Yeah--and I'm sick to DEATH of this kinda thing. Especially Callway's involvement:
He's had ample warnings and multiple "2nd chances" and lessons supposedly learned...After the pot bust and consequences, he SWORE he was ready to step up, become the leader onfield and in the locker room that he has the talent and personality to potentially be--only among the 7 (mostly younger) players involved here, background team-sources report the rest were more or less following his lead on this sleazy little scam to pick up a few measly extra dollars.
Each year it seems something, dumbass mistakes that screw the whole team and damage our season early and often (Grier, etc)...Sure, right, "They're just kids...", but not all "kids" are so consistently, repeatedly selfish, stupid, short-sighted and/or greedy in the face of their own best-interests, or more importantly, the trust and needs of the young men around them.
I could go on, but what's the use?
This season's opener, our recent history and the way everything sets up from the Michigan game forward, all made our tough schedule and the "little respect and low expectations" for us out there something that left a crack of "us-vs-them", shock-the-world opening and motivation that MIGHT have been the means by which we busted out, hit the ground running and just gathered momentum from there.
Instead, all implications and resulting shackled potentials considered, a "shot" at all-of-the-above and more, right out of the gate, is now instead reduced to a "longshot" at best--plenty of excuses and finger-pointing in the aftermath if/when we lose on a national stage, confirming everyone ELSE'S general opinion of us: "Woulda/shoulda/coulda" once more.
Like I say, I am just completely SICK of selfishness and weakness of personality SELF-defeating us, rather than lack of talent. It is again clear that these "kids" have an over-inflated view of "talent" alone, what it can do, from the start--not to mention a somehow UNDERappreciating their responsibilities to and need OF each other. It is THE TEAM, interlocking parts stepping up, stepping in, and looking out for each other, always aware of everything that entails, that ultimately achieves.
If there's one thing we've witnessed here at UF over the years, it is that LEADERS, whether on the field, the sidelines or in the locker room, that make the real difference.
It wasn't just his skill that made TT so great; It was the way he accepted responsibility, somehow always took the whole team on his big shoulders when the chips were down. He wouldn't let his teammates, his TEAM down--and so no one around him could stand the idea that they not at least TRY to do the same, give any less of themselves than he was always so clearly ready to do for and WITH them.
OK: We'll not see the like of #15 again, certainly not anytime soon. I bring him up here as shining evidence of the point I am stressing in my disappointment this latest version of what's been a chronic problem early and often each season of late:
Somehow, the point has to be repeatedly stressed among our guys: "You are responsible to yourselves and EACH OTHER! Be the best PERSON you can be, demand it of yourselves and your teammates--THAT is the path to the very "success", personal AND as a team, that you came to UF for in the first place!"
Easier said than done, obviously--but this has become such a regular pattern of disappointing behavior and consequences that either we see the cycle fully broken, or it will become truly entrenched, if it hasn't already. And if it does, or already IS, well, then we'll truly be one one of those "sick programs" of promising annual "near-miss", "close, but no cigar" unrealized potential. I do not want us to BE another of those "collection of talented losers"--and I fear that is where we are headed.