Florida coach Urban Meyer admits he's paranoid, but then again, isn't every college football coach to some degree?
Meyer doesn't allow NFL scouts to watch more than 15 minutes of practice "because everybody has friends." And, he said, he might want to work on a fake punt that particular day.
Meyer's paranoia was evident again this week as he fretted over the one-hour bus ride his team will take Saturday from Tupelo, Miss., to Oxford for its road opener against Ole Miss.
Oxford doesn't have a major airport so most teams stay in Tupelo and bus in on game day. Meyer and his staff reportedly spent a lot of time this week working the phones in search of the best and smoothest way to make that bus trip to avoid traffic and/or any disruption to the Gators' routine.
"It's only a challenge if something goes wrong," Meyer said. "I want to make sure we play the game and not worry about what time we get there."
Relax, coach. Based on the way his team completely dismantled Tennessee last week, the guess here is that the Gators could walk from Tupelo and still be just fine.
Who knew the defending national champions, perfect at 3-0 and ranked No. 3 this week, would be this good, this fast? Especially after they lost quarterback Chris Leak and nine starters on defense from last season.
But the Gators served notice with their surprisingly easy 59-20 victory against Tennessee, a pedal-to-the-metal performance that brought back memories of life under the Ol' Ball Coach.
The ultimate test comes in two weeks when Florida plays at LSU, but the young Gators appear to be players in the national title race again.
"All we've done is go 3-0 and beat one SEC team," said sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow, already a larger-than-life figure in Florida.
It's baby steps for a baby-faced team. So far, 48 players who have seen action are either freshmen or sophomores. Of those, 17 are true freshmen and 15 are redshirt freshmen. That is extremely young.
Even so, Meyer, who is 25-4 in his third season at Florida, said he is overly cautious with his youngsters, often against the wishes of his staff. He said he's especially careful about when and how he uses his young skill players.
"If you have a young person go out there and fail in front of 95,000 and millions of people on TV, that's a rattled player and you have to get him back [emotionally]," Meyer said. "Once you get rattled a little bit as a skilled athlete it's hard to get that back. I would rather play them after they're ready than before they're ready."
The kids seem ready for the big stage, particularly Tebow. A fan favorite in spot duty behind Leak last season, Tebow has emerged as an early Heisman Trophy candidate and undeniable BMOC in the eyes of Gators fans.
In his first SEC start last week, Tebow completed 74 percent of his passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for 61 yards and two touchdowns.
Meyer has tried to temper the Tebow hysteria -- one Florida paper reported seeing "Tebow for President" signs -- but he credited his quarterback's preparation and the talent surrounding him.
"Great players need great players around them to perform," Meyer said. "And he has some very good ones."
Good enough to average 55.7 points per game (second-best in Division I-A) and score at least 45 points in each of the first three games (the first time that's happened in school history).
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