It was back in the spring of 2005, a warm evening in Belle Glade at the IFAS complex where no knives were necessary for prime rib so tender and juicy that it almost fell apart with the touch of a fork. Urban Meyer had just finished giving his State of the Gators speech, the exact same one that he had given about 15 times previously on his tour of Gator Clubs around the state. The floor had just opened for questions when LaBrina McDonald stood up and with tears running down her face, thanked Meyer for the turnaround she was seeing in her son, Gator defensive tackle Ray McDonald. The same son that was on the verge of flunking out of the University of Florida just a few months before now had his priorities in order and was making one mama very, very proud.
In December of 2006, the same Ray McDonald that was on a track to nowhere when Meyer became the head coach at Florida in December of 2004 walked across the Stephen C. O’Connell Center stage with a diploma in hand. That same day, Stephen Harris, DeShawn Wynn, Reggie Lewis and Dallas Baker also graduated from Florida.
What did they all have in common?
Pre-Meyer they were all underachievers on the playing field and their work in the classroom was somewhat of a joke. Once Meyer arrived, they were all faced with Meyer’s my way or the highway ultimatum and that meant cleaning up their off the field act, going to class and working seriously toward earning a degree from the University of Florida.
Baker could be a poster child for the Meyer way of doing things. Recruited to Florida in 2001 by Steve Spurrier, he had to go to prep school because his high school grades were poor. Signed a year later by Ron Zook, he was required to redshirt his freshman year at Florida because of academic issues. He became the team clown and he was better known for great spring games than he was for his achievements in the fall when the games actually counted.
All that changed when Meyer arrived. Meyer got Baker’s attention by brutally pointing out that teammates weren’t necessarily laughing at the jokes. They were laughing at him. That got his attention. So did Meyer’s insistence that Baker could actually become a good student and graduate from college. In the summer before the 2005 season, Baker broke into tears when he talked about how proud his mother was when he aced an economics test. Pre-Meyer, everybody thought Baker was a lightweight in every possible way. Once Meyer got hold of Dallas Baker, he became a respected leader and achiever both on the playing field and in the classroom.
McDonald, Baker, Lewis, Wynn and Harris share a common story. They changed their lives, made it in the classroom and made it on the playing field. They stopped taking days off in the weight room. They stopped taking plays off in practice. From sometime contributors they all became vital cogs in Florida’s national championship team of 2006.
Not everybody on that championship team required a come to Jesus meeting with Urban Meyer. For the ones that were already living their lives right and on track to graduate, Meyer was simply further motivation and a chance to break out of that five-loss per season rut of the previous three years. But for the ones who needed a life-altering experience, Meyer was the right guy in the right place at right time with just the right message.
The Meyer message is live your life right off the field; go to class, learn and earn a college degree; and do everything within your power to contribute to the success of the Florida Gators on the practice and playing fields. Some rivals try to say he’s looking for a few good Boy Scouts but check the record: In Meyer’s three years, the Gators are 31-8, have a national championship in 2006, and they have a team grade point average that has improved every single semester. It’s hard to argue with that kind of success.
The latest news released Thursday only furthers the notion that Meyer has brought about a complete culture change within the football program. In the spring semester, the Florida football team turned in a 2.86 grade point average, bettering the 2.81 achieved in the fall that was the highest since such records have been kept. Thirty-two of Florida’s scholarship players posted a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Here is the team GPA semester by semester since Meyer’s arrival: Spring 2005, 2.58; Fall 2005, 2.65; Spring 2006, 2.70; Fall 2006, 2.72; Spring 2007, 2.77; Fall 2007, 2.81; Spring 2008, 2.86.
The Gators posted a 72 percent graduation rate this year and early this week when the NCAA announced the Academic Progress Rate for college football programs the Gators were in the 80-90 percentile.
Those numbers are significant because they are hardcore evidence that Urban Meyer isn’t just blowing smoke when he tells a recruit’s mama and daddy that he will do everything within his power to turn their boy into a man with a real future ahead of him. The proof is in the GPA. The proof is in the graduation rates.
Most coaches talk a good game, but slick words can only do so much. At some point, there has to be something concrete to offer. Only a few coaches can actually talk the good game and back it up with real numbers that provide solid evidence that they don’t speak with forked tongues. Meyer’s recruiting pitch is straightforward and to the point — come to Florida, play for championships and get a degree from one of the nation’s elite public institutions. He can look a recruit and the recruit’s parents straight in the eye and make that claim. The numbers don’t lie.