Swooping back to the First Coast: Andrew Riley, Brett Schell to transfer to North Florida
A loaded men’s golf team returning for the 2023-24 season at the University of North Florida just got deeper as two First Coast players return home.
Andrew Riley, a Creekside graduate who won the NCAA Division II national championship this spring for Palm Beach Atlantic and Brett Schell, a Bartram Trail graduate who was playing at Mississippi, confirmed their intention to transfer to UNF to the Florida Times-Union.
Both are past Times-Union high school players of the year and have two years of college eligibility remaining. Riley and Schell have a combined 47 college starts and both have won tournaments, Riley at the NCAA Division II Southeast regional in Davie and the national tournament in Warren, Ohio; and Schell at the 2023 All-American Intercollegiate Individual at the Golf Club of Houston.
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Riley posted 11 top-10s and 17 top-25s in 20 college starts with a scoring average of 71.6. Schell had four top-10s and seven top-25s in 27 starts with a scoring average of 72.88. He also was a two-time member of the SEC All-Academic team.
Riley said UNF coach Scott Schroeder recruited him harder than any coach when he was at Creekside and in junior tournaments but said he waited too long to make his decision after his senior season.
“It didn’t work out at the time and going to Palm Beach was the best thing I could have done,” Riley said. “I’ve always had a good relationship with coach Schroeder. He was the first Division I coach to show me any interest and he called me after almost every tournament I played. After winning the Division II regional and national championship, I really couldn’t do anything better and I wanted the challenge of playing on a really good Division I team that plays a lot of big events. It’s a no-brainer for me.”
Riley also visited South Carolina, Auburn and Ole Miss.
Schell will earn his undergraduate degree at Ole Miss later this summer and will begin a Master’s program in Science Management at UNF. He said he did not take lightly the decision to leave Oxford.
“I got to live out my childhood dream of playing at an SEC school and couldn’t have enjoyed my four years any more,” he said. “I received valuable coaching and lifelong relationships. I felt it was to my advantage to make a change, which was fortunate due to the extra year given [because of the COVID-19 pandemic].”
Schroeder was unable to comment because the transfer process had not yet been completed for both student-athletes.
Riley and Schell are aware of the competition they’ll face. The Ospreys are returning three of five starters from a team that qualified for a 13th NCAA tournament in a row and came one shot from reaching the NCAA national championship at a regional in Norman, Okla.
Three-time All-ASUN player Nick Gabrelcik is back, along with Robbie Higgins and Davis Lee. Also on the team will be another past Times-Union player of the year, Jason Duff, plus incoming recruits Danny Erickson and Stefan Ink, two starters during Ponte Vedra High’s recent run of state championships.
“There are a lot of great players on this team,” Riley said. “Brett and I are going to have to push ourselves to compete. There are 12 guys who can beat anyone on any given day.”
Schell said returning to the First Coast was his primary consideration.
“I am looking forward to [playing] new golf courses, valuable coaching and the ability to be back in the best city in the country,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Andrew Riley, Brett Schell transfer to UNF to continue college careers
