McElwain approaches first spring speaking tour as a "grass-roots movement"
Wednesday, April 22, 2015 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The first stop outside the city limits was Tuesday night. An estimated crowd of 575 showed up at the Lakeland Center to hear first-year Gators head coach Jim McElwain speak to the Polk County Gator Club.
The next stop is tonight in Orlando, where McElwain will speak to the Central Florida Gator Club. He will be in Tampa on April 27 to meet with the Tampa and Pinellas County Gator Clubs. McElwain wraps up the annual spring speaking tour May 28 back here when he visits with the Fightin' Gator Touchdown Club not far from his office at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
In his first tour around the state to meet and greet Florida fans, McElwain wants to recharge the fan base and deliver an introductory message.
Don't expect him to arrive with hand-written speech prepared in advance.
“I'm an off-the-cuff guy,'' he said. “If I try to memorize something, I'm horrible at it. Try to get the feel of the room and listen to the introductions. Try to not put them to sleep.”
While new to Gator Nation, McElwain has recruited the state heavily at previous stops in his coaching career. He understands what the Gators mean to different parts of the Sunshine State.
He exhibited some of that knowledge Tuesday in Lakeland.
“This is a special area,'' he told reporters. “I believe there's more Polk Gators per capita than anywhere in the state. Then you think about the history of great players who've come out of Polk County that have made a difference for the Gators. That speaks volumes for the area. It's been really good to the Gators.”
The Gators capped spring practice with the Orange & Blue Debut on April 11. Besides the quarterback battle between sophomore Treon Harris and redshirt freshman Will Grier, the dominant story line was the lack of depth on the offensive line.
Florida had only six scholarship offensive linemen available for the spring game and the position took a devastating hit last week when redshirt sophomore Roderick Johnson's career ended due to congenital cervical stenosis.
Still, McElwain has no plans to focus on what he doesn't have in his first season at Florida. Instead, he wants to inspire the crowds to think of what can be.
“This is actually exciting,'' he said. “We get an opportunity to get out and see the people that are really passionate about Gator football and the University of Florida. It allows us to get out in a grass-roots movement of what it's all about.
“There's a lot of great things here. There's a lot of things that we can point at. I mean, you can't hide the reality and you can't run from it, and yet, you know what, that's just part of building something and making sure we get a solid foundation first and implement these guys as they come in.”
