A Time to Celebrate

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

It’s just the spring game, a dressed up scrimmage that thanks to ESPN and the Game Day crew showing up to televise has turned into a first class recruiting opportunity for Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators. Call it “Showtime in The Swamp” thanks to a three-ring circus of activity that has just about everything but poodles in tu-tus jumping through hoops leading up to the 1 p.m. kickoff.

There will be photo ops with the 2006 national championship trophy and Tim Tebow’s Heisman Trophy, autograph sessions with the players, a flag football game between a couple of student all-star teams, a skills challenge complete with students trying to kick field goals with Jonathan Phillips and the Fastest Gator On Campus competition. This fastest Gator competition is pure marketing genius, a chance for five students who participated in a series of races to go 40 yards, head-to-head, with Louis Murphy, Deonte Thompson and Chris Rainey of the football team.

It’s pure show, designed to entertain the fans and create a level of excitement among recruits such as quarterback Aaron Murray (6-1, 198, Tampa Plant); running back Lamar Miller (6-1, 205, Miami Killian); running back Jamall Berry (5-11, 190, Miami Palmetto); wide receiver Andre DeBose (6-0, 182, Sanford Seminole); tight end Orson Charles (6-3, 230, Tampa Plant); offensive lineman Chris Freeman (6-9, 320, Dayton, OH Trotwood-Madison); linebacker Jarvis Jones (6-4, 210, Columbus, GA Carver); linebacker Mike Gilliard (6-3, 205, Valdosta, GA); linebacker Ray Ray Armstrong (6-3, 220, Sanford Seminole); linebacker Carlo Calabrese (6-2, 225, Verona, NJ); cornerback Travis Hawkins (5-11, 185, Gaithersburg, MD Quince Orchard); cornerback Greg Reid (5-9, 180, Valdosta, GA Lowndes County); and cornerback Darrell Givens (6-1, 176, Indian Head, MD Lackey).

From a football standpoint, if Saturday’s Orange and Blue Debut was a planet, it would be Neptune, just a little bit larger and just a little bit more significant than Pluto, which through no fault of its own has been de-commissioned to something just above asteroid status. Saturday’s spring game has been de-commissioned to something that Meyer calls a “celebration of Florida football.” He wants to give the expected 40,000 or more fans that make the trek to Gainesville as well as recruits who will be at the stadium or watching on television a show to remember and as long as none of his players gets hurt and the recruits are impressed he’ll consider it a success.

It’s going to be a celebration for Terron Sanders, too, but he’s got a totally different set of reasons for playing this game with a sense of joy that he hasn’t felt since he played high school football. For the first time since his junior year at Bradenton Southeast, Sanders is playing football pain free. His creaky knees, operated on twice, are strong again and for the first time in three years, football is fun.

“They [knees] feel great,” said Sanders,a 6-2, 290-pound defensive tackle after Wednesday’s full contact scrimmage. “They feel like I’m a freshman in high school again. No injuries, just a couple of nicks and bruises but that’s everybody on the team.”

He didn’t play football his senior season in high school because of a knee injury that required surgery twice. He took a red-shirt to rehab his freshman year at Florida and just when he had gotten to the point of earning some playing time last year as a second year sophomore, he suffered a high ankle sprain in the Georgia game that cost him the last five games of the season.

“I had those two knee injuries and you don’t want it to happen again but at the same time you want to improve,” said Sanders. “It took awhile but the downfall for me was when I finally started making progress and started working to where I was going to get some playing time I turned around and got hurt again in the Georgia game.”

The high ankle sprain probably hurt him more than the knee injury simply because he had worked so hard to be in a position to finally see the field. It was a depressing time, standing on the sidelines during those five games and there was nothing he could do except watch.

“Last year I was really disappointed in myself because I couldn’t contribute like I wanted to,” he said. “This year I feel really good. There are no injuries, I’m healthy and back down where I want to be and ready to go.”

When Florida’s season ended with a disappointing loss to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl, defensive line coach Greg Mattison left the Gators for an NFL job with the Baltimore Ravens. Meyer replaced Mattison with Dan McCarney, the former head coach at Iowa State and last year, the defensive line coach at South Florida where he turned unknown George Selvie into a pass rushing fiend that made first team All-America.

McCarney came in with no expectations of any of the players he inherited on the defensive line, so Sanders viewed this as a golden opportunity, a fresh start of sorts. Sanders took a look at himself in the mirror, thought about what was important to him and then he made a decision to make the most of a brand new circumstance.

“Before spring started I sat down and re-evaluated myself,” said Sanders. “I asked myself what have I done for the team? What are my goals? What do I want people to say about me after I leave?”

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” After Sanders had his philosophical interlude, he decided to take the first real step of his Florida football journey.

“I just had to answer those questions by coming out here and showing the coaches,” said Sanders. “Coach McCarney is a more aggressive coach than what we’re used to and as Coach Meyer has been telling me, ‘new coach, new opportunity.’ I tried to jump on top of that and take advantage of that as much as I could.”

It took a few practices for him to cut loose and play the way he did back in June of 2005 when he came to the Urban Meyer Football Camp and wowed the coaches with his quickness, agility and playmaking ability. He earned a scholarship offer to Florida those few days at football camp. He earned the respect of McCarney this spring by working hard to improve every single day in practice.

In Florida’s last two scrimmages, Sanders was tough to contain. He got a couple of sacks last Saturday, got another one Wednesday, and did some things to disrupt the offense. From a consistency standpoint, he didn’t have the kind of spring practice he wanted to have. The last several practices, however, he came on like gangbusters and proved he will be a factor in Florida’s defensive line rotation when August arrives and the Gators start practicing again.

“It’s like I’m a freshman again and Coach doesn’t know what to expect so I just have to come out here and show I can play,” said Sanders.

He won’t have to prove that he can play in Saturday afternoon’s Orange and Blue Debut in The Swamp. He did that in the previous 14 practices.

This game is simply for entertainment purposes. After it’s over, it will be time to celebrate, but for Sanders, the celebration will be short-lived. Now that he’s earned the respect of the coaches and the chance to play, he’s going to use the time between the spring game and August practices to get stronger and quicker so the next time he re-evaluates and looks in the mirror, he will already know the answers before he asks the questions.

[radbag]

some things i took away from the scrimmage

- i remembered newton to be more crisp with his accuracy
- trattou has match sticks for legs
- dunlap is a beast (i know, i know...he went up against OLinemen who played both sides but still)
- the harvin/moody/rainey show with a dosage of tebow/newton or brantley will be tough to prepare for if you're a defensive coordinator
- i don't know if he was hurt or anything but i don't like that riley cooper is always slow in getting up after a play...seems like he's either laboring or he just acts kinda lackadaisically...
- i didn't see any of carl moore...did you?
- black got trucked over by moody but came back the very next play and forced a moody fumble.

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

- i didn't see any of carl moore...did you?

He did not play. Sprained ankle, I believe.

[a1bion]

We need Sanders to be a beast on the line. Sounds like he's making strides towards that.