The Florida Gators are ready to get the season kicked off.
Sunday marked the official start of fall camp. That means the dog days of summer and the early morning runs and lifts are over. Now it’s time to strap up the pads and start playing football.
The start of camp also means media day and media obligations for the upperclassmen. Of course, there were the obvious questions about Kurt Roper’s offense, coming back from a 4-8 season and replacing key starters who graduated or left early for the NFL. Players get asked the same questions over and over and for the most part, spend their time in front of recorders trying not to sound like a broken record while answering a question for the fifth time.
To give the players a break, we asked some off the wall, non-football questions to see how these guys that you watch every Saturday in the fall live off of the field. The answers ranged from funny to inspiring and the guys had as much fun answering as we had asking.
Senior, DT, Darious Cummings
Q: What’s your best pick up line?
“How you doing beautiful? I’m sure you get that a lot, I just want to let you know you’re beautiful.”
Q: What is your favorite food that mom makes?
“Fried chicken. Her fried chicken.”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“I’d say six, Fowler. Fowler’s just cool, he’s chill and he’s easy to be around.”
Q: Who is your role model
“I have to say my dad, my father. Just because what he’s been through and all the stuff he’s had to overcome in his life. He hasn’t led a perfect life but just the stuff I’ve seen with him. If I want to model my life after someone who has character and integrity it would be him.”
Q: If you could trade places with a movie star who would it be?
“Denzel Washington.”
Senior, LB, Mike Taylor
Q: What is your favorite food that mom makes?
“Breakfast tacos. She starts with a corn tortilla, warms it up in the oven or over the stove with some nice corn canola oil. She makes it with eggs, avocado, some sauce on there and wrap it all up together. It’s delicious, that’s with two s’s, delicious.”
Q: What’s your best pickup line?
“Let me check my Tinder account. Nah, I’m kidding. ‘Hi beautiful’, that tends to work. I just use whatever comes to mind.”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“Mack Brown! Yeah! The fun will never end. All we’re gonna eat is chicken wings, he knows how to get the food.”
Q: Who is your role model
“My mom. She was really the one person who was there when I was in trouble, when I was little coming up. My dad was never really around so it was just us. Both my grandparents had a vital part in raising me but it was always my mom, she was always constant. Whether it was good or bad, she was always the one constant that was already there.”
Q: What movie character would you want to be?
“Whatever role Kevin Hart gets. I feel like he gets to just enjoy his roles and personalize it. That’s what I’m all about. Don’t give me a script, give me something to do and let me personalize it with my personality. I’ll take a Kevin Hart role any day.”
Senior, OL, Trenton Brown
Q: What is your favorite food that mom makes?
“Her enchiladas. She puts in ground beef, cheese, a corn tortilla, some corn bread on the side and a side of chili.”
Q: What’s your best pickup line?
“I don’t really have any. They normally come to me, my height is a good conversation starter.”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“Trip Thurman. I feel like both of us would know how to survive and he can hunt. We’d eat good.”
Q: If you could switch places with a movie star who would it be?
Denzel Washington. The girls love Denzel.”
Q: Who is your role model?
“My dad. He was always there. He didn’t have a father so he always made it a point to show us what it was like to have a father in your life in every facet. He showed us how to be better and pushed us to be better, to never give up. He showed us how to succeed in life. He’s a police officer.”
Sophomore, RB, Kelvin Taylor
Q: What’s your favorite food that mom makes?
“Probably pork and beans and pasta. I love pasta.”
Q: What’s your favorite color?
“My favorite color is grey. I’ve got a couple favorite colors but probably grey and black.”
Q: What’s your best pickup line?
“I don’t really have a best pickup line. I just flash a smile, that’s it, that’s all it takes.”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“Probably Demarcus Robinson or Latroy Pittman. If I had to pick one it would be D-Rob. That’s my boy. He’s funny, he’s crazy, and we always have a good time together.”
Q: Who’s your role model?
“I’d say my father and my uncle when I was growing up. As of right now it’s probably LeBron James.”
Sophomore, WR, Ahmad Fulwood
Q: What’s your favorite food mom makes?
“Spaghetti. Her spaghetti is good.”
Q: What is your favorite color?
“Red”
Q: What’s your best pickup line?
“Do you know how much a polar bear weighs? Enough to break the ice, hi, I’m Ahmad.”
Q: If you could be any movie character who would you be?
“I’d probably be the dark knight.”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“Probably my roommate, Nick Washington. From a roommate type of thing, I think Vernon would take Jordan Sherit.”
Q: Who was your role model growing up?
“I’ve always been a fan of Michael Jordan. Growing up I was a basketball player but I changed to football. I’ve just always looked up to him.”
Sophomore, CB, Vernon Hargreaves
Q: What’s your Favorite food mom makes?
“Chicken fettuccine.”
Q: What’s your favorite color?
“Blue. Gator blue.”
Q: What’s your best pickup line?
“Let me get your number before I don’t want it anymore.”
Q: If you could be a movie character who would you be?
“If I could be any movie character I’d be Liam Neeson in Taken.”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“Mike McNeely. We were actually just talking about that, it’s crazy that you asked that. We were doing a series of would you rather questions and one of them was, ‘if you had to pick two teammates to be stranded with, who would you pick? Mike is one of the smartest guys on the team. I picked Mike and Mark Herndon. Mark Herndon and Mike are probably the two smartest guys on the team. Mark is really strong, probably the strongest on the team. I don’t know what I can contribute to the team but they’ll figure something out. Mike will figure something out and Mark will build it and we’ll sail away on a raft or something.”
RS-Sophomore, DL, Alex McCalister
Q: What’s your favorite food that mom makes?
“Definitely her spaghetti. She puts in sausage, hamburger meat, and all types of vegetables. She won’t tell me all what goes in it, but from what I can tell it’s that.”
Q: What’s your Favorite color?
“Red.”
Q: What’s your best pickup line?
“I look at them and say something like, ‘how you doing sweetheart?’ I don’t really have a pickup line, I just stare girls in the eyes and they follow.”
Q: If you could be any movie character who would you be?
“I’d be Hancock.”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“Dante Fowler, definitely.”
Q: Who was your role model growing up?
“My mother. We’ve been through so much. Just now, being older, to look back at all we went through just me, her and my two sisters. I can’t tell you how we did it. That’s why she’s my role model. Just growing up, she was a single parent. My mom had me when she was like 16. She’s been young my whole life. I’m pretty sure it’s hard for a 16-year old to raise a baby. It just made her tougher, she fought through it and now she has a great job, my sisters are good and I’m in college. Everything’s good.”
Junior, BUCK, Dante Fowler
Q: First things first, I haven’t seen Chucky, is he retired?
“No. I’m not going to bring Chucky with me everywhere I go. It’s a doll, why would I bring it everywhere I go?”
Q: What’s your favorite food that your mom makes?
“Steak. My mom makes some really good steak.”
Q: What’s your Favorite color?
“Blue. Either ocean blue or Gator blue.”
Q: What’s your best pickup line?
“I just see whatever they’re wearing. If a girl has some nice shoes I’ll say, ‘nice shoes’, you know? Just give them a compliment.”
Q: If you could be any movie character who would it be?
“If I could be any movie character it would be Boobie Miles (Friday Night Lights).”
Q: If you were stuck on an island with one teammate who would it be?
“Alex “Cali, Alex McCalister. That’s my boy.”