By deciding to finish his last season of college eligibility at Central Florida next season, Powers grad and Michigan State transfer Tom Herzog was looking for a chance to play more. By the sounds of it, he’ll also be playing in an up-tempo system. From Central Florida Future
Some highlights of the strength and conditioning program include guard Marcus Jordan, who is reported to have cut his body fat by 4 percent, as well as fellow C-USA All-Freshmen Team member Keith Clanton, who said he feels like he is in the best shape of his life.
Michigan State transfer Tom Herzog, a 7-foot center, echoed similar sentiments. “It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, the running we had to do,” said Herzog.
The fact that Herzog didn’t play much at MSU has been well-documented. It doesn’t sound like he’ll have problems getting minutes at UCF, according to FloridaToday.com
Herzog won’t be any slouch, either. (Point guard A.J.) Rompza remembered the first time the two played in open gym and the point guard had to take a moment to be sure that it really was the 7-footer out in front of him on the break. After passing the ball to Herzog for a dunk, the Michigan State transfer, who went to two Final Fours, blocked a shot on the defensive end.
I already spurred quite the discussion with my thoughts on Herzog’s MSU tenure (seems there are some really huge Garrick Sherman supporters out there, based on a lot of the comments on that link), so I won’t bother re-hashing. Herzog seems to be in a good situation at UCF, and he’ll also get a chance to claim something not many basketball players can: most likely, Michael Jordan will be watching a lot of UCF games this season since his sons, Marcus and Jeff, play for Central Florida.
– Patrick Hayes