The Front Row

A Winner!!!!!!!!!!!!! What did meatchicken get with Jabba the Hoke that's right a wiener!!!!!!!!!! Go

I want to know what are we getting with Urban Meyer? Studrawa (LSU) Off. Coor. from Fostoria, Ohio??? Chuck Heater (Tiffin, Ohio native) past Meyer assistant??? Fickell, Vrabel, who will be the assistants???

I want to know what are we getting with Urban Meyer? Studrawa (LSU) Off. Coor. from Fostoria, Ohio??? Chuck Heater (Tiffin, Ohio native) past Meyer assistant??? Fickell, Vrabel, who will be the assistants???

Mmm..some will disagree undoubtedly..but he sounds a helluva lot like Tress to me. Which is a good thing.

Gene Smith is a tool. Shut the Foxtrot Up.

As longs as there's no talk about "dreams" and "God" concerning recruits, etc., I'm all in. Seriously.

Wow - great to hear comments like that from someone who knows him well and has no reason to sugarcoat things. Makes me feel better than any article I have seen on Coach Meyer.

Incredible press conference. He hit home runs!! He batted a thousand!! Why am I using baseball metaphors? i don't know, except i haven't been this excited since I got my Lionel train set 67 years ago.

Good heavens, no...we certainly can't mention "God," can we? Oooops...I said "heaven." Is that forbidden also?

Some of you guys baffle me.

Gainesville isn't like some college towns where a kid gets dumped on the front step of his coordinator's house at 3 a.m. if there is a problem. There is and has been an ongoing discussion in Gainesville where folks have asked if the GPD doesn't unnecessarily target UF athletes any time there is an altercation in the downtown entertainment district. From my experience as a Gainesville native, I would say there is something to it.

Most of the arrests were of a very minor nature and were dismissed before they ever got to court, not because of special favors but because the charges weren't legit.

Now, there were some that were ... Ronnie Wilson comes to mind ... taking an automatic weapon out of the trunk of his car and firing it in the air. No way to justify that one.

The one thing to remember is kids will be kids. I don't think anything happened in Gainesville that doesn't happen with athletes in every college town, just that it probably got publicized more in Gainesville because of a very aggressive media that checks the arrest reports first thing every morning.

One thing to know about Urban, however ... there are severe consequences for kids who screw up. The dreaded 5 a.m. with Mickey Marotti ... there are stories about buckets of puke that I won't go into detail about. But nobody got off scot-free for embarrassing themselves, the school, the football program and their parents.

You won't be unhappy with the way Urban does things.

Now ... let me tell you about a success story.

Everybody heard about Chris Rainey texting a girl and making a threat. It was the only time Chris ever got in trouble at Florida. The ONLY time. The national media scorched Urban for letting him back on the team. Most of them said Chris should have been kicked out of school.

Urban was devastated ... literally. Chris is like a family member and the Meyers are pretty much the only real family Chris has ever had. Chris paid a huge price for his mistake and missed five games last year. Urban was soundly criticized but knew that this kid NEEDED football and NEEDED the University of Florida.

Well, Chris had a super senior year. He played hurt all year but led Florida in rushing and receiving and finishes his career the #4 player in school history in all-purpose yards. Saturday against FSU he passed Percy Harvin, Neal Anderson and Fred Taylor. That's tall company. He was a team captain this year and a true team leader. In three weeks he will walk across the stage of the O'Connell Center with a college degree.

As Urban told me about six weeks ago for a magazine article I was writing, "This is a real college football success story. The system worked for this kid and I'm so proud of Chris."

Trust me ... at Ohio State there will be a Chris Rainey-type who will screw up. Someday you guys will thank Urban Meyer for giving that kid a chance to become a real life success story.