Bostic wins Meyer's praise

Jon Bostic couldn’t have asked for a better start to his Florida career.

Not only did the freshman linebacker come on strong toward the end of Florida’s spring practices, he stood in for his mentor, senior Brandon Spikes, at middle linebacker during the Orange and Blue Debut Saturday.

For a player who arrived at Florida with nearly all of his experience at safety and cornerback, Bostic showed he was fully capable of playing in the middle of the field after leading the Orange with four total tackles.

Because of his raw skills at linebacker, Bostic said he arrived at Florida expecting to sit and watch for a while.

“My thoughts coming in were to just learn as much as I could my first year,” he said. “If I had to redshirt, then I’d redshirt.”

Well, according UF coach Urban Meyer, there will be nothing red about Bostic’s appearance this fall.

“He’s playing. The redshirt’s gone,” Meyer said. “Now, he’s battling for a starting spot at Florida.”

Bostic’s eyes widened and a childish smile began to form when he heard his coach’s praise. But to him, there’s still a ways to go.

He’s only made it through a couple months of work with his new team and he expects it to only get tougher.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s learning from one of the best in Spikes. Bostic said all he’s had to do is watch and try to mimic Spikes’ movements during practice. It’s been easier, Bostic said, to watch and imitate rather than hear what he’s supposed to do.

Watching isn’t everything, though. To get a handle on his new position, Bostic said he had to go from only paying attention to things that revolved around him to understanding what everyone on the field is doing.

“Most of the time I was just running around out there just trying to make plays,” he said. “I’m learning to read guards, read splits, everything.”

With only a short time making the transition, Bostic showed Saturday that even though he is fully committed to linebacker, he can still run and jump with the secondary.

With a little over six minutes left in the second quarter, Bostic launched himself in front of Tim Tebow’s pass over the middle. Bostic leaped and tipped the ball into the hands of senior safety Dorian Munroe, who took it 30 yards the other way.

It was a heads-up play by Bostic, but afterward, he was a little upset that he didn’t come down with the ball.

“Actually, I could have gotten the interception,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to jump that high to get the ball. I actually got both hands on it and I just tipped it up. As soon as I tipped it up, I turned around and saw ‘D-Mo’ pick it up.”

He might not have made the pick, but Bostic’s actions didn’t go unnoticed. Meyer high-fived the 6-foot-1, 235-pounder on a bunch of plays and the two embraced after the Orange’s 31-21 win over the Blue.

But to Meyer, Bostic’s play isn’t the only thing that’s caused him to use the word “love” when referring to the frosh. Bostic’s personality in general is something that has him winning all sorts of praise from his head coach.

“We sat at his home during recruiting and he said, ‘I’m going to be very serious about my job. I’m going to take care of my stuff off the field,’ and he has,” Meyer said. “He’s been tremendous in the weight room and he’s got great skill level on the football field.”