By Meghan Gannon, UF Sports Information

 

Brandon Spikes will celebrate his 20th birthday just two days after the Gators' September 1st season opener versus Western Kentucky. But, at just 19 years of age, Spikes has become one of the Gators' vocal and emotional leaders.

 

"To me, age is just a number and it doesn’t matter as long as you handle the competition and make the plays," says Spikes. 

 

Wise words from someone who just a year ago was learning the ropes himself.

 

In 2006, Spikes was the back-up linebacker to Brandon Siler, who combined with Earl Everett to lead UF in tackles on the season. After the Gators won the BCS National Championship, with a decisive 41-14 romp over Ohio State, four juniors made themselves eligible for the NFL Draft. Siler was one of the last to decide he would forgo his senior season, in the process leaving the Florida defense depleted and without a certain leader. 

 

"I watched last year as a true freshman, how they led the defense and the team, and just picked up after him and will try to do the same thing," Spikes said of Siler and the rest of the 2006 Gator defense.

 

The "same thing" would be leading the newest group of Gators through one of the nation’s toughest schedules. The "same thing" would be leading one of the youngest crops of Gators to ever don the Orange and Blue with the same emotion and determination of a senior playing in his last season. The "same thing" would be coordinating and balancing the defense from the middle.

 

Spikes, a social and behavioral sciences major, who came to Florida as the number one recruit out of Shelby, N.C., truly has inherited a critical role on Gator defense from Siler. When Siler made the decision to turn pro, it was Spikes who knew before anyone else.

 

"I spoke with him before he made the decision to enter the Draft and he had let me know before it ever went public," said Spikes. 

 

The idea of taking over for Siler was something that Spikes relished. He loved the idea of leading his team, and he loved the idea of being the voice and emotion of a defense that was relatively unknown to most of the college football world.

  

In February, it was head coach Urban Meyer who questioned how Spikes would handle his new role. Just two weeks into preseason camp, Meyer reaffirmed his faith in the young linebacker by saying, "He's done everything we have asked him to do. My challenge to him is how is he going to handle hard work?" 

 

Spikes seemed to have the answer, pushing and inspiring his teammates through one of Meyer’s toughest preseason camps ever, embracing his role as the Gators' newest defensive leader.

 

"I am in charge of the other linebackers and making sure that everyone on the defense is lined up right," said Spikes. 

 

In charge. At 19.

 

With temperatures on the field reaching nearly 110 degrees during preseason camp, it was Spikes who kept his team up. It was the 19-year-old who was vocal, emotional and physical, leading his team any way that he knew how under such oppressive conditions.

 

The road to outspoken leader was not an easy one for Spikes. He dressed for more games than he was used last year, seeing time in just six of the first 10 games of the season. Then came the South Carolina game on November 11 in The Swamp. In a game that the Gators won by just a point, in one of the most memorable moments at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, it was Spikes that was in the background doing the dirty work. Spikes had dressed but did not play against Tennessee, LSU, Georgia or Vanderbilt, but against the Gamecocks he broke out for three tackles, including Florida's only tackle for a loss, in his most significant playing time all season.

 

His work against South Carolina earned him his first career start the following week and he made the most of his opportunity, registering six tackles and breaking up one pass against Western Carolina. Spikes accomplished more in one game than he had all season. His continued hard work earned him action against Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game and Tostitos BCS National Championship Game against Ohio State.

 

His time spent playing behind one of the best linebackers in the country did not unnerve Spikes. If anything, it prepared him for the moment that he would take the field as a leader, despite the fact that it came sooner rather than later.

 

"The time has come and I’m ready to perform," says Spikes. "It came a little faster than I thought it would, but I’m up for the challenge."

 

At 19 years of age, Spikes will take the field with the rest of the Gators for the season opener.  He will by no means be the youngest of those in uniform, but he will join an elite class of Gators to take the field.  He will be one of 27 sophomores on the roster but he will be a leader. He will lead Florida’s defense in the opening game of the Gators’ campaign to defend their national crown, all just two days before he turns 20.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

 

-UF-