Nick West / Alligator
Coach Urban Meyer just concluded his first spring in Gainesville, but the summertime presents several concerns for Meyer and his assistant coaches.

He already dug the Pit.

He already attracted an unprecedented 58,500 fans for a scrimmage.

So what does Coach Urban Meyer do for an encore during the summer? Just re-invents the human body, that’s all.

"I want them to look like what a Florida football team is supposed to look like," Meyer said. "That’s veins looking like they’re stretched, big necks, big arms, big shoulders and muscular, strong, big people."

According to Meyer, the Gators are a few million bench presses away from looking season-ready.

That’s where summertime comes in. The players meet with the assistant coaches this week. They meet with Meyer next week. And after some time off, they’re off to the weight room.

"There’s been a very key challenge given to our strength coaches getting this team looking the way [it’s] supposed to look," Meyer said. "Now we’re athletic. We can run on nights with a lot of teams, but you’ll see what we’re supposed to look like in a few months."

RECEIVERS GETTING SERIOUS

They always seem to be fast, always seem to be among the conference’s elite. But UF’s wide receivers have a history of summer woes.

Sure, Chris Leak schedules workout times with his receivers. Yes, his receivers usually show up. But in past summers they messed around instead of running around. They made excuses instead of plays. All that is about to change.

"What you can’t do is go out and fool around," quarterbacks coach Dan Mullen said. "Going out for half an hour and just throwing the ball around doesn’t accomplish anything.

"[Guys need to be] going out and saying, ‘OK, [I’m] running this look, and this is what the coverage is. I’m going to use perfect footwork. I’m going to use my eyes to look off the safety and I’m going to drive the ball in there like a 100-mile-an-hour fastball.’"

Junior wide receiver Dallas Baker exemplifies UF’s previously flawed cycle of receiver development. Baker has always been phenomenal in spring, but admittedly lost ground in summer.

"In the past, I used to make excuses and maybe [I was] immature," he said. "Now I’ve grown up. I’m going to be there every day of the summer working at 110 percent."

Added Mullen: "Dallas Baker has to run every route 1,000 times this summer and catch up to 1,000 balls if we want to be successful."

Leak will still hold much of the receiver responsibility. He has to schedule workout times and sometimes motivate his receivers. But even the quarterback doesn’t seem worried about this summer’s workouts.

"I’ve done that for three years, so that’s definitely not a problem at all," Leak said. "All these receivers want to go out there and get better."

And Mullen? He has his own litmus test to determine whether Leak and Co. do their job.

"I want Chris to approach me after the summer and say, ‘You know what? I can put a blindfold on and throw all the routes of our offense right now, because I know where everyone is going to be,’" he said.

AVOIDING OFF-THE-FIELD DISASTER

For 129 days, Meyer has been at UF’s helm, and for 129 days, the Gators football team has been arrest-free. Still, Meyer lives every day in fear that the streak could be snapped, especially now that spring practice has finished.

"All you have to do is [check] ESPN.com, CBSsportsline.com and all those things every morning to see what’s going on, and it’s shocking," Meyer said.

Last summer, Channing Crowder, Jarvis Herring and Taurean Charles were arrested, while Earl Everett and Skyler Thornton were implicated in two sworn complaints.

NCAA Division I policies forbid Meyer and his assistants from being involved with summer workouts, hindering their ability to monitor players. But Meyer has a backup plan.

"Instead of being a weight and training staff that kind of closes [its] eyes and hopes nothing bad happens, we’re going to look into their eyes and tell what’s going on," Meyer said. "If you do your homework and grind it, you can find out how your players are living."

Meyer’s watchdog program starts with the players themselves, such as redshirt senior Tavares Washington. UF’s designated clubhopper, Washington stops by every popular club on certain nights to ensure none of the players get into trouble.

"I don’t trust them because they’re 18- and 22-year-olds in a college town with all kinds of things pulling at them, and I don’t know them well enough yet," Meyer said.

For Meyer, UF’s 2005 outlook hinges as much on discipline as touchdowns.

"If we don’t live right, we’re very average next year," he said. "If [we] do, we have a chance to win big."