First off I want to start by saying I love my university and I love my team. I would never in a million years quit on my brothers simply because I was not starting. For people to fully understand my process of thinking and how I was feeling when I made the decision to confront coach Muschamp about my role as a player for the team, I’ll have to take you through my college career and upbringing.
When coach first arrived in Gainesville, I was already there. I had already committed myself and my body to the University of Florida. I left high school with a broken leg and an unseen future as a football player. My ankle wasn’t healed yet and I had not developed the strength in my leg that I needed to sustain a consistent level of production. But in the spring of 2010, I was put out on the field to play just months after I was told that my primary objective was rehabbing my ankle and taking a medical redshirt. Instead of taking the time to heal, I was fully padded going against an All-American and a future Pro Bowler. Back then, I said nothing. I did not complain because in the back of my mind I truly wanted to know if I was able to play Division I football. Did I really make the right decision leaving my family, my single mother, my three sisters and my daughter?
More here -
http://forum.gatorsports.com/topic/31939-leon-orr-letter/#entry736340
First, Thanks Dale for bringing this to us...I think it is important--for a lot of reasons.
There's so much here it will take some time for me to reread and fully digest what Leon has put out there, in toto.
That's because along with important personal details that go a long way towards explaining what happened in this instance, I believe he places front and center some very real and important issues that are always at work behind-the-scenes, and at the same time are particularly relevant to THIS team, its state of mind/body under this Coach and his staff.
First, I do better see what happened, and how it happened--and feel less inclined towards disappointment and/or negative judgment in Leon's specific actions. He clearly both sees and acknowledges his own "gut level, irrational" mistake in just up and leaving, AND at the same time gives a clearer, in-depth explanation and background on what preceded it and how things went as far as they did. He is a bright, articulate young man, obviously, passionate and I believe like all of us a Gator thru-and-thru. Maybe it sounds like "whining" to some, but he DID let it all go by quietly for a long time, it seems, and wouldn't have said any of this, we wouldn't have known or even THOUGHT about it, had it not all come to a head this way. I may not think his actions served himself OR his team well (he'd agree, sounds like), but since it happened, I am sure glad to get his version, in all its gut-wrenching honesty.
But more than that, we're seeing here a particular Coach's promise's and expectations, along with the "business" of college football, and a not atypical example of a talented, driven young athlete's getting lost in a mixture of its cold realities and his own commitment to both its demands and hoped-for rewards.
Why is this bigger, even more important an issue than just one young man's behavior, life and career? Well, consider our history with injuries of late. It sure has seemed that a snowball that began rolling downhill, growing larger and larger since the later part of the Urban Meyer regime, has come to be a major determinant of our fate as a team. Last year was especially bad, but though it has not been as widespread this season, it's hit some key people at key times. It has seemed like "bad luck"..."What else could it be?" has been the obvious response to inevitable questions and theories, but most of us surely have wondered at it darkly. I don't have any specific answers here, and again, we're all aware of the cold realities of college football, playing with pain and the expectation/knowledge that if you're not willing to "play hurt", suck it up and go on unless practically FORBIDDEN by doctors to do so, there is always someone else, ready willing and possibly able to get in there and never let you back, not "all the way". With so much at stake for these kids, and after what amounts to a better part of their young lives already invested, along with the sacrifices of their families, in getting to this point and riding on the dream of eventually making it to the pros--well, it's gonna be a rare person indeed who has much in the way of clear perspective at this point in their lives. Fewer still who will be in a position to, if necessary, step back and think long term, of their whole lives' health and happiness, let alone doing so in the face of the hopes and dreams of those who have given so much to help them get here.
They will go on, KEEP picking themselves up and "going on" sooner than they should, regardless of risks even if they are fully aware of or understand them. And we all celebrate that, even more so in the world they live, among teammates, coaches, fans. I don't know if it's any different at UF now than any other big program. But maybe the particular mix, the personalities, skills and "big picture" considerations of this particular collection of "persons with specific skills and responsibilities" is playing a part, not just for Leon, but for the health, well being and general attitude of our whole team and program.
Just putting it out there. Worth considering now--especially with renewed talk of KEEPING them all, not making the kind of drastic changes that would otherwise make what THIS staff has been doing moot. And even if that change comes after all, maybe it should be on-the-table for discussion anyway--maybe that's one of the things we're really talking about when we consider what we're looking for when we talk about "the right guy for the job", and who he'll bring in with him. Strikes me that, like a lot of things I guess, it sure as hell OUGHTTA be. Otherwise, we're leaving it to chance, if we think about it at all it is just something that we hope is "covered", a part wrapped up and embedded in all those other things that are part of getting "that guy".
