My Gator World

As the 40,000 some-odd students plan to head back to classes in Gainesville this fall, one young man entering his 4^th year of college probably has more butterflies in his stomach than the collective legion of aspiring sorority girls lined up on Norman Field come bid day. For most students, by the 4^th year of college, they’ve established at least somewhat of a routine, whether it be waking up at noon on the basement couch of a can & bottle-littered fraternity house or perhaps swinging by a local coffee house to get a fresh cup of joe before heading over to your morning lab. Whatever the case, by year 4, it’s not likely to expect a large scale shift in normalcy. For John Brantley, however, life is about to change, not in a winter to spring type shift, more of a universe-shaping big bang lifestyle realignment.As a redshirt junior (read: 3^rd year of eligibility, 4th actual year for more casual fans), Brantley inherits arguably the most high profile quarterback job college football has ever seen. Sure there was Tee Martin taking over for Peyton Manning in 1998, who won a National Championship for the Volunteers by the way, but few quarterbacks have ever been so beloved by the local community or such the infatuation of mainstream media as the recently NFL-bound Tim Tebow. Can you name another 25^th overall draft pick to set a draft record for jersey sales or pace the entire NFL in jersey sales the month after draft day? Not since Johnny Moxon took over for an injured Lance Harbor for the West Canaan Coyotes has one player been thrust into a more direct spotlight from a backup role. (more…)

Training camp in the August heat… head coaches can build a reputation off of it, some veterans go through long contract holdouts just to avoid it, but for NFL rookies, training camp serves as a first impression to the inner workings of an NFL franchise. The transition from college to the pros goes a lot further than throwing out the old “option” standby and learning a whole new level of X’s and O’s. Training camp is full of adjustments, from adjusting to the speed of the game to life at the bottom of the proverbial pecking order. Enter former Florida great (still heart wrenching to say “former”) Tim Tebow, a regular Captain Planet in college, using his physical gifts and superhuman powers to do good on and off the field. A Heisman winner by his sophomore season and finalist the remaining two years, Tebow has been the undisputed top dog on the Florida campus at the very least since Horford, Noah and Brewer made their way to the NBA. So how then would a player who has been running the show for the better part of 3 years adjust to the hazing from his veteran NFL teammates? It didn’t take long to find out. (more…)