In spite of the heat, it was a fun time at the Women's Clinic this year.
I was one of the early birds; I got to Reitz Union just before 8 am after checking out of the hotel. Was greeted by Chuck Heater and had a chance to chat with Kenny Carter (RB coach) before I went inside the Grand Ballroom for the events to start. He had told me that Kestahn Moore was waived by the Broncos, but other teams were possibly interested in picking him up.
Coach Meyer was on limited time that day; I did get a picture taken with him and he spoke briefly in the beginning; Shelley was in Atlanta with the kids at a volleyball tournament and he would later join them. (I did wish him happy Father's Day, though!) He was around briefly in the afternoon, but then left to meet up with his family, and that's OK - they come first.
Charlie Strong was the emcee once again this year, and he had introduced the coaches. Later, Victoria Strong introduced the coaches' wives and opened up a Q&A session. Three of our players (Johnny Brantley, Lorenzo Edwards and Matt Patchan) later came on stage for Q&A - Edwards was talked into removing his shirt to the delight of the crowd, and a memorable line was spoken by Patchan: "Go to class, and they'll get off your ass" when responding to a question about the player's majors and academics. Chris Rainey decided to mosey in later; he also offered a "strip-tease" and answered some questions as well as posed for photos as the other three had done. The coaches also raised some spirit around the room and threw in a little smack talk - 95% directed toward the Rocky Toppers.
Offensive strategy was explained; Scot Loeffler (QB coach) and his fiancee demonstrated a QB snap, the defensive "Joker" lineups were drawn out and shown in execution, and there was also a special teams drill discussed.
Raffles were held throughout the morning program; as much as buying a ticket was tempting I decided to opt out of buying one, as I never seem to win those things anyway.
The afternoon session brought us into The Swamp for lunch and a tour of the facilities - the Heavener football complex, the football offices (we caught a glimpse of Coach Meyer in his office working), the weight room, and the locker room. We later went onto the field for drills; we took breaks at intervals with the heat that day. The program ended with a run out of the tunnel and final cheers; I also chatted once again with Coach Carter, Coach Addazio, and Terry Jackson (I let him know that in spite of all the bad press we still have a great bunch of kids, and that they're growing up.)
I got back to Orlando @6:00 or so, my muscles hurting like hell. In spite of that, it was a fun time - I'm now looking forward to possibly going up for 2-a-days on a weekend and my next R&R before the start of the season.
(One more thing I wanted to add: I'm still impressed with how personable our coaching staff is and how fan-friendly they are; Coach Meyer definitely has a top-notch staff in place, and both he and Shelley are awesome people - we couldn't ask for better folks to represent UF football as a "first family"!)
GO GATORS!!!!!!! :gator::gator::gator:
