It wasn't quite Rudy, but it was close. There probably won't be any movie rights but it was no less inspirational.
Tim Higgins sat in the meeting room where he spent so many hours knowing he wasn't going to play answering questions Saturday about playing. On Senior Day, nobody expected to be talking to this senior.
Meyer put Higgins on scholarship this year because he was so impressed with the effort, the drive, the desire to help others get better.
"I saw a little guy who did everything we asked him to do," Meyer said. "If you said, 'Tim, get over here and run into two guys and get your helmet knocked off,' he'd do it and do it again.
Unlike Rudy Ruettiger at Notre Dame, Higgins had no trouble getting into school at Florida. He was a National Merit Scholar. He chose Florida because his father Kevin, now the head coach at The Citadel, had a friend on the UF staff when Higgins was young and he grew up a Gator fan.
But like Rudy, he had some help getting on the field. A letter appeared on Meyer's desk earlier this week asking him to play Higgins. Members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes made signs - "We (heart) Higgins" - and passed out pamphlets encouraging Meyer to put Higgins in the game. They chanted his name late in Florida's blowout win.
"People were screaming, 'Give me Higgins!" Meyer said. "So I gave them Higgins."
When No. 37 ran onto the field, it was deja vu for anyone who has seen "Rudy" multiple times. Same strange sight of a little guy among the giants, same loud cheer from those who had been yelling for him, even the same choppy steps and the reach for his chinstrap to buckle it up.
The story gets better. Higgins is a wide receiver, but Meyer wanted to be sure he got the ball so he told him to get with quarterback Tim Tebow because Higgins would be going in at running back.
Tebow, the quarterback who outweighs his new tailback by almost 60 pounds, showed Higgins the steps required to run the play that would be called.
"He had to line me up because I didn't know where I was going," Higgins said. "I've never taken a handoff at any level."
If they ever make a movie, the actor playing Higgins will probably break tackles on his way to a big gain, maybe even a touchdown. Higgins was stopped for no gain.
Didn't matter.
"All the shots I've taken on scout team, all of the times catching a ball over the middle and getting blown up, all the sweating and bleeding, wondering if it would ever pay off," he said. "There were times when I was frustrated, but I was lucky enough to be brought up in a family where you don't quit.
Tim Higgins will never forget his last game in The Swamp. But it's not the end. It's just the beginning.
