Fans encouraging other fans to wear eye black for Tim Tebow's last home game

Want to show Florida quarterback Tim Tebow a unique kind of support in his last home game at The Swamp?

A new facebook group has a suggestion for you: wear eye black in honor of Tebow for the Nov. 28 home finale against Florida State.

Florida fan Tracey McInnis has created the “Calling All Gators – A Gift for Tim Tebow” group on facebook to spread her idea. 

 

The group’s description reads, “Gator fans, we have had the amazing privilege of watching THE greatest college football player EVER, play for four years. On January 11th, 2009, Tim Tebow gave us the gift of one more year. The biggest reason he came back was because college football provided him a platform to share his message. We, as Gator fans, have an unbelievable opportunity to give Tim Tebow an experience he will never forget. My suggestion is that for Timmy's last game in The Swamp, the Florida - Florida State game, all Gators wear the under-eye black with a scripture. Every time Tim looks into the stands, or a camera focuses in on a Gator fan, the world will see the love and support we Gators have for our special quarterback. Share this message with every Gator you know, and let's make the UF-FSU game a day that he will never forget.”

Brandon Spikes a Butkus Award finalist

Florida senior LB Brandon Spikes is one of five finalists for the Butkus Award, honoring the nation's top collegiate linebacker.

Joining Spikes on the list are Rolando McClain (Alabama), Sergia Kindle (Texas), Sean Weatherspoon (Missouri) and Eric Norwood, South Carolina.

McClain, Weatherspoon and Spikes were all finalists in 2008. In mid-October, Spikes is fourth on the Gators' squad with 45 tackles, including 4.5 for loss. He also had interception that was returned for a touchdown against Georgia and a fumble recovery at South Carolina.

The winner will be announced on or before Dec. 8.

With FIU on the horizon, can Florida afford to look ahead?

Among the consistent themes the Gators have carried all season is that they'll never look past an opponent to the next game. If Ole Miss taught Florida nothing else, it was the importance of taking a season one game at a time.

But with this week's non-conference opponent being 3-7 FIU, Florida coach Urban Meyer has been asked in various ways all week about the possibility of getting mentally prepared for next week's Florida State game, and the SEC championship in two weeks. In other words, are they using this week to get ready for what's coming up?

His answer: not a chance. The players refuse to talk about anything but FIU, and Meyer said that's more a credit to their maturity than a threat from the coaching staff.

"That's not me putting a gag order on them,'' Meyer said. "There's absolutely no discussion of that whatsoever. And the good thing is about this team is they know they can get much better. Certainly, offensively there's no discussion other than how can we improve? We're still trying to find the right mix on the offensive line and still trying to find the right mix in certain situations. So we don't have time and that's a positive.''

Urban Meyer well aware he could lose several top players

Florida coach Urban Meyer said he won't engage in any potential NFL talk with players until after the SEC championship game, but he realizes he could lose several of his best players to the NFL at the end of the season.

"I count seven juniors that are NFL quality players,'' Meyer said. "I haven’t really done the research, I’ll help them with it if I’m asked. But that’s seven, so you have to get seven (commitments) to fill those seven. And right now with all the early commitments, you’re kind of hanging on.''

Meyer said he offers to help players seek advice from the proper people, if the players are interested, but he doesn't personally give advice.

"I don’t advise, because I can’t advise, I don’t want to do that,'' he said. "They’ll ask my opinions a lot of times and I’ll put them on the phone with general managers and head coaches of the NFL. And I’ll ask them myself. I have some really good friends that I’ll say watch some film for me and tell me what you think. And that’s the best advice you can give them. It’s been pretty good. It’s been better than it’s ever been.''

Tim Tebow one of 15 Walter Camp Football Foundation "Players To Watch''

Tim Tebow, and last year's winner Colt McCoy, are among 15 "Players to Watch'' for the 2009 Player of the Year Award presented by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

It is the fourth-oldest college football award in the nation. The list includes four quarterbacks, four running backs, four wide receivers and three defensive players.

Gators get commitment from four-star California DB Joshua Shaw

Florida coach Urban Meyer insists that the state of Florida is his best recruiting ground, but the Gators have shown once again they aren't afraid to go national if necessary.

This afternoon, four-star defensive back Joshua Shaw, of Palmdale, Calif., announced his intentions to play for the Gators next season,

That means the Gators have gone into USC country and snagged one the area's best players. Ohio State and LSU were also among the finalists.

"That was an eye-opening trip for me," Shaw told ESPN.com. "I loved the coaching staff and specifically coach (Urban) Meyer. He was the only head coach who personally recruited me and that made a big difference.

More on the story here.
 

Florida women's basketball to host Florida State tonight

Ordinarily, coaches often schedule a few easy opponents early in the year to ease into the regular season, but Florida women's basketball coach Amanda Butler has a different philosophy.

Why wait? If you want to know how good you really are, start with the best opponents you can find.

The Gators will get a strong indication tonight of just where they stand when they host No. 15 Florida State at 7 p.m.

"There's no way that you're ever as a coach going to feel 100 percent ready for your first really, really big challenge,'' Butler said. "You're always going to feel like gosh if we had one more day to prepare, or if this circumstance was different or that circumstance was different. But the only way that you find out how ready you are or not is to go out and play the ball game. And we play in the best conference in the country. We've got to play those teams 16 times this year, and ultimately that's what our non-conference season is about, preparing for that. So it makes the most sense to me to go our and challenge yourselves. Maybe we're not ready this early for that big of a challenge, but I think our kids feel pretty good about where we are and they understand how we have to play right now with what we know about ourselves to give it their best effort. There's no sense delaying it. Let's figure out if we're that good right now, or if we're still a few weeks away from that.''

Gators haven't lost confidence in kicker Caleb Sturgis

Sophomore kicker Caleb Sturgis had his worst game of the season on against South Carolina, going 1-for-4 and missing field goal attempts of 52, 54 and 29 yards. But UF coach Urban Meyer said he hasn’t lost confidence in Sturgis.

“We had a cutout made and he came in (Sunday) and I watched it with him and he’s going to watch it (again),’’ Meyer said. “Every kick is looking different right now – and it’s follow-through – and it’s very fixable. And he’s the guy to fix it. So we’re just going to work hard.

Sturgis hit a career-long field goal of 56 yards against Georgia - the longest in the SEC this season. Meyer said Sturgis often hits distances in practice that he missed on Saturday night.

While Sturgis remains the starter, Meyer said he'll give senior Jonathan Phillips more time in practice this week.

"I’m going to let Jon Phillips have some opportunities this week in practice,'' he said. "It’s very disappointing, not just for the game, but Caleb is better than that. He’s pressing right now. We’ve just got to get through it.’’

Emmaunel Moody doubtful for FIU game

Junior RB Emmanuel Moody’s sprained ankle may keep him out of Saturday’s game against FIU. Moody injured the ankle in the second half of the South Carolina game.

"I thought he ran hard in the game,'' UF coach Urban Meyer said. "We need him back.''

Also, DT Terron Sanders suffered an injury to his ribs during the game, but Meyer said he’s expected to be fine this week.

“He may not practice much this week,’’ Meyer said. “But we need him.’’

Florida's Aaron Hernandez a John Mackey award semifinalist

Florida junior Aaron Hernandez is one of eight players named as a John Mackey award semfinalist, an award honoring the nation's best tight end.

Finalists will be named on Nov. 23 and the winner will be announced at the Dec. Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards.

The semifinalists are: Dorin Dickerson (Pittsburgh), Ed Dickson (Oregon), Aaron Hernandez (Florida), Anthony McCoy (USC), Tony Moeaki (Iowa), Dennis Pitta (BYU), Kyle Rudolph (Notre Dame) and Cody Slate ( Marshall).