Rioux took a break from basketball, where he remains a long-term project for coach Todd Golden, to try his hand at blocking field goals and extra points for the Gators’ football team. The 19-year-old Canadian’s try out didn’t earn him a role for the 2025 Gators, but there still could be time.

Florida basketball player Olivier Rioux, a 7-foot-9 center who played for the Under-19 Canadian national team this summer, recently worked out for the Gators' football team.

Florida’s football coach brought in Olivier Rioux, a 7-foot-9 redshirt freshman basketball player for the Gators, to work out with the hope that he could help block field goals and extra points. “I like the idea,” Gators basketball coach Todd Golden said at a booster event Thursday, per the Associated Press .”I give them credit for trying it.”