Gridiron Gator
Roger Franklin Williams
Unlike 2010 when the Gators produced 13 players who appeared on NFL rosters during the 2011 season, Gainesville is not exactly a hot spot for NFL scouts for this years NFL draft. With the 2010 Senior class picked clean last year with 5 juniors leaving school to pursue their NFL dreams, only a couple of draft eligible players from last fall seem to excite NFL scouts. The concensus top Gator prospect, at least among NFL personnel types, seems to be Michael Pouncey, who will mercifully return to his natural position of OG in the pros. NFL draft-niks also seem excited by Will Hill as a prospect at S. Let's hope Will achieves more in "The League" than he did as a Gator.
The "Gator Gridiron" top prospect is an instinctive, hard hitting, "always around the ball", Safety from Lakeland High; Ahmad Black. Ahmad Black is not only one of the most underrated Gators in the last 50 years, he is one of the Greatest Gator players of the last half-century. From his first game as a starter vs Hawaii in 2008, where he provided a highlight reel of big plays, including multiple turnovers, the hard-nosed DB was always around the ball, whether the ball was in the air, on the ground or in a running backs hands. Hard hits, big plays, more that his share of interceptions, fumble recoverys and fumbles caused and smart, intelligent, instinctive play is what Gator fans, coaches and teammates received from Ahmad Black on a weekly basis over the course of his 3 year career as a starter in the Gator secondary. Of course, the (self proclaimed) "experts" , Mel Kuiper, Jr and Todd "Suzie" McShay don't think much of Ahmad Black..... which makes sense since those particular "experts" have a truly astounding track record of being wrong. (Of course, astute observers know that Kuiper is not an authentic personnel "expert" at all, but a flim-flam man--someone who has taken an extraordinary talent for skillful self-promotion, hype and irrelevant bs and made a career out of trashing achievers who have genuine talent such as Tim Tebow, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, etc.
The Gator Gridiron evaluation is this; I don't know Ahmad Black's time in the shuttle-run, how many times he can bench press 200 pounds or what he does in the verticle leap. What I do know is this, Ahmad Black is a FOOTBALL PLAYER; and not just a football player, but a great one. He has instinct, quickness, playmaking ability, football IQ, heart and guts. Ahmad Black was a great Gator and he will be an outsanding football player in the National Football League.
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