishing.

Caught up with Bennett “Buckets” Anderson after the game on what he looks forward to in the Elite 8!

“Hopefully these guys take care of business so I can play again, hopefully I can get another bucket” pic.twitter.com/bo31tHqabg

— Talia Baia (@talia_baia) March 28, 2025

Andersen certainly did not expect the spotlight, but his focus is undoubtedly on the task ahead for the Gators in the Final Four against Auburn on Saturday.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.