Tony Gay will take the stage at the O'Connell Center on Monday night to open for Lil' Wayne and Fabolous, but he once hoped to perform under the lights at The Swamp instead.
Multiple failed drug tests dashed that dream as Gay, whose stage moniker is Dred Gator, left the UF football team prior to last season's national championship run.
"I'm just keeping a cool head ever since I left playing ball," Gay said. "I miss it, I can't lie. I miss it - a lot."
Gay walked onto Urban Meyer's team in spring 2005 and took a position on the scout team in practice, but he was ineligible to play in games due to academic problems.
Even if he would have raised his grades, another aspect of Gay's life kept him out of Meyer's good graces.
Gay, like several other Gators football players, smoked marijuana recreationally while on the team.
He estimated that his name came up on random drug test lists more than 40 times in a little over a year.
He tested positive on four occasions.
But Gay persevered and fought his way up the running back depth chart in spring 2006.
When the regular season came around last summer, however, Gay vanished off the roster.
His final test came on the next to last day of Summer A in 2006, a day before he planned to travel home to Orlando for a break.
Gay failed it and faced an immediate and lengthy suspension.
The day after the test, Gay said his position coach on the team, running backs' coach Stan Drayton, called him up and relayed the news.
"He said 'I don't know how the big guy (Meyer) is going to take this one,'" Gay said. "We never really tried (to play) again. It kind of ended with a question mark."
Gay gave up on football and school and started his music career, one that he fostered in his final months on the team as he pondered his future.
The transition went smoothly.
He grew up idolizing LL Cool J and performing in front of day-care-center crowds.
Now, two nights after the football team suffered a crushing blow in a loss to Auburn at The Swamp, Gay hopes to take advantage of his biggest opportunity yet across the street.
"Day in and day out that's all he's been doing is in the studio, writing, constantly writing and constantly recording," said Gay's mother, Melanice Copeland. "It's his biggest shot, and he's really working hard for a good performance."
