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Meyer: Talented Gators Must Focus

WFLA photo by Paul Lamison

Urban Meyer speaks to reporters Thursday at the Tampa Marriott Waterside.

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By MICK ELLIOTT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 18, 2008

TAMPA - Urban Meyer was doing what football coaches would just as soon not do, that being pretty much anything sans players and a playbook.

He was at the Tampa Marriott Waterside early Thursday meeting and greeting, the first to be grilled during a two-day media gathering of the state's college football coaches. Less than 12 hours earlier, Boss Gator had been in Los Angeles for the ESPY Awards, where star quarterback Tim Tebow was honored as Best Male College Athlete. A red-eye flight to Tampa delivered him to the hotel at 7:30 a.m., with just enough time to shower and pull on a crisp white shirt and orange tie before keeping the day's first appointment.

With television and print interviews completed, the bleary-eyed Meyer's final appointment of the morning was to perform a series of promotional ads for Sun Sports, his school's longtime regional broadcast partner and new marketing arm.

After each of his lines had been flawlessly delivered, Meyer's last task was to perform a video segment that will accompany his just-completed voiceovers. To do this he stood behind a black curtain with two arm holes that allowed cameras to film only his hands.

First a director asked Meyer to cup his hands. Next, make a fist. Clasp them together, fingers interlocking. A handshake.

"OK, now give me a No. 1," the director urged.

"Not going to do that," Meyer answered flatly. Instead, he waggled a single finger in the director's direction as would the parent of a misbehaving child.

The Florida Gators can be good this season. Maybe even very, very good. Just don't expect Urban Meyer to be the one to say it.

"Our players have to focus," Meyer said earlier in the day. "Some teams wake up and don't have the personnel to compete. We have the talent. But our players have got to be focused.

"I'm looking forward to a great team."

Preseason polls tend to agree, the consensus saying Florida should contend for another SEC title and possibly climb into the national title hunt.

Certainly there is strong reason to expect improvement from last year's 9-4 edition that finished defensively challenged and victim to a humbling loss to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl.

Eight starters on both offense and defense return. There will be significantly more depth on both sides of the ball.

Even with Tebow, the junior quarterback with a science fiction resume, to build around, Meyer seems most giddy about the promise of a take-charge offensive line. Three starters, led by fifth-year senior Phil Trautwein (6-foot-6, 301 pounds), are back from a group that powered the SEC's third-ranked rushing attack last year, while ranking fifth in the nation for fewest sacks allowed.

"If you look across the board, when your offensive line is really the best part of your offense, that is a pretty good indication," he said. "We'll be a very physical offense. This is the best offensive line we've had since our staff has been here."

This will be Meyer's fourth season at Florida. He won the national championship two years ago. He is 31-8 as Gators coach. But this is the season he has been working and planning for since he arrived in Gainesville.

"When we won the national championship, I made the comment we were not a great program," Meyer said. "We were a great team that night. But when you lose players, great programs just kind of put some other sophomores and juniors right in there. We didn't have that."

It will be some five months before Meyer and the rest of college football determine if forward progress has been made, but there is no doubting he can hardly wait to begin the research.

Earlier this month, inspired by Tebow tales of world missionary work, Meyer took his whole family to the Dominican Republic to perform a week of humanitarian aid. The experience was humbling, inspiring and educational.

But could Meyer say he was too distracted to think about football?

"No," he said. "That's just part of the deal. I always try to get away a little bit, but I'm always thinking football and taking notes. Our players deserve that, because I know they are thinking football. I can't wait to get back and have a staff meeting."

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534 or melliott@tampatrib.com.

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