If attitude, physical appearance and a sense of mission count for anything, the 2009 Florida Gator football team should be judged more than worthy of the consensus No. 1 ranking they wore on the field in their first practice.
Put it this way: In a football beauty contest, they just walked off with the crown after the swimsuit competition.
Apparently the players were even more eager than the coaches to start the year, because by the time I arrived at 5:40 a.m. there were already 25 players on the practice field. The last person arrived at 5:57.
You think these guys are in a hurry to prove something?
They not only showed up ahead of time for an already absurdly early 6:10 a.m. practice, but also passed the eyeball test with flying colors and, by the time they departed, had left coaches virtually giddy.
“Everybody’s been looking forward to this day,” middle linebacker Brandon Spikes said afterward. “It’s just like Christmas.”
This football team looked like it just came from central casting to audition for the part of national champion.
I’m not sure, for instance, what Mickey Marotti is feeding Charley Strong’s linebackers, but Brandon Beal, A.J. Jones and Ryan Stamper appeared sculpted in their helmets and shorts.
Aaron Hernandez, flaunting his 6-2, 250-pound frame, cavorted about like a wide receiver instead of a tight end. “Man,” said one assistant coach, “he looks fast!”
So did Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey and Riley Cooper and Paul Wilson and some others, darting about with the ball in non-contact drills.
The throws of Tim Tebow and Johnny Brantley were mostly on target, except for the one interception by Johnny Brantley, and both appeared confident and active.
Coaches had their whistles and voices in mid-season form.
“Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweeeeetttt!” went Marotti’s whistle at such an ungodly hour that you wanted to roll over and punch the snooze button.
It made you want to scream, “But Coach, I haven’t even had my first cup of coffee!”
Everything was at warp speed and you could tell that this hop-to-it mentality was going to be a theme this season, starting with the way the offense was breaking from the huddle over the ball.
“Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!” yelled Urban Meyer, who appeared anxious to start earning that new $24 million contract.
Hurry they did, at everything they did.
You gotta really be a serious football maniac to be there for a practice before the rooster crows and the morning paper hits the driveway.
How early was it? Put it this way: Thursday’s opening practice marked the first time in history the media, players and fans all came away with moonburn. The first 45 minutes was spent under dark clouds and a full moon.
By daybreak there was a large and enthusiastic crowd of somewhere between 300 and 400 people that applauded heartily at the conclusion of the first morning workout, like they had just seen the first act of a great play.
But will those same fans love their Gators in January?
This seemed to be more than just a chance to ogle the 2009 Gators and catch a glimpse of Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes. They wanted a piece of greatness in the making. Indeed there was a scent of historical significance in the air and even the players talked about it.
“It” was what brought Tebow and Spikes back and influenced Riley Cooper not to take the baseball money and run (although he has signed and will still get the money).
“It” is a chance to go all the way to that moon up in the sky, where no Florida team has been, with a third national title in four seasons to post the most productive five-season stretch Gator fans are likely to ever witness.
If Meyer’s team wins 11 games this season, it would eclipse the five-year mark of Steve Spurrier’s club, which posted 54 wins from 1992 to 1996.
While we must be careful not to extrapolate too much from a two-hour workout, as if learning of one’s fate through the reading of tea leaves, there is clearly a mandate among these players and you can see it in just the way they take the field. In this case, very, very early. And very rapidly.
You won’t catch them talking about back-to-back national championships, even though that is the obvious agenda. They don’t want to jinx it, much like the superstition when nobody in the dugout talks about a no-hitter in progress.
“Best in the SEC, best in the SEC,” barked defensive line coach Dan McCarney. He’s got the dialogue down.
Nobody’s timid about wishing for the unstated goal of an undefeated season. When asked, Tebow talked about it again Thursday, reminding everybody that it would be the first in school history, but carefully pointing out that “We’re not writing it down anywhere, but …”
Which is kinda funny, because an unbeaten season and national championship pretty much go hand in hand. But we’ll give Tim a pass on that one and just say he was locked in on The Vision.
We’ve experienced The Promise, The Drive and The Apology, so why not The Vision?
Rightly or wrongly, these Gators and their coaches believe they can see all the way to the Promised Land.
I wouldn’t bet against them, but let’s just wait a few weeks before we give them the title.