Colleges

Gators get insighton dealing with death

The Florida players reunited Monday morning after a long weekend off and began trying to find the delicate balance between grieving for a lost teammate and preparing for one of the biggest games of the season.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published October 16, 2007

GAINESVILLE - The Florida players reunited Monday morning after a long weekend off and began trying to find the delicate balance between grieving for a lost teammate and preparing for one of the biggest games of the season.

No. 14 Florida 4-2, 2-2 SEC faces No. 8 Kentucky (6-1, 2-1) on Saturday in Lexington with major SEC East title implications on the line. But the Gators began the week with an early-morning team meeting/grieving session, then a memorial service Monday night to honor teammate Michael Guilford.

Guilford, 19, and Florida student Ashley E. Slonina died after the 1998 silver Kawasaki that Guilford was driving hit a median. The two were thrown and died instantly. Guilford's funeral is at 11 a.m. today, and he will be buried this afternoon in Blountstown.

When the players arrived for the meeting Monday, former Eagles and Vikings great Cris Carter was there. Carter, a friend of coach Urban Meyer, was asked to provide comfort and insight to the players because of his experiences: He played with the late Jerome Brown (died in 1992 in a car accident in Brooksville) and the late Korey Stringer (died in 2001 of heat exhaustion during preseason drills).

"It helped us a lot," sophomore linebacker Dustin Doe said. "A lot of people respect Cris Carter, and just to hear him go through the same thing and how he handled it, it gave us an opportunity to see or give us ideas of ways that we can handle the situation."

Meyer declined to elaborate out of respect to the families.

"It is obviously a very, very difficult situation," he said.

Slonina, 20, was the girlfriend of freshman cornerback Joe Haden.

"My teammates said he was down pretty bad," sophomore receiver Percy Harvin said. "They kind of had to drag him out of his house for him to come out. ... He was pretty beat up."

Harvin's flight home to Virginia had just landed when he received a text message from teammates informing him of Guilford's death. Others, he said, learned about it from ESPN and Internet reports.

"It's a terrible tragedy," Harvin said. "Really, our team is in shock right now. It really ain't hit us yet. We've got the memorial service, so a lot of us will be down. We've got to lean on each other and lean on our teammates to get us through this tragedy."

Guilford was a walk-on who often ran the scout team as quarterback. He was nicknamed Sunshine because his long, blonde hair resembled that of Ronnie "Sunshine" Bass in the football movie Remember the Titans.

"I think it's comforting to know that Sunshine's in a better place now," quarterback Tim Tebow said. "He was a great kid, and I'm just thankful for the 19 years he had and all the lives he impacted, including myself. ... He would want us to go out there and play football. That's the No. 1 thing he loved to do, was just go out there and play football."

KEEPING IT LIGHT: Even before Guilford's death, Meyer and the staff were working on ways to lighten the team's mood. After two straight losses, Meyer said the team needed to remember the game is supposed to be fun.

During practice Thursday, the coaches put together an impromptu coaches vs. players portion of practice, including Meyer, Billy Gonzales, Stan Drayton and Dan Mullen.

"That was the first time I've seen some of my coaches play football, and it was quite a sight to see," Doe said. "I know why they are coaches now. ... It was a nice experience, it gave the guys something to smile about."

"With a young team, I have done that kind of stuff in the past," said Meyer, who players said threw an interception on the final play. "I think we need to make sure that we get smiles on their faces, but we have to improve."

[Last modified October 15, 2007, 23:20:33]