A Day in the Life of Max Starks
Tuesday, August 5, 2003 | Football
5:30 a.m.
The alarm clock goes off in the home of offensive tackle Max Starks, signaling the beginning of another day in the packed schedule of the senior who is looking to be a leader for the Florida offensive unit this season. Today, somewhat of a slow day, begins early with a team run and Starks won't make it back to the house he shares with center Mike Degory and snapper Casey Griffith until after 11 p.m.
5:45 a.m.
Before conditioning starts, Starks makes a quick stop by the training room to get the size 19's wrapped up. While most students have the summer free of classes and obligations, it is not out of the ordinary for Starks or any of his teammates to be up and out the door this early.
"During the season, we come in to run or work out really early before class and some of the coaches are already working out," Starks says. "Zook has already worked out. Your coaches are there and dedicated. They love this team and they want to do whatever they can to help this team do the best we can."
6:05 a.m.
From the outside, The Swamp is lit up like a Saturday night. It's humid and the lights are glowing setting the stage for another big game, but on this day it is more man vs. himself than man vs. his opponent. This is where the players are in the hands of one of the nation's top strength and conditioning coordinators, Rob Glass, and it is his job to get the Gators physically and mentally prepared to play football at the level the SEC demands.
Starks and over 100 of his teammates trickle out of the tunnel and around the field to the east set of bleachers where they will spread out and run a drill called Gator Mountains. Starks runs with teammates Shannon Snell and junior college transfer Tavarus Washington in the last group of lineman to do their seven sprints to the top of the stadium.
"It's physical. Because you're working in a group of three you have to push the other person to give their all-out effort. As a teammate, you have to push that guy that doesn't feel like he can make it."
Assistant strength and conditioning coordinator and former UF defensive lineman Mark Campbell is overseeing the group of lineman. Campbell joined the Gator staff and is like many within the program- someone who has been where the current Gators want to go. He started on SEC championship teams and he went on to the NFL, now his job is to help players like Starks to get there as well.
"You can always push yourself. Everyone can always get better," he yells as one of Starks' teammates isn't able to finish. "It's easy to talk when things are going good. Now is the time of year when you have to push yourself."
7:05 a.m.
After the run, the team heads back to the lockerroom. Some guys will head home, others will go to class but most of the guys will get ready for their 8 a.m. lift. On the field or in the lockerroom, the Gators are a close team. Starks and the offensive lineman hang out in the lockerroom until it's time to lift, cracking jokes or telling stories. Their vigorous training week is almost over so the mood is light.
"We're even closer than last year," he says. "We've had a year with coach Zook to build that bond, build that trust as opposed to coming in unknowing. Now we know what he can do, we know what we need to do to get better. We do a lot more together as a team on our own accord, we take it upon ourselves to improve from last year. We share that same common goal."
8:00 a.m
With everyone awake and energized, about 50 upperclassmen take to the weightroom. Starks lifts with DE Bobby McCray and TE Ben Troupe. Everything in a UF student-athlete's life is individualized- from their workout, their class schedule and their diet. Glass goes through the hour-long lift with the three, a trio of UF's top 2004 NFL prospects.
"To earn a scholarship here you have to have something special, you can't just be athletic and fast," Starks explains. "You have to be intelligent, have common sense and be a disciplined individual. You have a great window to play at the next level if you can come here and accomplish some things and that's why a lot of people come here. They know they can have a shot if they can do well in the SEC. The tradition of Florida being a football powerhouse helps open the door to the NFL."
"We have all of the resources necessary for any student-athlete to achieve," Starks says. "Individualizing workouts for people with ailments or any type of injury, the strength coaches can specialize a workout. We have the resources with nutritionists, doctors, people you can talk to if there are things wrong with you physically or mentally. We have all the rehabilitation equipment necessary to get you back on the field as soon as possible."
With all the stadium expansion construction going on outside, the veterans in the weightroom overpower it, making the weightroom the most alive part of campus. It's loud, it's hyper and it's full of players who are pushing each other and themselves through their individual workouts. Players like Guss Scott and Keiwan Ratliff are key to driving the team to attack their workouts.
Since summer workouts are in the hands of upperclassmen, Starks and the seniors keep an eye on the pace and attitude of the team. A reason, many say, why the Gators have the mentality that they do stems from one source. Throughout their first season together, throwing challenges and motivational words, was their head coach. Since day one, he's been known to challenge them, then roll up his sleeves and work right along side of them.
9:30 a.m.
After showering and changing, Starks makes his way to his math class. Since his schedule is so tight, Starks relies on a scooter to get around campus faster but since it's in the shop he must haul his 6-7, 349-pound frame around on foot across campus to Little Hall. While the professor explains the formula to figure annual percentage rates, Starks and his teammates Brian Crum, DeShawn Wynn and Johnathan Marvin continue to cool down from their workout.
While most of his classmates literally rolled out of bed and made it to class, Starks has already put in a two hour workout. With 48,184 students on campus, he is undoubtedly one of the biggest guys at UF. In his mind, he also wants to make the biggest impact of anyone on campus and is always looking to do more.
"Because of my height alone, people automatically assumed a certain maturity level or a certain responsibility when I was young," Starks explains. "As I got older, I amassed more responsibility. It's just something I've always embraced. I've always loved helping others and working with others. That's helped me excel in athletics because of the fact you have to depend on teamwork and team-building skills. It's something I followed from my parents and just learned at a very young age."
If he wasn't playing football he'd be going to medical school to become an orthopedic surgeon. Since he's been in Gainesville, he's been involved as the student-athlete representative on the UF Intercollegiate Athletic Committee, served as a student senator and associate justice on the UF Honor Court, involved in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and most importantly, involved in numerous community projects- all while starting on the offensive line. That effort, combined with his natural size, could pay off for him after a productive senior season in 2003.
"He's into so many things," Snell says. "How does he have time for it? I don't know how he does it. I've never seen somebody so involved in the community and the actual university. People expect him being so big, that he should just be mean all the time, and that's not the way he is. Off the field, he's just enjoyable to be around. On the field, if you were to say he was soft, he's going to put you on your back."
As the professor explains to the class how a 30-year mortgage on a $100,000 house will be a lifelong commitment, that may not be a classroom lesson Starks will ever face if he makes it to the NFL. But for now, he lives the typical college students' life.
10:30 a.m.
After class, Starks begins the trip back across campus to the stadium. On his way, he stops for a couple minutes to sit in the shade with a handful of his teammates as classes change. Aside from Starks' former roommate Troupe, most of the faces are young. It's a place called 'the set' in the center of campus where at anytime between classes Starks can find his teammates.
10:45 a.m
Getting off the elevator onto the coaches' floor, Starks makes a path to offensive line coach Joe Wickline's office. Strength training is only half of preparing for a season- the rest is done by watching film and learning the offense.
"Coach Wickline is very knowledgeable of the game," Starks says. "He knows the tricks of recognizing fronts, how to remember your assignment to certain plays, he has all those tricks but he's a technical perfectionist at the same time and he demands intensity. As a whole, he knows how we want to be treated but we know when it's time for business with him. He's more a pro-style coach. He's giving you the tools you need to succeed."
11:00 a.m
With his "free" hour between working out, class and his extracurricular activities, Starks runs a couple errands and picks up lunch on his way back to campus for a fraternity function. Today's lunch: A honey, bacon club with chips and a diet root beer. First meal of the day, aside from his post-lift protein shake.
The phone keeps ringing and between his mother, his best friend Josh and his fraternity brother Justin, he rushes through his lunch to make it back to campus in time. Starks gets at least one call a day from his mother, but today she was checking to see if she'd be able to visit on her way from Orlando to Atlanta on the weekend.
"I love my mom and dad. They're both my best friends. They let me know right from wrong from a young age. I knew what was right and what was wrong, morally. I appreciate that because without family you have nothing. A strong family base is necessary for you to succeed in life."
Noon
Today Starks' fraternity will be performing in a stepshow with other fraternities on campus, so he makes his way to the area to hang out with his brothers before they step. He was also surrounded by many of his teammates who he'd gotten to come out to watch.
Joining a fraternity was another way for Starks to get involved with campus and community projects while supplying him with another set of friends. "It's like football," he says. "You do things for the greater good of your organization. You're with people that have the same ideas and goals that you do. It's what we all look for- an extended family."
1:15 p.m
Back in the training room, Starks settles in with a book for his class while two student trainers hook him up to a machine for treatment on his foot. It's a daily routine for most athletes who will be in and out of the training room to prevent any major injury by getting electrical stem, ice or perform stretches on their bodies. Starks often uses this time to study or catch up with friends or family on the phone while confined to the machines.
On this day, Snell and Bobby Williams stop in and the conversation switches to how the new freshman are making the transition to college. It wasn't long ago Snell, Starks and Williams came in as freshman and the three are trying to expose the young ones what they've learned over the past three seasons.
"The freshman are doing very well," Starks says. "We want to make sure they feel comfortable through the transition- being away from home, being on their own. We were all freshman at one time so we have some knowledge to help them get through to have fun and take care of business while they're here."
"Age can hurt you or help you on the football field," he said. "I feel it's going to help us because we have younger guys that have older guys next to them, helping them. They're eager and willing to listen and learn from their mistakes. That helps us as opposed to an older person who is set in their ways."
With time running out before class, Starks asks Snell if he could borrow his scooter to get to class easily. One thing stands in the way- although Starks needs to get to class, Snell hasn't eaten lunch yet. With the logistics up in the air, the two come up with scenarios. Williams sees the obvious: "That's what fat people do- argue about who's getting the food." Snell's solution- pick up my lunch on your way back from class on my scooter.
2 p.m
After zipping across campus, Starks makes it to his Deviance in Society class in time for his test. With his extra study time in the training room, he eases through the questions.
"By coming to Florida you get a great athletic experience along with your great academic experience," he says. "The NCAA is trying to change legislation to make standards higher for student-athletes to get into schools around the country, but that won't really affect UF because our standards have been set high already."
Aside from the combination of superior athletics and academics, Starks chose Florida because of the many opportunities student-athletes get to be involved through the Office of Student Life.
"That (UF's Office of Student Life) was one of the big drawing factors before I ever set foot in any advisor's office or any football coaches office. It was a big draw for me, reading about making a difference with kids with mental handicaps, emotional problems or just needy students. The other schools, when I went on my official visits, never mentioned any type of organization like that."
3:25 p.m
Back in the stadium, the offensive line looks for a place to go over some line drills. Since the practice fields were being fertilized, the guys decided to share field space with the quarterbacks in The Swamp.
With the returners and added depth with the junior college transfers, the offensive line is a unit that will be a strength of the team and should take a lot of pressure of the quarterbacks.
"For us, the running game will open up our passing game. We will have an experienced backfield and we're going to have to depend on them to early for the younger guys to get confidence in their game and their skill to play in the SEC so it's going to rely heavily on the offensive line, who has a year of experience together. With our upperclassmen running backs and receivers, it's going to give us a lot of different dimensions."
The group of last year's starters, transfers and freshman signees take snaps for about 45 minutes before heading back inside.
"The upperclassmen know how our system works and what we need to do to be successful," Starks explains. "We came up with the returning guys running everyone through drills that will help us going into preseason practice. That way, we're prepared and don't have to spend much time on technical, fundamental things so we can get into learning the offense with the new guys."
"Everything we do out here is really just mental drills so we're technically sound from everything like how our feet are supposed to move on certain plays, how to recognize the blitz, pass protection, who to block… "
4:30 p.m
Standing on the sidewalk outside of the stadium, Starks is on his cell phone with his fraternity brothers who are on the way to pick him up. His fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, is having an event that night in the Reitz Union, so the guys are going to finish running last minute errands to get ready for the evening. His brothers pick him up and they do some shopping and eat dinner before returning to campus to set up for their event, a snowball fight.
9 p.m
Alpha Phi Alpha's snowball fight starts, drawing a crowd of over 1,200 students. Starks was happy with how things went. "It was a good social event because a lot of people in the South can't experience snow so it was a chance for people to have a fun time, let the students come out and hit their friends with some snowballs."
After everyone left, it was up to Starks and his fraternity brothers to clean up everything before he could head home for the first time since 5:30 a.m. It's a pace he keeps on a daily basis that makes people wonder how he can keep up with everything. His explanation is simple.
"You only get one chance to experience college life and you should make the most of it. The more I'm helping other people, the better I feel about myself," he says. "Growing up, service to others was always first. With my family in the funeral business I learned at a very young age to care for other people and their concerns. While I'm in college, when I see service opportunities I jump at it. You've got to make the most of your experience."
