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Walter Clayton Jr. becomes 1st Florida player to earn 1st-team All-America honors
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Walter Clayton Jr. just made history.
On Wednesday, Clayton became the 1st player in Florida basketball history to earn 1st-team All-America honors as the Sporting News included him on their team. Other selectors such as The Associated Press, the US Basketball Writers Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches have yet to release their teams for the 2024-25 season.
Clayton is the 1st Florida player to earn an All-America nod of any kind since Scottie Wilbekin in 2014.
Still, it’s somewhat surprising that Florida never produced a 1st-team All-American during the Billy Donovan era in Gainesville. Florida won 2 national championships during Donovan’s tenure, but All-America status proved to be more elusive. Udonis Haslem, Al Horford and Joakim Noah all earned 2nd-or-3rd team nods from various selectors, but never got 1st-team recognition. Neal Walk (1968 and 1969) is the only other Florida player to earn All-America recognition in program history.
Horford and Noah lost out to some college basketball legends during the primes of their Florida careers. JJ Redick, Acie Law, Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Adam Morrison and Shelden Williams are a few of the players who were named 1st-team All-Americans in 2006 and 2007.
Clayton had a tremendous season for the Gators. He led Florida to a 27-4 record during the regular season while scoring an efficient 17.2 points per game. Clayton and the Gators will be in action again on Friday during the quarterfinal round of the SEC Tournament.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
