Ramblings from Urban the Great

Urban Meyer recently spoke to the Capital Gator Club in Tallahassee. Thanks to the Orlando Sentinel, we have some of Mr. Meyer's talking points.


**Percy Harvin is off crutches and is wearing a boot to protect the heel that underwent surgery earlier in the spring. Meyer said Harvin is lifting weights three days per week but is not yet ready to start running. He remains on schedule to be ready in time for two-a-days.

**Other injury items -- Backup QB John Brantley's broken hand continues to heal and needs at least another week before he can rejoin his teammates in full conditioning. G Maurice Hurt has received medical clearance to play after dealing with severe stingers in his neck and shoulders over the last year. LB Brendan Beal's surgically-repaired shoulder is improving, as is LB A.J. Jones' injured wrist.

**DT Torrey Davis, who missed a chunk of spring practice to receive extra academic help, needs to pass two classes this summer to be eligible in the fall. Meyer said he expected Davis to do so, and that the rest of his roster looks fine to be eligible.

**DT Omar Hunter, LB T.J. Pridemore and OL Sam Robey enrolled to start Summer A on Monday, Meyer said. Pridemore could have shown up in January, but UF's scholarship numbers left the team without room. Pridemore, Hunter's high school teammate, will play both offense and defense during August's two-a-days. Robey, meanwhile, is paying his own way through the first summer session and participating in early workouts.

**Meyer gave the audience an audio tour of the new football facility set to open in mid-July. The centerpiece of the ground floor lobby will be a 16-foot bronze Gator, he said, which will include some sort of tribute to the 2006 national championship team. The lobby will also feature black granite bricks with the name of every first-team All-American. Fans can then walk up a large staircase and find three sections at the top -- the two crystal ball national championship trophies, a case with all the national individual awards Gators have on, and a case with all the Southeastern Conference championship trophies. "I promise you you'll be taken aback," Meyer said. "It's unbelievable. It's spectacular."

**Meyer again spoke about his mid-February, Nike-sponsored trip to Mexico, which he credits for reinvigorating his coaching career. He said he stayed positive from the bowl game until Signing Day, but that the time between the end of recruiting and the trip ranked among the longest of his career. "The human element took me over, and I was awful at my job," Meyer said. "Two weeks after recruiting was done, and I had to swallow what happened in the Capital One Bowl in the fourth quarter. I was a mess."

**Save Davis, academics are strong all the way around. The Gators posted a 2.86 grade point average for the spring, highest in program history, according to UF's sports information department. Meyer said G Jim Tartt and TE Cornelius Ingram, players who didn't believe they could finish school when the coach arrived, each sit two classes from graduation.

**To wrap up his speech, Meyer reflected on coaching Heisman Trophy-winning QB Tim Tebow, whom Meyer has called one of the great players of this era. "Every morning, I say thanks for giving me the opportunity to coach that kid," he said. "Don't ask me when you're going to get another Tebow. I've been doing this 25 years, and I don't know that. I can't answer that question."

Perhaps the most important of these issues is Percy Harvin's injury. I'm glad to see everything is healing as it should be.