Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – This one is going to be worthy of a few pages in the family scrapbook or a home video to share on Facebook.

Gators quarterback Luke Del Rio and his father, Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio, have spent many afternoons together at EverBank Field in Jacksonville.

During Jack's nine seasons as head coach of the Jaguars from 2003 to 2011, young Luke was usually by his father's side.

Luke had the life millions of adolescent kids dream about.

"I used to run and get the tees after kickoffs,'' Luke said. "I would hang out with the specialists because they have the most free time. Maurice Jones-Drew was always good to me when he was there. Just a lot of good memories."

In anticipation of Saturday's Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, the Del Rios and their connection to Jacksonville is a hot story.
 
Luke shared one of his favorite tales on Monday. Fortunately for former Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee, Luke's black eye healed long ago.

One day at practice, the specialists moved into the stadium as the rest of the team worked on the practice fields. Luke, still in elementary school when Jack took over the Jaguars, and Scobee started to pass a football around. Luke skipped a throw to Scobee, who skipped it back with some fire.

"He throws it pretty hard and it lands like 10 yards in front of me, and I didn't throw it that hard at him,'' Luke said. "My hands were late getting to the ball and the ball met my eye before my hands met the ball."

The ball smashed into young Luke's face, causing a shiner that Jack questioned him about later.

An NFL newcomer out of Louisiana Tech, Scobee got nervous after seeing the damage.

"Don't tell your dad! Don't tell your dad! I'll get cut,'' Scobee told Luke.

Luke covered for the kicker and Scobee hung around for 11 seasons with Jacksonville, outlasting Jack by a couple of seasons.

In his second season in Oakland, Jack returned to Jacksonville on Sunday and left with a 33-16 victory over his former team. Meanwhile, Luke, in his first season as Florida's starting quarterback, visited his dad over the weekend but was unable to attend the game because of practice.

In a stroke of fortunate coincidence, the Raiders play at Tampa Bay on Sunday and opted to remain in Florida to practice this week instead of flying cross-country and having to return to the Sunshine State.

Jack and his wife Linda plan to attend Saturday's Florida-Georgia game to watch Luke play in one college football's most storied rivalries.

"It will be pretty cool to get that opportunity,'' Del Rio told reporters after Oakland's practice Monday. "He was by my side for 9 years throwing the ball during pregame warm-ups and things like that. He was on the sideline with me as a young man and now he's grown into a guy who has a chance to lead a program like Florida in a stadium where he grew up watching Jaguars and Gators play. I'm very thrilled for him."

The No. 14-ranked Gators (5-1, 3-1) lead the SEC East and are 4-0 when Del Rio starts. He missed road games at Tennessee and Vanderbilt due to a knee injury but returned in the homecoming victory over Missouri 10 days ago.

Del Rio wasn't as sharp as his first three starts, completing just 47.4 percent of his passes (18 of 38 for 236 yards) with three interceptions and one touchdown.

During the bye week Del Rio focused on correcting flaws that caused some of his issues.

"The biggest thing there was simply his footwork and he actually drifted himself into trouble a little bit as he was bouncing off his drops,'' Gators head coach Jim McElwain said. "He created some of that. It wasn't really pressure, but in the pocket where he drifted into some trouble which didn't allow him to be as accurate as he normally is with the ball."

Del Rio has itched to return to the field since he walked off it against Missouri, knowing he made some uncharacteristic mistakes.

"Whenever you don't play the way you like, you want to get back on the field,'' Del Rio said. "You want to get that bad taste out of your mouth."

He gets that chance on Saturday in his first Florida-Georgia game as a player. Growing up, Luke experienced the game from a different vantage point. He was disappointed in not being able to attend the Jacksonville-Oakland game on Sunday, but he quickly put that behind him with what was ahead.

"It would have been cool to be back in that stadium,'' Del Rio said. "But I'll get to be back there on Saturday, really excited for it. I've never actually been inside for a Florida-Georgia game. I've seen it pretty much every year. Grew up going to some of the tailgates with my family.

"Hopefully the Del Rio family can go 2-0, you know, back-to-back weeks. It's kind of interesting the way it worked out."
 

Del Rio is now 22, set to earn his undergraduate degree in December while taking 16 hours this semester. After stops at Alabama and Oregon State, he has finally found a home.

One close to his childhood home that produced so many memories.

With two more years of eligibility remaining after this season, Del Rio hopes this isn't his first and last Florida-Georgia game as a player.

"I remember in high school I would just pray in bed, 'just let me play football at some level in college,' and I'm the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators,'' Del Rio said. "So I'm tremendously, tremendously blessed and thankful that I'm in this opportunity and this situation."

His father expressed the same sentiment.

More than 85,000 folks will be at EverBank Field on Saturday, but you'll be pressed to find anyone more revved up than Jack Del Rio.

This time, his little boy is on center stage and he is living the dream, albeit with a father's trepidation.

"That's harder than anything I do. There's no question about it. Coaching, playing, no problem,'' he said. "Watching your kid, that's tough."