Last Thursday and Friday I had the privilege of visiting two college campuses and speaking to their football teams. Thursday night I was in Gainesville, Florida to speak to the defending national champion, Florida Gators. Then, on Friday afternoon I got to speak to the University of Minnesota Gophers team, my alma mater.
My message to both teams was the same-they have to commit to being the best they can be, to work hard and play as a team with the common goal of winning. I also talked about being a winner off the field, about taking advantage of the opportunity to get a quality education and about their responsibility to be role models for all the young people who watch them.
I was really impressed at both schools by the players and their focus. You hear a lot about the problems with young people, but I found these guys to be very responsive, attentive and polite. It’s a reflection of the coaches at both schools-Urban Meyer at Florida, and Tim Brewster at Minnesota-and the way they’re running their programs. These coaches want to win but they’re also doing a great job of preparing their players for the future and emphasizing discipline, teamwork and education. I met a lot of quality young men at UF and UMN, and it made me realize that even though we often hear about the players who get into trouble or have problems off the field, there are a great many more who are doing it right and representing their schools in a very positive way.
