At this point, mid-May and by now having seen Billy reorganize his staff to such a degree, to have witnessed such drastic moves in recruiting and the transfer portal--to even find us now once again actually somehow chasing Cormani (or perhaps more accurately, "to find Cormani and family chasing US now"), to feel the very real change in attitude among EVERYONE CLOSE to the team and program, a kind of "sneaky confidence"--a "waiting in the weeds, gonna POUNCE!" kind of positivity (where even the former dark foreboding that the schedule once brought now appears to have shifted to a kind of difident "This is why we CAME to Florida!" attitude among players AND fans).
I cannot point to any single "turning point", though I could certainly identify a number of "slowly mounting changes" building, accumulating momentum day-by-day, week-by-week, even now.
For SURE it has been keyed and led by Billy himself--his moves and general attitude:
The "WIN or ELSE" situation appears to have freed him somehow...We ALL seem to accept that it all really DOES now simply come down to THAT.
And for Coach and players, anyway, that DOES seem to simplify everything , eliminate a lot of the BS.
If anything, "expectations" are cut down to size, "realistic" rather than "overblown" this time.
Now, this could change in the course of the season, but as things stand well in advance of Game One (against Miami: fair or not, an opening match-up I cannot recall similarly rivaled in importance as an indicator of future success in DECADES), it would seem that if we win that opener then go on to eke out a winning season Coach ought to keep his job and at least get a season or two with DJ Lagway under center...In fact, many would secretly grant that an "8-and-4" season against this, supposedly "the toughest schedule in CFB in 2024", SHOULD buy our Coach a couple more seasons here., anyway. But given the topsy turvy changeability in today's ongoing "slippery underfooting" in college football, who can really say?
Sort of "cleans up the board", doesn't it?
Win say EIGHT, and he (and all of US) get another season or two "to SEE what we really can DO"!
DROP BELOW .500 again and it's over for Billy--and probably for a generation while everything that will need to be changed IS changed and the UF program is completely rebuilt.
For Billy, though, HE finally has most of the people he wants around him now, on the field AND on the sidelines (though still a season or two from having them all fully functioning TOGETHER), do if he can just BEGIN to get them to begin to become what he envisions them to BE now, win enough to keep his job another season AND then truly begin to unveil what he plans for them to BE in years ahead...
Well, that's "The Plan".
A close-run thing, obviously:
A few things go his way, and it's all there ahead, waiting for him, for them...for US.
A few things go the other way (a missed tackle, a thrown shoe), and opportunity, GLORY passes us by like a ghost in the night: Coach is gone and we spend another decade-PLUS in the wilderness.
I sure hope we all get to experience the FORMER, obviously.
I cannot point to any single "turning point", though I could certainly identify a number of "slowly mounting changes" building, accumulating momentum day-by-day, week-by-week, even now.
For SURE it has been keyed and led by Billy himself--his moves and general attitude:
The "WIN or ELSE" situation appears to have freed him somehow...We ALL seem to accept that it all really DOES now simply come down to THAT.
And for Coach and players, anyway, that DOES seem to simplify everything , eliminate a lot of the BS.
If anything, "expectations" are cut down to size, "realistic" rather than "overblown" this time.
Now, this could change in the course of the season, but as things stand well in advance of Game One (against Miami: fair or not, an opening match-up I cannot recall similarly rivaled in importance as an indicator of future success in DECADES), it would seem that if we win that opener then go on to eke out a winning season Coach ought to keep his job and at least get a season or two with DJ Lagway under center...In fact, many would secretly grant that an "8-and-4" season against this, supposedly "the toughest schedule in CFB in 2024", SHOULD buy our Coach a couple more seasons here., anyway. But given the topsy turvy changeability in today's ongoing "slippery underfooting" in college football, who can really say?
Sort of "cleans up the board", doesn't it?
Win say EIGHT, and he (and all of US) get another season or two "to SEE what we really can DO"!
DROP BELOW .500 again and it's over for Billy--and probably for a generation while everything that will need to be changed IS changed and the UF program is completely rebuilt.
For Billy, though, HE finally has most of the people he wants around him now, on the field AND on the sidelines (though still a season or two from having them all fully functioning TOGETHER), do if he can just BEGIN to get them to begin to become what he envisions them to BE now, win enough to keep his job another season AND then truly begin to unveil what he plans for them to BE in years ahead...
Well, that's "The Plan".
A close-run thing, obviously:
A few things go his way, and it's all there ahead, waiting for him, for them...for US.
A few things go the other way (a missed tackle, a thrown shoe), and opportunity, GLORY passes us by like a ghost in the night: Coach is gone and we spend another decade-PLUS in the wilderness.
I sure hope we all get to experience the FORMER, obviously.
