Spurrier vs. Zook. No first names needed in this one.

Former Florida Gators head coaches Steve Spurrier and Ron Zook will face off against each other on March 2 when the Orlando Apollos take on the Salt Lake Stallions in an Alliance of American Football contest on Saturday at 6 pm. The game will be played in Salt Lake City, Utah and televised on the NFL network.

There will be plenty of Gator history on hand when the two team’s match up. Spurrier of course won The Heisman Trophy at Florida and guided the Gators as head coach two 12 years of unmatched success including the first ever National Championship for Florida. He is the head coach of the Orlando squad in a league that is in its first year of life.

Zook was just hired by the Stallions this week as the Special Teams and Secondary coach. Was hired to be the head coach at Florida when Spurrier resigned in the first week of January of 2002. Zook’s time at Florida lasted just three seasons and his most notable accomplishment as the head coach was winning at Florida State in 2004 after he was told he wouldn’t be back the following year and on the night the Seminoles named the field after Bobby Bowden.

Zook also worked for Spurrier as well. He was hired as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 1991 and remained in that capacity through the 1993 season, then was moved to special teams in 1994 and then as associate head coach, special teams, and safeties coach in 1994. He moved on after the ’94 season before arriving back at Florida eight years later when he got the head coach gig.

While Zook is the only person on the Stallion’s roster or staff that has a history at Florida, Spurrier has surrounded himself with a lot of former Gators to make his team work.

The coaching staff has quite a few with former Gators defensive coach Bob Sanders who is the Stallion’s defensive coordinator. Former Gator Willie Jackson coaches the receivers. Former Florida offensive line coach Jim Stephens coaches the interior offensive line. Former Florida linebacker coach Jim Collins, Former All-SEC corner Lito Sheppard coaches the safeties. Spurrier’s youngest son Scott Spurrier coaches the tight ends.

The AAF is big on regional rosters and the Apollos have seven former Gators on their roster as well. Quarterback Austin Appleby made the roster after he spent one season with the Gators. Receiver Chris Thompson is a speedster at receiver for the Apollos. Defensive end Earl Okine is a name from the past and a local to Gainesville. Leon Orr plays defensive tackle and was a terrific athlete in his time at Florida. Safety Will Hill played during the Urban Meyer era at Florida and was an All-SEC talent at safety. Safety Josh Evans also played for Meyer and both had solid NFL careers. The Apollos even have former Gator ling snapper Drew Ferris to perform that duty for the Apollos.

The Apollos are 3-0 and on top of the Eastern Conference while the Stallions are 1-2 and tied with San Antonio at the bottom of the AAF Western Conference.