This is the sixth in a series of position-by-position analysis of the 2020 Florida Gators In his four years on the job patrolling the middle, fighting off determined offensive linemen who wanted to get at his feet to knock him down as he moved to plug a hole to make a stop, David Reese II was in on 322 tackles. A junior-year injury that caused him to miss three games is the only thing that kept him from cracking the all-time top ten tackles list at the University of Florida. Reese is gone now and will most likely make his living playing football for money on Sundays in the coming years. The shoes he leaves behind at UF will be difficult to fill but there are talented enough players to replace Reese’s productivity. Replacing Reese’s leadership? Well, that might be another story because as productive as Reese was, he was like having an assistant coach on the field. You want your middle linebacker to be relentless in pursuit and an able tackler. Reese was all that but what really made him stand out was his command of the huddle. When he got the signal in from the sideline, he made sure everyone was in the right place. When he saw the opposing quarterback audibling out of a play, Reese was quick to recognize and make accurate adjustment calls. Put simply, Reese led. The Gators followed. In Ventrell Miller (6-0, 225, RJR), Jeremiah Moon (6-6, 240, RSR), Lacedrick Brunson (6-1, 230, RJR) and James Houston IV (6-1, 235, RJR), the Gators have an experienced foursome with speed and excellent instincts. Add to the mix Mohamoud Diabate (6-2, 220, SO), who showed as a freshman that he can be unblockable when he comes off the edge, and the Gators have a group that can stuff the run, get to the passer and even drop in coverage. Behind them are six with unquestioned talent but lacking experience. That leads us back once again to the question, who is going to step up to lead? Which one – or even better, which two – can be the calming voice in the huddle as well as the traffic cop who gets everyone in the right place and has the recognition abilities to check things when he sees the opposing QB changing the play at the line of scrimmage? The answer to that question will determine just how good Florida’s defense can be. If, perhaps, Miller and/or Moon can take over that leadership role seamlessly, then the Gators will have a ferocious, attacking defense that will rank among the best in the nation. The Florida defense oozes talent but is there one or two among them that can ooze leadership? Miller seems to be the likely candidate after a breakout redshirt sophomore season in 2019 when he was in on 55 tackles. He had 3.0 sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss and broke up a couple of passes. Miller saved his best for last in 2019 when he was in on 22 tackles in the final three games against Missouri, Florida State and Virginia. Though not the ideal size for an inside linebacker, he has exceptional speed and does a great job maneuvering in traffic without getting picked off. Moon has freakish athletic ability but can he stay healthy an entire season? He has the speed and length to be scary good off the edge but he’s shown when healthy that he’s a solid tackler in the running game as well. In just nine games last season Moon was in on 31 tackles with 3.0 sacks, 3.0 quarterback hurries, 6.5 tackles for loss and a couple of pass breakups. He has the size and speed to cover a tight end in the passing game as well as the ability to disrupt the passer when he comes off the edge. Injured in the Georgia game, Moon didn’t play the last four games of 2019 so it is imperative that he stays injury-free in 2020. If he is healthy, Moon could come up with an All-SEC type of season. Houston could be a breakout guy in the middle after a solid redshirt sophomore season in which he was in on 38 tackles with 3.5 sacks, 6.0 tackles for loss and a couple of quarterback hurries. Teamed with Miller, Houston gives the Gators two very tough and capable tacklers. They also have the speed and instincts to get to the passer when they blitz straight up the gut. Houston is capable of replacing Reese’s productivity in the middle if he can stay healthy and find a level of consistency that at times evaded him last year. He was all over the field against Vanderbilt when he was in on eight tackles, but only a combined seven in the final three games with Missouri, Florida State and Virginia. Brunson is invaluable to Florida’s special teams but he began to emerge in the linebacker rotation as the season progressed in 2019 when he finished with 22 tackles including 1.0 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss. Consistency will get him more playing time. He had 5 tackles against Tennessee and 6 against Vanderbilt, half his production for the entire year. He didn’t make a single tackle in the last two games against Florida State and Virginia. Diabate was pretty much a situational player in 2019 when he saw most of his action on obvious passing downs. He is an absolute terror off the edge where very few tackles or tight ends have the quickness to stay in front of him. Of Diabate’s 17 tackles last year, he had 4.5 sacks, 2.0 quarterback hurries and he forced a fumble in the Vandy game that Jonathan Greenard picked up and returned for a touchdown. He will still be a frightening guy for opposing QBs when he blitzes but he’s got to develop into more of an every down guy who doesn’t have to leave the field when it’s not a passing situation. Florida’s coaching staff was excited to land Derek Wingo (6-2, 220, FR), one of the nation’s top prep linebackers, in the 2020 recruiting class. He is thought to be the leader of the future as he combines great instincts with a coach-like approach to the game. Barring injury, he will not redshirt and will see the field early and often. Another who probably works his way into the rotation is redshirt sophomore Andrew Chatfield Jr. (6-0, 243), who figures to play on the strong side but could be moved inside to take advantage of his physical strength. David Reese (no relation to David Reese II), seemed poised to be a regular in the rotation after spring practice in 2019, but he suffered a knee injury in August that sidelined him. There is no questioning his talent or abilities, but after a redshirt freshman year and missing last year in its entirety, the question is how long will it take him to shake off the rust? Ty’Ron Hopper (6-2, 220, RFR), Jesiah Pierre (6-2, 230, RFR) and Lloyd Summerall III (6-6, 220, RFR) all took a redshirt last year as true freshmen. This year they will all three have a chance to earn playing time, particularly on special teams. Hopper and Pierre seem destined to play on the inside. In the case of Summerall, it seems only a matter of time before he fills out his frame and moves to the defensive line. SCHOLARSHIP LINEBACKERS (11) Jeremiah Moon (6-6, 240, RSR) Ventrell Miller (6-0, 225, RJR) Lacedrick Brunson (6-1, 230, RJR) James Houston IV (6-1, 235, RJR) Andrew Chatfield Jr. (6-0, 243, RSO) David Reese (6-3, 225, RSO) Mohamoud Diabate (6-2, 220, SO) Ty’Ron Hopper (6-2, 220, RFR) Jesiah Pierre (6-2, 230, RFR) Lloyd Summerall III (6-6, 220, RFR) Derek Wingo (6-2, 220, FR) POSITION ANALYSIS: The Gators run a base 3-3-5 defense that can morph on the fly into a 3-4 or 4-3 thanks to versatile linebackers who are comfortable and capable in nearly every set called in from the sideline by coordinator Todd Grantham. Grantham’s ability to stay one step ahead of opposing offenses requires guys who can easily adjust but that requires an on-the-field leader who is cool, calm and collected in every situation. Reese’s ability to settle everyone down was an overlooked asset. Someone has to step in that role and be the guy who is a calming presence that can get everyone in the right place and makes the last second adjustments based on what he’s seeing. From a pure talent standpoint, this is an exceptional group that is capable of being one of the best units in the entire Southeastern Conference. The Gators have a core group of experienced guys who have been part of one of the best defenses in the country (The Gators ranked 9th nationally last year in total defense, 8th against the run and 7th at keeping opponents off the scoreboard). To take that next step from an 11-win team that finished 8th in the final polls and was a handful of plays away from reclaiming the top spot in the SEC East Division, the Gators are going to require an even better season from their linebackers. The three starters figure to be Miller, Houston and Moon with Brunson filling in on the inside and Diabate spelling Moon on the outside. It will be very difficult to keep Wingo off the field. Even as a true freshman, he figures to be an impact player largely because he’s capable of playing extended snaps both inside and out on the edge. Summerall could very well emerge as a guy who plays a lot of snaps in passing situations due to his size, length and speed. To get through an SEC season, Grantham needs at least six guys he can count on and head coach Dan Mullen needs those young fast linebackers to fill holes on special teams. The young guys who make their presence known on special teams will be the ones who earn their way onto the field when the defense takes over. Because of solid recruiting, the Gators are in good shape from a depth perspective but they still can’t afford a rash of injuries since they really only have five guys with adequate game experience. Moon, Miller and Houston especially need to stay healthy. Talent is not an issue. There is an abundance of speed. Depth is adequate because there are guys capable of playing inside or out in space. To achieve the kind of success that will push the Gators past Georgia and into the top spot in the SEC East, one or two leaders has to emerge to fill the departed shoes of David Reese. If someone emerges as that coach-on-the-field type that impacts the game both with his play and with his ability to get teammates to respond when he calls out an audible, Florida’s defense has a chance to go from the very good they were in 2019 to elite. There is a fine line between very good and great and that fine line, in the case of the 2020 Florida Gators, might boil down to who can light the fire under teammates when the defense is on the field. Who will that be?

DAVID LITTLE: One of the very best Gator football players that ever wore The Orange and Blue. BY PHIL HUBER GatorBait Contributor How can you forget a player who holds the Gator record for career tackles? A player who was first team All-SEC and All American. And who became a standout linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 80s and 90s? The answer is: We can’t. He was too great to forget. When I first met David, he was an athletic, stocky 13-year-old year old. He went on to attend Miami Jackson High, where he became a very good football player, and a very good basketball player as well. For three years running, David started at point guard for Jackson, who incidentally went to the state tournament those three years in a row. But it was football that earned him a scholarship to UF, where he became a star, from 1977 to 1980. As a senior team captain in 1980, he helped lead the Gators in the biggest one-year turnaround in the history of NCAA Division I football. From 0–10–1 in 1979 to an 8-4 bowl team in 1980. He was first-team All-SEC, consensus first-team All-American and the recipient of the Gators' Fergie Ferguson Award recognizing the "senior football player who displays outstanding leadership, character and courage.” David finished his four-year college career with 475 tackles -- to this day still the Gators' all-time career record. He is also a member of the University of Florida’s Hall of Fame. In 1991, David was named by the Gainesville Sun as the 18th best player of the 100 all-time greatest in UF’s history. David was introduced to me by his older brother, and my good friend, Larry Little. #66, NFL Hall of Fame member for the Miami Dolphins. Larry was David’s mentor, loving big brother and on occasion, surrogate father. During a conversation last year, Larry told me that he would love David to join him in the Florida Hall of Fame. That was all I needed to hear. I said “leave it to me.” I said that because I had an idea, and that was to get our Athletic Department in on the act. I sent an impassioned email to Scott Stricklin, UF AD, whom I had the pleasure of meeting the prior April, asking Scott to see what he could do to give the Florida Hall of Fame a nudge in David's direction. Scott told me that since he was rather new in the State, he didn't know the Hall of Fame members very well, but his associate Steve McClain did. Scott handed me off to Steve, and within a couple of months, I got a call from Larry, telling me that David had been selected to join him in The Florida Hall of Fame. My old friend's brother was inducted in November 2019, thanks to some members of The Gator Family. Gator Family being the operative words. It was very special. As a bit more background: Following his exceptional college career, David went on to star in the NFL. He was selected in the seventh round (183rd pick overall) of the 1981 NFL Draft by the Steelers and selected to the Pro Bowl after the 1990 season. In his 12-season NFL career, David appeared in 179 games, starting 125 of them. He totaled ten interceptions and eleven recovered fumbles. At one point, he played in 89 games in a row, and was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 1990 season. Sadly, David died on March 17, 2005 as the result of a weight-lifting accident; he was 46 years old. He suffered from heart disease and experienced a cardiac flutter while lifting weights at his Miami home. His was a great loss to so many. Especially to his wife Denise, their three children, his mother Ida—a community leader and matriarch of the Little family, his four sisters, and of course, his brother Larry. His funeral was attended by at least 1,000 people. Me among them. It should be noted that the David’s family was and remains, one of Miami’s most prominent families – noted for their leadership, and countless contributions to the people of Miami/Dade. They are revered and respected and admired by all those they came in contact with, plus the millions that have read about their accomplishments, not to mention all the things that they have done for their/our hometown. I consider it a blessing to have been known by them as a friend for almost fifty years. *Phil Huber is a freelance writer, longtime Gator fan and a 1964 graduate of Florida.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: 1. Phil Steele, whose preseason football magazine is a few hundred pages that combines information you can’t get anywhere else – not that you actually think about even a tenth of it – and what seems to be 50 pages of self-promotion, has picked the Florida Gators 13th nationally in his just-released top 25. A year ago he had the Gators 8th and they finished 6th. He had LSU 7th in the preseason and the Tigers ended up running the table and winning the national championship. He’s got LSU 6th this year. Georgia, which he picked 7th last year (Poodles finished 4th), is 7th for 2020. The top two teams from the SEC are Alabama 3rd and Texas A&M 5th. Personally, I’m not reading too much into this year’s preseason predictions largely because we’re likely to see a whole lot of shuffling when it comes to scheduling due to the covid-19 virus. No matter how the scheduling plays out, however, I remain convinced that Florida will end Georgia’s 3-year run at the top of the SEC East and that Dan Mullen has a team that is good enough to challenge whoever emerges from the SEC West for the league championship in Atlanta. I think Georgia’s season goes in the tank in what will probably be the Poodles opening game of the season in Tuscaloosa against Alabama. I also think the transfer into Georgia by former USC quarterback J.T. Daniels is only going to create controversy. Instead of one new QB (Jamie Newman) who didn’t get a spring practice under a brand new offensive coordinator you now have two. Newman didn’t transfer to Georgia to be a backup. Neither did Daniels. I wonder what Carson Beck is thinking about now? 2. Although the Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten have gone on record for a 9-game, conference-only schedule, I expect there will be compromise. The Big 12 is already on the path to a plus-1 format that will allow some intersectional games. I think it’s only a matter of time before the Big Ten and Pac-12 choose to ditch their conference-only, 9-game schedule to go with a plus-1 also. The SEC and ACC, seem likely to go with a plus-2. When it comes to coming up with a schedule that works for the Power 5, I believe the two most powerful voices will be SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who not only speaks for the conference but all of the Power 5, and the TV networks. Sankey will insist on everybody playing the same number of games and it’s going to take a 10-game schedule to accommodate Notre Dame plus preserve some important rivalry games like Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech and Clemson-South Carolina. The networks will insist on some inter-conference matchups as well such as Texas (Big 12)-LSU, Notre Dame-Southern Cal and Ohio State-Oregon. The combination of Sankey and the networks will be putting the squeeze on the Big Ten and Pac-12 to compromise and add one non-conference game. If they cave, which I think they will do, it will be because money talks. Especially this year. 3. It is probably in the best interests of the Group of 5 schools to switch their schedule to the spring and that, also, has everything to do with television revenues and exposure. With the Power 5 conferences playing in the fall, there will be no head-to-head competition with the big boys. The Group of 5 can get exposure they’ve only dreamed of by getting the 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. time slots for key games that go to the Power 5 conferences in the fall. While they might lose some paycheck games against Power 5 schools, they might come out far ahead if their conferences are able to negotiate the kind of deals with the networks they’ve never had a chance at before. After the beating the networks have taken these last few months, they will be more than ready to fill up their weekend schedules in March, April and May with college football. If there is a Group of 5 playoff, that will be another money maker that won’t exist in the fall. 4. If the Power 5 conferences don’t play football in the fall, we could see a number of programs forced into bankruptcy. What happens with the Group of 5 remains to be seen but D1AA, DII and DIII all seem to be trending toward football in the spring but spring football is an absolute last resort in the Power 5 leagues. Football in the fall will provide immediate revenue streams to programs in financial freefall and too much money stands to be lost if they are forced to wait until the spring. And, this is even with the prospect of no fans in the stands. Losing game-day revenues would be a financial hit, but they can survive an empty or severely limited stadium. In what might be a best case scenario, Texas, for instance, is already planning to play with 50 percent of the seats occupied. If Texas is doing it, bet the farm nearly everyone else has that in contingency, too. What they can’t afford is to go another few months without some television revenue to grease the skids. Illinois, for example, which has a mere $323 million-plus of athletic department debt, needs every fan it can cram into Memorial Stadium but given the choice between fans in the stands and no TV revenue or TV revenue with no fans in the stands, Iowa would do the prudent thing and choose TV money. It’s that way throughout the Power 5, even in the financial bottom feeder leagues like the Pac-12 and ACC. If the Power 5 conferences have to go with a made-for-TV schedule with no fans in the stands, they’ll say yes and won’t even blink. One other thing: It’s a whole lot easier to test 250 or so players, coaches, managers, training staff, broadcasters and technical help plus a few sports writers than it is to test 25-50,000 fans. The TV money will ease the pain. If there is TV money, there will be football and you can bet the ranch TV is desperate for college football to be played this fall. 5. Back in the 1980s, Dick DeVenzio, a former Duke point guard who played for Vic Bubas and Bucky Waters and never blossomed into the star he was predicted to be when he came out of Ambridge, PA, tried to organize college athletes to unionize against their oppressive masters. It failed, just as Ed O’Bannon’s attempt to unionize college sports six years ago fizzled. Now, we have athletes from the Pac-12 threatening to sit out the season if their list of demands aren’t met. Tops among them, a 50-50 split of revenues and better insurance after their playing days are over. I could see the league caving on insurance – I think that long term insurance past playing days should be mandatory – but there is no way there will be a 50-50 revenue split, particularly when football has to pay the freight for just about every sport on campus. Most schools in Division I don’t make a profit. Throw in also the idea that a revenue split would make college athletes nothing more than paid professionals. Why not, if that’s the case, have the Chico’s Bail Bonds Tennessee Vols or The Cheetah Lounge Georgia Poodles? When a school like Stanford which is endowed up the wazzoo with billions, is cutting sports because of the combination of the covid-19 virus, uncertainty about the future and revenue shortfalls because the Pac-12 revenue sharing is woeful compared to the Big Ten and SEC, you can bet the league’s higher-ups are going to look the players square in the eye and say, “Nice try but no thankee.” Whoever is advising the Pac-12 players is an idiot. 6. Consider me one who questions this notion that college athletes are exploited. Could there be some concessions that could make things better? Of course there could and there are numerous issues that need to be addressed, but consider what a full scholarship athlete gets at a school like the University of Florida: (1) Not counting summer school, room, board, tuition, books and fees for the fall and spring semesters runs about $40,000; (2) most athletes qualify for a full Pell Grant which is more than $6,100; (3) thousands of dollars of shoes and clothing; (4) cost of attendance checks for expenditures that go beyond the basics that run somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 (or more); (5) computers, iPads and the like; (6) free tutoring; and (7) free medical care. Let’s go conservative here and figure it’s all worth somewhere plus-or-minus a few thousand dollars perhaps $60-65,000. Stick it out four or five years and the benefits are somewhere around $250,000, plus – if the athlete graduates – a degree from a world-renowned university and no student loan debt. That’s a pretty decent start in life if you ask me. PARTING SHOT: In an era when it’s hard to find many good sports writers who can string together two or three coherent sentences, Jason Whitlock of Outkick the Coverage has become must read for me. He’s not afraid to stand up for what he thinks is right even if the stance he takes goes against the politically correct grain. He appreciates how sports have provided thousands up thousands of kids from deprived backgrounds with an opportunity at an education and a better life and he sees how sports have helped bridge racial divides as well as giving gifted athletes an opportunity to become multi-millionaires. In a recent column in which he torched Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, Whitlock penned this: “I am a passionate defender of sports culture and football. Their ability to close the racial divide is, in my opinion, only surpassed by an authentic religious faith.” Let that sink in.

For the time being, Florida Gators Athletic Director Scott Stricklin just wants to determine if there will be games this football season. Everything else is simply conjecture. “When you start talking about what actual schedules could look like, there's so many unknowns that go into that right now that you're having to fill in the blanks on. It's hard to even make that jump. I don't mean to sound repetitive, but we need to find a path that allows us to put our athletes in a safe environment to compete. Once we figure out what that path looks like, coming up with the circumstances of who's on the schedule and when you're playing becomes a lot easier. To me, that's a downhill problem to have to solve. “That's secondary to the challenge of trying to find testing protocols that people can feel good about and actually execute. And being able to make sure the team is traveling, how they get on a bus, and then a plane with a small group of people and get to a hotel and stay the night and show up the next day without having some kind of fear of infection that could spread. So to me, those are the kind of challenges right now that I think we're really focused on.” But conjecture could soon become contingency and in turn, reality. With the Labor Day weekend kickoff for college football barreling down the path as what he calls “an artificial timeline," Stricklin and other SEC AD’s are having to consider not only IF games will be played while the country is in the midst of the global pandemic COVID-19, but also WHAT games will be played. The Big 10 and Pac 12 have both elected to cancel all non-conference games, playing league only matches for the upcoming season. This is due more to monitor league set standards as opposed to geography. The SEC, ACC and Big 12 however are holding out hope that decision won’t have to be made. Stricklin said the SEC AD’s are waiting until the end of July to make any final decisions. And ideally, he says, the Power 5 conferences—or Autonomy 5—would have made those decisions together. But this is far from a perfect world in which we currently live. “I haven't talked to anybody in the Big 10, I don't know why, I don't know what led to their decision, but I do think it's helpful when we can try as much as possible to make decisions in concert. But part of that is, college athletics, as another example, is not pro sports. We don't have a centralized governing body in areas like this. we have the NCAA, but as far as decisions that conferences make, it’s more of a Federalist system. In some ways it’s more American, right? We have all these different parts of the country that decided their own direction they're going to go. “But I do think it's nice, we obviously work together in normal times to come up with the CFP, and that's obviously been highly successful. And we work well in other areas, you know cost of attendance, the stipend that went into effect that we're giving thousands of dollars a year to our athletes on an individual basis, that was the Autonomy 5 leagues coming together and making that decision. So, I do think when we can work in concert it can be really helpful, and it's, we're not in normal times. That probably speaks to why it didn't happen in this case.” While the SEC, ACC and Big 12 are waiting on that decision, Stricklin does see the benefit, explaining it gives, “you some flexibility, depending on, you know if you're having to move stuff around.” But those three conferences also have 14 inter-conference games. For the Gators, that would mean keeping the FSU game. The Gators and the Florida State Seminoles have played every year since beginning the annual rivalry in 1958. They’ve never missed a game and have even added two in the Sugar Bowl. The two schools originally had to be forced by Governor LeRoy Collins to face off on the gridiron. In the 50+ years since, the game has come to be known as the “Sunshine State Showdown” and is one of the most important days—the Saturday after Thanksgiving—in the state. Scott Stricklin says if the Gators are playing games this fall, they’re playing FSU. “If we're able to get to the point where we play a game, when we get to that point I want to play that FSU game. That's really important to the state of Florida. I think it's really important to both institutions. “It makes a lot of sense for us to try and play FSU assuming we’re on the same page from a testing protocol standpoint and logistics can be worked out. Depending on where this thing ends up, it might be out of our hands, but I know that’s something that’s really important to us and I’ve talked to [FSU AD] David Coburn and he feels the same way. That’s a good game for the state. It’s a bus ride. There’s a lot of reasons to try and play that game if at all possible.” Another game that could look different is Florida-Georgia. The neutral site in Jacksonville requires two teams to travel to an entirely new stadium that neither one have had a hand in preparing during the season. It’s a perfect example of what AD’s are scared of during COVID-19, sending players to a stadium and area in which they don’t know what protocols have been followed. While talks have not began about whether that game could be moved to one of the campuses, Stricklin says the Jaguars recent news about stadium capacity might affect the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. The Jacksonville Jaguars—who host their games at TIAA Bank Field—are implementing a reduced stadium capacity to 25% for the upcoming season. Stricklin says if that’s still the case when/if Florida and Georgia play there, he anticipates honoring that number. “I’m sure that’s something that if we get to the point where we’re playing that game there that we would try and use as appropriate depending on where we are in the process and what the requirements are. “We really haven’t had any conversations about moving it to campus. Our hope is to be able to play the game and to be able to play it in Jacksonville in some form.” The last time the game wasn’t in Jacksonville, it was in Athens in 1995. That was the second half of a home-and-home while the Gator Bowl was being renovated. So it would stand to reason the next one out of Jax would be in Gainesville. There are other games on Florida’s schedule though—Eastern Washington, South Alabama and New Mexico State—that might become casualties of the global pandemic. UF has contracts for the games. Typically if a game is cancelled, Florida would have to pay off that contract to the school. Stricklin says if it comes to playing a conference only schedule (or conference only plus ACC/Big 12 rivalry) then he would have to look at whether a forfeiture clause would be used to break the contract or if another way could be negotiated. “This is all so speculative right now because the SEC has not made any kind of decision like that. I don't like to speculate, but if you were going to speculate down that path you would certainly have to consider what's in those contracts and how you separate yourselves from those contracts in a way that's legal.” Force majeure, or the Act of God clause, will let parties out of a contract without penalty due to an act out of their hands. While SEC AD’s did not discuss that in their recent Birmingham meeting, Stricklin says they’re aware of its possible use and the potential to apply it to a global pandemic. “I think it could [apply]. I'm not a legal expert by any means, but it could. I think other decisions made around that may impact any argument you might have.” Stricklin added he has not talked to AD’s from those three aforementioned schools about any possible cancellation. If Florida does cancel those games and force majeure doesn’t apply, they will be paying out $3.475 amongst the three contracts. Then again, as Stricklin is quick to point out, it’s conjecture. Before deciding what a season will look like, there first needs to be assurance there will be a season. “We need to find a path that allows us to put our athletes in a safe environment to compete. Once we figure out what that path looks like, coming up with the circumstances of who's on the schedule and when you're playing becomes a lot easier. To me, that's a downhill problem to have to solve. That's secondary to the challenge of trying to find testing protocols that people can feel good about and actually execute.”

In 1918, the Florida Gators football team—under Head Coach Alfred L. Buser—played one football game. It was a 2-14 loss to a team assembled by Camp Johnston, a U.S. Army training camp in Jacksonville. The U.S. military creating teams on bases was common, a way to keep soldiers busy and in shape, providing camaraderie during World War I. The military taking most college aged men was one issue for universities hoping to field their own teams. The other? A global pandemic. The Spanish Flu—which originated in Kansas but was given the name when Spain was the first country willing to address the virus—was ravaging the global population. A third of the world’s population died during four waves of the influenza. So, understandably, football was a casualty. In 1942, the United States was gearing up that same age group of young men, preparing them for another World War. The Florida Gators were able to still field a team that season, going 3-7. Under Tom Lieb, UF began the season 3-1 and then lost the following six games as coaches and players were drafted into the war effort. By season’s end, the majority of the team was in camouflage, fighting the Axis Powers. As such, there was no season at all in 1943 while the boys were still fighting the war. We are going to get on the other side of this someday. Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin pointed to both of those seasons as an example during a recent call with the University Athletic Association staff. “We are in a period of disruption but we’re not the first to ever have through this. We’re not even the first at the University of Florida to have gone through it. In both of those instances, we came back really strong.” Between the 1918 flu pandemic and WWII, as Stricklin points out, the Southeastern Conference was formed (1932). Florida was a charter member of the conference and has been a part ever since. Following WWII, UF began to become the nationally known program it is today. “We’ve had a lot of success in the last 70 years when we haven’t had disruption. We may have some disruption this year, and we’re going to have to be nimble and we’re going to have to be flexible.” Stricklin has already seen his coaches and staff began to accommodate the different world in which the coronavirus COVID-19 has thrown us. Virtual meetings and recruiting and YouTube workouts are all part of the norm. Quarantine for anyone showing symptoms, regular testing and distanced summer throwing sessions are the reality for the moment. If you don’t grow, you die. Each lesson learned during this time can be a revelation and push not only the Florida Gators but all of college football to adapt into a better, stronger version of themselves. It’s typically when we are put in our worst situations that we become our best selves. So while in theory, everyone wants to get back to normal, there are lessons that can be taken from this time. “Our football coaches talk about these virtual recruiting visits they have been conducting and what a great way it is to reach potential student-athletes in different parts of the country that may not have easy access to drive to Gainesville. I can totally see that being something that continues. That’s probably a really minor example. There’s obviously many more. “We’re going to learn a lot of things that we can do different because we were being forced to learn to do them different, and probably otherwise we wouldn’t have learned those lessons.” As much as life is destined to change to a point that will become permanent, Stricklin knows there is also plenty that will stay the same. “People are still going to have a demand to watch live sports. People are going to, I think, have a real demand to really want to come together and socialize, especially at big events and happenings. “Even now, with all the direction we’re getting from authorities on how we should be social distancing, you see a lot of the instances of where people are not heeding that advice is because they want to socialize, they want to be connected to one another. That’s something college athletics does really well, is we connect current student body, we connect alumni, we connect people who are just friends of the university and just want to be a part of it. I don’t think that part is going to change… “I think it’s real important that we all understand that there is going to be a day when there is a vaccine, or there’s some medical advancement where we can get back together and we can provide a safe avenue to our athletes. I hope it’s really soon. I think we all do. But whenever that time comes, we’re going to make sure the University of Florida Athletic Association is ready and prepared. We’re going to continue to try and create a championship experience with integrity. “We are going to get on the other side of this someday.” And when that happens, lessons will have been learned, adaptations will have been made and the Florida Gators will be stronger for it all; history proves that to be true.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: 1. Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. After writing a column five days a week plus covering ball games almost non-stop for years, I needed a break so I took it. The batteries in the brain aren’t completely recharged but I’m in a far better place today than I was a couple of months ago. The time away has been good as I’ve been doing a lot of reading both about sports and other things, plus I’ve worn out Amazon and Netflix. The reading is the most important. I tend to write better when I read a lot. Most of the good writers I’ve known throughout the years have been uniform in their belief that the more you read the better you write. I highly recommend the Greg Iles Mississippi trilogy that begins with “Natchez Burning” as well as his latest book “Cemetery Road.” I also re-read (for the first time in 30 years) Eudora Welty’s Pulitzer Prize short novel “The Optimist’s Daughter” and Flannery O’Connor’s 1952 novel “Wise Blood.” 2. College football is at a crossroads and it’s not getting any input whatsoever from NCAA president Mark Emmert. I’ve been convinced for years he’s completely worthless but his lack of direction since April has taken incompetence to heretofore unseen levels. It’s at the point that even Paul Finebaum has had it with him. Speaking on ESPN, Finebaum said after listening to Emmert make a statement about college football last week, “It was nice of Mark Emmert to come out of the witness protection program yesterday to let us know what we should all know about the college football season. He is the president of the NCAA today. He makes 3-1/2 million dollars a year and him telling us there’s a problem is like a meteorologist telling us during a hurricane that it’s raining outside … He is a complete abject failure at leadership. He’s been derelict in his duty and quite frankly I think he should be fired.” 3. Emmert’s lack of leadership has led me to conclude the following: (a) It is time for the football schools to re-organize and break away from the NCAA; and (b) Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey is the guy who should be in charge of the re-organization and probably college football’s first commissioner. I’ve long questioned why the NCAA has any say in what happens with Division I college football since it doesn’t conduct a national championship, isn’t in charge of the playoff or the bowls and yet it writes the rules for recruiting and helps itself to some serious dollars. The NCAA in charge of college football is like giving the scalpel for life or death brain surgery to a tire changer down at Goodyear without at least giving him a copy of “Brain Surgery for Dummies.” It’s time for football schools to write their own set of rules and operate without any assistance from the NCAA. The last thing they need is help from the bumbling bureaucrats in Indianapolis and having non-football ADs and presidents from the lower divisions voting on football issues. As for Sankey, we are seeing why Mike Slive hand-picked him to be his successor. Sankey is smart, resourceful and capable of building consensus. He is the one conference commissioner the others look to for guidance and in light of Emmert’s center stage concerto of ineptitude, it’s time for Sankey to lead the pack in giving the NCAA the finger and setting up a new organization. People I know and trust tell me there will be a college football season in the fall – most likely a 10-game schedule by all of the power conferences and Notre Dame – that Sankey is the guy who will be able to get the Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten to agree to playing one out-of-conference game while the ACC and SEC play two non-conference foes. 4. If and when college football becomes its own autonomous entity, free from the constraints of the clueless NCAA, it needs to do two things above all else: (a) Make the recruiting rulebook so uncomplicated that a couple of compliance people are all you need and only one of them needs to be a lawyer; and (b) eliminate the minimum SAT/ACT score. A Division I head coach told me once that it’s next to impossible to go a week without several close encounters with an NCAA violation, most of them for rules that are beyond silly. Eliminate the silly and cut several hundred pages of regulations immediately. As for the SAT/ACT, I’ll use the city of Baltimore as the perfect example. The schools in Baltimore are so bad that not a single graduating senior in 2019 was proficient in mathematics. There are probably hundreds of kids in Baltimore – many of them athletes – who could do well in math if they had a better school and better teachers. There has to be a better way to determine if a kid is capable of doing college work than a standardized test that is weighted heavily in favor of kids who live in districts with competent schools. 5. Since reorganization won’t take place overnight, here’s an idea I’ve tossed out back in April that I think whose time has come to accommodate 2020: (a) The Power 5 Conference schools should play a 10-game schedule in the fall; and (b) the Group of 5, plus all the lower divisions should play a spring schedule. Despite the Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten declaring a conference-only schedule, don’t think for a second that is set in stone and the reason has everything to do with Notre Dame, which is the elephant in the room. Notre Dame already plays six ACC teams plus they have Wisconsin (Big Ten), Arkansas (SEC) and Southern Cal and Stanford (both Pac-12) on the schedule. That’s 10 games and it preserves rivalry games like Southern Cal and Stanford. The Pac-12 also wants to preserve Ohio State-Oregon, Washington-Michigan, Oregon State-Oklahoma State, California-TCU and Colorado-Texas A&M among others so it won’t take a lot of persuasion to get the league to go to a plus-1 (they play nine Pac-12 games) format. The Big 12 doesn’t want to lose Texas-LSU, Baylor-Ole Miss, Texas-Oklahoma, West Virginia-Florida State and Vanderbilt-Kansas State so there is incentive for the Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten to go plus-1. As for the SEC and ACC, going plus-2 might involve some creativity with a school like Alabama, which will lose its game with USC (Given the choice between Alabama and Notre Dame, it’s a no-brainer for USC to pick Notre Dame), needing two opponents for a 10-game schedule. But, it’s all very do-able and could possibly include playing SEC opponents as non-conference games. 6. In The Athletic this past weekend, there was discussion about the Group of 5 moving all their games to the spring. I talked about that back in April and I’m glad to read that it’s an idea that is starting to gain some traction. The Group of 5 teams can’t compete with the Power 5 for TV audiences in the fall, but in the spring? No offense to the non-revenue sports, but which would you rather watch: a college football game between perhaps UCF and Houston or a college baseball game between Nebraska and Iowa or a softball matchup between Kentucky and Ole Miss? College football would win that battle and the audience might be surprisingly strong, certainly stronger than any of the spring professional football leagues that we’ve seen. Playing in the spring would also give the Group of 5 an opportunity to stage their own playoff and declare a national champion. We don’t dispute D1AA or DII or DIII national champs. We call them national champions when they win their playoffs so why would we dispute a Group of 5 national champion? 7. The current College Football Playoff television contract runs through the 2025 season and what we’ve already seen is there is no intention whatsoever to include a Cinderella from the Group of 5 in the mix, not now, not ever. The playoff had two opportunities to add the ultimate underdog when UCF ran the table in 2017 and when it won its first 13 games (regular season and American Athletic Conference Championship Game) in 2018. By ignoring a UCF team that showed by beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl in 2017 and giving LSU all it could handle in the Fiesta Bowl in 2018, the CFP made it clear that there is no room for a non-Power 5 team in the playoff, no matter how good the team from the Group of 5. So why doesn’t the Group of 5 have its own playoff through 2025? Run it in the spring this year and then move it to the fall in 2021, unless, of course, the Group of 5 thinks better to keep playing football in the spring. That’s doubtful, but the competition for television dollars makes anything possible. 8. At the conclusion of the 2025 season, the College Football Playoff contract with ABC/ESPN expires and there will be all sorts of pressure to expand to eight teams. This would be the perfect time for the Group of 5 to elbow its way in for a couple of seats at the table if it has had a successful run with its own championship playoffs. Of course, by that time, the Group of 5 teams might be perfectly content with their own national championship playoff and decide they don’t need to be part of the CFP. 9. I remain convinced that a program that can’t fill up a 30,000-seat stadium has no business playing in Division I. I also am tired of paycheck games between said teams that can’t fill their stadiums and Power 5 teams that are looking for an easy win to help with bowl eligibility. I wouldn’t be opposed to the Power 5 expanding to add the AAC and Mountain West although those two leagues might be happy competing for national championships if the Group of 5 decides it can hold its own playoffs. I definitely think it’s time to put an end to games with D1AA teams. Play those teams in the spring instead of a glorified scrimmage to give the D1AA teams their paycheck game. Losing to a D1AA in the spring might cause the boosters to scream for a coach’s head, but it’s far better to lose in the spring when it doesn’t count than in the fall when it does. 10. I am completely dismayed by ABC/ESPN’s monopoly of college sports. It is absolutely ridiculous that one organization so dominates the sport. I am bothered by one network calling all the shots for game times and having the same voices essentially saying the same thing as if they are toeing a party line that is pre-determined by the higher-ups. I don’t know what it will take to break up the current monopoly but something needs to be done that will encourage competition to broadcast collegiate sports. I hope it is not too late for CBS to get back into the bidding for the SEC contract or for Fox Sports to counter the ABC/ESPN bid. PARTING SHOT: I have to wonder what happens to NFL attendance and ratings when Colin Kaepernick gets an NFL contract. I’ve talked to an awful lot of people who say they have no intention of watching an NFL game if Kaepernick plays again. Of course, folks might be so sports starved by the fall that they won’t care who’s playing as long as it’s football on Sundays.

This is the fifth in a series of position-by-position analysis of the 2020 Florida Gators It’s a simple game, Vince Lombardi used to explain. You block better, you tackle better, you win more. Lombardi played in the era of leather helmets and coached as football transitioned from single wing to more sophisticated passing games. The offenses of today spread the field and create mismatches, the likes of which you wouldn’t have seen when the Green Bay Packers were steamrolling their way to five world championships. Yet, for all the dazzling schemes of the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL or the LSU Tigers, whose 2019 offense might have been the greatest in college football history, the game really doesn’t change. Block better. Tackle better. Win more. For the Florida Gators in 2019, the tackling part significantly improved from the year before evidenced by a 60-yards per game improvement in stopping the run and 49 sacks. In holding opponents to 102.77 yards per game (3.19 yards per carry), Todd Grantham’s stop troops ranked eighth nationally. In the Southeastern Conference, only Georgia was better stopping the run than UF. The Gators were 65th in 2018. Florida led the SEC with 49 sacks – 12 better than second place LSU – and ranked fifth nationally. It was a 12-sack improvement from 2018 when UF ranked 19thin the nation. In a line of scrimmage league, the Gators took charge up front where it counts most and the results were a dominant defense that only twice gave up more than 400 yards (407 in game three to Kentucky; 511 to LSU). Only two teams – LSU (217) and South Carolina (219) – ran for more than 200 yards. Virginia (323), in the Orange Bowl, was the only team that eclipsed 300 passing yards. Improvement at the line of scrimmage had as much to do with the Gators taking that all so difficult step from 10 wins (in 2018) to 11 last year and it is the place where, if the Gators continue to improve, they can make that next important step, which is to beat Georgia and win the East Division of the Southeastern Conference. What Grantham and D-line coach David Turner have to work with is a combination of big wide bodies who have ballerina feet in the middle, the place where stuffing the run begins, and speed off the edge to make life miserable for passers. It’s a near perfect blend of veterans and youth that forms what is likely the deepest and most talented collection of D-linemen the Gators have had in years. The guys in the middle are formidable, led by senior Kyree Campbell (6-3, 300), who got better as the season progressed in 2019 to finish with 39 tackles, a rather impressive number for a nose tackle. With Jonathan Greenard off to the NFL, Campbell becomes the emotional leader for the UF defensive unit. Pairing Campbell with Tedarrell Slaton (6-5, 358, SR) gives the Gators two huge guys strong enough to fight off double teams without giving an inch. Through his first two seasons, Slaton was long on potential, short on productivity, but the lights went on midway through 2019. He finished the season with 19 of his 29 tackles in the final five games, nearly equaling his production in 2017-18 (32 tackles). When Slaton (six tackles) and Campbell (four tackles) came up big against Georgia, the Gators were able to shut down the Bulldogs’ vaunted running game, holding them to a mere 119 yards and 3.2 yards per carry. The third guy in Grantham’s 3-4 is Zachary Carter (6-4, 263, RSR), who was so impressive down the stretch in 2019 that he’s mentioned prominently as an All-SEC candidate in several of the preseason magazines. Carter had three of his 4.5 sacks and five of his seven tackles for loss after the midway point. He’s quick off the ball and relentless in pursuit. Career backups Elijah Conliffe (6-4, 312, SR) and Marlon Dunlap Jr. (6-4, 300, RSR) are wide bodies who have experience on the inside although they’ve never played starter’s minutes. They need to step it up in 2020 to give the Gators serviceable, experienced backups. If there are a couple of X-factors on the D-line they are Brenton Cox Jr. (6-4, 247, RSO) and true freshman Gervon Dexter (6-7, 295). Cox, a former 5-star recruit who transferred to Florida from Georgia just prior to the start of 2019, is versatile enough to play with his hand on the ground or in space as an outside linebacker. During his freshman year at Georgia, Cox looked like a future terror off the edge. The question heading into the season isn’t whether Cox has the talent to be a difference-maker but instead how long will it take him to shake off the rust of inactivity from sitting out last season. Dexter, a consensus 5-star coming out of high school who had 18 quarterback sacks and seven forced fumbles as a senior at Lake Wales, was a man among boys at the prep level. The question for Dexter is how long will it take him to adjust to playing against guys his own size on a consistent basis. He’s big and strong enough to play inside with Campbell and/or Slaton but quick enough to take on that strong side defensive end. How long will it take him to get up to speed at the college level? As a true freshman Khris Bogle (6-6, 220) got by on quickness to record 2.5 sacks and 18 tackles. As he grows into his frame and adds muscle, Bogle will probably see more time with his hand on the ground where he can be a nightmare matchup for opposing left tackles. Until he fills out, he’ll be more of a situational player, in the game mostly on passing downs. Redshirt freshman Jaelin Humphries (6-4, 320) has the size and mobility to push for playing time behind Campbell. In any other year, true freshmen Antwaun Powell (6-3, 245), Lamar Goods (6-3, 303), Jalen Lee (6-3, 295) and Princely Umanmielen (6-4, 265) would probably redshirt, but with four seniors on the D-line all four probably will get a chance to work their way into the rotation. Powell is an edge rusher, Umanmilelen is a strong side end who may grow into an inside guy, while Goods and Lee are inside guys. SCHOLARSHIP DEFENSIVE LINEMEN (13) Marlon Dunlap Jr. (6-4, 300, RSR) Kyree Campbell (6-3, 304, SR) Tedarrell Slaton (6-5, 358, SR) Elijah Conliffe (6-4, 312, SR) Zachary Carter (6-4, 263, RJR) Brenton Cox Jr. (6-4, 247, RSO) Khris Bogle (6-6, 220, SO) Jaelin Humphries (6-4, 320, RFR) Gervon Dexter (6-7, 295, FR) Lamar Goods (6-3, 303, FR) Antwaun Powell (6-3, 245, FR) Princely Umanmielen (6-4, 265, FR) Jalen Lee (6-3, 295, FR) POSITION ASSESSMENT: Before the 2019 season began, Dan Mullen talked about how difficult it would be for the Gators to make even a one-game improvement from 10 to 11 wins. With Campbell, Slaton and Carter all three registering career highs for tackles, Florida’s defensive line took on a more dominant role which, in turn, led to the Gators getting to the 11-win mark. Immediately after the Gators beat Virginia in the Orange Bowl for that 11th win, Mullen began talking about the added difficulty of improving from 11 wins in 2020. Due to the corona virus, it’s likely to be a shortened season, but for Florida to take over as the top team in the SEC East it will begin with outstanding play along the defensive line. This is, after all, a line of scrimmage league and the teams that dominate are the ones that stuff the run and get after the passer. Florida has the potential to be an elite group in the defensive trenches this season. It’s the right combination of experience, size and talent mixed in with a second straight recruiting class that fills in the gaps. The two guys in the middle – Campbell and Slaton – are space eaters who have the ability to stand their ground and keep interior offensive linemen from getting to the linebackers. But they do more than just plug things up on the inside. They’re both strong enough to win the hand fights that allow them to get in on their share of tackles. When your two big guys on the inside are regularly getting in on tackles, run production by the bad guys comes to a screeching halt. It’s said the closer you play to the football, the more difficult it is to play early on but if Dexter can live up to his potential and contribute early, he will allow Grantham to go very big. It would be helpful if Conliffe and Dunlap contribute but they may find themselves behind Humphries and Goods, both of whom bring size and mobility to the position. Carter is solid at one end. If Cox, Bogle and Powell can bring the speed off the other side then Grantham could have that perfect storm of a defensive line – one that can’t be budged on the inside and can’t be slowed down coming off the edge. The covid-19 virus could become a factor this season and not just when it comes to the number of games every SEC team will play. If the season moves forward in the fall, those who test positive for the virus will have to quarantine and that means having quality depth ready to go is critical. The Gators have 12 defensive linemen – seven with experience and five rookies – so the numbers should be more than adequate. From a talent standpoint, Grantham has a D-line quite capable of dominating every team on the UF schedule. He has the personnel that can adapt to whatever scheme concocted by opposing offensive coordinators. One thing that never changes in the SEC is the teams that win the most games do the best job on the line of scrimmage. Florida has the personnel do to it in 2020.

No matter the temperature, Robyn Clarke’s days in Newnan, Georgia, were spent in jeans. The constant fear of judgement engulfed her and insecurities wrapped around her – just like the plastic braces that supported her legs. Clarke believed that if she concealed the supports with denim, they wouldn’t be the first thing everyone noticed about her. “For months, I had always wore jeans to hide my braces because I didn’t want anyone to see them,” Clarke said. “And that day, it was the first time that I had worn shorts in months.” But that day in March of 2015 proved to be different. Heading south to Jacksonville would mean warmer weather. But that never deterred Clarke from wearing jeans in the past. And on that spring day, it wasn’t even the warm temperatures that encouraged her… it was the oncoming warm reception. “I wasn’t nervous about wearing (shorts) because I knew he wouldn’t care about my braces,” Clarke said. And Clarke’s gut instinct was absolutely correct. In a sea of spectators, Tim Tebow found Clarke clutching on to her metal walker – which had become another source of insecurity through the years. Looking past the walker and plastic orthotics, the former Florida Gator Heisman winner wrapped Clarke in a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he told her. “He made me feel so comfortable,” Clarke says. “It’s like, if he doesn’t see my walker, then maybe not everyone does.” Naturally, the brief interaction was one Clarke and her family would never forget. But expecting Tebow, who signed countless autographs that day, to remember her was a lot to ask. Nonetheless, he remembered. “I caught sight of a blond-haired young lady. She was leaning on a walker. Even through the crowd I could see metal braces that covered her legs,” Tebow wrote in his book “Shaken”. “She seemed peaceful, content, oblivious to the people behind and in front of her who were trying to push their way toward the front of the line.” Months later, Tim Tebow’s W15H Foundation granted Clarke an entire weekend to cultivate the friendship she and Tebow had started in March. Alabama was visiting Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and SEC Nation was on-site for the top-10 matchup. Prior to the game, Clarke and her family were treated to dinner with Tebow, a trip to the spa and a tour of the College Football Hall of Fame – with plenty of attention paid to Clarke’s admiration of the Florida Gators. “They made me and my family feel like we were the celebrities,” Clarke told GatorBait. “And going home and having to go back to real life was kind of like having to come out of some sort of dream sequence.” With more time to get to know one another, Tebow learned more about what Clarke had gone through in her 15 years of living with Cerebral Palsy. But specifically one run-in with a seventh-grade classmate of hers. Clarke will tell you that the first time she realized orthopedics and weekly physical therapy wasn’t something everyone went through, was when one of her classmates commented on the way she walked. In their conversations during her W15H weekend, Clarke revealed that these types of insecurities were becoming overwhelming: “The constant stares at her walker reminded her in a painful way that she wasn’t normal,” Tebow writes in “Shaken”. “I tried my best to encourage her. ‘Robyn, normal is average. Being different is what makes you special and can give you the courage to treat others special,’ I said, as her eyes brimmed with tears. ‘God loves you, and you don’t have to worry about anything else.’.” On that day, Tebow helped Clarke move forward – the same way he helped Boomer Hornbeck move forward on September 5, 2009. Chances are, you’ve seen Hornbeck. But it’s time you get to know the young, wheelchair bound boy in the widely-circulated picture. The Gators were hosting Charleston Southern. It was Tebow’s last season-opener in The Swamp. And waiting for him on the field was seven-year-old Boomer. The two had met briefly before pregame warmups had gotten underway when Urban Meyer introduced Hornbeck to the entire team. Months prior, Hornbeck met Meyer at a speaking engagement in Naples. “Tell Tim I said hi,” Hornbeck told Meyer in May of 2009. “Why don’t you tell him yourself?,” Meyer replied. Except, when Hornbeck did finally meet Florida’s Heisman winner, he had a lot more on his mind than just saying hi. When Meyer extended an invitation to Hornbeck to meet Tebow at the season opener, Hornbeck offered something in return: “Next time I see you, you’re gonna see me walk,” Hornbeck told Meyer. Like Clarke, Hornbeck was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. “He will never be able to live independently,” doctors told Hornbeck’s mother. Some doctors even went as far as to say that he wouldn’t live past the age of five. Surgery No. 1 of 23 took place when Hornbeck was five. Two years later, the improbable followed. On that September afternoon, while eager fans filed into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to see their first glimpse of the Gators since the 2008 National Championship, Hornbeck was eager to keep his promise. Unlike most kids, Hornbeck didn’t take his first steps towards a cooing parent with a video camera. Hornbeck took his first steps toward Urban Meyer, leaving No. 15 clutching his wheelchair behind him. “I had a blast wheeling this incredible kid (and huge Gator fan) around the field for warmups before the game and in between the maze of benches in the locker room,” Tebow writes of Boomer in “Shaken”. “We stayed in touch after that, sending each other encouraging texts. Boomer came to almost every home game that season. And this cool dude was there when I played my last game in college. I gave him the football as a keepsake as well as my last hug as a Gator on the field during the Sugar Bowl.” Those encouraging texts still happen… regularly. When Hornbeck spoke with GatorBait, he had heard from Tebow two days prior. Twenty-three surgeries and countless texts from Tebow and Meyer have helped motivate Hornbeck to unthinkable heights. In the last two or three years, Hornbeck has spent much of his free time in the weight room. Through weight training, he hopes to eliminate his limp all together. “I have a vision of walking completely perfect,” Hornbeck told GatorBait. “To put it into perspective, my vision of walking perfect and completely taking out my Cerebral Palsy, for me personally, I’ve never seen it done before.” But the challenge excites Hornbeck, who entered his freshman year of college at Florida Gulf Coast this year. “One thing Robyn and I both have in common with our Cerebral Palsy is that we were born to work hard,” Hornbeck told GatorBait. “Every day is a challenge to do certain things. It’s extremely difficult, but we’re forced to work hard by it. I’m blessed to have Cerebral Palsy… I truly am blessed to have it because it’s made me who I am today. It’s taught me how to work hard. It’s taught me how to be resilient and how to go through adversity.” Motivational, right? Rest assured, Hornbeck agrees. And that's why he has started on a journey of motivational speaking. But, working hard isn't the only thing Hornbeck and Clarke have in common. Despite two completely independent interviews, both said: “If not for Cerebral Palsy, I wouldn’t have met Timmy.” And if not for Timmy, Clarke might still spend most of her days in denim. And if not for Timmy, Hornbeck might still be under the impression that walking perfectly with Cerebral Palsy is all but possible.

“The fact that so many people were suffering …” said Finebaum. “I think the thing that kept me going is I've worked every day since this thing started. And, you know, it's different than it was and in different places. But I really believe that without that, I would've been lost.” In these perilous times when our lives are dictated by cataclysmic change, one of the most overused words is “pivot.” There are several definitions. In one dictionary it means “to turn or rotate, like a hinge, or a basketball player pivoting back on one foot.” There is yet another, more apropos, meaning: To change your opinion or position on your point of view. The slippery slope of judgment these days is causing reticence and creating self-doubt; yet to the thinking man or woman, keeping the lines of communications open is critical in what sometimes seems like a dark dungeon of despair. However, it’s also tough to light a candle in the darkness when you can’t see well enough find a match. But Paul Finebaum has found a match, and a path. How do you sustain four hours of sports talk daily when there are no sports being played? Finebaum has simply cast his lines to the other side of the boat just when it seemed like he might be a man without a lake, or a boat, or even a country. Finebaum’s pivot has been bigger than Wilt Chamberlain’s. As the thunderous voice of the South’s most influential and far-reaching TV Sports Talk Show, Finebaum’s keep-‘em-honest approach appeals to a vast audiences from Mississippi to Moncks Corner, S.C., from Tennessee to Tuscaloosa, Ala. and California to Collins, Miss., with far-reaching tentacles that even permeate the culture of Wall Street suits, snooty Ivy Leaguers and misguided protagonists of the Big Ten. After March 13, with two weeks off air at ESPN and another almost two months of audio-only from a makeshift home studio, Finebaum says he was beginning to feel almost “lost” when he encountered this epiphany: “Shut up and listen,” Finebaum said. The feisty guy who sometimes enjoys the rough ‘n tumble with Jim from Tuscaloosa, or Squirrel from Mississippi or even friendly fire from I-Man in Montgomery, became a listening post for intrepid souls caught in crisis. All of this came just after he was hospitalized with a serious illness and rumors swirling about of his possible departure from ESPN. He survived that. And suddenly one day he was overwhelmed with gratitude. “I have a job,” said Finebaum, “and it’s a good job.” And he’s got his fastball back. Good things have happened. There have been substantive talks with a talent agency and a well-known actor about a possible TV show based on Finebaum’s show and his followers which may very well happen. Last year he spent several days in Burbank discussing the show with an agent. So it’s real. And he is thrilled at the prospects. This protracted health/economic crisis has given us a different kind of Paul Finebaum, as well as different kinds of callers – many of them angry, scared, confused and looking for somebody to blame for football deprivation. Or just needing an on-air hug. Thus the "Pivot." It has become sort of a ministry for him. “Well, I think in some ways how fragile everything is—I was out with my wife yesterday, we went into some store wearing masks. I've been doing this now for months. I mean, you never really took for granted the fact that you could walk into Target or Wal-Mart or a grocery store without living in fear that there's a person around every aisle that may be running into you. It's like a war game almost. I mean, I'm laughing at myself at the absurdity of it, as well as I'm realizing how serious it is. “It sounds like it’s right out of a motivational book—how little we appreciate what we have. I think I've learned really to shut up and listen more than anything. And my experiences are great to me, but it's more important to listen to other people’s story, because I'm doing OK.” He calls it “dealing with the reality of life as we know it.” That means talking and listening to people every day “as opposed to being isolated in a room and not really knowing what is next. I think that's really been good.” There have been critics who think the “dealing with reality” paradigm shift is an intrusion on their entertainment and sports world, because they’d rather talk about Alabama’s new quarterback Mac Jones, or Jimbo Fisher’s emerging team in College Station, or Kyle Trask’s plight in Gainesville. To which Finebaum adds: “I feel all you can do is control what's in front of you. I've leaned on a lot of friends, especially early in the process when I was ‘lost.’ I mean, I showed up for work on March 13; I was in our building for a couple more days before everything shut down. And it was like it's like being in London after the blitzkrieg.” March 12 versus today, four months later, he said, “is just incomprehensible.” He says it has been “A little bit like 9/11 … There was a pre 9/11 war world and a post 9/11, September 12. Well, in some ways, that's where we are. We went to work on March 12, expecting to watch the SEC basketball tournament, expecting to have the NCAA tournament the next week and everything was shattered. And it's just been swimming upstream ever since about everything.” But the current is now running in his favor. It’s a national show now. During the past several months the programing-starved ESPN is airing it three-times daily. His main staple, says Finebaum, isn’t star-quality guests like Nick Saban or Gus Malzahn or Dan Mullen. The listeners remember the unique callers because “people like them are calling in every day.” It’s unlike any other show, he says, “because we have THE best callers in the country.” Through it all, most of his callers have stayed tethered. When he began the show on Birmingham radio there were the faithful go-to group he nicknamed “The Mercury Seven.” Some have died off, a couple don’t call as much, but Finebaum has a strong base of passionate callers who regularly show up – including I-Man, Jim from Tuscaloosa, etc. On Thursday this week he heard from Legend on the last call which became a powerful testimony to change. “Legend called me to say he just voted for the first time in his life in the Tommy Tuberville/Jeff Sessions primary,” said Finebaum. “What you may not know is that he’s not only a convicted felon, he went down for first-degree murder.” At 17, Legend shot a man seven times, although there were mitigating circumstances. He got out 20 years later, rehabilitated and regained his voting rights. “I’m really proud of the guy. He’s a great Finebaum caller.” Meanwhile, Finebaum still gets a thrill out of seeing the red light come on in anticipation of what the broadcast day will bring. Paul has no intention of leaving his ESPN job which has included jetting off weekly to New York for regular appearances on Mike Greenberg’s morning show, encounters with his newfound friend Stephen A. Smith and various other appearances on national programs. But more change has ensued. He will not return to the Saturday morning SEC Nation show – even if there is a football season – and quite frankly had asked to be taken off a year earlier. So now, it’s on to the next thing, whatever it is, and waiting to see if there is going to be football, and if he has to keep doing a daily four-hour talk show without games. And if he will continue fishing from the other side of the boat, which has landed him a different kind of catch. Most likely, there’s going to be more than a nibble from the studio about the TV show based on his life and work. And just for the record—although I have no inside information—I’m voting for Larry David to play Paul Finebaum.

There has been a recent rush of news and tidbits around the Florida Gators program, as teams gear up for the fall season. It might not look like normal as COVID-19 continues to reshape sports. Nevertheless, preparations for seasons are underway. Here is the latest news relating to Florida Gators sports. All releases from UAA unless otherwise noted. Florida and NC State Schedule Home-and-Home The Gators have added a home-and-home series with North Carolina State to its schedules for the 2026 and 2032 football seasons. The Gators will face the Wolfpack in Raleigh, N.C., in 2026, and UF will host NC State for a non-conference contest in 2032. The two programs have met 14 times, with the Gators holding a 9-4-1 series advantage. The last matchup between the two schools took place on New Year's Eve at the 1992 Gator Bowl, where Florida earned a 27-10 victory in Jacksonville. Trask Named to Davey O'Brien Watch List Gators quarterback Kyle Trask was named to the watch list for the 2020 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, the Davey O’Brien Foundation announced Tuesday. Trask is one 30 signal-callers nationwide to make the list and one of five SEC quarterbacks, joining Alabama’s Mac Jones, Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, Georgia’s Jamie Newman and Auburn’s Bo Nix. The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is presented annually to the nation’s top college quarterback and is  the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award. Trask was one of only 27 FBS quarterbacks to have at least 25 touchdown passes in 2019, while his 156.09 passer rating was the ninth-highest rating for a season in school history and the highest by a Gator since Tebow’s nation-leading 164.2 in 2009. Regarded as one of the top returning quarterbacks in the SEC, Trask became the first Gator to record three-plus touchdowns passes in consecutive outings against conference opponents after throwing for three at LSU and following it up with a career-high four touchdowns at South Carolina. Kyle Pitts Named to Bilentnikoff Award Watch List Gators tight end Kyle Pitts has been named to the Bilentnikoff Award Watch List. This award is actually presented annually to the best receiver in football and Pitts has positioned himself as a pass catching tight end who can be a game changer, making him eligible for both the Bilentnikoff and upcoming Mackey Award Watch List for the nation's best tight end. Pitts finished 2019 with 54 receptions for 649 yards and five touchdowns. His 649 receiving yards were the second-most by a UF tight end since 1996 and his five touchdowns tied for second in that time span. Meanwhile, his 54 catches tied Antonio Callaway (2016) for the fourth-most by any Gator since the start of 2007. The leading tight end in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns in the SEC, Pitts also finished the season ranked third nationally among FBS tight ends in receptions and seventh in receiving yards. Additionally, he was one of only nine FBS tight ends since 2015 to finish with over 50 catches, 625-plus receiving yards and five touchdowns in a season. Two Gators Nominated For NCAA Woman of the Year Two University of Florida student-athletes – track & field’s Yanis David and volleyball’s Rachael Kramer – are among a distinguished group of female athletes up for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, as announced by the organization Tuesday afternoon. David is a two-time NCAA Champion (indoor triple jump & outdoor long jump, both in 2019). She was also crowned Southeastern Conference Champion four times in 2019, collecting titles in the indoor and outdoor long jump, and the indoor and outdoor triple jump. Her four conference crowns made her the second woman in history (Shara Proctor, 2010) to sweep the horizontal jumps at both the SEC Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Kramer is a three-time AVCA All-American, three-time VolleyballMag.com All-American and a three-time AVCA Southeast All-Region honoree. She is the 13th Gator since 2000 to have earned at least three AVCA All-Region honors.

The Florida Gators have been luckier than most schools, keeping their COVID-19 infection rates to a minimum but Athletic Director Scott Stricklin revealed new numbers on Tuesday. While speaking with local media on a Zoom call, Stricklin revealed that the University Athletic Association had tested athletes across all sports and received 29 total positive test results in return. Some of that is from multiple testing. According to Stricklin there were 188 athletes across all sports initially tested, returning three positive results. An additional 50 tests have since been ordered for athletes where Stricklin says, “we had suspicion or symptoms to make us think we should test this individual.” From that 50, there have been 26 additional positives, bringing the total to the aforementioned 29 total positives. “We've had some that have multiple tested.” He would seem to be saying that of the 29, some of those were the same athletes, testing positive more than once. GatorBait Magazine has reached out to UF for confirmation of that explanation. We will update this story after an answer is received. Asked the highest number in quarantine yet, Stricklin had to estimate and recall from memory, but said, “maybe a dozen. That’s probably our high-water mark from a quarantine standpoint, running off of memory there.” Because of the two-week period required from quarantine, added the AD, and the sheer number of athletes continually being tested, there has always been somebody in quarantine. The number has averaged the single digits though. “At any given moment we'll have anywhere from three to eight or nine quarantined, and probably three to five positive,” continued Stricklin “We've been trying to keep it at, I don't want to say manageable level because you want zero, but we've been able to keep that number [low]. We continue to provide care for those athletes in quarantine, and make sure we try to head off any kind of systemic spread.” As Stricklin continues to lead and navigate the Florida Gator student athletes through this unprecedented time, he will now do so with a greater understanding of the dangers of COVID-19. “Last month, I actually tested positive myself for COVID,” Stricklin admitted to reporters. “Fortunately had mild symptoms and was able in a couple of days to kind of go back to normal. But I just wanted to share that. I thought I was being careful, but obviously this is a highly transmittable disease, as Dr. [Michael] Lauzardo and others on campus keep reminding me. “My symptoms were mild so I never really had any anxiety. I was kind of mad at myself that I had put myself in that situation. My family’s fine. Again, I quarantined. They asked me to quarantine for 10 days from the time of my onset of symptoms. “I started feeling badly one night, it was a runny nose—it was pretty mild symptoms—congestion, runny nose, a little headache. Woke up the next morning, didn’t feel much better - slight chills. And it just, the first thing in this day and age that goes through you head is, ‘I wonder if this is it?’ Called up one of our doctors and they had me tested and I found out sometime the next day. I had about 48 hours where I felt really crummy and probably had another three or four days where I didn’t feel like going out and running a marathon. Then after that, I felt like I was back to normal. But I haven’t run any marathons since, but I have run since,” laughed Stricklin. “So I do think it speaks to the importance of all of us doing our part and wearing the masks and physical distancing and all that stuff. Hopefully we can help keep others safe during this process by doing our part." Stricklin, along with the other 13 SEC Athletic Directors, met in person for the first time in months when they all [socially distantly] gathered in Birmingham together on Monday. No official decision was made on football, other than to make a decision at the end of July. Other Power 5 conferences are steadily electing to play only conference games. The SEC did announce on Tuesday that league soccer, volleyball and cross-country would be delayed until at least August 31. Said Stricklin of the decision, “I think Commissioner Sankey, in addition to just providing good leadership has been helpful in the way he's commented publicly. And his comments yesterday about, you know, the more time we can provide ourselves before we have to make key decisions we're probably going to end up making better decisions.” There’s still a lot we don’t know about what Florida Gators football and fall sports will look like in the coming months, or if we’ll even see it this calendar year. But as the student athletes on campus in Gainesville continue to recover, Scott Stricklin met with the football leadership committee and passed along the most important message he could during this unprecedented time. “I told them to make sure you guys understand the No. 1 priority for when we are able to begin having games again, is the health of our athletes and our staff and our fans. That’s the No. 1 priority. There’s a lot of talk out there about budgets and financial needs and all that stuff. It obviously helps support what we do in college athletics, but all of that is secondary to making sure that the health of our athletes, our staff and ultimately our fans is a priority.”

In a call that lasted just under an hour, Scott Stricklin sat in his office and steadily answered each and every question asked his way by local reporters. It was the first time since COVID-19 shut down sports in March that Stricklin had sat for a press conference with media. As such, there was a variety of topics to discuss. Everything from the likelihood of football being played in the fall, how COVID-19 is shaping decisions, social justice protest dictating UF decisions and more. We’ve compiled the best and most important from the Stricklin interview for you to read here. It has been edited for length. Check out the other pieces in GatorBait Magazine this week, taking a closer look at other topics discussed by Scott Stricklin. On his level of optimism that there will be football in the fall: “Candidly, we need to, we have a lot of challenges ahead of us. Look at the pro leagues—and obviously our state is hosting some of them right now—and I’m not inside their bubbles but just what you read that you guys and a lot of your colleagues report—that’s illustrative of the challenges they’re seeing. And I think in a perfect world we would look at the pro leagues as providing an opportunity for us to learn and time as you say may not be on our side now like it was a month or two ago. In a perfect world, Major League Baseball and NBA, those people would already be playing and we could sit back and learn from them. And hopefully they’ll get up going here pretty soon, we can have time to study what they’re doing. “I think that’s really important from a college athletic standpoint that we take the opportunity to learn from what they do well and some struggles they have and maybe how we can do it better. Because we’re not gonna be able to create a bubble in college athletics. That’s, college athletics I know is very popular and it generates a lot of attention but it’s still an extracurricular activity on a college institution campus, an academic institution’s campus. And so there’s nothing about that that says bubble. Unless you wanna consider 35-36,000 undergrads a bubble. So we, the pro league’s are not an exact mirror of what we’re gonna be able to do but I do think their ability to get up successfully and compete will teach us some lessons. And the later we get in the fall and that is—without that happening, I think it really makes it more challenge for us.” On what The Swamp capacity might look like if fans are allowed: “We've had a portion of our staff spending a lot of time looking at various scenarios. None that are locked in stone by any means. But getting six feet apart in the Swamp does start to limit the number of people who can come in there, just because of the way it's designed. It is kind of cozy once you're in there, as you know, and there's 90,000 people. Again, this is where our friends at UF Health have been really helpful helping us model stuff and look at how potentially it could be. My guess is if you were looking at a strictly 6-foot social distancing scenario with fans in the Swamp you're looking at 15-20,000. Maybe you can get close to 25,000 fans, but it's a much different number than what we're accustomed to." On the optics of possibly playing a season during a pandemic: “I don't think we're going to put them in a situation where we're going to have bad optics. I think we're going to be careful enough. Really, that's our job. We want to win games and we want to create a great environment for 90,000 people to fill the Swamp in a normal situation. But our No. 1 job is to protect and provide an opportunity for these student-athletes, these 500 young people who come and are a part of our program. So I can see how if we were to rush into it, it could look bad. I don't think college football will do that." On Power 5 conferences not yet wanting to make officially push the season to spring: “I don’t wanna act like I’m espousing any one scenario because candidly there’s still a lot of information before we get to the point where we feel like we can conduct a game in a safe manner. But the best way to answer that is—as soon as we feel like we can provide a competitive opportunity for our athletes in a safe manner, we wanna do that. And I don’t know when that’s gonna be. None of know if and/or when the clouds are gonna part and the sun’s gonna shine and we’re gonna be able to provide that opportunity for our athletes. But whenever that occurs, we wanna be positioned to do so and so, um, you know doing that in the safest manner is our number one priority. If that’s September, great. If that’s a different month in the calendar that allows us to do it in this school year, I don’t think any of us are in a position to be choosy right now.” On his message to the football team leadership committee: “Last week I was able to get on a Zoom call with our football leadership committee. It’s a group of about 20 or so guys that are on the football team in leadership positions and asked Coach Mullen to put together. I wanted to hear from them about how they think the voluntary workouts went in the month of June and what their comfort level was related to how things had gone and just get their feedback. They were positive. It’s a great group, an impressive group of guys. “I made a point to them during the call after I asked them some questions. I told them to make sure you guys understand the No. 1 priority for when we are able to begin having games again, is the health of our athletes and our staff and our fans. That’s the No. 1 priority. There’s a lot of talk out there about budgets and financial needs and all that stuff. It obviously helps support what we do in college athletics, but all of that is secondary to making sure that the health of our athletes, our staff and ultimately our fans is a priority. I wanted our players to hear that because I didn’t want them to see some of the stuff that’s out there on social media that may portray different priorities. "That being the case, we have to balance the importance of their physical well being along with their mental well being. The thing I took from that and other conversations is, the student-athletes do want to play games. There’s a lot of challenges in front of right now in how we make that happen.” On the environment UF is creating for their student athletes right now: “Those who have come back for voluntary workouts, it’s been a pretty strict environment they’ve come back into. We’re doing temperature checks and we’re doing the health questionnaire, the screening. We’ve got masks on. They’re in a safe environment when they come up for their workouts and when they’re around our staff. One of the things that’s real important for all college athletic programs right now is all of our campuses have spent a lot of time on reopening plans. Most of these campuses are planning on having students back on campus this fall.It’s really important we do everything we can to support our campus reopening plans because, it’s the same reason that I think our campuses believe they can create a safe environment for our students if they are engaged with them.” On how he’d characterize the current state of the situation and whether or not time is on their side: “We’ve been able in the last few weeks to bring our athletes back—at their choosing, voluntarily, no one’s been forced to come back, they can come back on their own. Not all of them have, but a lot of them have. And we’ve had you know a pretty robust screening and testing program and we’ve found some positives and we’ve turned those over to local contact chasers and authorities and there’s a protocol that allows them to quarantined and cared for and provided for. So we’ve advanced from March to June as far as how we manage that and how we look at that. “I think having them here on campus for a month has taught us a lot. One of the things it’s taught us is we do have a way to care for them and provide for our athletes while they’re here and if they happen to test positive. The other thing though is that, I think it’s really pointed out what a lot of the challenges are gonna be related to quarantining. Quarantining healthy people who have had exposure to those who have tested positive and how wide spread that’s gonna be. And we’re supportive of that because we understand that’s what the health officials—that’s a tool the health officials have to help prevent further spread, so we’re totally in support of that. But I do think it speaks to some of the challenges to try to get them to the point where we’re competing in national games.” On if he’s given any thought to renaming the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in light of social justice reform : “No. Dr. Fuchs when he made his announcement last month he referenced putting a panel together to start reviewing university namings. The O'Connell Center is actually a university facility, we're just a tenant in it. The university actually controls that building. So I'm not assuming what facilities is going to fall under the purview of that group he puts together. But I know he has a plan in place to try to look at the ones that need to be looked at and addressed. I think Kent has shown a lot of leadership in this area and not just in the last month or two. I think during his time at UF, he has shown good leadership in this area and is something that I support the decisions that he’s made.” Check out the other pieces in GatorBait Magazine this week, taking a closer look at other topics discussed by Scott Stricklin.