I don't care how upset people are that UF got no mention in his NFL HOF speech, even had he not apologized for the oversight, he still in my book is one of THE greatest football gators ever: 

 this guy carried our program on his back during its darkest days, and kept UF from sliding into gridiron oblivion-- he could have gone anywhere he wanted to but came to a university on probation coming off a t.v. ban-- clearly only a guy who loves the Gators woulda done so;  and all we had while he was here was Emmitt left, Emmitt right, Emmitt up the middle, but he never complained and gave a superhuman effort every game and set records even though everybody knew he was getting the ball;  

 some are intimating that there was a wedge between him and UF when SOS came on board---  au contraire:  I saw the guy running around Florida field with a huge Gator flag when SOS beat Kentucky at the Swamp in 1991 to finally clinch that first 'official' SEC championship;

others are intimating that Emmitt is a me-first pre-madonna, but: I met this guy several times at random campus events and parties and always found him to be a gracious and friendly campus celebrity who exhibited more patience and humble openness than one would expect from a guy referred to as a god by the students during his college career;

the guy was elected to student body office and never got into an ounce of trouble during his collegiate career,  which was especially noteworthy in an era when steroids and thuggish behavior exemplified collegiate football;

in short, it's no stretch to submit that if it weren't for Emmitt Smith, our football program would have been beyond salvaging, even by Spurrier and Meyer.  We Gator fans owe him our undying gratitude.