This is the fourth in a series in which GatorBait.net will interview the departing seniors and NFL early entrants for a quick look back on their time at Florida as well as what they're up to now and plans for the future.

In part four of the series we get up close and in depth with departing senior cornerback Vernell Brown.

GatorBait.net: What have you been up to since the end of football season?

Vernell Brown: "I've been in the weight room, working on my forty, combine drills and position drills."

GatorBait.net: Throughout your career the knock on you has been your height. What was it like to have to prove yourself over and over and have there still be those who doubted you?

Vernell Brown: "It doesn't bother me. It's something where I've had to go through life with that hanging over my head. I use it as motivation.

"I've had to work hard for everything that I've received in the sports world. (laughing) If a coach was to come out and give me something, I don't know how I would act."

GatorBait.net: I understand having to prove yourself to others on the outside, but what was it like to be doubted by even the most die hard of Gator fans?

Vernell Brown: "I've actually had friends and some of my family who have doubted me at some point in time throughout my sports career. If it doesn't bother me that close friends and some family members doubt me, it definitely wasn't going to bother me when Gator fans doubted me.

"I use it as motivation to go out and work harder."

GatorBait.net: Going back to the very beginning when you came to Florida. Steve Spurrier offered you late, maybe in part because you are a legacy, but where would you have been if that wouldn't have happened?

Vernell Brown: "I would have been a North Carolina Tarheel."

GatorBait.net: What do you remember of Spurrier's time with the Gators?

Vernell Brown: "What I remember the most is when he resigned. I was eating in an Applebee's and I got a call from a friend saying our coach was leaving. I said, 'Man, what are you talking about?' He said, 'It's on ESPN, coach is gone.'

"I asked the waitress to turn on the TV to ESPN and it was scrolling across the bottom. It was definitely a shock."

GatorBait.net: To find out that your head coach was leaving on television instead of from him had to be hard.

Vernell Brown: "I think it could have been done in a better way, but it didn't bother me that much. Yes he could have handled it differently, but it's just one of those things in life you have no control over. My size is one of them. I have no control over that. In that case, his resigning was another one. All you can do is look for a positive and respond to it."

GatorBait.net: Then you have Ron Zook come in. What was your feelings about him becoming the new coach?

Vernell Brown: "I didn't know much about him coming in except that he coached here in the past and he was coming from the New Orleans Saints."

GatorBait.net: The Zook era maybe wasn't as successful in the eyes of the fan base as they would have liked. It had to be hard to deal with all the negativity coming from the fans.

Vernell Brown: "Me personally, I would say it was a learning experience. Not only was I learning college football, but I was learning how to deal with coaches. Coach Zook, and some of his staff, were part of that crowd of people who doubted me.

"To me, I wasn't given a fair opportunity to play, which was fine. The positive in that was it made me focus more on academics.

"I appreciated the game more my last year because it made me realize that the game could be taken away from me at any time by any one. Really, during coach Zook's tenure here, in my mind the game was taken away from me because regardless of what I did on the practice field, I wasn't going to be given the opportunity to play.

"It made me focus on other areas in life which made me a better person."

GatorBait.net: So while other players may have been disappointed in Zook's dismissal, maybe you saw it as a new lease on life?

Vernell Brown: "Right. The one thing I try to do is not worry about things I can't control. I had no control over his firing or who they were going to hire, but I could control being ready to show the new coaching staff that I have the ability to play at Florida.

"I looked at it as an opportunity to show the new coaching staff that the old staff made a mistake in not playing me. Being a senior, this was my last chance, this was the opportunity that I needed and it was up to me to take advantage of it."

GatorBait.net: What did Urban Meyer and the new staff bring to Florida?

Vernell Brown: "He brought that competitive edge. When he first got here we would compete at everything. It might have involved something like walking to the locker room, but if it was situation where there could be a winner and a loser, they made it a competition.

"They also brought trust to the program and togetherness.

"Also, (laughing) equal opportunity. They let us know from the start that if you perform and show that you deserve to be on the field regardless of how big or small you are, you're going to play.

"As a player that's all you can ask for from a coaching staff.

"I had coach Meyer come up and say to me, 'I don't understand why you weren't playing' because if you look at the practice tape I was doing everything I needed to do to be on the field on Saturday."

GatorBait.net: You spoke of Meyer bringing trust and togetherness. What does that entail?

Vernell Brown: "It's the family atmosphere. Compared to what we've had it the past it's definitely a great atmosphere and it's only going to get better as the years go on.

"It's what should be done anyway, but isn't. It's what makes Florida's future as bright as it is.

"I think everybody adapted pretty well. We had some players who took longer to get with the program than others, but that's to be expected. There's only a handful still going through the transition phase, still trying to grasp the concept Meyer has of being together."

GatorBait.net: You had a limited amount of playing time entering your senior season. You're finally getting your chance, things are going well and then you're injured late in the season against Vanderbilt. That had to be heartbreaking.

Vernell Brown: "You know at the time it wasn't exactly something that I wished for, but everything happens for a reason. The thing I try to do when I have something negative happen is not question why it happened. I try to get something positive out of it and in that case I used the possibility of playing in a bowl game as motivation to work hard rehabbing and come back as strong as ever."

GatorBait.net: Speaking of coming back as strong as ever. What was going through your mind running back that Out Back Bowl interception 60 yards for a touchdown?

Vernell Brown: "The end zone was the only thing going through my mind. I caught the ball and all I saw was grass between me and the end-zone. I knew I wasn't going to let the one man, especially the quarterback, tackle me.

"After that play, it was behind me and my focus was on winning."

GatorBait.net: Was that interception return the highlight of your career?

Vernell Brown: "My whole senior year was a highlight. It goes by so fast and then it's gone. You want to hold on to it. Even the broken leg because it forced people who took me for granted, who just thought of me as being out there, it showed them that I was an important part of this team.

"I never get caught up in what people think, but it is satisfying when people do acknowledge what I contributed to the team. My injury was part of that because without me, as short as I am, fans were wondering what was going to happen."

GatorBait.net: Then what was the low point?

Vernell Brown: "(laughing) The three years Zook was here. I don't want it to sound like it was terrible, but it was hard to go out there and work my ass off and know that it wasn't going to get me on the field."

GatorBait.net: Talk about the returning corners and what you expect to see from them.

Vernell Brown: "Next year could be a great year for Reggie (Lewis) if he makes it happen in the off season. He's a guy with great athletic ability. Coming over from offense, he had coverage ability from the start. He needs to be consistent with it.

"The same can be said about Avery Atkins. Avery is a guy with great ability who can flat out play. For him it's a matter of learning the defense, being where he needs to be and getting experience in the game.

"If there's going to be a surprise next year it's going to be Tremaine (McCollum). He's small, but he can cover."

Out of the Alley

Swamp_Thing: What is it like to be called the face of Florida football by coach Meyer and what does it mean to him to be in that position?

Vernell Brown: "It meant a lot. To be dubbed the face of your university's football team, especially a place like Florida, it means everything. It means I have to go out and show that in a way I'm worthy of the respect he's shown me.

"If something happened and I messed up, it would be magnified."

sixty9gator: Ask him how much of a positive impact has his time in the program made on him and how much does he plan to give back to the program.

Vernell Brown: "Being a Gator has meant a lot to me. My family legacy there with my two uncles and my dad, it meant a lot to follow in their footsteps and be successful."

ufmike22: Who was the toughest guy you ever had to cover?

Vernell Brown: "No opponents stick out. Two names come to mind and that's Dallas Baker and Andre Caldwell."

gatorfan4life23: What kept him motivated to try his best, when people told him he couldn't play?

Vernell Brown: "I think the times when I did get a little down, thinking about transferring, my family kept me in it, kept my head up. And the man up stairs, the Lord. What you have to remember, it may not seem like it when you're going through it, but everything happens for a reason."