The campus maps are the giveaway.
You might as well put a giant sign on your face that screams "freshman." And football players are no exception.
Yes, even the biggest and strongest athletes of Gainesville need to bust out their maps to find out where they need to hustle off to in the next five minutes.
"When I first came here and I think there's like 45,000 people on campus walking around," freshman linebacker Brendan Beal said. "I was so lost."
Now a sophomore, Duke Lemmens remembers when he arrived in Gainesville and couldn't find the way to The Swamp from his Springs dorm and was late for one of his first team meetings.
Freshman kicker Caleb Sturgis said he takes out his map "big time."
At least they aren't hungry and lost.
Most football freshies are put on what's called the Breakfast and Dinner Clubs, where they essentially get to stuff their faces. Some of the small cornerbacks and running backs pile on weight so they don't get manhandled against the bigger Southeastern Conference competition.
"All freshmen are on the breakfast club," linebacker Lerentee McCray said. "They're real serious about it. If you don't make it, that whole breakfast club got to pay for it in practice."
In other words, eat up.
"They are feeding us a lot just because our practices are so intense," corner Jeremy Brown said. "Breakfast club - that helps us all out a lot."
For some, the club needs to have a reverse effect. Massive defensive tackle Omar Hunter is still trying to drop 10 more pounds. Sophomore running back Chris Rainey just smiled and laughed when he was asked if he would like to gain eight pounds in a week like Hunter.
"You'd be surprised, I don't eat that much," Hunter said.
Forget the food and campus maps for a second, though. This new group of Gators isn't messing around. Coach Urban Meyer has praised Brown and fellow corner Janoris Jenkins for their work ethic, and Meyer was salivating at the thought of getting Hunter on his line last year.
When the freshmen got together for an initial meeting at Meyer's house, there wasn't any messing around.
"We are trying to be the best class to ever come here," defensive end Earl Okine said.
But of course, there was still food.
Urban's wife, Shelley, doesn't mess around when it comes to feeding her husband's boys.
"A lot," Brown said when asked how much food there was.
