Welcome to Year 1, A.T.
Many of you arriving at UF this year are no doubt lamenting the timing that caused you to miss watching the Tim Tebow-led Gators by one season, but there’s plenty to look forward to in 2010.
When I showed up on campus in 2006, it was for the start of Tebow’s reign. And thanks to four years of dedicated procrastination, I’ll get to see some of the post-Tebow era as well.
This year’s team is mostly a blank slate, and its development during the season should be fascinating to watch.
New stars and leaders will emerge (well, they better, because if they don’t, the Gators are headed to the Capital One Bowl or worse).
And with Tebow gone, the dawn of a new age of Gators football is upon us.
Two words have been closely associated with UF in the past four years: “Tebow” and “winning.”
The Chosen One boosted his program’s profile and was the unquestioned face of the school during his time in Gainesville, and a new identity will be emerging soon.
Changes are in store as far as this team’s marketability goes, but there’s no reason to think the wins will disappear. Urban Meyer’s recruiting wizardry has kept a stockpile of talent on hand, and there should be plenty of motivation for these players to step out of the shadows of their predecessors.
John Brantley will try to carve his niche in the pantheon of UF quarterbacks, and a stable of running backs figures to get a heavier workload now that Tebow isn’t the first option on the ground.
Meyer has something to prove, too.
It’s time to find out who was really running the show these last few years.
When Meyer “retired,” remember all those “He just doesn’t want to coach without Timmy around” jokes?
The easiest way to quash those rumblings is for Meyer to keep winning, and if he does, maybe it means we were watching the “Urban Era” all along and Tebow’s role was overhyped.
Or maybe we’re entering the Age of Arrests, where players getting locked up (two so far this year!) will make UF the new Thug U without a Bible-verse-toting face hiding the ugly side of things.
And maybe the whole concept of what era we’re witnessing is just a concept conjured up by a bored columnist.
But one thing is for sure: when you walk out of here in four or five years, the football program will look completely different than it did before you arrived.
That transition starts now. What lies ahead is unknown, and while it doesn’t carry the guaranteed wins of the recent past, it should be plenty entertaining.
