Senior Day.

A time for a football team and it’s seniors to reminince on the last few years. A final game for seniors to finish off their home football career with a win.

For the Florida Gators, however, this year’s Senior Day means a little more than usual. They’re playing for the seniors, but they’re also playing for their head coach.

With the sudden news of Will Muschamp’s dismissal on Sunday, the importance and symbolism of Saturday’s game against Eastern Kentucky deepened for the Florida players, knowing that this will be the last time their head coach is in front of the home crowd.

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“Of course it’s sad, but I guess it’s just more motivation for us, senior tight end Tevin Westbrook said. “Just a lot of emotion with it being the last time running out of the tunnel. Knowing it’s [Muschamp’s] last game [at The Swamp], it’ll definitely be an emotional game.”

With two games left, the Gators have an opportunity to send their head coach out a winner on Senior Day this upcoming weekend and against their bitter in-state rivals, the Florida State Seminoles, in two weeks.

Although Muschamp’s lack of sustained success on the field eventually cost him his job, there was no doubting the allegiance his players had for him.

One of those players Muschamp had the biggest impact on was junior defensive lineman and BUCK Dante Fowler.

The 6-foot-3 junior explained that Muschamp taught him a lot of things during his time at UF, both on the field and off the field.

“When I first got here, film was a really big thing that I didn’t do a lot,” Fowler said. “He taught me how to watch film … and how to become a better player and a better person.”

The news of Muschamp’s dismissal hit Fowler especially hard. Muschamp was Fowler’s main recruiter in high school and was the coach who eventually convinced him to flip from Florida State over to the Gators by National Signing Day.

Considered a first-round prospect in next year’s NFL Draft, it was no surprise that Fowler decided to declare for the draft Tuesday night, a decision certainly made easier with the departure of Muschamp.

“I mean it’s hard,” Fowler said of Muschamp leaving. “When the man that basically recruited you to come here … just to see how great of a guy he is and how far he’s had to come. He’s young and he has a bright future ahead of him.”

“I’m really impressed with him. One of things he always taught us is to always show class,” Fowler added. “Jut be a class-act person. I respect Champ a lot for that.”

Although Fowler isn’t a senior, his decision to leave early for the NFL makes Saturday his quasi-Senior Day. After last week’s debacle against South Carolina, Fowler has every intention of leaving Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with a victory, something he wants the seniors and his coach to have as well.

“It’s really important, you know, to just send the seniors out in style. This is their last game in The Swamp. This is coach’s last game in The Swamp,” Fowler said.

“You always want to let them go out the right way.”