As the football season closes for the Florida Gators, football enthusiasts reminisce over the thirteen and one season, numerous records broken, and multiple awards won. But with the end of this season we may also see the end of what has become know as the Gator Dynasty: as nineteen players graduate. Among these retiring Gators are college celebrity athletes Brandon Spikes, Brandon James, Riley Cooper, and Tim Tebow. These individuals lead the team over the past four years to: numerous victories, two SEC championship, two national championships, and historical football records.

Possibly leaving with these graduates may be Florida’s infamous Head Coach, Urban Meyer. Coach Meyer has taken an indefinite leave of absence. Discussing his leave, he said to The Times, “I saw it as a sign from God that this was the right thing to do. I was worried about letting people down. I was feeling so awful and concerned about my health. That was among several other signs that said it’s time to back away.”

In the great wake of all this drama leaves potential for new super athletes to fill the void. There are several prospective players already on the team and even being recruited that could up hold the Gator Dynasty. With the 2010 season on the horizon it is hard to predict the Gators future as a football team. One can only hope that the exiting players have inspired greatness into their remaining peers, as the future seasons are only bound to be ever difficult.

By: Gray Bullock

Five-star Matt Elam who was committed to Florida for over a year recently left the Gators so he could commit to the Florida State Seminoles after hearing about the Meyer situation, and was also worried about the recruiting class that included players like Jordan Haden, Jonathan Dowling, Jaylen Watkins and Demar Dorse who all can play the safety position.

Now it has been less than a week since his decision to decommitt, and he is leaning back to the Gators.

“I’m decomitting,” Elam said in a text to UGASports after being asked if he was still headed to Tallahassee.

“Florida is first for me right now, followed by Georgia and Florida State is third,” Elam said.

Elam is still not solid on Florida just yet, he is still considering Georgia. When he went on an official visit to UGA, he said it really felt like home. Elam really would like top consider the Bulldogs because they only have six safeties who are on scholarships and Florida and Florida State both have eight. But if you look at Reshad Jones from Georgia, he is on his way to the NFL draft so that leaves only five. Elam had no idea that Jones was going to leave to enter the NFL draft.

Elam is set to play in the U.S Army All-American Bowl this weekend and is also expected to make an announcement on his final decision where he will be going.

(Quotes/info gathered from Kipp Adams and Anthony Dasher/Rivals.)

Three weeks ago, Charlie Strong, the former Gator defensive coordinator, decided to leave his position at Florida for the Head Coaching job in Louisville, Kentucky. He clearly stated to the media that he would not try to take any of Coach Meyer’s assistant coaches and relocate them to Louisville. Now, the story is that two of the Gator assistant coaches are seriously looking into jobs at Louisville. The coaches in question are Vance Bedford, the cornerback coach, and Kenny Carter, the running back coach.

Rumors were spreading about the departure of Kenny Carter before the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Carter avoided questions at the press conference about the possible job of coaching the Cardinal running backs. Carter told the highly recruited running back and Florida commitment, Mack Brown, that he would be leaving his job at Florida. The decision of Coach Carter should be revealed no later than this weekend.

Coach Vance Bedford’s story is quite the same. Coach Strong offered him the defensive coordinator job for the Louisville Cardinals earlier this week. Bedford was reportedly recruiting in South Florida on Monday but that means nothing to Gator recruits looking forward to being mentored by Bedford at the University of Florida. Coach Bedford is expected to make his decision clear and public next week.

With Coach Carter and Bedford allegedly leaving Florida for the Cardinals, the Gators will be soon searching for replacements for the two coaches. As the Gators go deeper and deeper into the off-season, they seem to be losing more and more key recruits, players, and coaches because of the Meyer controversy. In this case, the leave of absence taken by Meyer is having a significant impact on the coaches at Florida.

(Gatorsports contributed to this story)

By: Justin Rectenwald

Tampa Bay

Stanford Cardinal defensive end and special teams coach D.J. Durkin has been hired by the Florida Gators to coach the linebackers and special teams. Durkin, who has coached the last three years at Stanford, helped the Cardinal put up a 8-5 record during the 2009 season.

During the time he put in at Stanford, the defensive ends were ranked 11th nationally in sacks per game during 2007-08. Durkin came to Stanford in 2007 after coaching the linebackers and special teams for two seasons over at Bowling Green. Not to mention that he was also a four year starter for the Falcons from 1997-2000. Durkin started 33 games and a had a total of 131 tackles. He led his team in sacks through the 1998 season and was also named a team captain for two seasons.

Durkin was a graduate assistant at Bowling Green and then later became a graduate assistant and also defensive coach for Notre Dame in 2003-04.

(Info gathered from myvalleysports.)