GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Safety Jarvis Herring remembers spending time with several former Florida players when he was a freshman in 2001.

He also recalls what it was like the last three years.

“My freshman year, there were a lot of older players who always came around and hung out with the younger guys,” Herring said Monday. “After that, there wasn’t really any around.”

New coach Urban Meyer has changed that.

Meyer has embraced Florida’s past, reaching out to former players and inviting them to return to campus for gatherings and games. He hopes the history lesson will help the 10th-ranked Gators recapture the swagger they lost after losing 15 games the last three seasons.

The former Utah coach contacted dozens of former players after moving to Gainesville in January, sending them personal letters and following up with phone calls. He set up dinners and meetings with several of them, including Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Youngblood and current Buffalo Bills quarterback Shane Matthews.

He spent hours with 1996 Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel, Brad Culpepper, Chris Doering and Alex Brown.

Former players got an open invitation to watch practice, hang out in the locker room and be a part of the program. Many of them were on the sideline for the spring game.

“What he’s doing is pretty neat,” said former Florida place-kicker Judd Davis, who received the Lou Groza Award in 1993 as the nation’s top kicker. “It’s been nonstop letters saying, We want you to be part of the program.”‘

Davis was walking around campus one day this spring, saw Meyer working out and decided to introduce himself.

“He had no idea who I was, but once he found out I played for the Gators, it was amazing how his whole demeanor changed,” Davis said. “He even asked me to come by practice and evaluate his kickers.”

Meyer’s plan to reunite Florida’s past and present culminated with a barbecue for previous and current lettermen Saturday.

After watching practice, former players joined team captains for a catered lunch followed by stories, speeches and a highlights video.

“Coach Meyer, he’s making us learn, making us know about the history of Florida football,” Herring said. “I really don’t know anything about the older guys. I know all about the guys in the 90s. But anything before that, I don’t have no clue.”

Past players were allowed on Florida Field afterward – Davis kicked two 40-yard field goals barefooted – and then given a tour of the locker room and weight training facility. They also had a chance to run out though the tunnel.

“It’s great for us and it’s great for the current players to be exposed to it,” said former Florida receiver Lee McGriff, a 51-year-old insurance salesman who led the Southeastern Conference in receiving in 1974. “But they can’t really appreciate it until they get to where we are.”

Several current players said meeting Youngblood was the highlight of the event.

“It was big-time for me because he made me think,” defensive tackle Jeremy Mincey said. “You go outside and you’re tired, Oh, I have a little achy leg or my ankle is (sprained).’ He played with a broken leg. Any time now I think about any fatigue, any pain, I just think, man, Jack Youngblood played with a broken leg. I can get through this.”

Meyer also invited former lettermen to be on the field when the Gators open the season Saturday against Wyoming. The lettermen will form an “alumni tunnel,” which the team will pass through as they run onto the field.

“That’s part of the collegiate experience that Florida can provide,” Meyer said. “Not many places can provide it like that.”

AP-ES-08-29-05 1800EDT

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