Mardy Gilyard played hooky the day Ron Zook visited his high school.
The former coach of the University of Florida football team drove two hours to Bunnell Flagler Palm Coast High School to meet the Bulldogs’ talented receiver. The kid didn’t even bother to show up. On Tuesday in New Orleans, Gilyard called that kid a “knucklehead.”
Now an All-American receiver for the fourth-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats, Gilyard hopes to make a different impression on the Gators’ coaching staff in the final college football game of his career. The Bearcats (12-0) play No. 5 Florida (12-1) today in the Sugar Bowl. Gilyard plans on showing up.
Projected as a potential first-round pick in April’s NFL Draft, Gilyard will be the best receiver in the Louisiana Superdome on New Year’s Day. His big-play potential is something the Gators’ offense lacked this season. During the past two seasons, Gilyard has 162 receptions for 2,426 yards and 22 touchdowns.
“I am a great Florida receiver,” Gilyard said. “I just play football for Cincinnati.”
Florida stopped recruiting Gilyard after his truancy in 2004. The rangy 6-1 speedster eventually settled on Cincinnati, but he still had some growing up to do.
Gilyard flunked out of school after his freshman season and had his scholarship revoked by former Bearcats coach Mark Dantonio. The receiver with so much potential had nothing. Evicted from his apartment, Gilyard didn’t even have a place to live. Debt from unpaid tuition and student fees were piling up.
“When coach Dantonio took my scholarship away, he said, ‘You have so much ability, and that’s what’s really (upsetting me) about you,’” Gilyard said. “I was really arrogant and naive then. I was young, and I didn’t understand what was going on.”
He thought about giving up and returning to Florida. His mother wouldn’t take him back. She told him to grow up. At times he slept in a borrowed car. Long nights in parking lots do wonders for perspective.
“When I hit rock bottom, I understood,” Gilyard said.
Gilyard was given a second chance by the Bearcats’ new coach, Brian Kelly. If Gilyard paid off his debt with the university, then the football team would take him back and give him another scholarship.
“I didn’t know coach Kelly, and he didn’t know me,” Gilyard said. “The only thing I was clinging to was his word.
“He looked me in the eye and said, ‘As a man, I can tell you if you take care of your end with your student bill, I’ll take care of the rest.’
Kelly showed Gilyard the new scholarship form. It was already filled out. All it needed was a signature from Kelly. To gain that, Gilyard needed to show his new coach he was a changed man. No more Mr. Knucklehead.
Gilyard went to work — construction, pizza deliveryman, door-to-door cutlery salesman — and cleared his tab with the school, $7,000 in cash. He had finally grown up. He made his mom proud. More importantly, Gilyard learned a valuable life lesson: hard work pays off.
“I was just so happy to see all those zeroes on my receipt, everything is down to zero and I don’t owe nobody nothing,” Gilyard said.
In a few months, Gilyard is in line to see plenty of zeroes. Only this time, he will be the one getting paid.
Gilyard is a talented return man in addition to being one of the nation’s best receivers. He returned three kicks for touchdowns this season, including a dazzling 99-yard return to spark an epic comeback against Pittsburgh in the Bearcats’ season finale.
There is still one more game to be played before Gilyard begins preparing for the NFL. As fate would have it, he is playing the team he grew up idolizing. Florida’s secondary is up for the challenge.
Earlier this week, Florida safeties coach Chuck Heater called Gilyard an SEC-caliber receiver.
“I’ve been dreaming about this game for like 12 years now. I’m ready,” Gilyard said.
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