During Urban Myer's tenure at Florida he designated a Friday night during the summer for prospective recruits. It was dubbed "Friday Night Lights." Everything happened on the field at the Swamp. Very exciting with most media recruiting services and state papers there. My son attended this evening and I sat in the stands and watched in amazement. The kids were geared up in shirts with images of the national championship trophies, were weighed, timed in the 40 and all the speed measurables. They then went to the wieght room where they had a mini workout with the strength coaches and were measured. They then went into meeting rooms with position coaches for mini meetings. After that they went back on the field under the lights and split into skill groups. It was at that time that Myer said, "Tonight you get to feel what it is really like to be a Gator". At that moment, full crowd noise of a packed Swamp was piped in through the PA system and the players competed in 7 on 7, individuals and other games for about an hour. The night concluded with a full barbeque for the players and their parents. There was a camp charge involved. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen or been to. Coach Mac probably had the same thing last night. It is not widely publicized, mostly notes sent to the high school coaches, key recruits and recruiting services . . . but it is open to any player that wants to come and pay the fee. I believe they put a cap on the number of campers. Myer used that night to seal the deal with key recruits. Coach Mac was out in the middle of it with the d-linemen and their drills/inidividual competitions.
