Florida football coach Jim McElwain has always gotten a nervous pang in the pit of his stomach whenever he sees any of his players motoring around campus on a scooter without wearing a helmet.
That uneasy feeling turned into fear a few weeks ago with a late-night phone call informing him starting center T.J. McCoy had been in a scooter accident and was in the hospital.
“Obviously, when something occurs, it really brings it home when it’s someone you actually know,” McElwain said. “That’s what makes it real.
“Sometimes through bad comes good.”
The good is that McCoy’s injuries were not life-threatening and he has recovered — and the accident accelerated McElwain’s plan to better educate and protect the players when it comes to operating scooters.