Right guard Joshua Braun transferred to Arkansas in January after three seasons in Gainesville. Braun was once committed to Sam Pittman at Georgia, but decommitted to attend Florida when Arkansas hired his lead recruiter as its head coach. Pittman talked about maintaining a good relationship with Braun upon leaving Georgia.
"I think it’s more important that, just when you leave," Pittman said. "Like you’re recruiting somebody and they decide to go to another … I think it’s more important in how you are when that happens to you. Mine was different because I got the head coaching job at Arkansas and I don’t know maybe a couple of days later he de-committed from Georgia and went to Florida.
"But I think it all depends on how you handle the situation when you’re the loser in the recruiting process. If you handle it the right way you obviously have a chance to get them back. This was a little bit different. I had a really good relationship with him and his family and right when he went into the portal he called and we said ‘Sure we certainly would be interested in having you here’ and it’s worked out well for us."
Pittman talked about Braun playing against his old team on Saturday.
"Yeah, I really don’t," Pittman said. "You know, Josh and I go a long way back because I recruited him when I was at the University of Georgia. But, I really don’t know. Haven’t spoken to him about going back to Florida or anything of that nature. He’s been valuable to us. Obviously, he’s started for us all year and has been a valuable asset for our football team. But, I have not spoken to him about necessarily going back to Florida."
Florida Coach Billy Napier was asked about Braun who he coached briefly before the guard went into the transfer portal.
"Yeah, no, a ton of respect for Josh," Napier said. "Josh was a class act and a guy that’s really smart and had character. He did a good job while I was here. I thought he did a good job representing the university. He got his degree. Wish him nothing but the best."
Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson also chimed in on Braun returning to Florida for the game.
"I feel like he’ll be fired up about it, just knowing it’s his former team," Jefferson said. "He’s played in that stadium. He knows what to expect, so I feel like he’s going to be fired up about it. He’s come into practice with a different mindset, a very competitive mindset. A different edge. I feel like he has a lot going into this game and he just wants to prove himself and have fun with it."
While PIttman hasn't specifically talked to Braun about returning to Florida on Saturday he's very pleased to have a second chance at coaching him.
"Josh is tough," Pittman said. "He’s played hurt quite a bit this year. I think he’ll be as healthy as had. I’m sure it’ll be an exciting point for him to go back to Florida and to be able to play in that game. He’s a quiet kid so he would never say anything, but obviously, anyone that transfers from somewhere and they go back and have the opportunity to play, they want to play well. Maybe a little extra motivation there.
"Josh has had a good season for us. Lord knows where we’d be if he didn’t come in here. I look for him to continue to improve each week and he still has 2 years after this to help us on further than that."
As a freshman for Florida, Braun played in all 11 games as a reserve in 2020. In 2021, he started seven of the 13 games. But Dan Mullen, who recruited him, left following the season things were never the same for Braun. He played in two games for Napier in 2022 before opting to leave the team.
He was a consensus four-star recruit coming out of Live Oak (Fla.) Suwanee High School in the Class of 2020.
Arkansas and Florida will kickoff at 11 a.m. on Saturday and televised on ESPN2.
