Florida’s Leak survives the changes

As a revealer of himself, Florida quarterback Chris Leak is a drip.

A few reporters walked away from his mandatory media session Thursday with empty stares and blank notebooks.

Leak did not go “Joe Namath” at pool side and predict an upset of Ohio State, or tell a joke in public, or stumble out of the kind of Scottsdale nightspots that Mike Tyson frequents.

Leak did say Thursday that “I think being able to play for a national title your senior year really is a great thing.”

He also said of Ohio State, “Well, they will definitely be the best team we have faced all year.”

Leak has, however, done something at Florida for which he should be commended.

He survived.

Survived a coaching change many thought would lead to his ruination -- Ron Zook to Urban Meyer.

Survived an incoming freshman quarterback, Tim Tebow, who was surely going to take his job by Halloween.

He also survived despite being only 6 feet tall and a pocket passer in Meyer’s spread offense, which asks quarterbacks to do with their feet what Alex Smith did with his at Utah.

Leak survived long enough to hold off the hounds, win the Southeastern Conference this year and get his team in position to win the national championship.

Tebow, the effusive, born-leader freshman who energized the offense this year in spot situations with his crazy-legged runs, is the “wow” of Florida football.

But Leak is the “now.”

Receiver Andre Caldwell said Leak has actually come a long way as a leader.

Before, “he was more or less a shy guy,” Caldwell said, “thinking that he could play his role and everything would be all right.”

If Florida was going to compete for the national title this year, Leak was going to have to turn up his volume knob.

Leak has been a solid, proficient, four-year starter who holds Gators records for passing yardage, completions and attempts. He came to Florida to win a national title, though, and nothing would speak louder than that.

“That’s how you judge quarterbacks, on championships,” Caldwell said of his teammate. “Hopefully, we’ll get this one for him. They’ll definitely remember him then.”

*

The money game: Nick Saban’s leaving the Miami Dolphins to sign at Alabama for $4 million a year is apt to create a stir in the coaching fraternity.

Last month, in a survey of salaries, USA Today reported that Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel was one of nine coaches earning more than $2 million a season. Tressel has a clause in his contract that allows him to renegotiate his deal if he wins the national title.

Asked to comment on Saban’s contract, Tressel said, “I think the market has been extraordinary for a long time.... I don’t think it will have a ripple effect.”

According to the USA Today survey, Tressel earns slightly more than $2 million a season while Florida’s Meyer earns $1.52 million annually.

*

Ohio State has 18 fifth-year seniors who were on the squad in 2002 when the Buckeyes upset Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to win the national championship.

That 2002 class is considered perhaps the greatest in Ohio State’s history. It has four starters on this year’s offense, including quarterback Troy Smith, and five starters on defense.

Members of that class also included A.J. Hawk, Santonio Holmes and Bobby Carpenter, all of whom have moved on to the National Football League. The class also included former tailback Maurice Clarett, who is in a Toledo prison.

The 2002 class boasts a 54-8 record in football.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com