GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Strolling down a sidewalk in New York on Friday, I got a text that revealed the tallest experiment in Gators football history was public knowledge.

I knew exactly what that meant: this is going viral.

The event took place in early May in the quiet of the team’s indoor practice facility.

“Me and Joe were just having lunch in the dining hall one day, and the guy walks by and we’re thinking about, you know, man, what is the guy’s reach and then what’s the guy’s vertical jump relative to the launch point of the block spot,” Gators head coach Billy Napier said Tuesday. “So, we did a little bit of homework on that, and it’s to be determined, is what I would say.”

Napier is talking about 7-foot-9 Gators center Olivier Rioux, the world’s tallest teenager according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Napier and Gators special-teams coordinator Joe Houston, after Napier asked UF basketball coach Todd Golden, invited Rioux over to the practice facility to see what he could do as a towering tree on the field-goal block unit.

“I like the idea,” UF basketball coach Todd Golden told reporters last week at a booster event. “I give them credit for trying it.”

When I first heard about the experiment a couple of months ago, I inquired about writing a fun and breezy story on the unusual research by Napier and Houston. But time passed, nothing materialized, and it looked like the novelty was lost to the dustbin until Golden shared the story a few days ago.

Houston explained the reasoning for “thinking outside the box” on Wednesday.

“We are looking for every competitive advantage we can get, period,” Houston said. “There’s too much competition in this conference. The level of play in this conference, the coaching in this conference, the athleticism in this conference, you are trying to do everything you can to create an edge.”

When I first heard about it, my initial reaction was that I had about as much chance at being DJ Lagway’s backup this season as Rioux has ever running onto the field in shoulder pads and a helmet. But after some thought, hey, why not?

If the mere presence of Rioux across the line distracted the kicker or if somehow, he and his 11-inch vertical leap got off the ground enough to do the unthinkable – block a kick – can you imagine the buzz in the crowd if Rioux came out of the tunnel on a Saturday at The Swamp?

That would have been fun in the sun on steroids.

But, alas, it appears Rioux won’t be the world’s tallest teenager and football player.

“There’s not much steam to it,” Houston said. “I don’t have a crystal ball, but I don’t see it going forward too much more.”

The 19-year-old Rioux, who redshirted last season and spent the summer playing for the U-19 Canadian National Team – he was even used to guard inbound passes, another chance to showcase a wingspan about the width of the Florida peninsula – continues to improve on the basketball court.

In his latest round of internet stardom, Rioux is featured in an Instagram reel by Mr. Beast, a YouTube sensation who my kids introduced me to about three years ago.

 

In his brief time at UF, Rioux has won a national championship, visited the White House, put on a football helmet for a day and been complimented by President Trump for his good looks.

And, of course, gone viral.

After returning from New York, I checked to see how far and wide the Gators’ experiment reached on the internet. The New York Post, Outkick.com, Barstool Sports, Daily Mail, TMZ Sports, ESPN.com and countless other online outlets picked up the story.

That’s a lot of clicks over a few kicks.