updated 2:25 p.m. ET May 13, 2009

Former Florida quarterback Shane Matthews responded Tuesday to what was believed to be a veiled verbal jab thrown at him by Gators coach Urban Meyer, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Matthews, who hosts a radio show in Gainesville, Fla., was publicly critical of the Gators' offense early last season — particularly for its failure to exploit man-to-man coverage on receivers in their loss to Mississippi.

At a Central Florida Gator Club appearance in Orlando last month, Meyer said the following, according to the Sentinel: "I'm also going to talk about loyalty with our former athletes. Some are welcome, some aren't. ... We want former Gators to come back, but loyalty's a two-way street. If you want to be critical of a player on our team or a coach on our team, you can buy a ticket for seat 37F, you're not welcome back in the football office."

Meyer added, "You're either a Gator or you're not a Gator. It's real simple."

Matthews defended himself during an appearance on a Birmingham, Ala., radio show hosted by former SEC players Al Del Greco and Jay Barker, the Sentinel reported.

"From Coach Meyer's standpoint, I can understand if he thinks something we're saying on our radio show is negative toward the program, but I can promise you this — no one is more passionate about Florida athletics and especially the Florida football program than I am," Matthews said. "We're paid to give our opinions in certain situations, and that's what I'm going to do, but it's not to harm the program."

Matthews added, "When it all came back out last week, we had a couple callers call in and [say] they don't understand why it came out now. The last thing I want to do is stir up anything because there's nothing there. I support Coach Meyer, the coaching staff, all the players there. Tim Tebow has come to my quarterback camp four years; he still comes back and speaks to the kids for me. It's almost crazy when I sit back and think about how this thing's been blown out of proportion."

Matthews said he had not spoken to Meyer about his remarks, the newspaper reported.

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