McGrew, No. 92

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Reggie McGrew returned to his Florida roots about three years ago with visions of moving back to Southern California once he completed his UF degree.McGrew's wife, former UF vollyeball standout and 1997 SEC Player of the Year Nina Foster, is from California and that's where the couple made their home for several years after McGrew's injury-plagued NFL career ended.And then life happened.A native of the small North Florida town of Mayo, which former Gators quarterback Kerwin Bell put on the map in the mid-1980s, McGrew reconnected with family and friends while back in the area. The couple's young daughter fit in perfectly. Next thing you know the McGrews began to call their old college town home."I did all the courses I could online,'' McGrew said. "I needed to get back on campus to finish the final two semesters. Felt like this was going to be home."McGrew didn't come home just once, but twice.The 39-year-old McGrew joined the Florida football team's strength and conditioning staff this month. McGrew spent part of last week meeting players and getting acclimated in his new job. McGrew played at Florida from 1995-98 and was the 24th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft when he left school following his junior season.McGrew's father, Taylor McGrew, was a longtime coach and athletic director at Lafayette High in Mayo when Reggie was growing up. McGrew said he never had aspirations to be a coach like his dad, but a chance to get involved with the Gators was appealing."I always said I didn't want to coach because I knew he was always gone a lot,'' McGrew said. "With this opportunity, it's a little bit different. It's not full-blown coaching and recruiting. I just felt like it was a wonderful opportunity to get back to the university."McGrew doesn't have any connections to Florida's coaching staff. However, his former UF teammatehas been on Florida's strength and condition staff for several years.Gators head coachoften stresses the importance of former players being involved in the program.McGrew fits the bill."He's just an all-time great who wanted to get back involved and we're excited to give him that opportunity. That's really important to us,'' McElwain said. "He'll be a big part of what we're doing."McGrew was a dominant run-stopper for the Gators who had 12 tackles-for-loss and five sacks as a junior. He surprised former UF coach Steve Spurrier by skipping his senior season to enter the draft, but the decision paid off when San Francisco selected McGrew in the first round, eight picks after teammate Jevon Kearse went to Tennessee.A string of injuries limited McGrew to 24 games in the NFL and after a comeback attempt with the Jaguars in 2003, his career was over. Before McGrew talked about his new job Friday, Gators running backstopped by for a chat."I think with that experience, just the ins and outs that some people don't know about that process, can help [connect with players],'' McGrew said. "It would have been a plus for me back then. I remember going to the combine. As soon as you get off the plane, for the next 10 hours nonstop, you are going to be in front of teams for interviews and doing tests."Other than for various stints as a personal coach or as a mentor to prep players over the years, McGrew has not been involved in football on a daily basis since his career ended.He gets his chance at his alma mater. Twenty years later, the '96 Florida team remains the one McGrew remembers most from his playing days."I've never been on another team with that kind of confidence," he said. "It was 'not if you are going to win, but what it would look like and how we would do it.' ''