The troubled 8-year-old boy moved from a mother unable to love and care for him to a grandmother who did exactly that.
Today, that young boy has grown up and is less than one month away from stepping on to UF's campus as the newest member of the football team and the College of Journalism and Communications.
Dee Finley has many people to thank for the position he is in: the volunteer football coach who taught him the game as a freshman at Auburn, Ala. High, the head of the prep school where he raised his SAT score high enough to qualify for a Division-I scholarship, himself for working hard enough to finally becoming a Gator after being academically ineligible.
But, above everyone else, Finley thanks his grandmother Geraldine Finley for loving him and taking him into her home when he was a young boy in need of guidance.
He didn't know it at the time, but it changed his life.
"She adopted me when I was real young, before I could remember. She's like my moms," Finley said. "I do a lot of this for her."
Finley lived with his biological mother when he was young, but her inability to raise him resulted in numerous disciplinary problems. He was a disrespectful student in elementary school and found himself in a delinquency program. That's when Geraldine got a call.
"He wasn't in a good environment," Geraldine said in a soft, southern accent. "He wasn't told what to do, how to do it and (nobody) made sure he was eating right… schools started calling me because I was the next grandmother that could care for him."
And that is exactly what she did. The boy needed a roof over his head. He got it. He needed healthy food. Geraldine was in the kitchen. Clothes? Grandma came through.
But in a true lesson that life is not fair, the woman with one of the biggest hearts in Alabama was diagnosed with epilepsy, a neurological condition that causes unprovoked seizures and can leave her bed-ridden for days.
The disorder has made it impossible for her to keep a job, so the family lives on food stamps and other forms of government assistance in a $425-a-month apartment.
The epilepsy affects her neurological system, but it can't touch her compassion towards her grandchildren. Geraldine recently invited Dee's cousins Taye and Jaye-third- and fifth-graders at Cary Woods Elementary School-into her home for the same reasons she had helped Dee when he was little.
"Where they were, I just thought things were going to go bad for them," Geraldine said. "I just opened my doors and said, 'come on in.' I'll take the time to care, take them to school. Let them know what's right and what's wrong."
It wasn't until Finley was in ninth grade that he started playing organized sports. He picked up football quickly, though, and had his first scholarship offer during his sophomore season.
"I never played pee-wee or (in) junior high," Finley said. "When I started playing, I had a feel for it."
One person who helped him get up to speed was Willie Hutchinson. Hutchinson knew Finley when he was young and saw potential, something he helped Finley live up to while volunteering as a coach at Auburn High. Hutchinson coached Finley as a defensive back, and Finley lists him as one of the people he most admires, behind Grandma Geraldine.
Finley continued to grow and learn the intricacies of football, and the offers started stacking up. By the time he was a senior, Finley had morphed into a 6-foot-1, 193-pound safety with a 4.5 second forty-yard dash.
Schools like Auburn, Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU and Georgia offered scholarships to Finley, but he settled on UF after his visit to Gainesville in the summer of 2007.
"My first time visiting (Gainesville), it was just like a defining moment… I ended the recruiting early and everything," Finley said.
The UF recruiting class was set to bolster the team's defensive backfield with Finley and current freshman Will Hill competing for early playing time.
However, Finley was unable to meet the NCAA's academic requirements to receive a scholarship. Suddenly, all his plans had changed. Instead of playing for what would become a national title contender, Finley would have to compete against bottom-feeder Football Championship Subdivision teams and junior varsity teams.
"His entire senior year, all he talked about was Florida, Florida, Florida," said Tiffany Pitts, Finley's high school guidance counselor.
Pitts said Finley's grades improved as he got older, and the idea of earning a scholarship became a reality, but it was too late after years of ignoring homework.
His dreams of playing for the Gators had been delayed, not derailed. Chuck Heater, UF's safeties coach, already had plans for Finley should he fail to qualify.
Those plans were in New Berlin,NY.
The Milford Academy, a prep school that specializes in helping football players increase their SAT scores to qualify for scholarships, was the perfect place for Finley. Not only was he able to prepare for the SAT, he prepared for life as a college athlete.
"He wasn't used to going through the regimen that we have here," Milford coach Bill Chaplick said. "Working out, training all summer, getting up at 6:30 in the morning to lift before school."
Finley started on Milford's defense all year and helped guide the team to a 9-3 record.
His work on the field was good, and his study habits were encouraging. Based on the NCAA's sliding qualification scale, Finley had the choice of either raising his SAT score or his GPA to receive his scholarship.
He raised both.
For Finley, now comes the easiest, yet longest, part: waiting.
"He wants to get to Florida, that's what he came here for," Chaplick said.
Finley can't move to Gainesville until he finishes his semester at Milford later this month.
"All he needed at the time he was growing up was someone to show him that they loved him and they wanted him to be somebody," Geraldine said.
The type of love that can turn a troubled boy into a college-bound man.
