7-foot-9-inch college athlete won’t play this year

College basketball fans will have to wait another year to see a Canadian teenager who holds the Guinness World Record for his height make his college basketball debut.
Olivier Rioux, a University of Florida freshman, is expected to redshirt this season and return next year as a freshman, Florida coach Todd Golden said Thursday, according to ESPN.
Standing 7 feet, 9 inches tall, Rioux, who holds the world record for tallest male teenager, has stood out this season among his teammates and competitors, even on the bench.
Golden said he wanted to make it clear that Rioux is not planning to play this season so that fans will stop chanting his name, calling for him to get in the game.
“Honestly, it’s put him in a tough situation. He’s sitting over there at the end of games and everybody’s yelling at him and trying to get him out there. They just hadn’t understood that that was our potential plan for him,” Golden said, according to ESPN.
If Rioux does not play this season, he will return next year with four seasons of college eligibility, according to ESPN.
Golden hinted that the plan to redshirt Rioux could change, but said it’s not likely.
“I’m not saying that’s 100% going to be the plan. We’ll continue to talk to him and see if he changes what he wants to do,” Golden said. “But as of right now, that’s the plan that we’re going to have with him as we move forward.”
When he does eventually make his debut for the Gators, Rioux is expected to set a new record as the tallest player to play college basketball, according to The Associated Press.
The freshman center grew up in Terrebonne, Quebec, according to his player profile, but competed in high school at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
He comes from a tall family, with a mom who is 6 feet, 2 inches; a dad who is 6 feet, 8 inches; and a brother who is 6 feet, 9 inches, according to his Guinness World Record profile.
Rioux told The Associated Press that being gawked at due to his height is something he takes in stride because it’s something he grew up with.
Rioux, who started playing basketball at age 5, was 6 feet tall by the age of 8 and 7 feet tall before entering seventh grade.
“You get asked questions every day,” Rioux told the AP. “You don’t have a single three seconds to yourself when you’re outside, which I was fine with, because my brother and my dad are tall. And as a family, we used to go out. That’s just how it was, and you can’t change that because people are curious.”
Rioux, who goes by “Oli,” entered Florida as a preferred walk-on for the basketball team. According to the AP, he can dunk a basketball without his feet leaving the ground.
Golden told the AP ahead of Monday night’s game that he expects Rioux to quickly become a major draw for the Gators, both because of his play and his size.
“That one we can see coming from a mile away,” Golden said. “About 95% of my conversations with random people about our team are about him. It’s the first time we’ve been ranked since 2019 and it’s like, ‘Hey, coach, we’re really excited to see Oli out there this year.’ And I get it, man. He’s a very unique individual.”