GAINESVILLE -- A quick offseason update on one of the heroes of the Gators' national championship team, Florida safety Ahmad Black.
Black is one of Gator Nation's fan favorites after making a miraculous interception in the fourth quarter of the national championship game. It was a beautiful play. Here's a YouTube link in case you want to relive the moment. CLICK ME! I love the delayed celebration and how no one of the field even knew what happened except for Black and, of course, the official who made the correct call. The look on OU quarterback Sam Bradford's face says it all.
Black is a living legend these days in his hometown of Lakeland. Last Thursday he spoke at a Lakeland Dreadnaughts football banquet. Black's message was simple: Enjoy high school while it lasts.
Long before Black saved the Gators' national championship, he did the same thing for the Dreadnaughts in the 2006 state championship game against Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas. In double overtime, Black made a fourth-down, game-saving tackle on the goal line to propel his team to a Class 5A state title and a mythical high school football national championship. Pretty good career. And pretty remarkable that both plays -- the interception against OU and the tackle against St. Thomas -- happened at Dolphin Stadium.
According to Bruce Black, Ahmad's father, his son is trying to stack on a few extra pounds to his already chiseled frame this offseason. The goal is to get Ahmad up to 200 pounds before the fall. It has been a pretty quiet offseason for Ahmad except for one minor run-in, literally, with fellow Gator Dustin Doe, a linebacker. Black rear-ended Doe two weeks ago while driving in Gainesville. Both Black and Doe are fine but Black's 2008 Dodge Charger needed a new bumper.
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