Brandon starred for three seasons with the Gators, including the 2006 national championship year.
Brandon Siler is Mr. Two Bits
Tuesday, October 11, 2016 | Football, Chris Harry
The former linebacker will be part of a 10-year anniversary salute to the 2006 national championship team.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For an active Florida football player, the whole Mr. Two Bits thing pretty much comes second hand.
"I never saw him when I was playing. Never really even knew who he was or what it was," former UF linebacker Brandon Siler said. "We were in the locker room."
Siler, like all Gators, eventually got educated on the pre-game ritual made famous for 60-plus years by George Edmondson and soon got wind of the modern-day celebratory version adopted in 2013.
In fact, Siler was on the sidelines last month when Billy Donovan and members of his back-to-back NCAA title teams did the Two Bits cheer in unison as part of their 10-year reunion salute before the Kentucky game. Siler was standing among a group of the players, his contemporaries from those glorious football-basketball championship years. A UF marketing assistant came by handing out faux yellow Two Bits T-shirts and handed one to Siler, assuming he was a former basketball player.
He kept it.
Saturday he'll wear it. For real.
Among the festivities highlighting Florida-Missouri homecoming weekend, the 2006 UF team that obliterated Ohio State for the national championship is invited back for its 10-year anniversary and will be saluted at halftime.
Siler, one of the leaders of that squad, will lead the pre-game hype and get things going before kickoff.
"I love it, man," Siler said Tuesday. "You don't know how much it means to Florida, to the Gators, to everybody associated with the school until you actually see it. When you're playing, you don't understand how important Mr. Two Bits is to the fans. But when you come back and you go to a game, you finally get it."
Siler is especially excited about the weekend because he's been lobbying for recognition of that '06 bunch. He brought it up to Jim McElwain during the offseason, to Jeremy Foley, to anyone who would listen. Truth be told, the 10-year marker for Urban Meyer's first crowned team was always on the UAA radar.
Now Siler, who played six years in the NFL and has since settled in Orlando with his wife, two sons and a third child on the way, gets to not only immerse himself in the pre-game pageantry, but be the center of it -- if only for one special cheer -- as well. He thought about that just the other day when his 6-year-old son, Zion, came into the bathroom and saw his father preening at his own image.
"Daddy, you're looking in the mirror like back when you used to be famous."
Siler laughed.
"Running out on Florida Field, man, when you're 18 or 19 years old, you take that for granted," he said. "When you get a little older, you really appreciate those days. Now, our kids get to see us do it. That's big."
"I never saw him when I was playing. Never really even knew who he was or what it was," former UF linebacker Brandon Siler said. "We were in the locker room."
Siler, like all Gators, eventually got educated on the pre-game ritual made famous for 60-plus years by George Edmondson and soon got wind of the modern-day celebratory version adopted in 2013.
In fact, Siler was on the sidelines last month when Billy Donovan and members of his back-to-back NCAA title teams did the Two Bits cheer in unison as part of their 10-year reunion salute before the Kentucky game. Siler was standing among a group of the players, his contemporaries from those glorious football-basketball championship years. A UF marketing assistant came by handing out faux yellow Two Bits T-shirts and handed one to Siler, assuming he was a former basketball player.
He kept it.
Saturday he'll wear it. For real.
Among the festivities highlighting Florida-Missouri homecoming weekend, the 2006 UF team that obliterated Ohio State for the national championship is invited back for its 10-year anniversary and will be saluted at halftime.
Siler, one of the leaders of that squad, will lead the pre-game hype and get things going before kickoff.
"I love it, man," Siler said Tuesday. "You don't know how much it means to Florida, to the Gators, to everybody associated with the school until you actually see it. When you're playing, you don't understand how important Mr. Two Bits is to the fans. But when you come back and you go to a game, you finally get it."
Siler is especially excited about the weekend because he's been lobbying for recognition of that '06 bunch. He brought it up to Jim McElwain during the offseason, to Jeremy Foley, to anyone who would listen. Truth be told, the 10-year marker for Urban Meyer's first crowned team was always on the UAA radar.
Now Siler, who played six years in the NFL and has since settled in Orlando with his wife, two sons and a third child on the way, gets to not only immerse himself in the pre-game pageantry, but be the center of it -- if only for one special cheer -- as well. He thought about that just the other day when his 6-year-old son, Zion, came into the bathroom and saw his father preening at his own image.
"Daddy, you're looking in the mirror like back when you used to be famous."
Siler laughed.
"Running out on Florida Field, man, when you're 18 or 19 years old, you take that for granted," he said. "When you get a little older, you really appreciate those days. Now, our kids get to see us do it. That's big."
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