How to celebrate homecoming at UF

The University of Florida’s Homecoming & Gator Growl will take place Thursday, Oct. 5 in the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center with doors opening at 6 p.m. Jason Derulo will headline this year’s Gator Growl with Sammy Adams opening and Johnny Townsend hosting.

This year marks 100 years of Homecoming & Gator Growl at UF. Homecoming & Gator Growl is a week of events including the Homecoming Leadership Pageant, Soulfest, Festival, Gator Gallop, Parade, and Gator Growl. 

Johnny Townsend is the executive director of the Johnny Townsend Foundation, which aims to support pediatric patients at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital. Townsend has always felt a need to give back, especially to the Gainesville community. Townsend played for the Florida Gators as a punter from 2013-2017. He became Florida’s all-time leading punter in program history. After his college career, Townsend was drafted by the Oakland Raiders and played in the NFL for three years.

After graduating from UF, Townsend founded the Johnny Townsend Foundation, fulfilling his goal of creating a foundation to give back to his community. Since its founding in 2017, the Johnny Townsend Foundation has put on and sponsored multiple events, including Gator Gallop, and raised tens of thousands of dollars for the Shands and Gainesville community.

Jason Derulo is an American singer and songwriter from Miramar, FL. Since beginning his career in 2009, he has sold over 250 million singles worldwide, including eleven platinum singles. His single “Whatcha Say” was number one in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009. In June 2020, his single “Savage Love” went viral on TikTok and the remix reached number one in the United States.

Students and the general public can still purchase tickets at www.gatorgrowl.org or at the O’Connell Center Box Office.

Doors will open for Gator Growl at 6 p.m. with the show starting at 7 p.m. The
O’Connell Center is located at 250 Gale Lemerand Drive, Gainesville, Florida 32611.

This week honors past, present, and future Gators and celebrates students and alumni with the Gainesville community. Gator Growl is the largest student-run pep rally in the nation and the spotlight of homecoming week at UF.

For more information, visit www.gatorgrowl.org or follow UF Homecoming & Gator
Growl on social media (@HCGatorGrowl).