Urban Meyer is a Great Man

Urban “Herban” Meyer will no doubt be ridiculed for his decision to let his players play the game, great men often are, but true fans recognize the service he has given to his school and his team. We should all learn from Meyer’s shining example and show our appreciation and love for the Gator Nation. Next time you run into a Gator player make sure to buy him a drink or a joint or an assault rifle or heck why not buy all three? Just tell that Gator not to worry about that drive home, Coach has him covered.

Marijuana destroys brain cells. If you have any doubts, read what former Gator Defensive Tackle Marcus Thomas said after watching the Jackass 2 video. Marcus is believed to have said that one of the stunts would have worked more effectively if “you attach the electrodes directly to your scrotum.” Ravenously hungry, Marcus later ate a mouse that was intended as a meal for his pet snake.

Think about this: What a good player-team match it would be for “Medicinal Marijuana Marcus” Thomas and the Cincinnati Bengals. Marcus could leave one of college football’s most undisciplined teams for the NFL’s newest outlaw team. Marcus may have wasted months of valuable bong time (See story below) putting on a charade of not smoking weed anymore. The Bengals, like Urban “Herban” Meyer, just don’t give a rats ass if you get high. What is important to them is that players are allowed to “live their lives unfettered from antiquated narcotics laws”.

What got Marcus caught at Florida was the damn media. Herban Meyer had him covered but realized later that he had to cut his losses when it became know that Thomas was playing with two failed drug tests. Plus Meyer figured out that his defense, filled with Ron Zook recruits, was really OK without Marcus. The Gator Nation says thanks to Jarvis Moss and his extraordinary efforts in passing most of his drug tests. (Gators if you comment about the independent board allowing Marcus to play and not Meyer, your comments will be deleted)

Wow, the Gator Nation is lucky. You really see the gem you got in Coach Meyer. What with all that pressure at UF and all…..having to make the right decision or even a moral decision is just too much. Thank God, you have Herban to make the decision he made–right or not. Moral or not. I mean, if it gets you a championship then screw morals, right? We win! And the players learn to live the right way. Wait, um, the players learn to live like nobody can touch them. Wait, that doesn’t sound right either. Dadgumit, where’s Bobby Bowden to help out here….

Anyhow, enough of the reality. Lets move on to the make-believe stuff:

The Florida Times-Union

February 22, 2007

Doubting Thomas?

By MICHAEL DIROCCO
The Times-Union Marcus Thomas smoked marijuana, failed two drug tests and was kicked off the football team during his senior season at the University of Florida.
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————————————————–He admits those were stupid things to do, and they cost him dearly. He sat home and watched his former teammates win the Southeastern Conference and national championships.

The former Mandarin High School standout insists he doesn’t have a drug problem and isn’t a discipline case, and he has spent the past three-and-a-half months trying to prove that.

What he does at the NFL Combine, which begins today and runs through Tuesday in Indianapolis, could go a long way toward repairing his reputation.
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The Marcus Thomas file 6 feet 3, 317 pounds At Florida: Played in five games this past season, recording 26 tackles and four sacks. … Suspended twice for failing two drug tests, then was dismissed from the team in November. … Had a career-high 10 tackles against Auburn, following an eight-tackle performance the week before against LSU. … Blocked two kicks (a PAT try and a field-goal attempt) in 2005. … Made 45 tackles and had four sacks that season to earn honorable mention All-Southeastern Conference honors from The Associated Press. … In 2004, tied for the team lead with 41/2 sacks. … Played 12 games (two starts) as a freshman in 2003, making a career-high 47 tackles, including 20 in the final three games. … Named to the Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel all-freshman team. ————————————————–

Thomas is a first-round talent, a 6-foot-3, 317-pound defensive tackle who finished his Gators career with 14 sacks. However, the questions about his positive drug tests and decision to not follow the conditions mandated by Florida to remain on the team could have a huge impact on his NFL Draft status.

“I’ve been doing everything, just trying to show people the real me,” Thomas said after a recent workout at Velocity Sports Performance. “I’m just going to put it in the Lord’s hands. Whatever happens, happens.”

Thomas and his agent – J. Richard Burnoski, his former head coach at Mandarin – aren’t just leaving the player’s draft future up to divine intervention. They have aggressively attacked the image of Thomas as a pot-smoking head case who cares little about his teammates and has no respect for authority.

Since Nov. 1, Thomas has taken and passed weekly drug tests administered by a Jacksonville doctor, and Burnoski said he will release those results to any NFL team that asks. Burnoski also said Thomas is taking part in weekly counseling sessions with a local pastor and is being mentored by New York Jets wide receiver and former Ribault standout Laveranues Coles, who was dismissed from the Florida State football team in 1999 because of legal and academic problems.

Most importantly, Burnoski said, is that Thomas isn’t avoiding the drug issue.

“If you lie one time, you’ve got to lie 32 times,” Burnoski said. “The thing is, you’ve got a drug issue, and now you’ve got a courtesy issue, because [an NFL team official will say], ‘This guy looks in my eye and lied to me. Now you’re a liar, and you use drugs.’ The best thing to do is be honest, get it all on the table and just move forward with it.”

That’s the approach Thomas and Burnoski have taken with the teams that have called: the Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears. Each team official asked the question.

“They’ve been at me hard, trying to see what’s going on, why I had made the decisions I had made,” said Thomas, who denied reports of a strained relationship with Florida coaches. “I just pretty much put it out there, let them know it’s all in the past. … All it did was make me a more mature person. I’m trying to let them feel me out and see the real me and not what’s been written and what they see on TV.”

Thomas also is making a guarantee to any team he speaks with: He won’t use drugs again. To back that up, he’s willing to submit to drug tests and tie his signing bonus or part of his salary to the results.

“We’ll put it in writing,” Burnoski said. “That’s how confident we are. That’s how we can tell you it’s not going to happen again. We’ll put our money where our mouth is, and if it does happen again, it’s going to hurt us a lot worse than you.”

Thomas will bring up all these issues during interviews with team officials during the combine, and what happens in those meetings might be much more important than workouts.

Those should be impressive. Thomas is consistently running the 40-yard dash in the 4.7-second range, and he bench-pressed 255 pounds 26 times – but the impression he makes likely will determine if he’ll be a first-round pick or not.

Thomas said he would understand if he did drop to the lower rounds.

“I can’t be mad at nobody but myself for putting myself in that situation, but that’d be a blessing if I’m in the first round,” he said. “Once I get out there, I know I’m going to perform.”

michael.dirocco@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4500