This Is… The Swamp Is Presented by Wells Fargo
When you think of defense at the University of Florida, it’s hard not to think of linebacker Brandon Spikes. In this episode, we hear from the man himself as he shares insight into his playing days, his journey to becoming a leader, and some of his favorite moments on the field.
Head Coach Billy Napier shares what Brandon means to this current team, and Brandon’s former Coach Urban Meyer & teammate Ahmad Black share stories of what it was like to watch him become the best linebacker in college football.
0:00 Intro
2:20 Back with the Gators
5:05 GatorMade
8:40 Fall Camp 2024
13:20 Fall Camp 2008
15:45 Urban Meyer recruits Spikes
19:00 Hard Work
21:43 2006 Season
24:35 Becoming a Leader
29:21 2008 Season
33:30 Graduation
36:20 Credits
33 Comments
Fantastic! I want to see more Gator greats back in the Swamp working with the new players.
If Spikes is taking college classes, I want to see him sitting in class with all the other students. That would be a great experience for the kids currently in class.
Incredible! Awesome to see Brandon have the success he’s had on and off the field. Thank you for the memories 51!
Y’all do an amazing job. This is such a good feature of a Gator legend
Phenomenal tribute
Go Gators 🐊
Is spikes a coach now???
My favorite gator of all time !! Big 51 !!!
You need to do more of this. Remind some people what the Gator standard is and that they walk in the shadow of these giants.
Wow! I’m not 😭 crying! Absolutely loved this! Love Brandon and we are so BLESSED to have him be such a great leader for our young players! Let’s fricking Go Gators 🧡🐊💙
35:40 gave me chills and tears.
💙 🐊 🏈
Still to this day if Florida made a play this game and a play that game on defense they would have won the title in 07 and beat Bama in 09 they had a good shot at winning 4 straight titles. Shows how hard winning is just one play can change your life
welcome to the land of 5 and 7
LEGEND – LFGators!!!!
I love it. Everything about it. Go Gators
B SPIKES Gator nation is SO PROUD of you. So glad you’re back. God looking back at the old locker room videos. SO MUCH TALENT. God I want to be good again so bad. Had the privilege to be living in Gainesville during the Urban and Billy Donovan eras. It was so special to me and always will be. Watching the old stuff gives me goosebumps and such good feelings. Go Gators 🐊
Man it's funny how you hope something happens and years later it actually happens. I always hoped that Brandon Spikes would be apart of the Gators football program after he retired from the league and BOOM!
#51
This was AWESOME!! love SPIKES…ALPHA DAWG.
As an LSU Tiger who was in college during the Tebow-Spikes years, I used to HATE this dude! That's how you know he was good.
Very well done. Go Gators!
Wow! This video sent chills down my spine. I have no doubt that the Gators will return to greatness!
51 will always be in my heart Go Gators!
I loved the episode but would've like to see a more team centered video with lots of clips from fall camp this close to the season
Man i love that guy!! We are so proud of you Spikes!!
When he put that hit on Knowshon I knew at that moment there was 0 possibility we were losing that game!
We were lucky to have 51 play for us. Legend
Spikes 100% belongs in the ring of honor.
As long as we have this coach we lose 6 games this year
Born and raised in Tallahassee, Fl. I love my Gators!
Programs take time to build for sustained success. Young talent takes time to develop. Patience, we’ll get there sooner than you might think.
People always ask me "who's my favorite gator football player" an I always respond… Danny Wuerffel, Brandon Spikes, and Percy Harvin. People always ask me why not Tebow. My reason behind it.
Danny was Spurrier's pride and joy and put us on the map as a force to be seen, and I wanted to be Danny growing up playing football. Brandon was that dude who just like Tebow, brought that passion out to our team and encourage each teammate to be better and stronger than our rivals… Every single day. Percy because, he is the fastest and most agile running back I ever seen run the ball for Florida. I sat in the same seats my whole life and I thank my dad every year, we were season ticket holders through my childhood. Being a Gator is in my blood and there's no better feeling than being in Ben Hill on a Saturday night watching "kids" make dreams happen. I can say kids now because I'm well over a decade older than these players now…
Let's Go Gators, the foundation is poured now build that house!
Bring us home a title!
We could’ve did this video without urban Meyer tbh imo
Gators haven't been this bad since WWII. Leaving a legacy alright…