Gators CB Brown returns after 2 year recovery

There were times when Florida Gators cornerback Jeremy Brown couldn't bend his neck to wash his face. This was the player Florida coach Urban Meyer once said had the talent to be just as good or better than current Gators' starting cornerback Janoris Jenkins. For the better part of the past two years, Brown has endured the pain of two herniated disks in his back. "F4 and F5,'' he calls them. Finally, after months and months of pain and fear and doubt and grueling rehabilitation, Brown has returned to the practice field. It has been a long and gradual recovery, but Wednesday marks a monumental day of that process perhaps more important than any other. Wednesday is the Gators' first day of fall camp in full pads. It's the day when players begin slamming into each other at full speed and holding nothing back. It's the day when players begin earning starting positions. Brown, a redshirt sophomore, injured his back on this day two years ago. He says it just "gave out.''
"I'd be lying if I said mentally I'm just ready,'' Brown said. "There are certain things I second-guess, like should I really just, throw myself in there? In the back of my head I'm just thinking, "Man, this might be my back again.' ''