In college football, the summer is a time for leaders to step up and players to bond. After all, aside from the strength and conditioning coordinator, no member of the coaching staff is allowed to offer instruction or advice to their athletes.
The next couple of months will be big for the Florida Gators.
They have welcomed in a new coach (Will Muschamp) and a brand new offense (going from the spread to a pro-style). The coaches had 20 spring practices to teach, and now it is up to the players to take what they were taught and push each other to get better.
Here are five things those players need to do before Muschamp and his staff open two-a-days in August.

1. Stay in Shape- The day he was introduced to the Florida media, Muschamp said he was very pleased Mickey Marotti had elected to remain on the Gator staff as its strength and conditioning coach. Hard-nosed and well-respected, Marotti will push the players to be as fit and strong as possible.
However, he can't do it alone, and that's where veteran leadership becomes essential. Muschamp is counting on seniors like quarterback John Brantley, receiver Deonte Thompson, offensive guard James Wilson, defensive tackle Jaye Howard, defensive end William Green and cornerback Moses Jenkins to push the younger players through exhaustion and toward production.
2. Stay Out of Trouble- Let's be serious here. There were far too many player arrests under former coach Urban Meyer, and as a first-time head coach Muschamp has a lot to prove, and he can't prove anything if his players are wearing orange jumpsuits instead of orange and blue uniforms.
The boss made a tough stand by booting his best player, Janoris Jenkins, from the team last month after the All-SEC cornerback was cuffed for the second time in three months for marijuana possession.
A former safety for Georgia, Muschamp knows all about the temptations that come with being a college athlete, and many of his former players at Texas, Auburn and LSU have raved about how much they enjoyed playing for him. But as much as they love him, they respect him even more for being tough but fair with them when he needed to.
One player no doubt being monitored closely is senior tailback/wide receiver Chris Rainey who had an often-mocked arrest last season for sending threatening text messages to a former girlfriend. This summer is a chance for him to prove his name should have been listed among the team's leaders. If he can follow No. 1 and 2 here, he will have accomplished that.

3. Take Advantage of the Lockout- In most summers, NFL players are together in various OTAs and minicamps. Not now. Due to the lockout, those guys aren't even allowed at their teams' facilities.
So, they need a place to work out, and many of them will be coming back to campus to utilize the weight room, film room, practice field and stadium steps (among others) to keep themselves sharp and in shape.
It would do nothing but good for the current Gators to observe and train with the former Gators who have reached football's highest level.
Those guys know what it takes to become the best player possible, and if they are recent alums, quite a few of them will have one (if not two) BCS championship rings, meaning they are winners. That rubs off.

4. Get (and Keep) Matt Patchan Healthy- Long an enigma, the 6'6", 292-pound redshirt junior offensive tackle is one of the smoothest, most nimble big men you can find.
That's the problem, though. Most of the time he has been found in the training room and not on the field.
Patchan's freshman year was very similar to that of recent Miami Dolphins' first-round pick Mike Pouncey. Both players were brought in as offensive linemen, but were able to make easy switches to the defensive line, where they offered immediate contributions.
But after playing 11 games that season and then the first four (at offensive tackle) his second year, due to a variety of injuries Patchan—as good a quote as he is a blocker—has been an observer ever since.
Potentially, Patchan and Xavier Nixon could grow into the league's best set of tackles. And nobody would be happier about that than Brantley.

5. Integrate the Freshmen- As much as everything is new to the returning Gators, imagine how everything is going to be to a group of kids a couple of months removed from their senior proms.
There is a lot to being a freshman football player, not the least of which is going from being the big man on campus to being one of nearly 100 former big men on campus. It can be all at once humbling and the most amazing experience they have ever been through in their young lives, and sometimes, those contradictions are difficult for an 18-year-old away from home for the first time to handle.
It is up to the returnees (and that even can include redshirt freshmen and sophomores) to lead the way, making sure the new guys use the Summer B session to get ahead in the classroom.
Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, a 2010 signee, said that was the most important lesson he was taught once he arrived because it helped him understand that part of being a college athlete before he had to best figure out a balance between books and ball in the fall.