Bridget Sloan

wasn't just a standout student-athlete at Florida. She also was a died-in-the-wool Gator fan. She went to watch all the teams play, including every home football game, and recalls the time she saw her first honorary "Mr. Two Bits" performance."I'm so going to do that one day," she said.So, several times during her 31-time All-America career, she went to her coach, be it Rhonda Faehn or, and pleaded to get her out there on the field. No, she was told. Active student-athletes were not allowed. She kept asking, anyway. The answer (and NCAA rule) didn't change. Sloan, who won a silver medal with the USA gymnastics team at Beijing in 2008 and individual gold in all-around at the '09 World Championships at London, arrived at UF in the fall of 2012 and left with three consecutive team NCAA team championships, six individual national titles, and the 2013 Honda Award as the top collegiate gymnast in the country. She graduated in 2016 with a degree in telecommunications — the Southeastern Conference Female Athlete of the Year that same season, by the way — and entered the working world as a sales rep in Orlando. She still does some clinics as well as play-by-play work for SEC Network that keeps her around the sport.The whole "Mr. Two Bits" things sort of drifted from her consciousness.Until a couple weeks ago, when The Call came."I just started screaming," she said.Sloan will don the yellow shirt and orange and blue as this week's "Ms. Two Bits," the fourth female to be so honored, when the Gators (1-0) open Southeastern Conference play Saturday night against Kentucky (1-0) at Spurrier/Florida Field."You don't understand," Sloan said when asked about her level of excitement. "I've had goals over the course of my life. One was to make the Olympic team. One was to be a national champion. And, yes, one was to be Mr. Two Bits."This figures to be an altogether different kind of a floor routine than Sloan is used to.OK, make that a turf routine.She'll join the pair of softball superstars, Hannah Rodgers and Stacey Nelson, as well as gold-medalist and five-time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, as the only females to do the celebrity pregame chant since the tradition began in 2013. Obviously, she'll be the first gymnast.So, should we expect some acrobatics?Sloan, after all, may be the only Gator in history who can execute a front double-twist or a 1 1/2 twist into a front layout, all the while holding a "Two Bits" sign. Wouldn't that go over big with the crowd at the Swamp?"Um, that would be a hard 'no,' " said, Sloan now 26. "My flipping days are over. I tried a back tuck not too long ago. It turned out fine, but my body was hurting too much the next day."Then she paused and thought about it."Well, maybe if the crowd hypes me up enough I'll do something," Sloan said. "Then again, this is my big moment. Last thing I want to do is fall on my face."Doubtful. Sloan never fell on her face as a Gator. In fact, two of the eight 10s she popped in her career came against Kentucky.Here's betting, in her own own way, she nails a ninth.