FORT LAUDERDALE — They called him “Spikes,” but perhaps certain people should refer to him as “Mr. Spikes.”
At the very least, Knowshon Moreno should afford Brandon the courtesy of a “Mister.”
The way Spikes hammered the Georgia running back on the second play of the game set the tone for what would be a Bulldog butt-whipping. From that play on, the game changed. Message sent. Game, set, match.
As starting cornerback Joe Haden says, “As Spikes goes, so goes our defense.” Both have gone pretty well for the past eight games.
Now the task ahead is to slow down the Oklahoma twister disguised as the Sooner offense and prove to the world that the wrong guy got the Heisman Trophy.
Sam Bradford, meet Brandon Spikes. And if you haven’t, you will.
Spikes respects the OU quarterback and knows he’ll get his fair share of completions. The main goal is to keep Bradford setting his feet every pass play and getting into a steady rhythm. But he also thinks Bradford has his work cut out.
“We’ve got a dynamic pass rush, so I’m pretty sure we’ll get to him a few times,” said Spikes.
If they sack Bradford more than once, however, they’ll double the average, because he’s only been dropped 11 times all season. So bringing pressure against a formidable offensive line and taking away Bradford’s third and fourth receivers in his progression is the goal.
Spikes knows his unit can be the difference maker in the national championship game.
“It’s going to come down to whose defense is the best and I think we can do it,” he said.
Florida hasn’t played a quarterback with the talent of Bradford this season. On the other hand, Bradford hasn’t faced a defense like the one motored by Spikes.
More than anybody else, No. 51 is the reason the Gators own the No. 5 scoring defense in the country the No. 9 defense overall. The man called “Spikes” is called to arms again.
Though Spikes hasn’t achieved the one-name status of a Bono or a Cher or Prince, when they talk about “Spikes” around the Florida Gator football team, there’s no doubt who they mean.
“Spikes” as in Brandon, the man who roams the middle like a hungry lion looking for something to devour. He doesn’t just want to make a play. He wants to make a BIG play and send a message along with it to running backs and receivers: You are not welcome here!
“Spikes,” with the athleticism of a running back and the power of a defensive end, who can crush a running back on one play (Moreno) and make a one-handed stab for an interception and a touchdown in another game (LSU).
“Spikes,” the heart and soul of perhaps the most underrated defense in college football.
Urban Meyer knew his middle linebacker was his Moses, but had to convince Spikes he was the person to deliver his team to the Promised Land.
On a spring day in 2008, Meyer and Spikes sat in the stadium for more than an hour after practice while the Florida coach convinced Brandon he was The Chosen One of the defense. It is said that when it was over, Spikes had tears in his eyes.
“He made me feel like it was all on me,” Spikes said, having welcomed the challenge. “The pressure of our conversation kind of touched me. I think I stepped up and started talking to the younger guys.”
That was the day Spikes grew up, because until then he never really realized the power of his ability to lead.
“It kind of shocked me, because at the time I didn’t know he expected so much of me,” said Spikes. “I guess he kind of knows my leadership skills — guys kind of follow me as far as on the field, off the field — the way I approach the game with a passion, intensity and energy. He kind of felt like I was, I guess, the core of the defense. And guys just feed off of me.”
Spikes somewhat reluctantly accepted the role as a leader, because as a sophomore he had felt “it wasn’t my time.”
Meyer told him: Lead and they will follow you.
Meyer was right. They did.
As Spikes played, so did Jermaine Cunningham and Carlos Dunlap and Joe Haden and Ahmad Black and Janoris Jenkins and the rest — well, you get it.
It has come down to people like Haden realizing that if he wasn’t as committed as No. 51, he wasn’t worthy to be his teammate. “If I can’t have the same passion that Spikes has for the game, then I don’t belong on the field with him,” said Haden.
What Tim Tebow was to the offense, Spikes became to the defense.
When things didn’t go well early in the 2008 season, Tebow took the hit for the team and, in a tearful admission after the loss to Ole Miss, the Florida quarterback promised things would be different from then on.
And they were.
Spikes sometimes refers to Tebow as “prophet.” He said of Tebow: “He made a statement after the Ole Miss game and he said, ‘we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that.’ And we did it.”
The next week Spikes followed suit.
He owned up to his complicity after a mediocre performance against Arkansas, apologized, called the defense together for meetings without the coaches and rallied them to a championship level.
This all began after the Gators had almost sleep-walked through the Arkansas game — Spikes literally almost couldn’t get out bed in Fayetteville that day — as the junior linebacker from Shelby, N. C. acknowledged his part in the lethargic performance.
That morning when Charlie Strong came into the room to wake up Spikes and roommate Ryan Stamper, he could sense Brandon wasn’t ready and told him, “Spikes, get up and get moving around.” It was one of those dreaded 12:30 p.m. kickoffs.
“He was moving around all slow,” Strong recalled. “Even before that game, I said, ‘You’re not you’re not going to good today — you’re NOT going to play good today. You’ve got to get going and get moving.”
And he didn’t.
So literally, Spikes got the proverbial wakeup call for the second time.
“I didn’t really prepare the way should have, being the starting middle linebacker,” said Spikes. “We won the game against Arkansas, but as far as taking things for granted — we stopped doing all that.”
That’s when Florida’s defense came together.
“I started having little meetings without the coaching staff,” said Spikes. “Just having guys come in and do extra things. That’s what it was going to take — all the smaller things. Let guys know that if football is your life you can sacrifice some things. And I think we did that.”
In those regular defensive get-togethers, sometimes they watched film, sometimes they had a pizza party. It really didn’t matter what reason was given. “Just get guys around each other. The chemistry of the defense kind came together after that. We kind of molded together as a defense,” he said.
At the same time, with Tebow leading the offense and Spikes the defense, the units were forged into a stronger team. They rooted for each other.
Tebow and Spikes have been friends since they were going through recruiting. When they were introduced in Tuscaloosa by Mike Shula, they made a promise to attend the same school.
As far as Spikes is concerned, Tebow should also have a second Heisman. The night after the Heisman announcement that Tebow was beaten out by Sam Bradford, Spikes was among those texting his quarterback with promises they would extract a measure of redemption for him in the BCS title game.
“Me and Tim had a talk already about this,” Spikes said. “I feel like he’s my Heisman. He’s an incredible guy. I call him ‘Superman’ all the time. Sometimes when I watch him on the field he just does things, I feel like, ‘how did he do it?’
“T’s a humble guy and he really didn’t care about it (the Heisman) — he’s all about winning. All that other stuff, if he gets it, or not whatever. I think he wanted to win the Heisman. But in our eyes, our vote, The Gator Nation, he’s the Heisman Trophy winner. “
Tebow got the vote that really counted. Now Spikes faces another challenge in what will surely be his final game as a collegian.
And here they are, Tebow and Spikes, poised to win a second national championship in three seasons. Mister Spikes has a little score to settle for his friend, “The Prophet.” Make that a BIG score. And you can bet this time that Brandon Spikes — make that “Mister” — will be wide awake come next Thursday morning for his introduction to the guy who stole Tim Tebow’s trophy.