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Florida’s 6-foot-11 freshman wins appeal, eligible immediately

Mississippi State v Florida

GAINESVILLE, FL - JANUARY 19: Head coach Mike White of the Florida Gators gestures during the game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on January 19, 2016 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

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Florida received some good news on Thursday evening, as freshman big man Gorjok Gak won his appeal and is eligible to play this season for the Gators.

Back in July, the 6-foot-11 freshman was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for playing in games during the spring semester of his postgraduate year at Victory Rock Prep. He was only suppose to play until December, but appeared in all the games in 2016.

“I’m extremely happy for Gorjok,” second-year head coach Mike White said in a statement. “Our administration spent a lot of time fighting for him and during that time, despite assuming he wouldn’t be eligible to play this season, Gorjok was a steady contributor at our practices with his work ethic.”

The Australian will join the frontline John Egbunu and Kevarrius Hayes. More importantly, he gets the year of eligibility back. Originally, he was suppose to lose the entire year, giving him only three seasons in Gainesville.

Gak was originally an Oklahoma State pledge, but was able to reopen his recruitment after the school and Travis Ford parted ways. He was considered a three-star recruit by Rivals.

The Gators open the 2016-17 season against Florida Gulf Coast in Jacksonville. The team bus had already left, but Gak will be available for Friday night’s opener.