Injured and unproductive in a junior year after he
transferred to Florida from a Mississippi junior
college, he was injured again in 2004 and took a
redshirt during a season in which Ron Zook was fired
as the Gators' football coach. Soon after Coach Urban Meyer was named as Florida's new coach, it was
announced that offensive coordinator Larry Fedora and
offensive line coach Joe Wickline would not be
retained as part of the new staff.
"At that point, I'm thinking oh man, how bad can it
get?" Washington said Saturday after the Orange and
Blue Game before a record spring football crowd of
58,500 at The Swamp. "I really didn't know what was
going to happen and what I was going to do. We hear
these stories about how the new coach is going to run
people off and stuff like that and we wonder…. I
wondered is there a place for me here at Florida?"
When Tavares Washington came to Florida, he was
considered one of the best junior college offensive
linemen in the country, a 6-3, 310-pound tackle with
quick enough feet to pass protect and the strength to
maul defensive ends in the running game. The people
who saw him play in junior college envisioned two
all-star years at Florida then a pleasant weekend in
April 2005 when he heard his name announced in the
National Football League draft.
Even the best laid plans sometimes run amok.
Washington's plans hit a few hiccups along the way. He
had to adjust to a new offense, then he had to battle
through injuries. And that was just his first year in
the program.
"I started against Miami and then I got hurt," he said
of his first year at UF. "I missed three or four
games, but then when I got healthy, I'd go in for a
play or two, then I'd come out. I never did get in a
rhythm. I looked back on that season and felt there
wasn't a lot of good that came out of it."
As bad as it was in 2003, 2004 was worse. Injured
again, he had to have surgery which led to a redshirt.
"I had the surgery and every time I start feeling
healthy and think I'd be back playing again, I'd get
some kind of setback," he said. "It was bad. It was
real bad. And then Coach Zook is fired and after that
Coach Wickline is gone, too. That was the worst. I
know rock bottom. I've been to rock bottom. That was
rock bottom."
Tavares Washington (#76) in action blocking a defender near the top during O&B game
Meyer came to Florida with a reputation as a coach who
doesn't tolerate unproductive players. Washington
looked back on two unproductive seasons and questioned
himself, wondering if Meyer and his assistant coaches
would overlook the past and allow him a fresh chance.
"I'm a pretty positive guy, but that was a lot of
stuff to handle," he said. "I didn't know. I just
didn't know if I had a future here. I knew that these
new coaches would come in here and they'd look at
film… but there's no film on me hardly at all… so I
had to wonder what would they expect of me? Would they
even want me to be here?"
That's when the hand reached out, almost from out of
the blue, an unexpected gift and just the right lift
at just the right moment. In a matter of one meeting,
he went from the walking dead to the very much alive.
"The new coaches came in and they set up their rules
first off," Washington said, "and then they started
calling us in to talk. They called me in and first
thing they tell me is how much they are counting on me
to be a player on the field and a leader off the
field.
"This was the positive thing I needed in my life.
Coach Meyer let me know that I had hope and a future.
All I had prayed about is one chance and I didn't even
have to ask. Coach Meyer granted me this one chance
and this is something I won't let him down about.
Whatever this coach needs, he'll get it from me."
Granted new life, Washington dedicated himself in the
preseason strength and conditioning program. He got in
the best shape he's been in since arriving at Florida
and prepared to have a spring to prove Meyer was right
to show such confidence.
"It really said something to me that Coach Meyer and
then Coach (John) Hevesy would just give me this
chance like that," he said. "You can go through life
without ever getting a second chance. They offered it
to me and I'm doing the best I can to show them how
right they were."
Given what he calls a "new birth," he's not just shown
up in the weight room and on the practice field he's
also shown up in a rather new and important capacity.
Meyer calls him a true team leader.
At Saturday's post game press conference, Meyer said,
"Tavares Washington … he's a guy that when I have an
issue, for some reason, it's interesting who you go
to. He's the guy I go to."
Washington in the lower left of the photo shown holding off Todd McCullough.
Meyer knows he can go to Washington because his big
tackle is conscientious and not a player who you can
lump into one single group. Washington is not a
troublemaker or one who is a trouble magnet. He's also
a trusted teammate that others know they can talk to
anytime about anything.
"I don't just hang with one group," Washington said.
"I'm with one group one day, with another group
another. I like to mix and like to get a feel for what
everyone's thinking and what everyone's doing. I think
my teammates trust me. I think the coaches know I'm
not going to be in trouble and they know they can get
an honest answer from me."
The leadership has also shown up on the field in a
very positive way according to offensive coordinator
Dan Mullen. Mullen appreciates that Washington has
shown by example that he's a leader, but also that the
big guy isn't lacking the courage to speak up on the
field when necessary.
"He's a guy who didn't play last year because of
injuries, but he's made a great improvement," said
Mullen. "I think he's shown some versatility within
our offense that he can do different things, but the
one critical thing with him is that he has developed
as a leader. He's someone who offensively that can be
vocal.
"We don't have a lot of vocal guys on the offense,
someone who will stand up and say 'this is how it has
to be. This is my last chance.' When you get to be a
senior it's a lot easier to be a leader because now
you can see that light at the end of the tunnel. So
now it's time to go. He wants to make sure he leaves
here on a great note and he's willing to hold himself
and everybody else accountable for him having success
this year."
Mullen said that Washington has been a quick study,
making the transition from Wickline's way of teaching
blocking to that of Hevesy. The new offense requires
more of a zone blocking scheme and with Washington's
good footwork, he's a natural for a tackle position.
"Obviously when you come in here and you learn a new
offense and your coach is teaching you new
fundamentals that are different that you've done in
the past and everything's a different way of doing
things, that takes some time," said Mullen. "Just in
this past week I've seen everybody know not just what
to do but start to know how to do it and how we want
to do it.
"Tavares is a great example. He's really worked hard
with his fundamentals and how we want them to look.
He's learned how we're teaching fundamentals and to
get the job done that way. One of the best things he's
done is to develop fundamentally with what we want,
not just general offensive line play, but with the
fundamentals that we're teaching."
Because the coaches have embraced him, Washington has
become comfortable in his role both as a starter and
as a team leader. He likes Meyer's open door policy
that allows any player to come in and talk any time.
"He's made it like a family here," said Washington.
"You can go talk to coach Meyer and you don't have to
have an appointment. You can walk in his office if
he's not busy and say, 'can we talk?' And you know
he's always ready to talk. You just sit down or you
can even lay down on the couch in his office. He lets
you be comfortable and he lets you open up to him. It
doesn't matter what you want to talk about."
Washington is aware that second chances in life don't
come often so he's decided that he will do everything
in his power to see that Meyer and this staff succeed.
"All I needed was a chance and they gave it to me," he
said. "They didn't have to do that but they did. I'm
going to do what I can to make sure I don't let them
down. This is my rebirth. This is my renewal."