IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER...
By BRYAN JONES
UF quarterback Chris Leak points out the defense during the second quarter of the Gators' 41-3 win against Louisiana Tech in Gainesville on Sept. 9, 2005.
While most of the team was jumping with excitement following the Gators' last-second victory against South Carolina on Saturday, seniors Dallas Baker and Steven Harris embraced, fell to their knees and wept, as if immune to the celebration raging on around them.
"You kind of lose control of yourself in those emotional times, and I think Steve Harris and Dallas Baker after that game - that's not phony stuff," Coach Urban Meyer said.
For Baker, Harris, Ray McDonald and the rest of UF's senior class, the last four years have been a series of ups and downs - an emotional seesaw atypical of a group of football players at UF.
"There's probably not a senior class in the country that has been through as much as this senior class," Meyer said.
Most came to the school with dreams of continued success, but they all found themselves trapped in a freefall to failure and mediocrity.
But under new guidance and a swift change of attitude, this senior class is attempting to erase the painful memories of the past and rebuild the glory days of UF football.
As Senior Day approaches this weekend, a refocused group of seniors will play their last game in the Swamp, but they know their work at UF is anything but over.
"I believe that's a real sign of a team that really wants to win and a team that won't be denied," McDonald said. "No matter what happens through the course of a game, you know that seniors like that are going to fight for the win. We didn't have that in the past since we got here."
NOT SO HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Like most UF football players, they entered the school as superstars - high school phenoms seemingly on top of the world. Many anticipated college as a steppingstone to the NFL.
"When you come to college - if any college player disagrees, then I have to judge his character - the first thing on your mind is, 'One day I will be able to take care of my family by playing in the NFL,'" Baker said.
But they were all recruited by former UF coach Ron Zook with the promise of continued success.
Coming to a program as successful as UF, they expected to win.
In the 12 years under Steve Spurrier before Zook took over in 2002, the Gators amassed six Southeastern Conference titles and a national championship, finishing each season ranked in the top 15.
Zook knew a foundation for success was in place, and he ferociously recruited players from all over the country.
In 2002, Zook held together a patchwork recruiting class that began under Spurrier. Still that class included DeShawn Wynn, Reggie Lewis, Ray McDonald, Jemalle Cornelius, Kenneth Tookes, Steven Harris and Tremaine McCollum.
In 2003, Zook found his Golden Boy.
The No. 1 player in the nation, according to ESPN, quarterback Chris Leak had set national passing records in high school. He signed with the Gators, vowing to win a national championship, and he convinced several other top recruits to hop on board.
The Gators compiled a class of players that was heralded by most recruiting experts as the top recruiting class in the nation.
Four years later, those players are still searching for a championship ring.
THE FALL FROM GREATNESS
For Gators fans, it was the collapse of a dynasty, and this current senior class found itself at the forefront of it all.
When Spurrier stepped down in 2001, the Gators had just finished a 10-2 season in which they had come up just short of playing for a national championship.
But in Zook's first season, UF managed to win just eight games, its fewest total since the pre-Spurrier days.
"A lot of guys who were here winning left early and stuff like that," Harris said. "You really had no one to look to. If you don't have anybody to lead you, you don't really know what to do. You're acting like a chicken with your head cut off."
In 2003, despite Leak emerging as a freshman sensation, the Gators finished with a repeat of the 8-5 season from the previous year.
By Zook's third year in 2004, the Gator Nation was demanding results, and the negativity began to weigh on the players.
"It took a big toll on us," Harris said. "It was hard losing. And everybody started pointing fingers and stuff like that, and going our own separate ways. We weren't really a team. We weren't together as a unit. That is probably a big factor as to why we were losing so much. It hurt to lose."
But after a controversial loss to Tennessee, UF's season and Zook's future with the team began unraveling.
Baker blamed himself for the loss after he received a personal foul penalty that helped the Volunteers drive down the field for a game-winning field goal.
Baker thought about giving up.
"It made me feel bad because I was already beating myself up," Baker admitted last year. "I thought I lost the game by myself. I think I was harder on myself because that is something that any player, even if you're not coached that well, you should be able to stop yourself from doing that."
The tough losses didn't stop there.
The Gators blew a late lead against LSU three weeks later, falling at home 24-21.
But the most crushing loss would come two weeks after that.
Unable to stop Mississippi State's Jerious Norwood, who rushed for 174 yards, the Gators were shocked by the Bulldogs 38-31.
Two days later, Zook was fired.
TURNING IT AROUND
When Meyer took over the reins of the team in 2005, he was disgusted with the attitude of the team - on and off the field.
It was a selfish team that lacked leadership.
"You get away from home and you start to see the freedom, so you start to make a couple of mistakes," Baker said. "You don't take advantage of being at a top university like this, and once you look back, it's too late. So really, that's what we're basically trying to eliminate around here."
But for players like Baker and Harris, it wasn't too late.
Baker, who never dreamed of earning a college degree two years ago, is set to graduate by the end of this semester.
Harris, who has been having constant off-field problems, particularly trying to deal with raising three children to two different mothers out of wedlock, has also turned his life around, according to Meyer. He will also graduate.
"Coach Meyer came in and taught us how to be accountable for one another and taught us how to do things as a unit and do things together to be a better team," Harris said.
In fact, almost every senior on UF's roster has turned his career around in the last two seasons under Meyer.
Running back DeShawn Wynn, a notorious underachiever, earned his starting spot on the practice field and has been UF's most impressive tailback this season.
Reggie Lewis converted from the wide receiver position and is now starting at cornerback.
Corner Tremaine McCollum, a career benchwarmer, is now UF's primary nickel corner.
Center Steve Rissler, who was served as Mike Degory's backup for the last three seasons, is now the unquestioned leader of the offensive line.
The list goes on.
"I'm proud of them," Zook said. "I talk to some of them, but not every day. Coach Meyer and his staff have done a great job, and I am glad to see they're able to do the things that we talked about when we recruited them. I am rooting for them."
Meyer made it clear that for the Gators to achieve success, the upperclassmen needed to be leaders.
"I think the attitude has changed because we've been together for the last four to five years," Baker said. "And with Coach Meyer pushing us, telling us that the seniors need to become leaders and help this team out, I think now everybody is starting to listen to what he's saying."
"We're like one," Harris said. "We hang together all the time. We laugh together. We cry together. We do everything together. We're like one big family."
ONE LAST CHANCE
After four years of high expectations, flashes of brilliance and misery of defeat, the senior class is determined to make its mark once and for all.
The Gators have already clinched a spot in the SEC title game for the first time since 2000 - and at No. 4 in the Bowl Championship Series standings, a national championship is not yet out of the question either.
For this senior class, all it takes to erase the painful memories of the past is one good stretch run and a ring or two.
"There's a lot of pressure on us," Harris said. "I feel like there is a lot of pressure on me, too, because it's my last year and I've never won anything. So I wanna try to go out and win everything."
So when Baker and Harris embraced and let their emotions go last Saturday, Meyer was anything but surprised.
"That's a lot of emotions building up over the last four to five years," Meyer said.
A lot of dreams crashed and burned. And now maybe those dreams are still alive."
posted by Trader Rick @ 9:45 AM
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