Gloria Westcott will be able to walk to the Georgia Dome from her hotel on Dec. 6.
That's because she booked her room after the LSU game, four weeks before UF would clinch the Southeastern Conference East.
Because her son, UF linebacker Ryan Stamper, said the Gators would be there.
So she canceled her plans to make the nine-hour drive from Jacksonville to Nashville, Tenn., for the Vanderbilt game this past weekend.
She saved her time and money for an adventure to Atlanta.
Then again, why would she start to question her son now?
Fellow linebacker Brandon Spikes, one of the top 15 defensive players in the country, looks up to him.
Defensive coordinator Charlie Strong does not hesitate to call him the most reliable player on the defense.
But one of UF's 11 team captains almost never made it to Gainesville.
Fate Steps In
Six schools originally recruited Stamper coming out of Jacksonville First Coast High.
UF was not one of them.
So, in November 2004, the 6-foot-2, 232-pound high school senior committed to Auburn.
The Tigers were in the midst of a 2004 season where they went 13-0, won the SEC, finished No. 2 nationally and were one of the best defenses in the country.
But Stamper made the decision without consulting his mom.
"He just came home and told me he had committed to Auburn," Westcott remembers.
"Oh really?" she replied.
She started to worry.
This was her boy. She had never missed a game of his, from Pop Warner to high school.
Auburn would drastically end that streak. It was a five-and-a-half-hour drive, and she would be unable to make many games. But she realized it was Stamper's decision, and it was out of her hands.
"OK, if it's meant for me to see him again, I'll see him again," she recalls thinking.
She never told her son how much she wanted him closer.
Then Auburn's defensive coordinator at the time, Gene Chizik, bolted to Texas.
And Urban Meyer arrived in Gainesville as the newly minted head of the Gators.
Fate was making its move, and Westcott remembers every word.
"Mom, Coach Meyer called," Ryan said one day in January 2005.
"Coach Meyer from the University of Florida?" she replied.
"Yeah, he wants to come visit."
"Oh my goodness."
"He's going to call you tonight."
So she sat by that phone all night.
Because Westcott had read about this new Meyer guy in the newspapers. She liked him.
He was a disciplinarian, just like her. And if Ryan went to UF, Gainesville was only a short drive away if he ever needed her.
Meyer came to visit. By that time, Westcott had read almost everything about him.
The coach was impressed - with Stamper and his mom.
"(Defensive coordinator Charlie) Strong told me we had an issue at linebacker, depth-wise," Meyer said. "I flipped on (tape of Stamper) and saw a guy that ran around and said, 'Let's go talk to him.' And then I met his mom and found what kind of person he is.
"I only needed to see 10 plays. And they weren't 10 great plays. They were 10 good plays."
Stamper visited Gainesville. The kid who grew up a Gators fan would become a Gator himself.
"I took the visit, loved it and decided, 'Hey, this is where I want to be.'"
Who am I Today?
What Stamper didn't know was that he would soon catch a case of multiple personality disorder.
See, some of the time he's known as Sam. Other times he goes by Mike. Recently he's been known mostly as Will.
There's no need for concern, however. It's not actually a medical issue.
Those three names are actually aliases for the three linebacker positions.
The Sam linebacker (known as the strong-side linebacker) lines up on the "strong" side of the offense - wherever it has more personnel. The position guards the tight end in pass coverage a lot. Sophomore A.J. Jones is the current starter at this spot.
The Mike linebacker (known as the middle linebacker) has become a position of spotlight for UF during the last few years. It has been filled by hard-hitting guys such as Brandon Siler and Brandon Spikes, who have become physical and emotional leaders of the defense.
The Will linebacker (known as the weak-side linebacker) is the speediest of the three spots and falls into pass coverage almost every play. This is the spot where Dustin Doe and Ryan Stamper are currently competing for the starting job.
But while many guys specialize in one, Stamper is considered capable at all three spots.
This is where the redshirt junior earns his reputation as one of the most versatile guys on the team.
He can spell Jones and become Sam. When Spikes was injured for the season opener against Hawaii, Stamper came and started as Mike. Now he primarily gets looks as Will and has wrestled the starting job away from Doe, although it's a week-by-week battle.
Stamper even played all three positions against FSU last season.
Doe thinks the competition has made both of them better, as well as improved the defense as a whole. The Gators currently rank third in the nation, allowing only 11.9 points per game.
"It's something that we didn't have in the past," Doe says. "Everybody knows competition is the best coach."
There's No Crying in Football
If competition makes you better, then maybe it's your mom who just gets you going.
Westcott signed Stamper up for football as a young boy.
She was a mother who was a big football fan and always dreamed of being a sideline reporter for football broadcasts.
He was just a 7-year-old boy with too much stamina.
"I needed something for him to blow off the energy so he could sleep," she said.
But there came a snag early on in the linebacker's career.
During one of his first games, an opposing player stepped on his finger.
He ran off the field and came crying to his mom. She just looked at him.
"Boy, what are you crying about?"
"They stepped on my finger," Stamper sobbed in reply.
"You need to get off the field, and let's go home."
Next thing Westcott knew, her boy was running after his coach to get back in the game.
Since then, Stamper has broken both of his thumbs as well as his left hand.
He's played through it all.
Not Always Roses
Playing through pain hasn't always been the problem, however. There used to be a time Stamper just wished he would see the field.
He started out on special teams, as almost all UF players do.
Westcott remembers some tough phone calls.
Stamper would question why he was there, why he wasn't playing. All the normal things from a young player at a good program.
"Mom, I just need you to talk to me. I need you to coach me up," he would say.
"Listen, you're down there for a reason," she would reply. "You will start."
Then came the Mississippi game in 2007, where Stamper would leave his mark. He earned the black shirt for special teams, an award given out by coaches postgame.
He made three big blocks in the game as well as nailing all of his other blocks. Coaches began giving him more looks at linebacker.
Stamper made his first career start against Georgia. The rest is history.
"It just brings tears to my eyes because I'm so grateful," Westcott says. "You never know what can happen after football. We don't ever talk like that. He has an opportunity to play for the Florida Gators. No one will ever be able to take that from him."
His Time Has Come
Just don't count on seeing Stamper on the field Saturday during the team's pre-game stretching.
He participated in the routines three times in 2007 - against Auburn, LSU and Georgia. Three times, the Gators lost.
Who said football players weren't superstitious?
"After the Georgia game, I was like, 'I ain't going to do that,'" Stamper says, after explaining his coaches OK'ed the plan. "I'm just going to stay in the locker room and get stretched there."
So the redshirt junior does the Gator Walk, gets taped and puts on his pads.
Then he reaches for his secret weapon - Flexall, a gel that helps relieve muscles from getting tense.
Tight joints aren't the only things classifying him as old.
Stamper has been in Gainesville for four seasons now - he redshirted his first year - and will graduate in December. He plans to return and finish his eligibility next season, but he isn't sure whether that means adding a second major or entering graduate school.
His teammate and friend Doe laughs and calls Stamper "the old man of the group." He's also called on as the final word in arguments.
"He gives his words of wisdom, and then whatever he says, everybody's like, 'See, Stamp agrees with it,'" Doe says. "It must be right."
Stamper also realizes what he hopes for in his legacy after he's gone from Gainesville.
"I just wanted to be remembered as a guy that's just known for getting the job done," Stamper says. "A guy his teammates can count on, coaches can count on, to always be there for his teammates."
Mission accomplished.
