When Xavier Nixon came sprinting out of the tunnel waving an American flag, a powerful sense of pride was added to the normal pregame intensity.
As he looked up into the stands, Nixon saw his mother, a member of the Army, and felt a few tears start to well up.
Nixon and seven teammates with a connection to the armed forces were given the honor of carrying a flag onto the field Saturday as Florida readied to take on UAB.
For Nixon, who grew up on Fort Bragg, 9/11 represented a monumental change in his life. It led to both of his parents — his father also served in the Army — being deployed while he was still in elementary school.
Although he was forced to grow up faster than he may have wanted to, Nixon never felt anything but gratification toward his parents.
“It was a great sense of pride for me,” he said. “I saw my mom’s face and it almost brought tears to my eyes because I’m very proud of my parents for what they do.”
Nixon’s story is just one of many among the Florida team.
For Charlie Weis, who was the impetus of the tribute, 9/11 was a day he lost a number of friends. He wore an FBI hat on the sidelines throughout the night.
For walk-on sophomore fullback Jesse Schmitt, it was an opportunity to honor fellow members of the armed forces. Upon his graduation from UF, Schmitt will be commissioned as a second lieutenant. With Florida up 39-0 late in the fourth quarter, Schmitt took the first — and likely last — carry of his career up the middle for no gain.
And for Dominique Easley, Jeremy Brown, Lerentee McCray, Matt Elam, Loucheiz Purifoy and Jabari Gorman, the six others who carried flags on Saturday, the tribute held its own meaning.
“I’m proud of all of those people,” coach Will Muschamp said. “9/11 affected us all in different ways and certainly was a very irrational occurrence that happened. It was very difficult to deal with, so we wanted to pay our respect to those people.”
The Gators also held special 9/11 tributes for local first responders before the game, honoring a number of them on the field with a special playing of “God Bless America.”
This led to the crowd bursting out in chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A.”
Those same chants returned at halftime, when the UF band performed a modified version of its normal show, complete with silver stars and an oversized American flag.
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
Gators offensive lineman Xavier Nixon, whose parents both have military backgrounds, was one of eight players to carry a flag on Saturday.
