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.)

The former Florida Gator, Percy Harvin, has been added to the NFC Pro Bowl roster because Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver, DeSean Jackson, was named to two positions: Wide Receiver and Kick Returner. That is where Harvin fits in–he will be taking the kick returns and punt returns for the NFC, while Jackson sticks with the Wide Receiver spot.

Harvin has been one of the top, if not the best, rookie in the NFL. He has averaged 27.5 yards per kick return, which ranks him fourth in the league, and has taken two returns to the endzone. The Vikings previously led the league with 8 Pro Bowl nominees, and now will have 9 participants in the Pro Bowl.

Gator Sports Nation congratulates Harvin on his Pro Bowl recognition!

Just like several other Florida commits, Gerald Christian said that he was shocked when he heard about the news that Urban Meyer was taking an indefinite leave of absence due to health reasons.

But just like those same propsetcs, the West Palm Beach (Fla.) Dwyer Tight End, has stuck to his word, and will join the University of Florida. Christian said that he will not be looking anywhere else.

After the news broke out that wide receivers coach Billy Gonzalez leaving to go coach at LSU and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong was leaving to take the head coaching job at Louisville, worries started to form.

“It looked like it might be going downhill,” Christian said.

The Gators seemed able to keep balance and as well as their recruiting class. His teammate at Dwyer, Robert Clark, rumored to be looking around at other schools Christian said, but he will start at Florida soon. Matt Elam who everybody thought was a for sure Gator, is a teammate of Christian and Clark. Elam decommitted from Florida and is now a Seminole, but it doesn’t stop Christian from changing his mind. Christian said he is excited with his future in Gainesville with Clark expected to be there as well.

“He’s going to the University of Florida,” Christian said. “He starts school (soon). That will be helpful knowing I have a teammate going.”

With the decision from Aaron Hernandez to leave early for the NFL draft, Christian may get a golden opportunity to play tight end as a freshman for the Gators.

(Quotes/info gathered by Adam Gorney from GatorBait.)

Well, a second underclassman has put his name in the NFL Draft, this time it is Tight End Aaron Hernandez. The news isn’t shocking, Hernandez is a talented athlete, and one of the top Tight Ends in this years draft. The loss of Hernandez will certainly be felt since he was one of the main focal points on this Gator offense, and may have been the most consistent player for Florida this season.

He led the Gators in receptions with 68 total, and racked up 850 yards. He had five touchdowns for the second straight season, which only displays how consistent he was for the Gator defense. Hernandez is one of the top Tight Ends in the draft, along with Oklahoma’s Jermaine Gresham and Anthony McCoy of USC. 

We enjoyed watching Hernandez play on Saturdays, and we will certainly miss seeing him make plays for the Blue and Orange.

In Tim Tebow’s final game as a Gator in the Sugar Bowl, he was at this best. He threw for Touchdowns, he ran for another. He carved up the University of Cincinnati’s defense like a Holiday Turkey. It was vintage Tebow.

The Gators defense was stifling as well. They held UC’s undefeated, high powered offense to 3 measly points in the first half. When UF went to the locker room at halftime up 30-3, it was all over but the curtain calls.

How is this one of UF’s most impressive wins? After all, the Gators have won three national titles. In winning those games, the Gators beat three #1 ranked teams all by double digits. How do you rank this game among those? You have to put this win in perspective, right? Sure you do. Let’s look at the big picture here.

Before this game, the Gators played in a battle for all the marbles with Alabama. It was two unbeaten teams going at it for the SEC Title and a trip to the BCS Title Game. The loser would end up with nothing but a consolation trip to the Sugar Bowl. There would be no rings for the loser. That team despite a perfect regular season would go away empty handed. They would then have to regroup and play an unbeaten team in the Sugar Bowl. Wait, where have we heard this before? Oh yeah. Last year.

Last year, was a blocked extra point away from being the exact same scenario. The SEC Championship Game was a winner take all, National Semi Final Game. The loser would be sent to New Orleans. Florida was the winner, who went on to win the BCS Championship. Alabama was the loser. The devastated Tide trudged off to the Big Easy and got hammered by a hungry unbeaten Utah team. It was hard to blame them. How do you bounce back from losing everything, the SEC, The BCS, the perfect season, to play Utah? Predictably the Tide was out.

This year, that shoe was on the Gators’ foot. Then add to all that, the drama of Urban Meyer’s health related resignation/leave of absence drama the week before the game. This had the makings of a disaster. I admit, I thought the Gators would get beat. Who could blame them? Not me. But the Gators showed exactly why they are the premiere program in college football today. They went out an dismantled the Bearcats. They won’t win any championships this year, but the college football world watched that game. They know. I guarantee there were some Texas fans glad it’s not Tim Tebow they will have to beat on Thursday. I bet there were some Bammers thanking their lucky stars for Carlos Dunlap’s bartender too.

Winning games with titles on the line is one thing. But when you can go out and beat down an unbeaten conference champ with seemingly nothing going right for you, that’s what makes you elite. It’s a shame the 2009 Gators won’t be commemorated on the facade at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. After that game, they deserve to be.

By: James Folsom