A Difficult Year, Gators Athletes Find Motivation Through NFL Talents
This year has been tough. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
With the coronavirus pandemic, the lack of sports for moments, and the ongoing battle with social and racial injustice, players have had to dive deep to remain focused, hoping for the best. Some of the motivation comes internally, some externally, and the Gators have reached out to or examined a couple of pro players to supply it.
For head coach Dan Mullen, one of the most inspirational and motivating stories from a football and life perspective comes from an old signal-caller of his, Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith.
Once a disciple of Mullen's at Utah from 2002-04, has been through perhaps one of the worst situations that can happen to a football player or anyone for that matter. In a matter of seconds, his career was nearly taken away from him after breaking his leg during a game in 2017 - his career hasn't been the same since, but he's battled back, cleared for football.
“If you watch the show, Project 11 was unbelievably done," Mullen said last week in reference to Smith's documentary on ESPN some weeks ago. "If you just look at that as an outsider it’s extremely motivating how he is able to go from a gruesome, life-threatening injury into battling his way back to being on the active roster of an NFL team is pretty special."
Of course, Mullen knows the Smith's personally, coaching Alex was when everyone looked back at the Gators' head ball coach as the guy. As personal relationships go, Mullen says that's the motivational part, to know someone can go through so much adversity, battle back and recover, it's special.
"I mean he's one of those guys, obviously his unbelievable success in football, unbelievable success in life. He graduated college in two years. You know, people that have that drive are going to be successful, and it just kind of also shows the type of drive he has as a person to overcome the unbelievable obstacles he had to."
A "pretty unbelievable" recovery and story, Mullen and his coaching staff have pointed to Smith and other players to showcase what can be, what needs to be - motivating. Of course, quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson has had plenty of dealings with him, having known Smith since he was 16, ultimately playing with Smith for one season at Utah in 2004.
Johnson has made sure to highlight these stories, particularly Smith's, to his young quarterbacks.
"I talk to my quarterbacks all the time about just different guys that I’ve been around at the position, different guys that I’ve coached and different experiences that come up," Johnson said. "They’ve heard all the stories, for sure.”
When it comes to racial and social injustice, Mullen has gained a newfound perspective on the situation, ultimately even leading off with his players in a peaceful march in Gainesville prior to the team's first scrimmage of the fall. With a need for guidance, Mullen turned to another one of his former signal callers, Dak Prescott, who played for the Gators head coach from 2012-15.
"I talked to Dak Prescott," Mullen said. "I thought he had a great one. Is the whole team going to kneel, is the whole team going to stand. He said, ‘Why are we talking about the whole team? Everybody has their own individual feelings. And the most important thing is to have your why, why are you doing it? Why is this important to you?’ And make sure that you understand what your why is, but then you also respect other peoples’ whys."
Mullen says the team will find different ways to express themselves as a collective unit, but at the end of the day, it will need to be each and every individual who are making their own choices, and be respected.
Prescott also shared publicly for the first time his battle with mental illness, specifically anxiety and depression, over the last several months. Prescott spoke to reporters about his struggles following the untimely death of his brother, Jace. In dealing with that, constant isolation and other issues, that drove Prescott to dark times.
Opening up about something like that can be daunting for most and Mullen feels it's important for him, and others, to be able to share. Knowing you're not alone, helps.
"To come out and bring awareness to something and to help people out to realize that maybe you’re not alone in dealing with mental health issues and don’t be afraid to talk about it. Don’t be afraid to try to get help," said Mullen. "Everyone feels that. I guarantee you everybody… over the… you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody that since April 1, or March whatever until now has dealt with some form of depression or feelings or thoughts they never had before. I mean I have."
The Gators will have to overcome adversity on and off the field this season, and finding the motivation to compete, play at a time when maybe you're unsure if you actually want to go out there, will be important. Finding others to help with that makes it easier, and Florida has utilized its resources to help its players as best they can.
