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The voices of reason

A LB believes his job is to tell recruits what life is like as a Florida football player.

GAINESVILLE - Brandon Siler spent the past few weeks entertaining prospective Florida athletes remaining true to one principle:

"I try to come off being dead honest with them," the linebacker said.

The university can sell them on academics and inform them of the various programs that can enhance the college experience. Siler believes his job is to tell athletes precisely what life is like as a Florida football player, so no one gets to Gainesville and believes he has been deceived.

"That's my main thing, to give them a real sense of what it's going to be like," he said. "Don't put on a front for the kids, and then they get here and all of a sudden they are disappointed, because if they are disappointed being here you're not going to get the utmost performance out of them."

Because he went through the process one year ago, Siler said he knows how to help recruits get the most out of a visit.

"Sometimes you'll be selling something, and that's not what they're trying to hear," said Siler. "So I try to get out of them what they want out of the program, then we go from there. I try to ask them a lot of questions and make them talk back to me instead of just sitting there listening all the time."

While each prospective athlete is different, one thing is generally universal: Players want to know how quickly they can expect to play.

"That's a real big thing to recruits, how fast they can get on the field," he said. "That's why I try to be totally honest with them."

As for entertainment, well, Siler said you have to keep it real because, "You don't want them thinking it's all great, great, great and you've got 100 women around you all the time and all that." In the end, Siler believes both his and the Gators' reputations are on the line.

"You take pride in not disappointing them," he said. "This is a really big decision. ... You don't want to trick them or fool them and make them think it's one thing when it's another."