Gator Country Magazine - June 2007

Springing into Fall: Inside Gator Football Preview p. 37

JULY 2007

JULY2007 2007 JULY

Volume 1 Issue 1 1 VOLUME 1, ISSUE

Photo by Tim Casey

7 Once in a Lifetime

23 Mom Knows Best

37 Springing into Fall

12 The Best Ever?

29 Loss for Words

42 Bloom of Spring Football

The class of 2004 exceeds expectations.

Five UF starters define their place in college basketball history.

18 Night Out

Gainesville parties hard after Gators win another basketball championship.

Florida’s Chris Richard learned a lot of life lessons growing up.

Cris Collinsworth has become a big hit as an NFL analyst.

32 Sarasota’s Finest

Gator Todd Johnson takes pride in giving to those who need his help.

Gator Country takes a detailed look at Florida’s football team.

Column by Buddy Martin.

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GATOR COUNTRY

From the Editor

The Magazine

We know about the famous fathers and their sons. There’s Yannick Noah and Joakim; Sidney Green and Taurean; and Tito Horford and Al.

PUBLISHER Raymond Hines III

But Gator Country’s Franz Beard tells us about Chris Richard and a special mother, who taught her son the value of personal responsibility, accountability and sacrifice, attributes that helped Florida’s basketball team to consecutive national championships, a concept considered unthinkable before coach Billy Donovan arrived on campus in the mid 1990s.

EDITOR Mike Hodge CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Franz Beard Bob Redman Mark McLeod PHOTOGRAPHER Tim Casey

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an affiliate

A selfless warrior of a power forward, Richard served ably as part of a threeman frontcourt rotation that smothered opponents with quality depth. He was joined by Noah and Horford, who along with swingman Corey Brewer and Green formed the ‘04s, the foursome that enrolled at Florida three years ago, providing the foundation for the Gators’ improbable run.

Think about it. Florida was not even nationally ranked in November of 2005.

Nearly two years later, the starting five of Green, Brewer, Horford, Noah and Lee Humphrey made history when they became the first team since Duke (1991-92) to repeat. Given that, we at GC thought it might be interesting to reflect on this group’s legacy, what they accomplished, more important what they will be remembered for.

Although basketball captured the hearts of Gator fans everywhere much of this winter, football has not been forgotten. Hollywood Bob Redman provides an in-depth look at Urban Meyer’s squad, position by position, following spring practice, an insightful read.

Few hit harder than Todd Johnson, a rugged safety during his years in Florida’s defensive backfield. But as GC’s Mark McLeod discovers, Johnson gives more than he takes, particularly when it comes to his hometown of Sarasota.

This is Gator Country’s first magazine. We at GC have tried to give the reader a little bit of everything this month as we head into the dog days of summer.

The blur of deadlines makes it hard to remember who did what. But a few thank-yous are due. For Tim Casey, our photographer, who nailed a slew of great action shots at the Final Four. For Ray Hines, the GC publisher, who not only created the momentum to start the magazine, but also rolled up his sleeves and handled the bulk of the layout.

So the first edition, it’s fair to say, was a team effort. Just like basketball.

Enjoy.

Mike Hodge - Editor

GATOR COUNTRY MAGAZINE is printed 10 times a year by Gator Country Multimedia, Inc., 9200 NW 39th Ave, Suite 130, PMB#133, Gainesville, FL 32606. Subscriptions are $49.97 annually. The magazine is included with an online GatorCountry.com subscription which also includes ESPN Magazine and ESPN Insider. Single copy rate is $4.97. SUBSCRIBERS: If the postal service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within two years. POSTMASTER: Please send all change of address forms to Gator Country Multimedia, Inc., 9200 NW 39th Ave, Suite 130, PMB#133, Gainesville, FL 32606. Please allow two to three weeks for a change of address. We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable companies. If you prefer to be excluded, please email or call us. ©2007 GATOR COUNTRY MULTIMEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.

Photo by Tim Casey

Once In A Lifetime by Franz Beard

Gator Country

Once in a Lifetime T

The class of 2004 exceeds expectations and weaves its way to two magical seasons before departing

hey were not supposed to be this good. They weren’t supposed to be anywhere near this good. They were supposed to be a recruiting class that was perhaps good enough to keep Florida winning 20 games a year but national championships?

Those were supposedly reserved for another Southeastern Conference school with its recruiting class that some were saying might be one of the best ever.

Corey Brewer was the Florida headliner in 2004, a McDonald’s All-America from Portland, Tenn., who was rail thin and known more for defense than offense.

The other three players in the class --Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Taurean Green --- were better known as the sons of famous fathers. Good players? Yes. Great players, the kind that can take you to a championship?

Not a lot of people thought so.

Horford wanted to go to Miami to follow in the footsteps of his dad, Tito.

Noah wanted to go to Georgetown, but the Hoyas never offered the son of former French Open champ Yannick Noah and former Miss Sweden and first runner-up Miss Universe Cecilia Rodhe.

Green, the son of former UNLV AllAmerica and NBA vet Sidney Green was Florida’s consolation prize point guard after Jordan Farmar chose UCLA over the Gators. Green was on the verge of signing with Florida State when Florida offered. Brewer wanted to be a Kentucky Wildcat, but Kentucky had no room in a class that had three other McDonald’s All-Americas (Randolph Morris, Joe Crawford and Rajon Rondo) and quite frankly, UK was never impressed enough with Brewer to even offer a scholarship.

They visited Brewer at his high school, watched him work out and left thinking he was too skinny and not talented enough to play for Kentucky. With Ramel Bradley filling out their class, Kentucky fans were already counting the trips to the Final Fours and hanging the banners from the Rupp Arena Rafters.

A funny thing happened on the

way to climb the ladder to cut down those championship nets. That class of Kentucky destiny never panned out and never won any sort of championship ring. Rondo left early for the pros, Morris left after the 2007 season. Crawford and Bradley will be back for their senior seasons, but they’ll be playing for new coach Billy Gillispie now that Tubby Smith has departed Kentucky for a less of a pressure cooker coaching situation at the University of Minnesota.

Meanwhile at Florida, that pretty good class of recruits went from relatively unknown to very, very special in three years. They won 92 games and lost only 19. In their three years at Florida, the Gators won nine straight games and three straight championships at the SEC Tournament. They won one regularseason SEC title. In the postseason they won 18 straight games and back-toback NCAA championships, Florida’s first national championships ever in basketball. The Gators became the first team to win back to back NCAA titles since Duke (1991-92) and only the second team to do it in the post-UCLA domination era (1967-73). The Gators are the only SEC team other than Kentucky (1948-49) to win two national titles in a row.

Critics said the recruiting class of 2004 was solid, but not top five in the nation caliber. Brewer was seen as the only immediate impact player since he could fill a void on the wing and give the Gators defensive quickness they lacked on the perimeter. Horford was seen as a potential backup in the post and both Noah and Green were viewed as projects.

Donovan knew all four of these kids had talent, but he really wasn’t certain what he was getting. The critics told him he was in for some long days.

Donovan recalled, “Heck, people were telling me when I recruited Horford, you better get better help if you want to compete in the SEC, those guys are projects. Maybe by the time they’re juniors maybe they can help you.”

And there was one other minor little

Once In A Lifetime by Franz Beard

Gator Country problem. Donovan wasn’t even sure that Horford and Noah would get along.

“I remember recruiting a guy like Jo and saying there is no way that he and Al Horford will get along,” said Donovan in Atlanta the day before Florida beat Ohio State for its second straight national championship.

Not only did Horford and Noah get along, but they became close as any two brothers. They roomed with Brewer and Green and quickly became known as “The 0-Fours” because they all came to Florida at the same time. There were great players at Florida before the 0-Fours and there will be great players in the future, but never will there be four quite like Brewer, Green, Horford and Noah. For a school that had only pockets of success prior to Billy Donovan’s arrival, the 0-Fours qualify as basketball legends at the University of Florida.

“Once in a lifetime,” said Florida associate head coach Larry Shyatt.

“You’ll never see four kids like this ... never again. Four kids who were focused on all the right things. I mean, they had their faults and they made mistakes --- tell me what 19, 20, 21-year old doesn’t make them --- but they were always about the things that were right and good. They really did care about each other. They really did care about their teammates. They really were all about putting others ahead of them. I don’t know if you’ll ever find four kids that unselfish ever again.” *** Horford, Green and Brewer were the first to arrive on campus in the summer of 2004. They had already moved into the dorm and found their way to the gym before Noah arrived. Horford had grown up in the Dominican Republic, but he finished high school in Michigan where his dad lived. Green was from Fort Lauderdale and Brewer from the small town in Tennessee. They bonded quickly.

“The first time I saw Corey and Al, the first thing we did was go to the gym,” said Green. “That’s the first thing we did.

We played one-on-one and 21. Then Jo came. The first thing we did was get his clothes changed and we started playing two-on-two.”

They were in the gym when Noah

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arrived, a beanpole 6-11 with political views that matched his mind of its own, multi-directional hair that never was tamed, just corralled and tethered into what became a signature pony tail.

“I’m from New York and when you don’t know somebody, you definitely don’t show any love,” Noah recalled.

“When I walked in, they were excited to see me and to me that was kind of weird because people in New York aren’t like that. I had never met Corey before and he was smiling and happy to see me and Taurean was the same way. Horfy, I’d met him before, but he was happy, too, and there they were. They were playing 21 and I came in from New York holding my bags. That’s where I met my roommates, in the gym. It seems pretty right when I think about it now.”

They were ready to take on the world, but they needed a fifth to play the full court games with veteran players like David Lee, Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson. The veterans offered Lee Humphrey, a rising junior guard with a reputation as a one-dimensional threepoint shooter.

“That kind of completed us,” said Brewer. “We just all fit together.”

Green played the point. Humphrey

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became the defense stretcher as the designated shooter. Brewer became the slasher. Horford became the low-post brute and Noah was the instant energy guy that ran the floor and swatted away shots.

“We didn’t think that far ahead, but when we were together playing those pickup games, we were thinking all right this squad could be good if we’re starting,” said Green. “It wasn’t our turn yet, but we waited for our turn and when it was, we took advantage of it.”

Word leaked out that summer that the Oh-Fours and Humphrey not only held their own against the more experienced vets, but they actually were winning games.

“I think we surprised them,” said Horford. “We were just out there playing hard and having fun. We started talking then that if we stayed together we could be a pretty good team someday.”

They also started another tradition.

On their way to dinner, they would stop and do chin-ups. Before they went to bed at night, all four of them did pushups.

“We had to do 10 chin-ups before we eat and we did the push-ups every night,” said Noah. “Every one of us had to do those 10 chin-ups before we could eat. We just wanted to do everything together. We wanted to get better. We wanted to be the best.” *** Brewer started as a freshman.

Horford worked his way into the starting lineup by midseason. Green got regular playing time backing up Roberson at the point.

Noah battled through mononucleosis and saw his weight plummet all the way down to 190.

“It was the election year,” said Noah.

“I remember going to vote and I was down to 190 on election day. I’m 230 now and I’m still skinny. Think about 190.”

The mono sapped him of his strength and kept him on the bench. He desperately wanted to play and help the team, but minutes were hard to come by.

“That was the lowest time for him,” said Green. “We got to the NCAA Tournament and he didn’t even get into the game for a minute.”

Once In A Lifetime by Franz Beard

Gator Country Noah wasn’t being selfish. There’s not a selfish bone in his body. He just wanted to do his part to help the team and it was frustrating to watch. He went to Donovan’s office in tears within a couple of days after Villanova eliminated the Gators in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They had a heart-to-heart talk and Donovan showed just enough compassion combined with tough love to re-light Noah’s competitive fires.

“I think that might have been the best thing for me when I look back now,” said Noah. “I mean, it was tough.

You don’t know how tough it was. My teammates are helping the team and I’m sitting on the bench and all I can do is be a cheerleader. I wanted to help them but all I could do was watch. We would come back home after a game and they had done something and I hadn’t done anything at all and like, I’m thinking I want to help.

“I think it made me a better person, though. I can relate now to the freshmen who had to wait their turn. I could tell them what I went through. I could tell them to be patient and wait their turn and just keep working hard. It’s not easy, I mean like it’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done, but it’s something that sometimes you gotta go through. I learned a lot from coach Donovan. He’s always been like a father figure and he was good for me then.”

Noah took to the weight room intent on building his strength and adding a good 20 or more pounds of muscle. With Lee graduating and Walsh and Roberson leaving a year early for the NBA, the 0-Fours and Humphrey hit the gym and the weight room every day, intent on being a very good team.

It was during the summer of 2005 that the five of them climbed into Lee Humphrey’s little truck and drove to Donovan’s house for dinner. On the way back that evening, when everybody was quiet Humphrey said, “You know guys, we’re going to be really good.”

Noah says that’s a moment he won’t forget.

“That truck probably doesn’t work anymore but I remember us saying we were going to be pretty good,” said Noah. “It wasn’t so much that we were going to be pretty good, but we were just so excited to be playing with each other.”

Humphrey wasn’t the only one that started believing that the Gators were in for something special. Adrian Moss, the team’s 24-year-old senior backup center, started predicting a national championship.

“That was like crazy,” said Noah. “I mean we didn’t even get past the second round of the NCAA and we lose David Lee, Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson and here he is predicting we’re going to win a national championship. Man, that was just craziness, but the old man was right.” *** Florida won its first 17 games of the 2005-06 season. The 0-Fours and Humphrey were the starters for a team that the Sporting News picked 75th in the nation to start the year. The Gators served notice by winning the Coaches versus Cancer Tournament in Madison Square Garden and by mid-December, they were a force to be reckoned with.

The Gators went through a slump late in the year, losing five of six games in one stretch before they righted themselves in the SEC Tournament.

They won the tournament for the second straight year to kick start that magical mystery tour run to the NCAA title game in Indianapolis.

The only close game in the tournament was a three-point win over Georgetown in the Sweet 16 on a miracle three-point play by Brewer and two days later the Gators avenged their loss to Villanova in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. It was on to Indianapolis for the Final Four.

“Nobody expected us to be there,” said Brewer. “I think we kind of shocked everybody, but we believed in ourselves.

We knew we belonged.”

Florida dismantled George Mason in the semifinals and then destroyed UCLA, 73-57, to win the first NCAA basketball championship in school history. Noah was selected the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. The celebration was just getting started when all speculation turned to the 0-Fours.

Noah was projected to be the first player taken in the NBA Draft. Horford and Brewer were expected to be lottery picks as well. Those three were considered shoo-ins to take the NBA millions and leave Florida, but there were

other considerations, one of whom was Green, who wasn’t projected to be taken in either the first or second rounds.

“We had kind of said if one of us goes we all go, but it was different for them (Noah, Horford and Brewer),” said Green.

For Green, Horford and Noah, money wasn’t such a lure. Because of his father’s serious health problems, Brewer was expected to take the leap.

Surprisingly, however, it was Brewer that made it easy for the others by announcing he wanted to come back.

“My father said do what makes you happy,” said Brewer. “He said it’s not like we’re bad off or anything. We’ve got enough money, we’ll be fine. Just do what makes you happy.”

Once Brewer told his buddies he was coming back, it ended all speculation.

“I knew Al was going to come back and when Corey said it, we stayed,” said Noah. “If anybody would have left, I would have left, too. It was hard because there were agents, people in general ... everybody had an opinion.

Hey, it was my life, but everybody had an opinion. But we really had something special here and we didn’t want to go right then. I mean it was special. I don’t think anybody really got it until we did it again.”

Horford said, “We loved playing together, loved being in college and we just weren’t ready to give that up. When Corey said he’s coming back, we all knew we were back.”

When Noah told the packed house at the O-Dome “We back baby! We back!” that Friday night, the place erupted, but with the choice to return came the pressure of expectations that went way beyond anything anyone could imagine. *** It sounds so simple. Winning it again when you’ve got all five starters and two of the three top reserves back doesn’t sound all that difficult, but considering that only Duke, and now Florida, have done it since UCLA’s domination days it’s a monumental task. The Gators were expected to win. Noah was expected to be the best player in the country coming off his championship performance. Horford and Brewer were expected to have big nights every night out. Green, the point

GATORCOUNTRY.COM

9

Once In A Lifetime by Franz Beard

Gator Country guard and team leader, was expected to be solid as a rock every night.

The Gators lost twice early in the season when Brewer was out with mononucleosis, Noah had a bronchial infection and Horford had a high-ankle sprain. Florida rebounded from those setbacks to go on a 17-game winning streak that included a huge win over Ohio State at the O-Dome, a win that only escalated the pressure.

“It was crazy,” said Green. “People were trying to predict the future for us and things like that and whatever we did just wasn’t good enough. We win by 10, we should have won by 20. A close game and what’s wrong with the Gators?”

The pressure was greatest on Noah, who endured more abuse than any player in the country. Donovan commented after the Kentucky game in Lexington after a cheerleader shook her pom pons in Noah’s face that things were close to out of control.

“People are so quick to judge me and they don’t even know who I am,” said Noah. “I mean she stuck her pom pons in my face! In my face!”

When the Gators went through a small slump in which they lost three games out of four, the national media and the critics were out in force, claiming that all the hype and all the distractions had finally gotten to the Gators. Taurean’s dad, Big Sid, made a special trip to Gainesville with a DVD of Florida’s wins in Madison Square Garden the year before, a time when the Gators were the picture of exuberance on the court.

“We just needed to get back to having fun again,” said Horford. “We just had to forget about what everybody else was saying and focus in on what’s important to us.

Noah added, “We had to get back to just doing what coach always says and living in the moment and playing it game by game and possession by possession and just remembering that we are all we have. It was all about us, not about anybody else. All about the team. Once we got back to doing that, we didn’t think that anybody was going to beat us.”

The Gators stormed through the SEC Tournament without so much as a close game and then fought their way through the NCAA Tournament with an opening blowout over Jackson State then close

10

wins over Purdue, Butler and Oregon to get to the Final Four again where they once again dismantled UCLA. In the championship game against Ohio State, Florida took control early and then never let the Buckeyes back in it en route to their second straight national championship.

“I hope people look back on what we did and understand how special it was,” said Noah. “I mean it was special.

All we had to go through, the hype, the pressure, the expectations that were way, way out of sight. I mean it was too much, but we got through it. We came back to win another championship and anything less would have been a disappointment.

We knew we could do it and we did it. I hope years from now, 10 years from now when people are talking about the great

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teams, they’ll remember what we did and they’ll be thinking those Gator Boyz were really hot. I mean hot!” *** In an era when money talks and everything else, it seems takes a back seat, the 0-Fours were refreshing. They came back to Gainesville for one more year because they loved playing together, they loved Billy Donovan, they loved the University of Florida and they wanted to earn their place in history.

“The reasons they chose were basically one reason only: happiness and their joy of playing with one another,” said Donovan. “To me that’s the encouraging part. I think if it was for

Once In A Lifetime by Franz Beard

Gator Country

them, if they weren’t having fun, they didn’t enjoy being in Florida, didn’t enjoy being teammates, maybe that would have made the decision for them a little bit easier but I think it’s a great testament to them and their families that they chose what was best for them.” *** On the day the 0-Fours announced they were going to call it a career at Florida and head for the NBA, there was an agreement before the press conference that there would be no tears.

“We were talking and saying, I can't cry,’” said Brewer. “We had it understood that nobody would tear up, but then Al started tearing up. I kind of teared up and started crying. Taurean started tearing up. Jo's kind of the only one that held it in.”

The tears were real. The hearts were heavy, heavy because they were leaving a coach they love, a school they love, fans they love and most of all, because they knew they'll never play together again for the Florida Gators.

A month later, Noah was preparing to leave Gainesville. He was happy to be moving on to a future in the NBA where he will be a lottery pick, but sad to be leaving the University of Florida.

“You know we came back for the right things,” said Noah. “Even with all the pressure we had on us, even with all the expectations and all the hype that made it not fun some of the time, it was an experience to go through and we’re better because of it.

“When I think of the four of us, individually we are so different personality wise, but we have that same mindset when it comes to winning.

And that's the only thing that matters.

That's what ultimately makes us happy --- winning. There were times this year when we won but because of the expectations, people made it not fun, but that was part of the experience. In the end, though, we got what we came back for and that was another championship.

We did what made us happy. I think that’s why it’s sad to leave here because this is a place that will always be where my happy memories are.” ***

Then he got down on his knees so he could be eye level with Connor Donovan, Billy and Christine's 4-yearold daughter. She talked to him and he talked to her, treating her like she was the most important person in the world.

When the conversation was over, she threw herself in his arms and he hugged her a long time.

Larry Shyatt watched it all with a smile on his face, then he commented, “You see that? That's the way he is. That's the Joakim Noah people don't know about. He's a once-in-a-lifetime kid.

They're all four once-in-a-lifetime kids.

One day everybody is going to realize what we just had here. We may win championships again here in the future, but we'll never have four kids like this.

“They were great kids that were all about the right things and they did things the right way. That's worth remembering.”

Franz Beard

Joakim Noah was in the coaches' offices and in rare form on his last afternoon in Gainesville. He danced.

He told jokes with Billy Donovan. He screamed a couple of times and beat his chest. He hugged Christine Donovan the way a son hugs his mom.

GATORCOUNTRY.COM

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One of the Best Ever? by M. Hodge

Gator Country

After winning back-to-back titles, five UF starters define their place in college basketball history

So what now? Now that the cheering’s stopped?

Florida basketball’s version of the Fab Four are gone. Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Taurean Green _ known as the ‘04s _ gave us one encore, but declined the chance to perform another.

There will not be another dramatic chapter in this feel-good, heart-warming story. Two national championships will have to suffice, but the team’s legacy, its place in college basketball history, has yet to be defined.

Greatness is never easy to attain, nor is it easy to grasp, as coach Billy Donovan noted moments after beating Ohio State, 84-75, for his second consecutive national title.

“I sit up here very, very humbled because I think I was fortunate enough over the last two years to coach a group of guys that has to go down in history as one of the greatest teams of all time. I’m not saying they were the most talented.

I’m not saying they were flawless.

“But when you talk about the word ‘team,’ what that encompasses in terms

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of unselfishness, sacrifice, playing together, they have got to go down and be considered, in my opinion, one of the best teams to ever play.

“I think in this day and age, for these guys to accomplish what they’ve accomplished, to do it with absolutely no expectations on them last year, to having all the expectations on them this year, for some of them that had a choice, made the choice to come back, you got to be pretty competitive to take on that challenge in today’s day and age.

“I’m just so proud and I feel very blessed and feel very, very fortunate to be sitting up here coaching them because it could be anybody sitting in my chair doing that right now. It’s just a blessing.

I really am lost for words what these guys just accomplished over the last two years.”

There are great players. Then there are great teams. Some win with sheer star-power. Florida won with teamwork, precise passing and cutting that left graduates of old-school basketball gushing. “(There was) a collective selflessness

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and devotion to the concept of ‘team,’’’ ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas said.

“Florida has a group of very talented players, but I am not certain that the Gators are far greater in talent than some of their competitors or some of the Gator teams of past years. The difference was their togetherness. This team played together and it struck a chord with people.”

The selfless style of play was refreshing, not to mention rewarding.

Only six other schools have won back to back national titles in college basketball _ and two others UCLA (1968-73) and Duke (1991-92) - did so when the game was fully integrated.

Three others _ Oklahoma A&M (194546), Kentucky (1948-49) and Cincinnati (1961-62) came during segregation, when college athletics were largely lily white, when compared to today’s game, which offers more inclusiveness and better competition.

Race aside, only seven schools have repeated since the inception of the NCAA tournament in 1939, elite company by anyone’s standards.

“How many have won it more than once,” former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell said. “That says it all right there.

How many did UCLA win? Think what (Florida) would have done if all those guys had come back.”

Since last year was considered a bit of a fluke since the Gators received little preseason publicity, a few skeptics thought they might be exposed during a quest for a repeat.

On television, they look perfectly ordinary very beatable. In person, though, they’re more imposing.

“You know they never talk about the heights,” Driesell said. “I told (ESPN announcer) Len Elmore that, that I had no idea they were that big. I thought Noah was around 6-7. Horford’s 6-9, 6-10. Brewer’s 6-9. What was Ohio State’s small forward, 6-4? That’s heck of a front line. I tell you no one in the ACC has a front line like that. You can’t see that on TV.” Good teams can usually score from two, three positions. Florida could score from all five spots. Ohio State, for the most part, contained the interior, but Green and Humphrey combined for 30 points on seven of 10 three-point shooting.

Gator Country “I used to tell (former Maryland assistant) Joe Harrington, ‘Find me every 6-10 kid between here and California,’ ” Driesell said. “Now I told (current Maryland assistant) Chuck (Driesell). Go find the two best three-point shooters in America.”

In 2006, Noah, a spirited 6-11 forward won Most Outstanding Player honors for his Final Four performance; this year, the Gators looked to Brewer, the wiry 6-9 small forward, who found his shooting touch in postseason. The beauty of Florida is everyone contributes.

“My MVP would have been (Lee) Humphrey,” Driesell said of UF’s only senior starter. “Any time they were close, he would knock down a three.”

Florida was the first team in college basketball history to return all five starters and repeat. During the last 20 years, two others tried, but failed.

Arkansas, led by Corliss Williamson, Corey Beck and Scotty Thurman, won it all in ’94 but stubbed its toe against UCLA in ’95.

Fortified by the fabulous guard play of Miles Simon and Mike Bibby, Arizona stumbled a bit during the regular season, but surged to an improbable title by bumping off North Carolina and Kentucky.

In ’98, the Wildcats were equally talented and more experienced, but less fortunate. They lost to an Andre Millerled Utah squad in the regional final.

Florida, with the exception of its thirdround game against Georgetown last spring, was rarely pushed in postseason, an extraordinary accomplishment given the pressure of a one-and-done format.

“It looked to me like they were a tight-knit group,” said Simon, now an assistant at Arizona. “You can see they weren’t thinking about the next level.

They were always focused, even during that rough stretch, when they lost three of four or something like that. They kept playing. They knew they were the team to beat.”

There have been other great teams, and a few of them never won back to back titles. Among the more recent are the UNLV teams of 1990 and ’91. The Runnin’ Rebels and coach Jerry Tarkanian compiled a 69-6 record during those two seasons. Led by Anderson Hunt, Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon and Larry Johnson, UNLV smothered Duke, 103-

One of the Best Ever? by M. Hodge 73, in the ’90 title game only to lose to the Blue Devils 79-77 in the national semifinals in ‘91 after Hunt missed a potential game-winning jumper at the buzzer.

There are others, who came within inches of creating history only to fall short.

“What about Indiana in 1975-76 that went 63-1, but got upset by Kentucky in the regional final when Scott May broke his arm,” Bilas noted. “What about Georgetown in 1984 and ’85 that went 69-6 over two years and lost in the title game when Villanova shot 79 percent and played a perfect game? What about Kentucky in ’96, ’97 and ’98 that was an overtime away from a three-peat and went 104-11 over that time frame?

“The bottom line is that Florida won the games they were supposed to win. I have great respect for that.”

Among those who have repeated, the Duke teams of ’91-92 are considered among the best in college basketball history.

The ’92 squad was ranked No. 1 from start to finish. Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill throttled Michigan’s Fab Five, 71-51. The ’91 team knocked off favored UNLV in the semifinals before cruising past Kansas in the title game.

Like Florida, Duke was fortified by continuity during its dominance in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

“We never lost a player. (Johnny) Dawkins could have gone,” former Duke assistant Pete Gaudet said. “Laettner could have left. Dawkins, Ferry, too.

None did. You have to have that constant of developing players through their freshman, sophomore and junior years.

As a coach, that’s when things start

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One of the Best Ever? by M. Hodge

Gator Country to sink in, when they’re a sophomore, especially for big guys. They say, ‘Hey, maybe coach does my have my best interest at heart.’ Then it’s like, let’s see if we can take off. By the time they’re a senior, you’re sorry to see them leave. All of those kids improved over the years.

The teams were different, but we had a great mix.”

The motivation behind the run _ a bloodletting by UNLV in the ’90 title game, a loss the Blue Devils avenged a year later in the national semifinals, a game that’s now considered a postseason classic.

“The guys meshed,” Gaudet said.

“We were good the next year. When Laettner was a senior and Bobby was a junior, we were pretty darned experienced. We won a lot of games.”

Veteran coaches help, too. Mike Krzyzewski guided his teams to five straight Final Fours from 1988-92, but lost in the first three before winning his first national title in ’91.

“Billy had been there. Coach K had been there a few times,” Gaudet said. “That experience matters. We had the experience, but you also have to be lucky. There’s something to that.

People remember Laettner’s shot against Kentucky, but that wasn’t his only (big) shot. He hit another one to beat UConn.”

Florida could have not survived without Brewer’s scoop shot against Georgetown. The play was fitting, because Brewer, the 2007 NCAA Tournaments Most Outstanding Player, is Florida’s most gifted player. But his teammates complement each other well.

“I didn’t watch Florida a ton this year,” Gaudet said. “But I think one thing that’s similar to the Duke teams is they both had players you could move around. They were versatile. Laettner could hit threes. Florida had big guys that could play the perimeter.”

So who was better?

“Who’s to say?” Gaudet said. “It’s like the pro game. I grew up watching the old Celtics. Are they as good as the teams of today. The old pros couldn’t palm the ball or take an extra step. Times change; players are different.”

As far as Florida basketball history, there’s no question this is the best team in terms of productivity, but is it the most talented squad in Gator history?

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The past two seasons the Gators churned to 68 victories, three Southeastern Conference tourney titles and two national titles. No other UF starting five has done more, but other squads may have been equally, if not more, talented.

What about 1989, ’67 and 2000 teams? The ’89 squad boasted Dwayne Schintzius, a 7-foot consensus All-SEC center and future NBA star Vernon Maxwell; Skip Highley, a clever allconference point guard and All-America center Neal Walk, led the ’67 team to a 21-4 record; and the 2000 club may have

of playing together and respecting each other’s roles and opportunities to score or make a play. This team set a standard and they represented all the things, all the right things.”

The right things?

“How a team should be put together.”

The message has been sent, but will it be received?

“It wouldn’t surprise me to see Billy Donovan get a chance to coach the Olympic team the way that he put this team together,” Koss said “As Americans, this is not the sport we invented. Kids are

been the deepest, most talented UF team ever _ with Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, Donnell Harvey and Matt Bonner. All went on to play in the NBA, but not before guiding the Gators to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament finals.

Talent is largely based on potential.

The 2006 and ’07 clubs may or may not have been as individually as gifted as a few of their predecessors, but they performed at a higher level.

“That’s interesting and a good question,” said Bill Koss, author of Pond Birds, a History of Florida Basketball. “In my mind, there’s never been a college basketball team that does a better job

not demonstrating the way the sport’s to be played. These kids showed that, the way that the game is supposed to be represented. They recaptured that.”

One image: Five faces. One goal. One team.

“I really feel they’ve recaptured the essence of college basketball on a national scale,” Koss said. “Even though they’re from Florida, they’ve really, in my mind, become America’s team, what people saw was the sport of college basketball being played the way it was supposed to be played.”

Maybe that will be their legacy.

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M. Hodge

Gator Country

One of the Best Ever? by M. Hodge

GATORCOUNTRY.COM

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Gator Country

Night Out in Titletown by M. Hodge

Night Out In

Titletown

Gainesville Parties Hard After Gators Win Another Basketball Championship

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Gator Country

L

et’s see here. One national title last April. Another in January and on the eve of a third, a merry band of Gator fans started scheming for another celebration.

It started hours after the first day of the Final Four, when a Florida victory over UCLA ensured a spot in the national championship game against Ohio State University Monday evening.

Chase O’Malley and his buds hatched a plan to get a good seat at their favorite bar. They met at 11 a.m. at Gator City, a pub on the heart of University Avenue, 11 hours before tipoff.

They were not alone. Nearly 50 diehards were waiting to grab a table. Once their place was secured, they set up camp, each of them serving as a sentry, in four-hour shifts, against poachers.

After multiple national titles in a year, Gator fans no longer hope for championship glory. They plan on it.

“We had to beat the crowd,” O’Malley said. “The first time caught people by surprise. Now, after three times in what, 12 months, people have a feel for it. We have a chance to write history. It was worth it.”

As the afternoon hours passed, a college campus began its countdown to basketball immortality. After all, no men’s college basketball team has

“The first time we wrote history. Tonight we re-wrote history. Everything happened the way it’s supposed to. I can’t think of a better place to go to school in the country.”

-Chase O’Malley, UF student repeated since Duke in the early 1990s.

Only six other schools _ Oklahoma A&M, Kentucky, San Francisco, Cincinnati, UCLA and Duke _ had won back to back national championships.

Gainesville largely has been known as a football-first school, but, for once, pigskin passion subsided. Even coach Urban Meyer canceled football practice to make his way to Atlanta.

Those not fortunate enough to grab a ticket stayed home. As a spring sunset painted the sky a burnt-orange hue, fans, clad in assortment of orange and blue, trundled on city streets.

The place to be was Gator City, where O’Malley, a junior from Baltimore, had spent most of the afternoon along with hordes of Gator fans from every conceivable clique.

There were frat boys and townies; freaks and geeks; and young and old.

Some came in T-shirts; a few in tank tops; others in oxfords. There were sundresses

and sunglasses.

For a few hours, though, style became secondary to the task at hand. A national basketball championship was on the line.

“You’re either a Gator or you’re not,” O’Malley said. “They’re very few nots right now. There’s nothing else in Gainesville.”

As the game started, all eyes were on the big screen at the front of the bar. The rules were clear. Every favorable Florida play was cheered; every Ohio State bucket booed.

Corey Brewer was a hero, Greg Oden a villain. Little is more polarizing than competitive college basketball.

In last year’s national championship, UCLA provided little resistance. Ohio State, which entered the final game of 2007 with 22 consecutive wins, held its ground.

UF’s high-powered perimeter of Lee Humphrey, Taurean Green and Brewer made jump shots from every nook and cranny. OSU countered with Oden, the 7-footer, who terrorized the lane for consistent points.

Back and forth it went. Oden dominated on one end; Brewer on the other. It was 40-29 at halftime, still anyone’s game.

Bret Pollak, a native Orlandoan, felt confident the Gators’ lead was destined to grow in the first half.

“We’re so deep,” he said. “We’ve got Noah, Horford and what’s-his-name…

Lee Humphrey, who’s hit like eight threes. I’m not worried, not at all. I’d like Humphrey to down like four three this half.”

Humphrey answered, delivering huge treys during the second half. The first came when Oden stuffed Horford inside, but after a loose-ball scramble, Horford tapped the ball to Humphrey, who knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 49-38.

Ohio State was not done. The

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Night Out in Titletown by M. Hodge

Gator Country Buckeyes responded with a six-point flurry. Humphrey answered again with a 3-pointer, this time off an inbounds play.

Pollak nodded in approval as did his friend, Justin Root, who fired up a victory cigarette.

“Are we going win?” Root asked.

“Dude, are you serious? We’re up 11 points.”

Bands of fans continued to follow the flow of every possession. Shielded from the drama was Greg Quatrino, Gator City’s bouncer, who was in charge of working the door.

“They’ll win or lose, whether I see it or not,” Quatrino, a former Gator baseball player, said. “I can tell by the reaction what’s going on.”

Oden’s two free throws pushed Ohio State to 66-60 with just under five minutes left. Green’s 3-pointer made it 69-60, the start of a 9-2 run that extended UF’s lead to 73-62 with three and a half minutes remaining. Florida then converted 11 of 12 free throws.

The outcome was decided. A celebration was about to begin. Quatrino grabbed his tin box and stashed the cash behind a stool tucked next to the wall.

“I have to hide the money,” he said.

“They’re all going to try to run out this door.”

The stampede of happy feet had started as hordes fans formed a scrum in the middle of University Avenue complete with high-fives, hugs, chest bumping and body surfing.

O’Malley, who had stumbled to a nasty fall as part of the victory stampede, found refuge on the steps of St. Augustine’s Catholic church.

As friends frolicked, O’Malley studied the passion that swept across a college town as the light of a full moon splashed over the revelers.

“The first time we wrote history,” O’Malley said. “Tonight we re-wrote history. Everything happened the way it’s supposed to. I can’t think of a better place to go to school in the country.”

It was midnight. The party was just starting.

airport waiting for their favorite team.

It the second day of April, but temperatures crept into the high 80s with not a bit of shade in sight. Some came prepared with umbrellas. Others sweated and waited and waited and waited.

Then came an announcement. The team was running late. The plane, due to arrive at 1 p.m., wouldn’t touch down until 1:45.

No one seemed to mind, though.

After years without a single conference championship, what’s another hour.

“Just shows how much Gainesville loves the Gators,” said UF volleyball star Marcie Hampton, a Gainesville native, who was on hand for the team’s return. “It’s hot. People are sweaty and you’ve got kids running around, who are probably getting grumpy. It says a lot about how much the athletic program and this team means to the city.”

At 1:40, the small Delta jet arrived and one by one weary players and coaches greeted the crowd. Among the first was Horford, who scooped up an infant girl in his arms in one arm and waved toward onlookers with another before grabbing the national championship plaque.

“It’s great to be home. I’m glad to be back in Gainesville,” Horford said. “I can’t wait to get back to the fans. I love the fans. All the fans are sharing their love right now. We love it right now.”

The procession took about 20 minutes or so. Many fans felt blessed.

Others sensed the possibility of rejection.

***** Tuesday afternoon arrived and with it, dozens of fans, who milled around in the middle of the field at the Gainesville

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Speculation had surfaced much of the week that Billy Donovan was headed for Kentucky.

“We love you Billy. We love you,” they cried.

Donovan, who assuaged their fears two days later when he declined UK’s overtures, addressed the crowd.

“I think you all witnessed something very, very special over the last two years,” Donovan said. “It’s great to be able to share these two championships with the best fans in the world who would come out on a very hot Tuesday afternoon to greet us. This championship is your’s as well.” ***** They came in together. They will leave together.

Three years ago, four juniors _ Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, Joakim Noah and Al Horford _ arrived with little fanfare. Now the ‘04s will leave.

The four announced their plans two days after returning to Gainesville during an emotional press conference with tearyeyed players and a proud coach.

Even Horford, the stoic of group, wept.

“If it had just been just one of us, it would not have been right,” he said. “It would have been different. I think we all knew it was time to do this.”

They all could have gobbled up NBA riches last year, but chose to stay to defend their national title, the feel-good

Gator Country story line of the 2006-07 season.

“How many kids who are going to the NBA break down crying?” Donovan said. “They’re different. That’s why they won. To them, it’s about team.”

Good-byes are never easy. A day after the news, more than 12,000 fans packed the O’Connell Center for a farewell.

Six players soaked up cheers from grateful Gator fans for the last time.

Two seniors -- Chris Richard and Lee Humphrey -- joined the four juniors Noah, Brewer, Green and Horford.

Donovan has preached that the

Night Out in Titletown by M. Hodge past two Gator teams thrived because of selfless teamwork. Individually, they were good; collectively, they were great.

Any Gator worth a farthing knows the ‘04s provided the sustenance of a marvelous run. No one would have blamed them if they had said so long after winning one national title. Instead they defied a me-first attitude fostered by their peers and returned for a third season.

All told, they won six championships two national titles, three SEC tournament titles and one conference regular-season

crown, accomplishments that few other programs can match in the modern era.

As a tribute, each ‘04 was honored with a framed jersey. As the hour-long ceremony ended, forever’s team huddled at halfcourt for a group hug, a gesture that usually accompanies the start of every game before tipoff.

But this was the last time. An era had ended and this was a way to say thank you. Thanks for the memories.

-Mike Hodge

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Gator Country

Mom Knows Best by Franz Beard

Mom Knows Best Florida’s Chris Richard learned a lot of life lessons growing up in a one-parent household

G

rowing up in Lakeland, there was no famous father, only a hard-working mother who supplemented the income from her full-time job by working as many as three part-time jobs.

The lessons of sacrifice came early for Chris Richard, who still wonders where his mom got the energy to keep on keeping on. From his mom, who is also his best friend and role model, he learned the lessons of life. Little did he know the lessons learned from her would serve him well on, of all places, the basketball court.

By the time he made the switch from football to basketball as a tall freshman at Kathleen High School, Chris Richard was already mature beyond his years. He knew how to cook a full meal for his family. He knew how to clean a house from top to bottom and keep it immaculate. He could wash, dry, iron and fold clothes. He even knew how to fix things around the house.

It wasn’t until years later that he saw that all the things he had been doing for years to help his mother and two siblings were merely dress rehearsal for the role he would play on the basketball team at the University of Florida.

“My mom worked hard and she hardly took a day off or time off,” said Richard, sitting in front of the cleanest and neatest locker at the Florida practice facility.

The shoes were paired and in their proper place. The practice shirts and shorts were neatly folded. Even fan mail was neatly stacked. Nothing was out of place. If ever a basketball locker could endure a white glove inspection, this is the one.

“My brother and my sister and me all helped my mom out by taking care of a lot of the responsibilities around the house,” Richard said. “She worked hard enough. She didn’t need to worry about cleaning the house, doing the laundry or cooking for us. We could do that. We did that.”

Cooking taught him about detail, following instructions, being on time and paying attention to the task until it’s complete. Cleaning the house taught him how to organize things and keep them organized. Doing the laundry taught him about caring for others --- he couldn’t stand for his siblings or his mom to wear dirty or wrinkled clothes. Fixing things around the house taught him to be resourceful.

Doing his part to keep the household functioning taught him plenty about sacrifices and responsibility. There were times when he would have preferred to do something else, but he had a responsibility to his mother, brother and sister and he couldn’t let them down. He learned all about putting first things first and giving up something for the good of the family. Even when he started playing basketball where practice and games demanded more of his time, he still met all his obligations around the house.

None of these things had anything to do with basketball, yet they proved to have everything to do with basketball success. The lessons learned at home turned Chris Richard into a disciplined, caring teammate that worked hard, didn’t complain and made the most of his opportunities.

“I guess you could say I owe all that to my mom,” said

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Mom Knows Best by Franz Beard

Gator Country Richard. “She never complained and look at all the things she did. She just did her job every day and she always had a smile on her face. She taught us that if you work hard, you can get somewhere in life. I’ve got two national championship rings and I’m going to have a college degree and maybe I’ll get a chance to play in the NBA. All that is because of my mom. I think I’m pretty responsible and mature because of the way she raised me.”

Chris Richard won the state’s Mr. Basketball award his senior year. He came to Florida with the weight of high expectation on his shoulders and bad knees that would take a couple of years to heal properly. He spent his freshman and sophomore years doing spot duty on the playing floor while playing through the pain of surgically repaired knees.

There were times he wondered if the pain would ever go away. There were times when he wondered if he would ever become a meaningful contributor.

“I’m not gonna lie to you; my knees hurt a lot,” he said. “It’s pretty frustrating when you hurt all the time and you can’t play much. I didn’t feel like I was helping the team as much as I could and that’s kind of frustrating, too. Even if you only play a minute or two, if you feel like you’re helping the team, that’s something.”

He was frustrated with the injuries, but he never let the frustration affect his team-first attitude. He practiced as hard as he could and did his best when he got in games. As a freshman and sophomore, he averaged a little more than 10 minutes a game.

It took two years for the knees to get healthy. By the time he was able to play with little or no pain, he was a junior and Al Horford and Joakim Noah had emerged as Florida’s tandem in the post.

Richard knew he would have to accept coming off the bench as a role player, but that was never a problem.

“There’s no question about it that Chris Richard’s willingness to be a team player made such a difference for us,” said former Florida assistant coach Donnie Jones, who was named the head basketball coach at Marshall University just a few days after Florida beat Ohio State for the national championship. “He didn’t sulk about coming off the bench and he didn’t complain about a lack of playing time. He was all about the team.

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“He was all about making the team better and whatever he needed to do to make the team better, he did it. He played hard in practice and that made our big guys get better. He was a tough competitor in the games and he gave us that great three-man rotation that we needed. We didn’t worry about foul trouble with Noah and Horford because we had such a quality big man to come off the bench.” Richard was just happy just to play without pain and contribute to a team that he knew was going to be very good in Florida’s first national championship season that ended with a 73-57 win over UCLA in the NCAA title game in Indianapolis.

“You know, we lost David Lee, Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson and that’s a big loss, but we knew we had a lot of talent and we knew we were going to be a good team,” said Richard. “At the beginning of the year, Adrian Moss predicted we would win the national

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championship and everybody thought he was crazy. I laugh about it now, but he was right. He never backed down. He said we were gonna do it and he stuck with it. You gotta credit him with that.”

Richard and Moss became the bangers off the bench that spelled Horford (6-10) and Noah (6-11), giving the Gators a huge advantage in height and physical play. Richard averaged 5.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, but his greatest contribution might have been the way he practiced going head to head with Noah and Horford. As tough and as physical as Richard plays in games, he was that much tougher in practices where there were few whistles.

Richard is 6-9 and 255 rock-solid pounds. He’s an imposing figure who looks the part of the strong man. Joakim Noah, on the other hand, has always been thin even this year when he bulked up extra pounds to his best ever playing weight of 232. Noah was visibly more

Gator Country cut this past season and sinewy strong, but he still looked like a twig next to Richard.

Going against Richard every day in practice, Noah took his lumps, starting when he was a freshman, down to 190 pounds on his 6-11 frame because of mono. Even though he got stronger over the next two years and learned to push back, Noah never could outmuscle the strong-as-a-bull Richard.

“Oh God, I don’t even want to think about all the times Chris Richard just beat me up in practice,” said Noah, who figures to be a top 10 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. “He’s an absolute beast. He’s a monster.

“You see what he does in games? Try going up against him in practice for three straight years. Every day it was the same.

He beat me up but you know what? He made me better. He made me tougher. I had to learn a lot because he did his part to make me a better player. That’s what kind of team player he is.”

Going against Horford and Noah paid off for Richard, too. Richard came to Florida as a power player and that’s the way he left, but along the way he developed some dancer’s moves in the paint to go with the strength moves. He learned to shoot a soft baby hook that rarely missed the mark. He was a better than 60 percent shooter as a freshman and sophomore. He got better as a junior and senior, hitting 69.8 percent as a junior, 69 percent as a senior.

“I like to think I helped Al and Jo get better by playing them hard in practice,” said Richard. “They made me get better, too. I got to go every day against two guys that are going to be stars in the NBA every day. They’re both great defensive players and they’re great shot blockers.

I had to learn new moves and I had to learn how to get my shot off against them.”

Moss graduated last year, leaving Richard as the only veteran big man coming off the bench. He was still responsible for low-post scoring and tough post defense off the bench, but his role expanded in another way. Moss was the enforcer his last three years at Florida. A hard foul against a Gator and there was hell to pay when Moss got in the game. He was physical and he had elbows like razors.

Richard took on the role of enforcer,

Mom Knows Best by Franz Beard again doing whatever the team needed. talked to me and they got me through “I did a little bit of that,” he said it. This year it was my turn. I tried to be with a grin. “You have to protect your there for Marreese whenever he needed teammates. The game’s physical and me.” people are going to take their shots, but On the court, Richard put together if you go at it too hard, someone’s got another solid season off the bench as the to make you pay. That was my role this Gators put together a historical run to a year.” second straight NCAA championship, He also took on the role of the mature becoming the first team since Duke veteran, someone that every player on (1991-92) to repeat and the first SEC team the team felt comfortable being around. to do it since Kentucky (1948-49). The He took on the task of mentoring young 0-Fours --- Noah, Horford, Corey Brewer Marreese Speights, a 6-10 freshman and Taurean Green --- got most of the with explosive scoring ability in the low publicity and because Noah, Horford blocks. Speights came to Florida with the “I’m not gonna lie to you; my knees reputation as a big-time scorer, but he wasn’t hurt a lot. It’s pretty frustrating when prepared, at least at you hurt all the time and you can’t first, to spend so much time on the bench. play much. I didn’t feel like I was Donovan had three helping the team as much as I could veterans to share the and that’s kind of frustrating, too. time in the post, so Speights got limited Even if you only play a minute or minutes, mostly in two, if you feel like you’re helping mop-up roles. It was frustrating for the the team, that’s something.” freshman, but that’s where Richard stepped -Chris Richard in to be the big brother type.

“We all come in with a lot of expectations when we’re and Brewer turned their back on NBA freshmen,” he said. “That’s pretty typical. millions to return for a shot at a second You want to play. You’re a star in high straight title, the pressure was on the school and you come in ready to play. Gators from day one.

When you don’t, it’s an adjustment.

The Gators endured a couple early“Marreese is going to be all right. I season losses when injury and illness spent a lot of time with him and I tried plagued the team, but when they went to pass on all the things I’ve learned. His through a mini-slump late in the season, time is going to come and he’s going the national media was convinced that to be a great player here. He had to go Florida was wilting under the enormous up against Jo, Al and me every day in pressure to repeat. Richard heard all the practice and that helped him out a lot. talk, but he was having none of it.

He had a lot to deal with, but I think he’s “We had a little slump, but I knew going to be great next year. I predict he’s we’d come out of it,” said Richard. “It going to be one of the best players in the was kind of like getting second wind.

SEC.” Once we got to the SEC Tournament, I Off the court, Richard also served as knew we were going to be OK. We were the mentor and role model for Speights. too close as a team --- really, like brothers “We talked a lot,” said Richard. more than teammates. You know there “Sometimes you just need someone to wasn’t anything that we wouldn’t do for listen. When I was a freshman David Lee each other. You take on one of us, you was here and Moss was here. They were gotta take on all of us. That’s the way we like my mentors, never too busy for me. were.

When my knees hurt or I didn’t play and “Once we got into the tournament, maybe I was a little bit frustrated, they we got focused again. I said all along that were there for me. They listened. They if we were focused, there wasn’t nobody

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Gator Country out there that was going to beat us.”

Florida breezed through the SEC Tournament, winning three straight games by double digits, and then it was back to the NCAA Tournament for a run at history. In their run to the 2006 championship, the Gators won all but one game by double figures. In their 2007 run, with the exception of the tournament opener against Jackson State, all the games were closer, but Richard says that’s just because teams were better prepared.

“We sneaked up on everybody last year,” he said. “We were nobodies. Nobody knew us and nobody knew anything about us. I don’t think people took us so serious last year. This year it was different. Everybody played us tougher, but the results were the same. We won and we knew we would win if we just did what coach Donovan told us and played it one possession at a time, one game at a time. One of the things I loved about us is that we never thought about the next game until we got through with the one we had to play. We win, then we think about the next game. I think that’s what made us so special.”

In the NCAA Tournament, Richard stepped up his game to a new level. He was 22-for-26 from the field (84.7 percent) in Florida’s six games and he saved his best for last.

Against UCLA, he was perfect --- 7-7 from the field, 2-2 from the foul line --- and against Ohio State in the NCAA championship game he scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.

“He was a monster, a real monster,” said Noah.

“You know, I think he probably would have started for every team we played this year. You look at the Final Four. Put him on UCLA ... they’re a lot better. Put him with Oden (Ohio State) ... I don’t even want to think about it.”

Against Oden, Ohio State’s 7-1 man-child, one of the best shot blockers in college basketball since Patrick Ewing at Georgetown back in the 1980s, Richard showed his stuff late in the game when Ohio State was trying to mount a comeback.

He bodied up on the 285-pound Oden and backed him down, forcing Oden under the rim. Using the rim and his shoulder, Richard went up for a soft baby hook that pretty much shut the lid on the Buckeyes. It was an NBA move. He helped finish off the Buckeyes with a dunk, a typical Richard power slam with

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Mom Knows Best by Franz Beard two hands that rocked the rim.

“A good way to go out,” said Richard. “A good way to close it all out. I got to walk away from it with two straight championships. There aren’t a lot of players in college basketball history that can say that.”

He doesn’t figure to get drafted in June but there is plenty of interest from the NBA and there are European teams lining up as well. He will get his chance to play professional basketball whether as a free agent in the NBA or with a European team.

“He’s earned his shot,” said Florida assistant Larry Shyatt.

“He’s been a great team player who’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He didn’t complain. He just did his job and whatever the team needed, that’s what he did.

Every team needs a Chris Richard. Some NBA team is going to find that he’s got a big strong body and he’s not afraid to bang. He can play defense for you and he can score in the paint. I think someone will take a chance that he can give them some quality minutes off the bench. ” Asked how he wants to be remembered at Florida, Richard thought for a moment, then answered in typical Richard fashion.

“Hopefully, they’ll remember me as a team guy,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll remember me as someone that put the team first and did whatever it would take to help us win games.

Maybe they’ll remember me as someone who cared about his teammates.”

The Florida Gators that won the last two national championships were as much about family as they were a basketball team. They loved each other like brothers. They played hard and gave everything they had. They made whatever sacrifices they had to make for the good of the team. For Chris Richard, the Gators were an extension of his own family. After all, the lessons he had learned at home before he ever came to Florida prepared him to do his part.

“A family teaches you that it’s not just about you, that it’s about everybody else, too,” Richard said. “A family teaches you to be responsible and to sacrifice if you have to. If someone in the family needs help, you help them. You know, that’s really why we were good. That’s why we won. We were a real team, a real family.”

Franz Beard

Gator Country

Mom Knows Best by Franz Beard

GATORCOUNTRY.COM

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Dunkelicious!

Al Horford slams one in for the Gators in their convincing win over Ohio State.

Photo by Tim Casey

Never at a Loss for Words by M. Hodge

Gator Country

Never At A Loss For Words Former All-America Gator Cris Collinsworth has become a big hit as an NFL analyst

F

lip through the channels and you’ll find him. NBC. Fox, HBO, The Tonight Show, Cris Collinsworth’s everywhere, talking the talk about pro football.

One of the best known NFL analysts, Collinsworth has been an instant hit since he retired after eight years with the Cincinnati Bengals. As good as he was on the field (three-time Pro Bowler), Collinsworth may even better in the booth.

Few are more insightful or outspoken.

Even fewer can back it up. He has won two Emmys for his work in the studio.

Before Collinsworth began his climb toward television stardom, he played football at the University of Florida, where he logged four seasons _ mostly at wide receiver _ for Doug Dickey and Charley Pell. All told, the former Titusville schoolboy star accounted for 120 receptions, 1,937 yards and 14 touchdowns.

He led UF in receiving from ’78-80,

earning All-Southeastern conference honors each of those years. In 1980, the year after the Gators tumbled to an 0-10-1 finish during Pell’s first season, Collinsworth led Florida to an 8-4 record and a 35-20 victory over Maryland in the Tangerine Bowl, the Gators’ first bowl win since 1969.

Following that season, Collinsworth earned consensus All-America honors, the sixth UF receiver, at the time, to do so. The first five were Dale Van Sickel (1928), Fergie Ferguson (1941), Charley Casey (1965), Carlos Alvarez (1969) and Wes Chandler (1976-77).

It’s been nearly 30 years since Collinsworth finished his college career, but occasionally he stops by Gainesville when not on the NFL circuit like last month when he visited UF with his daughter, Katie, a high school soccer star, who is considering playing for the Gators.

Gator Country editor Mike Hodge caught up with Collinsworth during the

family’s recruiting visit and chatted for a few minutes.

GC: You started your career as college quarterback. Take me back to the late ‘70s, when you threw a 99-yard touchdown pass against Rice.

CC: “First game I ever played in college. We were playing Rice and they were pretty bad, which is the only reason I got in the game. We were beating them, 28-7…I don’t remember what it was.

Coach Dickey put me in there, and I got in, and they sent in a play. We were backed up on the 1-yard line. I can’t even remember why we were even there. He calls this roll-out pass, and it’s supposed to be an out route to Derrick Gaffney, who was a junior or senior at the time. He looks at me and says, ‘You see that guy over there playing me.’ I say, ‘Yeah.’ He says, ‘If he squats at all, I’m not stopping.

I’m going.’ I say, ‘Well, all right, then.’

What was I going to say? I was a freshman

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Gator Country in my first game. So there was no way he was running an out route. He runs five yards behind the kid and I just threw it as far as I can. I think it was 75 yards in the air (laughs). I can’t remember. He kept running and running.

“I honestly didn’t think anything of it at the time in terms of it being some sort of record. I never thought of anything.

The college football hall of fame was just north of Cincinnati for a long time, Mason I think. I went up there for something _ I can’t remember what _ and they took us in there. I think they were setting me up.

They had all of them (the long pass plays) on tape, maybe the radio call, there. It was really the first time I had seen it. Nobody believed it. Everyone thought I was the one catching the pass. It’s sort of a trivia question, because anyone who’s seen me throw a football knows the likelihood of me doing that is pretty slim.”

GC: Give us your favorite Charley Pell story. I’m sure you have a lot of them.

CC: “The one that immediately comes to mind now that you bring that up was after the after Houston game, the very first game he coached, Even Johnny (Brantley) might remember this. It was a really good game. It was a good game and obviously it’s a tough loss to lose to a good Houston team. The reporter came up at the end of the game said to me, ‘You guys played your guts out, way to go. You came close. Way to go. He was trying to be nice. I was like, ‘Don’t give me that moral victory stuff. I don’t want to hear that. That was last year. Maybe I said something else, too.

“We get to practice and (Pell) calls the whole team up and says, ‘One of our players referenced last year and this year. Now I know time to time people get misquoted. I’m going to assume you were misquoted.’ I said, ‘No, that’s pretty much what I said.’ So then for twenty minutes I get a blistering like you would not believe, and I thought I was saying the right thing, that I didn’t care about moral victories, that all I cared about was winning. Goodness gracious I remember walking back to the locker room and my mouth was still on the floor. I asked the quarterbacks coach: ‘Are you sure what I did was wrong?’ He says, ‘I don’t know, but I’ll try to explain it to you tomorrow.’

That was my first thing.

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Never at a Loss for Words by M. Hodge

Gator Country “I really liked Charley. I thought he brought… When you look back on the history of what this place is and has been. We had… We had a rough year his first season, then the next we went 8-4 and won a bowl game and maybe haven’t had a worse season since then.

If you want to say when did the whole thing really become about that. That was a big year with that turnaround.”

GC: I assume you met coach Meyer a couple times. Your impressions of him?

Never at a Loss for Words by M. Hodge

enjoyed (life) more. I don’t want to say it was the best four years, but up until then it was. I’ve got a pretty good life with four kids. But it’s the first time you’re away from home and you’re really deciding your future. I told her I said, ‘You need to pick out the best place for you.’ So far she’s picked out… We went to Ohio University, which is close to where we are. Yale is recruiting her hard. I said, ‘Where else?’ She sort of meekly said, ‘University of Florida.’ I said, ‘We’re getting on a plane. Let’s go.’

I’m excited about it. I think she’s made CC: “They hit a home run around here. some terrific choices, regardless of where I’ve been around a lot of great football she decides to go. I’m going to be behind coaches. I don’t mean to belittle any of her a thousand percent.” them. To me (it’s one thing) when you get a great football coach, that’s terrific, GC: Take a look, if you would, at but when you get a great football coach, the Florida NFL teams _ Jacksonville, who’s a great human being, and a great Tampa Bay and the Dolphins. How person that represents my university and about a mini assessment of each? they win the national championship on top of that, that puts you in the home run CC: “I guess you start with the Bucs category right there. and I think it depends on whether Chris “The one thing I’ll tell you is when Simms can be the guy. I guess they just he first got the job, he sent out a flyer signed (Jeff) Garcia, too. You’ve got that trying to bring back all the old Gators. whole battle. If you can say one thing If you’re ever in town, stop by and all about Tampa it’s can they get their that stuff. That’s pretty much standard, defense back to where it was? For so long, what all these coaches do. He had a little that was really the dominant defense in email address on there, so I sent him an the NFL, certainly one of them. It didn’t email saying, Welcome to Gainesville…. matter what they did on the offensive Glad to have you… We’re excited… If side. Now that gets turned around and you ever need any help, here’s my phone their offense has to carry them a bit, I’ll number, I’ll do whatever I can for you. be real interested to see who they draft.

“Within five minutes, my phone is If they think Monte Kiffin can turn it ringing. ‘Chris, this is Urban. How you around with what they have or do they doing?’ I say, ‘You have to be kidding have to go back there, because they’ve me.’ He says, ‘You know, I grew up been drafting a lot on offense. I know in Cincinnati. I can name your entire there’s some really good defensive end Super Bowl roster, the teams, everyone. pass rushers available in that slot.

My dad wouldn’t believe we’re talking “With Jacksonville, Byron (Leftwich) on the phone right now.’ I say, ‘You’re will get the job back. I think they’re crazy.’ He says, ‘Nah, nah, you gotta under pretty good pressure as a coaching get out and play golf when I get back staff to win. They’ve had a pretty good in town.’ That’s the kind of response he opportunity and let go of some coaches brings to this place. I think I cheer harder there. Kenny Anderson’s a good friend for the Gators now than I did when I was of mine and he got let go there, so there’s playing.” some pressure. But goodness gracious, there’s some skills there at the running GC: What advice have you given back position. Then if you look at (Marcus) your daughter in choosing a school? Stroud and (John) Henderson and what they can do defensively. Nobody wants CC: “I told her to go where ever to play Jacksonville. They’re one of those she wants to go. I don’t care if she gets teams that just beats you up and will run a scholarship. I don’t care if she plays over you. That’s a tough bunch.” soccer. College ought to be the best four years of your life. It was for me. I never GC: And what of Miami? The

Dolphins?

CC: “Who’s going to be quarterback there? That’s the question. I’m not sure.

Daunte (Culpepper), with the second year back a lot of times that’s the year, but that knee injury was so serious and the mobility was such a factor for him. … Who did they end up signing? I can’t remember? They still have the defense.

Jason Taylor’s so dominant and so good.

Zach (Thomas) is so good and never seems to fade. They got (Joey) Porter from Pittsburgh. Of course, he’s in a little trouble for what he did to Levi Jones in Cincinnati. I don’t know what’s going to happen there.

“Cam (Cameron) has some skills as a coordinator. It’s been a heavy-handed approach in Miami over the last couple years. I think Cam will lighten the mood and make things a little more comfortable down there. Some times, players respond to a change of attitude. I think all of those (Florida) teams are in the same boat. It wouldn’t shock me to see one of them make a run. I think the Patriots are the Super Bowl favorite. I think the Dolphins are going to handle that. The southern division of the NFC is really tough, too.

That makes it all a little more interesting, too.”

GC: You came up through the ranks as a broadcaster and analyst. Any advice for aspiring TV journalists?

CC: “You have to be willing to do it for free and do it for free for a long time.

Don’t ever turn down a job _ no matter how trivial _ and save all the tapes.

Listen to it. Study it. But you have to do it to understand it. You have to mess up and embarrass yourself to get better at it. Nobody messed up more than I did.

You have to learn from it. That’s really what it is. I don’t know of anybody that (didn’t do that). The great thing about the television business is almost every top executive started by running coffee and doughnuts. It’s the nature of that business and it’s one of the things that I enjoy about it. While there’s a lot of arrogance in it, the people at the top had to start at the bottom _ and they generally have a pretty good perspective on things.”

Mike Hodge

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Gator Country

Sarasota’s Finest by Mark McLeod

Sarasota’s Finest

T

Gator Todd Johnson takes pride in giving to those who need his help

he street sign outside the St. Louis Rams training facility reads: One Ram Way. That probably comes as no surprise to any of us. But, for former Florida safety Todd Johnson it’s an affirmation of sorts that his football career has come full circle. You see, the paved road outside of Sarasota Riverview High School, where Johnson crafted so much of his football wisdom also reads, One Ram Way. A few months ago, he signed a four-year, $4-million deal with the St. Louis Rams after spending four seasons with the Chicago Bears. He spends most of the week working out in St. Louis, where he has been reunited with former Florida roommate and Rams tight end Aaron Walker. The pair temporarily reside in a hotel and return home on weekends.

“Things started happening real fast,” Johnson said of his short stay as a free agent. “I didn’t have to wait around long at all. The Rams were interested and signed me pretty quick.

Aaron is there and he can’t say enough good things about the Rams’ organization. They treat his family really well when

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they come in and that’s important. I’m very excited about my opportunity. I’ve been a couple of baseball games and they really get behind the Cardinals.”

Todd Johnson understands that life in the National Football League is a risky business full of unknowns. Like many other NFL players, he accepts that any given play might be his last in a game he cherishes. Most important, though, if the game ended today, it would merely be the turning of a page. You see, Johnson has short and long-term goals clearly mapped out.

He wants to coach high school football, specifically Riverview High School football. It’s a job certain to bring him tremendous enjoyment, because he will be giving back _ just as the administration, faculty, staff, and community that supported him then and has continued to support him throughout his Florida career and in his professional football endeavors.

“That is his main goal in life, to coach Riverview High School,” Johnson’s mother, Patti, said without hesitation.

Sarasota’s Finest by Mark McLeod

Gator Country “That’s all he wants to do and everybody in town knows that he wants to do it. He has his heart and soul on that. (Chicago head coach) Lovie Smith knows that he wants to coach high school football and said to him, ‘Don’t rule out anything else, because you never know when our paths might cross.’”

The Rams currently have a head coach who would love nothing better than to have Johnson on staff and eventually turn over the reins.

“I told him to quit fiddling around with that NFL, he’s wasting too much time,” Riverview coach John Sprague said jokingly. “Come on down and make the big money and coach. I’d go to the NFL myself, but I’m afraid that I’d take a cut in pay. I told him that Coach A (Anderson) and I can’t hold on here forever.”

Last January, when Johnson suited up for the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl he had the usual tickets ready for members of his family and three more reserved for Sprague, Riverview assistant coach Jim Anderson and defensive coordinator Con Nicholas.

“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Sprague said. “If having two offensive linemen start for the Gators and watching them kick Ohio State’s ass the way they did and then I sat there thinking to myself, ‘My God, am I going to have a Super Bowl champ?’”

“It was unbelievable,” he added.

“I’ll tell you, if somebody wanted to pick the top five things that made me feel as good as I’ve ever felt, I’d pick one watching Todd run out on that field at the Super Bowl. Watching him run out of that tunnel meant a lot to me. You always dream of having a kid that you coach run out of that tunnel in a Super Bowl.” ****** The citizens of Sarasota who have been fortunate enough to be around Johnson will tell you without hesitation that he is a forgiving, understanding, and compassionate person.

He absolutely loves the Sarasota/Manatee county area. During his playing days at Florida, he would often go back home on the weekends and spend time with his family, friends, and former coaches. He

often brought teammates with him. It’s a trend that continues today.

In May, Johnson will play a significant role helping raise money for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Sports Gala, which serves as the major fund-raiser for the organization. Johnson has arranged for Rex Grossman, Earnest Graham, Charles Tillman, and several other players from around the NFL to be at the affair. He also arranged for 15 pro players to work a football camp at no charge for the area youth on the following day. They’ll take them through drills and teach them the fundamentals, as well as, talk to them about staying out of trouble and the importance of getting good grades.

That will be followed by a golf tournament that serves a major fundraiser for the Riverview High School football program. There will be several NFL players in that event as well.

This is the only the second year that Johnson has been involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the camp.

And it’s the first year that he is involved with the golf tournament for his school.

Several other opportunities are soon to follow.

“We’re starting a foundation,” Johnson said. “It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, but we’re finally just scratching the surface. We’ll be able to help, not just one cause, but a variety of causes, such as Habitat For Humanity.

We do a lot with them and rehabilitate the downtown area of Sarasota. There are several homes that need rehabilitation there. We’d like to help Cystic Fibrosis, too. Unfortunately, their event is the same weekend as ours. I won’t be able to help out with that this year, but I definitely want to get involved with that again…

“There have just been a lot of opportunities to help kids to help get them scholarships and help with different situations,” he added. “Once this foundation is set up it’ll make it a lot easier to do that. My heart is in Sarasota as far as helping this community and helping these kids. There have been a handful of athletes from this area coming out of this area, but only a few in the NFL. I think it means a lot when you can come back to your own community and those kids can say, ‘Oh, he played at Riverview High School, and he played at Florida,

“My heart is in Sarasota as far as helping this community and helping these kids. There have been a handful of athletes from this area coming out of this area, but only a few in the NFL. I think it means a lot when you can come back to your own community and those kids can say, ‘Oh, he played at Riverview High School, and he played at Florida, and he’s from Sarasota. If he can do it, I can do it, too.’ That’s where my heart is helping out this community.”

-Todd Johnson

Gator Country

Sarasota’s Finest by Mark McLeod

and he’s from Sarasota. If he can do it, I become an All-SEC player at Georgia. can do it, too.’ That’s where my heart is They were both very deserving.

“We wanted to keep all of the helping out this community.” defensive backs lockers close to each other. It builds unity. It just seemed the ****** leader always moved back to that locker, Nestled in the corner of the locker so that became the one.”

Only players who have demonstrated room at Riverview High School is a special locker. It has been manned and superior leadership skills and been maintained by the leader of the “Air recognized all-state can make the Patrol,” the vaunted Rams’ secondary. cut for this locker. Some of the other To this day the locker contains the high notables who will forever have their school photo and a typed bio highlighting names remembered are John Haskins the accomplishments of the players’ who (Stanford), Mon Long (Illinois), Nate were fortunate enough to be assigned Gates (LSU), Chris Parsons (Penn), Amy Campbell (Michigan State), Larry the space.

The names read like a Who’s Who of Kennedy (Florida) and Johnson.

It seems as if every defensive back some of The Sunshine State’s outstanding defensive backs. Secondary coach Jim at Riverview has a hero _ a keeper of Anderson has been nurturing them and the Air Patrol locker. One of Johnson’s idols was Kennedy. And Kennedy was shipping them out like Florida citrus.

“Foster Paulk (Ohio State) was certainly one reason that Johnson had his the first player that made it in there,” eyes on the Gators.

“I remember our banquet during his Anderson said. “The building was built in 1986. We put two guys that we had just (Todd’s) senior year,” Anderson recalled. prior to completion of the construction “I was balling. I didn’t want to see him in there. Bernard Zeiglar actually leave. There are probably three guys helped build the locker room working in all the years that I’ve been coaching construction after he graduated. We also where I felt like that. Todd is very special put in Doug Samuels who went on to and I hope that people understand that.

Photos courtesy of Ian Kavanagh

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We just connected. We didn’t have to even speak. We were on the same page.” ***** In a picturesque setting that the couple often stops to enjoy the beauty of Sarasota Bay on their way to dinner, Shannon Hulslander remembered an October evening like no other before.

She accepted a beautiful engagement ring and the opportunity to become Mrs. Todd Johnson. They will be married in March.

“We had gone there a year before on Valentine’s Day and I totally thought that was going to be the moment.” Shannon said. “It happened to be cold that evening and he kept putting his hands in his pocket, and I kept thinking he’s going to pull out that ring, but he never did. So, I told him and it was so sweet of him to take me back to that same spot.

This time I didn’t think anything about it. It caught be by surprise. He didn’t tell anybody until that day, so that nobody would slip.”

Both are proud graduates of the University of Florida. The two have dated for five years. Shannon is a hospitality major who worked for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ organization.

She tried to get them to secure Johnson’s services, but to no avail. Her life was further complicated trying to focus on the task at hand while peeking at the latest goings on the Chicago Bears.

S h a n n o n will help get the foundation up and running while the couple splits time between St. Louis and Sarasota.

What about Todd do strangers not understand?

“He is the biggest jokester around,” she said. “He doesn’t

Sarasota’s Finest by Mark McLeod

Gator Country damage anything. Antiquing is one thing that he does well. Everybody that went to college with him knows about his antiquing strategy.”

It was open season in the southwest Gainesville home shared by Aaron Walker, Mike Pearson, Reid Fleming and Johnson. The roommate who had the misfortune of falling asleep in the living room was awakened with a handful of flour to the face. Everybody fell victim to antiquing.

Johnson had guests every weekend in Chicago during the season. He strategically placed shocking devices around the room for all to experience.

There was the pen that shocked everybody who picked it up from the desk. A remote control was rigged to shock people when they picked it up to turn the channel. Even his dad, Chico, fell prey when he picked up his lighter.

“We had Rex eat a dog biscuit once,” Johnson said, laughing. “We had these cookies out and put it in there with them and told him to try one and he sure enough ate it. He got about half-way through it, before he knew what was happening and then he spit it out.” ***** One day, Johnson is joking; the next he’s giving.

“He nominated me for the NFL High School Coach of the Year Award,” Sprague recalled. “I made the one of the finalists. So, the NFL sent our football program five-thousand dollars and they send me twenty-five hundred dollars.

We put it together and got a new set of jerseys and had Todd’s initials, TJ, put on them.”

If Johnson were playing with the Gators today, he’d probably be the face of Florida football, a guy that demonstrates leadership, teamwork and work ethic in every facet of his life.

“Let me tell you, he (Todd Johnson) is almost exactly like Urban Meyer,” Sprague said. “They leave no stone unturned. I first met Urban when he was at Notre Dame and recruited Corky Watson. Nobody wanted him except Duke and Notre Dame. He didn’t understand why the in-state schools weren’t recruiting him. He (Watson) goes to Notre Dame and breaks every

single tackle record and every linebacker record at the school. When I see him now, Urban says, ‘Boy, were we dead right.’

Urban was straightforward and honest about it and that’s exactly how Todd is.

In high school, I put Todd in charge of one of his friends who was having some trouble and told him that I’m holding you responsible and he really helped that guy out. That’s Todd. He takes responsibility serious. He has his priorities in order.”

have a hard time getting along at school here. Todd stopped his workout and spent some time with them. Those kids were just lit up that he took so long to spend with them. That’s who he is. If somebody says, who do you want your son to be? You say that you want him to be Todd Johnson.”

Mark McLeod

****** Story after story demonstrates the goodness of Todd Johnson. In a day and age when professional leagues create rules to govern the conduct of their players, Johnson represents the University of Florida in a manner that should elicit pride in every Gator. And he has been doing it all of his life.

“One of my favorite moments was when he was a little boy playing youth basketball,” Patti Johnson recalled. “We were in the middle of a big game. He saw his grandmother come into the game a little late and she sat in her seat. Well, the ball went out of bounds and he went to retrieve the ball and before he would throw it back in he went over and hugged and kissed his grandmother.

The official said, ‘OK, hold on the player has got to hug and kiss grandmother.’ That was just really cute and really sweet.”

Believe it or not, there’s more.

“Back when he worked for the youth group at church he went to Appalachia and helped the people there fix their house and build a porch,” Sprague said. “He sees the compassion. Today, we were working out and there were three developmentally disabled students who really

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Gator Country

Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman

Springing Into Fall Spring football has been over for several weeks and with nearly fourth months left until summer workouts start, Gator Country recruiting analyst and football insider Hollywood Bob Redman gives his assessment of each position.

Quarterback Returning Experience: Sophomore Tim Tebow (6-3, 234), 22 completions on 33 attempts for 458 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Rushed 89 times for 463 yards and eight touchdowns.

Newcomers: Freshman Cameron Newton (6-5, 242) College park (Ga.) Westlake; Junior College transfer Bryan Waggener (6-6, 226) Chino Hills (Calif.) Citrus College.

More in the Fall: Freshman John Brantley (6-3, 195) Ocala Trinity Catholic Strengths: Ample. Tim Tebow will start and is a much better fit for the offense that Urban Meyer and company want to run than Chris Leak was. Tebow is a true double-dimension quarterback. Behind Tebow are a trio of talented prospects that make this one of the strongest QB depth charts ever at Florida.

Weaknesses: Experience will take the biggest hit here than almost anywhere else. Chris Leak overcame a lot of adversity.

That experience is important. Waggener missed almost the entire spring because of a broken foot.

Quarterback coach and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen: “I am pleased. They aren’t close to ready for games yet, but they progressed. We threw a lot at Cam Newton early. When (Waggener) got hurt, it put a lot of pressure on Newton. He got a lot more reps and it really paid off for him having him out here. He had some peaks and valleys, but (getting through those) comes with experience.

“He may be a little ahead of where Tim was throwing the ball, but maybe not quite as far as where Tim was making all the checks. I’d say (he was) pretty close to where Tim was this time last year.”

With spring workouts done, Gator Country takes a detailed look at Florida’s football team “Tim is probably not quite where Chris was last year at this time. I think he will be able to do everything Chris did last year in checking to plays he needs to check to.

“I am pretty happy with both of them. The exciting thing about Tim Tebow once the season comes is that we don’t let him make plays out here (at practice) with his legs, or his ability to scramble, or his ability to improvise. We just make him manage. When we let him go in September, he will be allowed to improvise and I think you will see more excitement.”

Bob’s Bottom Line: The offense should be more explosive in 2007 than it was in 2006 simply because the comfort factor between the quarterbacks and play callers. Tebow, Newton, and even Brantley all have great athletic ability _throwing or running _ and Florida will now rely on that ability to spread the field and get the ball in the playmakers’ hands.

Tebow is a true leader and his offensive brethren flock to him. The defense knows it, and often call him out in practice,

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Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman

Gator Country

Tate Casey (6-6, 235), 24 career receptions playmakers. I don’t want to make it hard. for 306 yards.

I just want them to get the ball and go do something special with it. We will put the Newcomers: Redshirt Freshman Justin pressure on them to be the playmakers.”

Williams (6-1, 195) Folkston (Ga.); freshman Paul Wilson (6-0, 182), Lakeland Bob’s Bottom Line: The starting four look High; freshman Aaron Hernandez (6-2, to be some mix of Caldwell, Harvin, 239) Bristol (Conn) High.

Fayson, Murphy, and Ingram. I doubt there is a more electrifying group than More in the Fall: Freshman Deonte that in the nation. Plainly put, they are as Thompson (5-11, 186), Glades Central fast as anyone and they all have yardsHigh. after-the-catch ability on the field.

Strengths: Speed, size, enough experience and flat out play-making ability. This group has it all and will challenge for the best receiver group in the nation. Tim Tebow and the rest of the quarterbacks but the admiration for a young guy like have so many weapons, there are no excuses. that is easily seen every day.

Newton started off rough as you would expect any freshman quarterback to do in his first spring. By the end, he was a new and improved player, making plays with his arm and legs. Waggener missed a badly needed spring and is a major setback.

Brantley, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, will come in with guns a blazing. He was at most spring practices trying to soak in as much as he could, but he is definitely behind the others in knowing the offense. He comes in with the best throwing credentials of the group.

This should be a fun group to watch for the next few years.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Harvin and Caldwell are the scariest duo in college football for 2007. Both had great springs and weren’t even utilized much. Ingram came on late last season and could be an All-America tight end posing mismatch problems. Murphy had a solid spring and then wowed everyone at the spring game. He is a big, strong Weaknesses: A lot of guys that will see receiver. Fayson has Harvin-type skills their first real playing time against good in a bigger body and just needs to see the competition, but they did play some last ball. season.

The next group _ Nelson, Cooper, Wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales: “One Williams, Casey and Hernandez _ all have thing we stressed all spring was making tools that would put them on the field big plays. I have seen some of the older guys making plays in certain situations. I was interested in seeing David Nelson, Jarred Fayson, Louis Murphy have a chance to make plays in game time situations. That was a big thing. We saw that they have the ability to make big plays.

“The things we have to work on are the fundamentals. Ultimately it all comes down to, ‘Am I fundamentally sound?’

In the fourth quarter when everyone is tired, the fundamentals are what put you over the top. The basic four are top ends of a route, blocking, ball security, and releases are the four things we have to work at every day to be fundamentally sound.”

Returning Experience: Senior Bubba Caldwell (6-0, 198), 129 career receptions for 1,588 yards. Also rushed for 235 yards on 29 attempts; sophomore Riley Cooper (6-3, 207), four receptions, 92 receiving yards in 2006; sophomore Jarred Fayson (6-0, 200), 14 rushes, 126 yards and one reception for one yard in 2006; sophomore Percy Harvin (5-11, 181), 34 receptions for 437 yards and 41 rushes for 488 yards in 2006; junior Louis Murphy (6-2, 199), two receptions for 42 yards in 2006; sophomore David Nelson (6-4, 208), five receptions for 76 yards in Mullen: “They 2006; junior Cornelius Ingram (6-4, 221), Dan (wide receivers) are our 30 receptions for 380 yards in 2006; senior

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Gator Country anywhere else but Florida. Nelson and Casey add a height dimension around the goal line that others can’t match and it may give them their niche to see more playing time. Williams was solid over the middle all spring and routinely made tough catches. Cooper had a strange foot ailment, but was exciting as a freshman.

Wilson and Thompson will have a hard time seeing the field in 2007 with all of the talent in front of them. Thompson is blessed with world-class speed, and that could play a part in getting early playing time. Wilson worked extremely hard over the spring and showed he has what it takes to compete at this level. He also has surprising speed and shows a willingness to block downfield.

Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman spring and seems to be the most electric, but he has to prove himself in areas other than just running with the ball. James is too small to be an every-down back. Mon Williams will miss the entire 2007 season with a torn ACL. Bo Williams missed the entire spring because of a shoulder injury.

Running backs coach Stan Drayton: “Kestahn Moore is the veteran of that group right now. His approach to the game, his maturity level, how he handles adversity, he is just heads and shoulders above everyone else right now.”

“He has toughness, consistency, and leadership. Everything I need him to do, he is doing it. He is the leader of that group. He is a utility player. We can put him a lot of positions to do a lot of Returning Experience: Junior Kestahn different things. He is a work horse. He Moore (5-10, 208), rushed 102 times for brings his hard hat every day.”

559 yards so far in his career and has 21 receptions for 114 yards; sophomore “The light is on (for Walker), but the Mon Williams (6-1, 204), rushed 13 challenge is keeping it on. He told me he times for 101 yards in one game in 2006; is ready for change and he has come out sophomore Brandon James (5-6, 178) and proving it to me. The challenge is rushed three times for one yard in 2006; going to be building some consistency to senior fullback Eric Rutledge (5-11, 250); his play, make sure he brings that attitude junior fullback James Smith (6-1, 235). on a daily basis. He has some ability and will be fun to watch him develop. His Newcomers: Redshirt freshman Chevon attitude and his whole approach to the Walker (5-10, 204); freshman Bo Williams (6-0, 208) Oakland Park (Fla.) Northeast High.

Running Backs

More in the Fall: Freshman Chris Rainey (5-9, 175), Lakeland.

Strengths: Safety in numbers.

Moore has a lot of experience to draw upon. Walker and James are capable of breaking off a touchdown at any moment, but lack Moore’s knowledge of the game. Rutledge should be a steady blocking force at fullback; Smith offers a mean streak at the position.

Weaknesses: No clear cut dynamic runner has emerged. Moore is solid but not a spectacular runner.

Walker came on at the end of

game has changed. He was a negative guy and found excuses why he wasn’t on the football field. He eliminated those excuses and tried to get a more positive attitude. It is amazing what happens when your attitude gets better and that is what we see with Chevon.

“Brandon (James) brings a whole lot to the table with him on the perimeter like that. It will be fun to see where he can help us in this offense. He is a ball carrier.

He can carry it when you kick to him, or when you hand it off to him. He is a perimeter guy. He has great speed and great make-you-miss-ability. He can be a definite fit for a spread offense. He will be limited in some ways, in protection we worry about his size a little bit. We can play into his strengths. We have things in the offense to get him on the perimeter and use his talent.”

Bob’s Bottom Line: A very big positive about this group is the numbers.

Although no one has clearly made themselves the man, they all can play the game of football pretty well and bring different dimensions to the game.

Moore has power and stability. He has also been around the block a few times having played in hostile situations on the road. He is an excellent pass catcher, but probably is the least elusive of the group.

James is ultra elusive and will be used as a receiver or a toss man. He is not someone they want to run inside very often, although he actually has a sturdy body on his 5-foot-6 frame.

Chevon Walker came on like gangbusters late in spring and was my most improved player for the entire spring. He showed burst and acceleration while running the ball.

He has a great change of direction gear and knows how to follow the traffic.

Once he learns protection schemes and passing

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Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman

Gator Country

it, but it is nice that some of these guys can play multiple positions.

Weaknesses: The probable loss of Ronnie Wilson because of off-the-field problems means one of the top five linemen will be out and that hurts. Still, other than Drew Miller really learning the nuances of the center position, this is another group that has a chance to be among the nation’s best.

Offensive line coach Steve Addazio: “One of the good things that happened (over the spring) was a real sense of leadership from guys like Drew Miller, Carlton Medder, and Phil Trautwein. I think you have a group of guys that really like football. They feel like they can be one of the best units in the country and I think they approach it that way every day. I think it is just a fun group of guys.

routes, Walker will create even more competition at the position.

Bo Williams and Chris Rainey are going to be behind the eight ball when they show up, but since there has been no one to really lay claim to the job, they will get a chance. Williams is a bigger back that can run between the tackles. Rainey is a dynamo that needs to get on the outside and make people miss. Rainey is a special talent and the staff is determined to find a way to use his strengths.

Miller (6-5, 297) 18 starts; senior tackle Phil Trautwein (6-6, 298) 15 starts; senior tackle Carlton Medder (6-5, 318) 14 starts; junior guard Jim Tartt (6-3, 312) 17 starts; junior tackle Jason Watkins (6-6, 304) played in 15 games; sophomore tackle Simon Codrington (6-6, 313) six games; redshirt freshman guard Maurice Hurt (6-2, 317) three games; sophomore center Eddie Haupt (6-4, 298) four games; redshirt freshman tackle Marcus Gilbert (6-5, 299) two games.

Newcomers: Redshirt freshman tackle/ center Jim Barrie (6-5, 300); redshirt freshman guard Corey Hobbs (6-3, 299); redshirt freshman tackle Carl Johnson (6-5, 339); true freshman guard Maurkice Eric Rutledge will be a steady force, but Pouncey (6-4, 310), Lakeland; true will not be asked to carry the ball much. freshman guard Michael Pouncey (6-4, However, he has plenty of experience 310), Lakeland. blocking and should do well in that role.

More in the Fall: Freshman James Wilson When the fullback is asked to carry (6-5, 310) Jacksonville Nease High. it or catch a pass, James Smith may be the guy. He probably has a little more Strengths: Experience abounds up speed than Rutledge and although new front with four of five starters from the to the position, he plays fullback like a national championship squad. Depth is linebacker and is tenacious. the best it’s been in years. The Gators go a legitimate two deep with quality. One of the great things mentioned by coach Steve Addazio is the flexibility of the Returning Experience: Senior center Drew group. With the depth you may not need Mon Williams had a chance to really be the man for the lead job at tailback. His injury was a real blow for a player of his talent.

Offensive Line

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“I thought Drew Miller did a great job adjusting to center. I thought Carl Johnson, although he missed a lot, he did some really great things. Jason Watkins got some time to run with the starters a lot. We switched Medder and Trautwein and rotated them and it was great. All those guys had some nice progress in the spring. We are becoming very interchangeable and that is very good.

We want to be eight or nine strong, when you can do that, you have something going on.”

“I thought the young guys came in and did a hell of a job. They have a lot of passion for the game.

Bob’s Bottom Line: Plain and simple this is the deepest the offensive line has been at Florida in quite some time. A good mix of young and old, the talent fits the system and these players seem to really take to the system.

Last year the Gators went into the season with 17 starts among all the linemen; this year that number almost quadrupled to 64. The line progressed rapidly as the season went along and by season’s end it was a national championship team’s strength.

If there is a concern, it would be at center where Miller takes over a spot new to

Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman

Gator Country him before this spring. He struggled a bit early, but got much better with time. He is the most dominant and technically sound lineman, so I expect a good transition with more reps in the summer.

Miller was going to be backed up by freshman Hurt, but the off the field incidents of Ronnie Wilson caused Hurt to step up to the starting rotation at right guard. Hurt is a big-time player and will be good for a while for the Gators.

The backup at center will now be a fight between Haupt and Barrie, the latter played tackle all spring until Wilson’s off-the-field incident. Whoever secures that spot has a chance to start for the next couple of years at the position after Miller leaves.

The tackles should be rock solid with both starters returning in Medder and Trautwein. The last week of spring drills the staff decided to flip the two and put Trautwein on the right side and Medder on the left. The move was done because Tim Tebow is a left- handed quarterback and Trautwein is a little more adept at blocking the blind side than Medder.

Behind those two starters is Jason Watkins, who really played well this spring. Carl Johnson is another option and he was receiving many accolades before coming down with an intestinal virus. Marcus Gilbert should be a force to be reckoned with now that his elbow has healed, although he did miss all of spring practice. Simon Codrington was a a big-time talent himself and is expected non-factor with an injury. to push the top groups.

The guard positions will be strong with road grader Jim Tartt and mountain mover Maurice Hurt inside. Tartt made it through all of last season without Returning Experience: Junior Derrick lingering effects of a problem shoulder Harvey (6-4, 245), 26 career tackles and and had a strong spring also. The nine sacks; junior Javier Estopinan (6-1, Pouncey twins created quite a stir this 270), five career tackles; senior Lutrell spring and look to really be pushing for Alford (6-1, 306), four career tackles; playing time among the first and second senior Clint McMillan (6-1, 275), eight groups up front. Corey Hobbs came into career tackles and one sack; sophomore spring in great shape and also showed Brandon Antwine (5-11, 262), career one a lot of promise in the interior offensive tackle; sophomore Jermaine Cunningham (6-3, 233), zero career tackles. line.

More in the Fall: Freshman John Brown (6-0, 300), Lakeland High; freshman Torrey Davis (6-4, 285) Seffner Armwood; freshman Carlos Dunlap (6-6, 240) North Charleston (S.C.) Fort Dorchester; freshman Jay Howard (6-5, 230) Orlando Jones; freshman Duke Lemmens (6-5, 238) Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian; freshman Justin Trattou (6-4, 250) Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep.

Strengths: They have numbers on the inside at the tackle positions. Without someone stepping up, at least they can rotate in and out and keep them fresh.

Harvey missed a lot of spring but is dominant at end. Cunningham came on strong late.

Newcomers: Redshirt freshman Lawrence With all of this talent, true freshman Marsh (6-5, 284); redshirt freshman James Wilson would seem to have an uphill climb to get playing time when he Terron Sanders (6-1, 304); Trent Pupello Weaknesses: They are light up front with the platoon of tackles. No one really arrives this summer. Wilson, however, is (6-2, 275).

Defensive Line

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Gator Country

Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman

stepped up on the interior until Sanders is that some of our guys have to get bigger. If they are going to play and be made a late push in the spring. the guys now, it is time to get as strong as Defensive Line Coach and Co-Defensive they can and gain the good weight; they Coordinator Greg Mattison: “I think the have to.” biggest thing is that we developed some depth among the guys that were here Bob’s Bottom Line: Sanders’ move up the (this spring). They all competed. With chart in the closing weeks could be the Derrick (Harvey) and Javier (Estopinan) most significant move of the entire spring not practicing much, it kind of put on defense. The Gators were lacking that pressure on some guys that maybe we big run stuffer and Sanders 300-plus didn’t know were ready or maybe they pound body is certainly that. If he can thought they didn’t have to get ready. hold that fort down, the makings of the It forced them to start accelerating their defense will be that much better in 2007. progress.

The front will revolve around Harvey, “I think Terron Sanders for the first time, who may have been the best defensive showed us the guy we recruited. We saw lineman last year on a team that saw four some good things when we recruited him drafted and one sign an NFL free-agent and he kind of had that freshman year contract. Harvey missed a lot of spring (last year). The doubt crept in about not with a sports hernia, but it was good for being able to play. All of a sudden the the young guys to get reps. However, last two weeks or so of spring, he really there weren’t a lot of young guys playing started showing. I think the spring game end this spring. really showed that he could play.

Jermaine Cunningham also finished “The biggest thing we saw in the spring strong and will be hard to beat out

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opposite Harvey in the fall. Cunningham has a Ray McDonald-like first step after the ball and exploded into the backfield the latter part of spring.

Lawrence Marsh surprised many with his mobility at 284 pounds. Marsh has the size that could place him in the interior in order to get the best four linemen on the field at the same time. By the close of spring, he was definitely one of the top four in my book.

Antwine has to get bigger. He is a playmaker when in the trenches, but it will be necessary to add 20 pounds or so before he can be really effective.

For the most part, the rest of the bunch are journeymen, except we never got to see Estopinan this spring. Mattison is very high on Estopinan, so he could make a difference somewhere when he returns healthy in the fall.

The defensive line is where the true freshmen will make the most impact. The

Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman

Gator Country quality and depth of the 2007 defensive line class is as good as has been signed ever. They will cause position changes and will force playing time early in the season.

Linebacker Returning Experience: Sophomore Brandon Spikes (6-3, 241), six tackles; sophomore Dustin Doe (6-0, 219), 10 tackles; sophomore Ryan Stamper (6-1, 227), zero tackles.

Newcomers: Redshirt freshman A.J. Jones (6-1, 206).

More in the Fall: Freshman Brandon Hicks (6-2, 205) Jacksonville Forrest; freshman John Jones (6-3, 206) Sarasota Booker; freshman Steven Wilks (6-2, 195) Lakeland.

more agile that one would expect for but came on late in the spring. his size. Spikes really loves to play the Weaknesses: No Reggie Nelson has to mean game. something back there. In all likelihood it Dustin Doe plays great in traffic and is means the games will be called a little a sure tackler. He was a star on special different because Nelson could dominate teams last year and saw limited time in a lot of the playing field. Until someone the defensive lineup, but got a bunch shows the football prowess of Nelson or of reps last fall in practice. He will have close to it, I believe they have to play a some big shoes to fill with the departure little softer on defense. of Earl Everett, but he may be a more Safety Coach Doc Holliday: “They instinctual linebacker. got a million reps, which was critical.

A.J. Jones just tries to destroy the ball Kyle Jackson had a good spring. We carrier and may have made more plays asked him to do certain things and he on defense this spring than anyone else. responded. We held Tony Joiner out He has a frame to put on more weight a bunch because he knows what to do. and needs to, but his speed and tenacity Dorian Munroe had a great spring and played a lot at both positions. Hornsby make up for the lack of bulk. and Bryan Thomas played a lot; they got Ryan Stamper is a solid linebacker and more reps than anyone and they needed is capable of playing any of the three them.” positions with his size and speed. His ability had him in a constant fight with Jones for the starting strongside linebacker spot, but either way, Stamper will see the field a lot next season.

Strengths: The starting group is probably a more athletic one than the group that just left. Spikes is the real leader and a solid force on the inside. Doe can make plays and is a sure tackler. Jones is a playmaker extraordinaire and may be the hardest hitter on the team. Stamper is a solid player and could start, but may be more valuable as a backup to all three Returning Experience: Senior Tony positions for now. All four needed to and Joiner (5-11, 217), 80 career tackles and stayed healthy for the entire spring. two interceptions; senior Kyle Jackson (6-1, 201), 61 career tackles and four Weaknesses: Size could still be an issue interceptions; sophomore Dorian with this group also. Jones should be Munroe (5-11, 200), four tackles in able to put on more weight but hasn’t so 2006. far. The depth is pretty non-existent until the freshmen arrive.

Newcomers: Redshirt freshman Jamar Hornsby (6-2, 195); redshirt freshman Linebacker Coach and Co-Defensive Bryan Thomas (6-1, 203).

Coordinator Charlie Strong: “We went in with an inexperienced set of guys. More in the Fall: Freshman Lorenzo We just watched them and put them in Edwards (6-2, 221) Orlando Edgewater competitive situations. They just needed ; freshman Jeremy Finch (6-1, 203) more reps. We still have a ways to go. Indianapolis Warren Central; freshman They will run and hit, so we know we Major Wright (6-1, 204) Fort Lauderdale have a chance. Their tools are there, it is St. Thomas Aquinas just getting them to compete.”

Strengths: This is the deepest position Bob’s Bottom Line: The linebackers on the roster with quality personnel impressed me plenty in the spring and throughout. Joiner is a team leader, the four scholarship linebackers on hand vocally and by example. Jackson played well this spring after a not so great junior can all play. season. He will be pushed by Munroe, Brandon Spikes was solid as a true who had a really great spring. Hornsby freshman and was called upon in critical was the most improved safety and really situations. He is big and fast and much looked good. Thomas struggled early

Safety

“We are missing Reggie Nelson. Everyone compares them to Reggie Nelson, but there are no Reggie Nelson’s out there.

I am not sure that is fair, but we need someone that can line up in the middle of the field and make plays like Reggie did. To compare them at this point isn’t fair, but the most critical position on our defense is free safety. They have to be able to overlap and make everyone right.”

Bob’s Bottom Line: The talent is there at the safety position. Whether that talent can do what the staff would like them to

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Springing Into Fall by Bob Redman

Gator Country do is the big question. Tony Joiner is a hard hitter and the senior leader of the defense. He loves doing the dirty work and plays in the box and up near the line of scrimmage a lot.

last several years. The group played well this spring and in a system the staff says is not difficult for cornerbacks, they should be able to find two or three that will play well within the system.

If Jackson can return to his freshman form, there will be nothing to worry about in the secondary. He is not as fast as Nelson, but if he can play with some of the instincts he has shown in the past, the staff can do some things they weren’t counting on this fall.

Weaknesses: Lack of experience is using the term lightly. Rarely was Markihe Anderson asked to play a meaningful down as a freshman, and Wondy Pierre-

coaching and I am encouraged by that.”

Bob’s Bottom Line: Heater has had to handle new starting corners two years in a row and in both seasons had an AllSEC player at one of the positions. From a depth standpoint the talent is much better than it has been in the last few years. It remains be seen if two emerge as big-time playmakers, but with the numbers and talent, maybe they will use the talent at cornerback to press more and take heat off the front seven.

If Jackson isn’t cutting it, Munroe will push him and has more athletic ability to do some of those things. Munroe is silky smooth, and he can run as well as the staff would want back there.

The scheme is said to be easy for the cornerbacks, so to worry about lack of experience is a little bit of a lost cause to me right now. Heater is good at getting his players to play their best.

Hornsby looked great all spring and came in with an attitude of getting better. He was physical and fast, he made plays almost every day in practice and got a lot of solid work in. His presence will allow Munroe to concentrate on learning one position and not both.

Anderson and Manson emerged as the starters at the end of spring.

Manson is somewhat of a surprise having moved over from offense, but he is thicker and fast and his physical maturity is noticeable from the others. Anderson is scrappy and the receivers hate squaring up against him because he makes them work really hard.

The three incoming freshmen are as talented a group as have ever been signed at Florida. One or more of them will clearly end up at linebacker, but who that will be is uncertain at this time. One thing for sure is that the safety position will be as loaded as anywhere in the country this fall.

Louis got all of his time on special teams.

None were high level blue-chippers out of high school, but that should not Returning Experience: Sophomore Markihe diminish their actual skill level.

Anderson (5-9, 175), three tackles in 2006; sophomore Wondy Pierre-Louis (6-1, Cornerbacks coach Chuck Heater: “I think 184), four tackles in 2006. just the fact we have more players is a benefit. Maybe they aren’t as established, Newcomers: Junior Markus Manson but I think the depth will help us. (former running back) (5-11, 207); redshirt freshman Jacques Rickerson “There is a whole psychological way of (5-9, 172); freshman Ahmad Black (5-9, handling things when they are out there 173); freshman Joe Haden (5-11, 183). (on the field) and you just don’t know how they are going to do with that being More in the Fall: Moses Jenkins (6-3, 175) so young. I like their attitude and they Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson. are very coachable. The talent is there; Strengths: It is a great group of athletes they just have to get better every week. and potentially the biggest corner They all have things they need to get tandem the Gators have had during the better at, but they have really taken to the

Cornerback

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Just out of high school, Haden had a really impressive spring. He got more reps than just about anyone with injuries to three of the corners and he took full advantage of it. He probably made more plays on the ball than any of the others.

Pierre-Louis was slowed after the first practice with a hamstring, but his physical stature is also quite noticeable compared to the others. He was back healthy at the end of practice, but he really could have used the reps out on the field.

Black was much of the same after suffering an injury early and missing a lot of practice. He is a natural football player and plays the game tough. He is a sure tackler and already has the aggressive approach that Heater likes.

Jenkins will have a chance to contribute as a freshman when he shows up in June.

His height is unmatched and if he has the agility to add to that, he could indeed be a rare commodity.

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The Bloom of Spring Football by Buddy Martin

Gator Country

The Bloom of Spring Football T

he other night I had a dream that I attended a Southeastern Conference football spring game and was trampled to death by 92,000 people. I believe it was a team in dark red uniforms – Mississippi State, perhaps?

Turns out it was no dream – 92,000 did show up, but it wasn’t Mississippi State and I didn’t get trampled. To be exact, 92,138 attended A-Day in Tuscaloosa for Alabama’s first public scrimmage for the new Crimson Tide coach. This leads me to wonder if they were expecting the return of Bear Bryant instead of the debut of Nick Saban.

Spring football is apparently the new major league baseball spring training, the way pink is the new black and age 60 is the new 40. Not that long along you could walk up to any baseball park in Florida and buy a fistful of tickets to see Major League Baseball. Now you almost have to shop on E-Bay. Athletic Directors must be salivating over potential revenue streams for spring football. Alabama’s was free this year, but with what they had to fork over for Saban, that could change. If ‘Bama had charged $10 per ticket, at least three months of Saban’s salary could have been funded.

Florida fans were charged $5 for general admission to the “Orange & Blue Debut.” (What was wrong with the plain old “Orange & Blue Game” name?) Students, UF Alumni Association members, F-Club members and Gator

46

Boosters were admitted free. I’m just wondering if spring games will become part of the Gators’ regular ticket package.

Cash is king these days in college sports.

So what of these spring mega-crowds?

The common denominator appears to be curiosity over new coaches. Or, in the case of Notre Dame, the old coaches. The Irish brought back Lou Holtz and Ara Parseghian and drew 51,000.

Florida was among the first to make the spring games a big event. More than 58,000 showed up at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for Urban Meyer’s first dance.

That same spring, Spurrier’s intrasquad game attracted 38,806. In Columbia this year, they charged $10 admission for the Garnet & Black game, but threw in a concert from Hootie and the Blowfish.

The Gamecocks still drew 37,113, just under 1,700 fewer than Spurrier attracted his first year when the game was free and on ESPN. Not everybody enjoys this windfall.

Auburn only drew a third of what its rival did (31,757) and Georgia could only muster 21,407. Tennessee’s crowd was a bit slim at 17,409. Kentucky had about a quarter (5,000) of a regular season basketball game at Rupp Arena.

But if you want pathetic, try Arkansas at just 2,000. (Apparently Razorback fans failed to get the text message about the game.) Vandy we can almost excuse for its 2,000.

These huge crowds are amazing when you consider many of the stars never see the field. At Florida, Percy Harvin,

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Derrick Harvey, Cornelius Ingram and Tony Joiner were among those who didn’t play, although the main drawing card, Tim Tebow, did get a full workout and was the primary point of curiosity.

This is just: Tim Tebow CAN pass.

Meanwhile Gator fans are left to speculate how good players like Louis Murphy, Chevon Walker and David Nelson are going to be this fall.

Personally, I saw a lot more in the three Saturday scrimmages leading up to the “Orange and Blue Debut.” That includes the emergence of receiver/running back Jarred Fayson and tailback/kick returner Brandon James and the promising play of new tight end Aaron Hernandez; and the improvement of linebacker Brandon Spikes and development cornerbacks Markus Manson and Joe Haden on defense.

Spring football can be enjoyable, but I’d like to see it a little more competitive, as it was back in the days of the United States Football League. However, we take out football fixes anyway we can get them. Before this spring is over, we might even be forced to embrace the Arena Football League.

- Buddy Martin (Buddy Martin’s revised championship version of “The Boys From Old Florida: Inside Gator Nation” will be available this summer. An autographed copy can be preordered by sending an e-mail to buddyshow@ aol.com.