Sharrif Floyd plans to return to campus this weekend as a college graduate. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Former Gators All-American Floyd: 'Better Late Than Never'
Thursday, May 4, 2023 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — He was back home in the Philadelphia area as a former NFL first-round draft pick whose visions of a long and successful career destroyed because of a botched knee surgery.
Sharrif Floyd was drifting, seeking to distance himself from football. He tried a stint as a general contractor. He did some masonry work. Nothing stuck.
"Trying to find a different stream of income to get my mind off losing my job," Floyd said Thursday. "But at the same time, I lost my job, yes, but I didn't lose the passion for the game. I think that's what came to light. I started to really hone in on my love for the game again, and I found my passion when I started coaching."
Still opening different doors to see what was inside, Floyd's future path began to emerge in the fall of 2019 when Lorrell McCook, head coach at Ben Franklin (Pa.) High asked Floyd if he would be interested in being the team's defensive coordinator.
Floyd took the job, returning to the game that earned him a scholarship to UF and an opportunity to play in the NFL. He soon realized he was back where he belonged.
By the fall of 2021, Floyd had returned to Gainesville as a student assistant pursuing his college degree. Finishing school was something Floyd told then-Gators defensive coordinator Dan Quinn that he would do one day when Floyd left after his junior season in 2012 to enter the draft.
Gators defensive lineman Sharrif Floyd in action against Tennessee during his collegiate career. (File photo/UAA Communications)
"The longest promises are the ones you could blow off if you wanted to," said Quinn, now the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. "That shows something about the character of a person when you do what you say you are going to do. He didn't say how many years. He said, 'I will go back and get it.' That speaks a lot about him and what he stands for."
More than a decade later, Floyd plans to arrive in Florida late Thursday night for Friday's commencement ceremony, a proud recipient of a college degree. Floyd left UF earlier this year to join the Cowboys as a quality control/assistant defensive line coach.
Floyd, an All-American as a junior, is a living example of how when one door closes, another one opens if you try hard enough.
"A lot of guys go through life and just don't think about finishing school or realizing what they can do with a college degree,'' he said. "Personally, once I was done playing the game with my circumstances, I realized that with my education — if I don't have it — I'm no different than a felon, in a sense. I can't get those jobs I want. I can't apply for certain things I want to do. Going back and achieving that goal helped me set a standard for my kids.
"I'm glad I did it."
The 31-year-old Floyd rediscovered joy after returning to the sideline as a high school coach. Four years later, he is a member of one of the NFL's most storied franchises, a young coach embarking on a new career.
Quinn began to consider Floyd as a potential future colleague when Floyd served on the Cowboys' staff as a Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship intern last summer during training camp. The five-star recruit that Quinn once instructed at Florida was now a man chasing a future for himself and his family.
Floyd fit right in.
"That opened my eyes to say, 'he's got the connection and the teaching to give it back,' '' Quinn said Thursday. "He is really able to dig in with the guys here. We're going to be better with him here. That's the stuff that excites me. He is ready to pay it forward to this next group of players on the way up. I love that about him.
"What a connector as a teammate. As talented as he was, he was never above anything. That's the sign of a great teammate. He was just the opposite in this age of five-star athletes and entitlements. He wanted to work and treat people right and do things the right way."
As Floyd prepared for his highly-anticipated return to campus, he talked about Cook's special offer, Mike Wallace, in his first year as the director of advancement at Nebraska and former coach at Floyd's former high school, and Kevin Lahn, his adopted father, and how they all impacted his journey.
They plan to be at the ceremony.
And, of course, he talked about Quinn, a father figure to him during their time together at UF and now a professional colleague.
"Honestly, he's more than a coach to me,'' Floyd said. "At one point in college, the guy was almost my father. He almost adopted me. A lot of people don't know that. A great guy to be around. He's been consistent in his character in 10 years plus since I've known him, and definitely somebody I would fight for."
Quinn considers Floyd one of his prized pupils, with a similar demeanor and drive to Pro Football Hall of Famer Bryant Young, Florida's defensive line coach in Floyd's final two seasons at UF.
"Sharrif had a great model of what that could look like,'' Quinn said. "That's a pretty cool example of what it could look like. I'm seeing that same thing happen 10 or 12 years later."
Floyd isn't sure what he would be doing if he had not taken that job as a high school assistant four years ago.
Perhaps he would not have returned to Florida when former coach Dan Mullen asked him to visit for Friday Night Lights. Maybe the need to finish his degree would still be on the back burner. And most certainly, he would not be on an NFL staff.
But none of that matters. He did it and is ready to cherish walking across the stage.
"Football played a really heavy role in it,'' he said. "Being able to come back down and coach and give back to the game motivated me to not only achieve the goal of graduating, but it actually slung-shot me into the second half of my life. It just goes to show that if you … put the work in, you can move up the ladder.
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