If you find yourself in a football conversation and want to instantly win the respect of everyone around you, confidently declare that the punt is the most important play in the game.
Know who would agree with you? Dan Mullen. "The punt is the most important thing we do," Mullen declared in front of the entire team after practice on Monday. "So it's not right that you guys are walk-ons. You're both on scholarship."
The two new scholarship-ed Gators are R.J. Raymond, a fifth-year senior tight end from Atlantic Beach, Fla., and Nick Villano, a redshirt junior offensive lineman from Wellington, Fla.
"I had no idea it was coming,'' Raymond told Florida's team site. "When he said it, it was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It means the world to me. It shows me that these coaches see the work that I am putting in and that everything Nick and I have been doing hasn't gone unnoticed."