23 Days to Gator Football: Alex Brown

[Escambia94]

Alex James Brown played defensive end for Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators from 1998 to 2001. He was redshirted his freshman year, and his sophomore year he was behind Jevon Kearse on the depth chart and only registered 56 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and 12 TFL. In 1999 and 2000 he was named first team All SEC and first team All American, and was a finalist for the Lombardi Award.

In his senior year of 2001, he was a team captain, and was first team All SEC as well as Consensus All American. He was named the 2001 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, was a finalist for the Lombardi Award, and was a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

He finished his career with 161 tackles, 47 TFL (6th best in Gator history), and 33 QB sacks (Florida record). Alex was drafted as the 104th overall pick of the 202 NFL Draft, and went on to play for the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints until he unofficially retired from football in 2010. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2012.

UPDATE: Today it was announced that Alex Brown signed a one-day contract with the Chicago Bears and officially retired [LINK].

 

[DRU2012]

(OK. Just got back to the USA a few hours ago--on crutches (long story, one I won't be telling here anytime soon...suffice to say life gets WAY too "interesting" at times)--and noticed NFL on the TV in the airport: Thursday Night Preseason, of course, so it hits me full in the face that it really IS getting to be TIME! Sorry I was away and incommunicado for the past couple of weeks--and I WILL do better from here on into the first weekend in Sept. and our opener in the Swamp. Home by tomorrow, which'll make that easier.)

We're pretty well into the "Gators everyone knows" now, and though some may quibble over exact order, they all deserve to be here and in the "Top 25", right? Rock on, E-. I look forward to "catching up" the last week or two...

 

[Escambia94]

The point of this exercise was to show that there are a lot of Gators that not everyone knows. We all focus on our favorite era of football, but there are other good eras. Also, the focus of this list was individual accomplishments, rated against all NCAA contemporaries. Some of these players had it rough during NCAA probation, yet still stacked up well against powerhouses filled with 5-star athletes. The lesson in that is that a team is more than a collection of 5-star athletes.

The top 25, like the other 75, have a very specific ranking system. Just to re-hash the criteria, the greatest Gators are ones in the Gator Ring of Honor (5 of the top 100, plus Tim Tebow who will be eligible in 2015), then Gator Greats in the University of Florida Athletic Association Hall of Fame (there are over 100 football players alone, so I had to trim it down), then All Americans (over 80 of those that I trimmed down), then major college awards, then All SEC. Tie-breakers went to record holders and members of national or conference championships. The three tough ones were Dale Van Sickel/ Charlie LaPradd, Scot Brantley, and Shane Matthews. Dale and Charlie played in an era when Florida football was still in its infancy and received little notoriety. Scot Brantley held the team together in the locker room through tough times, which is why I gave him a 2-position boost just above Alex Brown and Kevin Carter. Technically, he should be right behind Alex Brown in terms of accolades and accomplishments. Injuries did not help his cause, but he remained a leader off the field and should get some credit for that. Shane Mathews technically should be outside of the top 25, but I could not rest easy with that ranking. He did put Spurrier's Fun N' Gun offense on everyone's radar, and he did help transition the team from the probation era to the Spurrier Era. With his team just coming off probation, he was lucky to get 2nd-team All American.

1. Steve Spurrier (Ring of Honor, Gator Great, All American, Heisman '66, coached Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel, 83% W-L record at Florida (122-27-1), 6-5 in bowl games [moved up to #1], SEC POY '66, Florida-Georgia HOF, UPI POY '66, Fergie Ferguson Award)
2. Tim Tebow (All American, All SEC, Heisman '07 (first sophomore), AP POY '07, Davey O'Brien Award '07, Maxwell Award '07 '08, SEC POY '08, QB of the Year '07, Manning Award '08, Draddy Trophy '09, member of 2006 & 2008 National Championship teams, SEC records: (tied) most TDs/ game (7), 55 TDs/season (33 passing, 22 rushing), 145 career TDs, 12232 career yards, 4181 yards in one season, 88.6% completion average in a game, 170.79 season passer efficiency, 23 rushing TDs in one season, future Gator Great)
3. Danny Wuerffel (Ring of Honor, Gator Great, Heisman Trophy '96, Draddy Trophy '96, Johnny Unitas Award '96, Maxwell Award '96, Walter Camp Award '96, QB of the Year Award '96, Florida-Georgia HOF, Florida Gators Team of the Century, NCAA record passer rating, NCAA record TD%, SEC record 7.1 YPP, 144 TD passes)
4. Emmitt Smith (Ring of Honor, Gator Great, Unanimous All American, All SEC, SEC MVP '89, 58 Gator records, Gator rushing leader*, NFL Hall of Fame)
5. Jack Youngblood (Ring of Honor, Gator Great, All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF, Gator record 14 sacks '69, NCAA Lineman of the Year '70)
6. Wilber Marshall (Ring of Honor, Gator Great, Consensus All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF, Defensive POY '83, 1st team "Team of the Century" and "Defensive Player of the Century" [Gainesville Sun], NCAA HOF)
7. Urban Meyer (Coached 2006 & 2008 NC teams, 65-15 81.25% overall/ 36-12 75% SEC/ 5-1 83.33% bowl record at UF, coached Heisman winner Tim Tebow, recruited and coached best team in Gator history, future Gator Great)
8. Ray Graves (Gator Great, College Football Hall of Fame, former UF athletic director. 69% W-L record (70-31-4), 4-1 (80%) in bowl games, coached Heisman winner Steve Spurrier & Jack Youngblood)
9. Rex Grossman (Consensus All American, All SEC, AP Natl POY, SEC POY '01, future Gator Great)
10. Errict Rhett (Gator Great, All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF, Florida's all-time leading rusher, 1994 Sugar Bowl MVP)
11. Wes Chandler (Gator Great, All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF)
12. Fred Taylor (Gator Great, All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF)
13. John Reaves (Gator Great, All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF, Fergie Ferguson Award, Sammy Baugh Trophy, NCAA record* 7581 yds career passing, SEC career record 56 TDs)
14. Carlos "the Cuban Comet" Alvarez (Gator Great, Consensus All American, All SEC, College Football HOF, Florida-Georgia HOF, Florida Gators All-Century Team, Gator record - 2563 career receiving yds)
15. Dale Van Sickel (Gator Great, first Gator All American, College Football HOF) and Charlie LaPradd (Gator Great, second Gator All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF, former walk-on)
16. Cris Collinsworth (Gator Great, All American, All SEC, Academic All American, Florida Gator record longest pass play of 96 yds, ESPN and HBO sports analyst, Super Bowl player)
17. Ike Hilliard (Gator Great, Consensus All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF)
18. Reidel Anthony (Gator Great, Consensus All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF, 1996 NC, Gator season record 18 TD receiving)
19. Shane Matthews (Gator Great, All SEC, 2nd team All American, SEC POY '90 '91, Florida-Georgia HOF, Gator record* career passing yards)
20. Kerwin Bell (Gator Great, All SEC, Honorable Mention All American, SEC POY '84, Florida-Georgia HOF, Fergie Ferguson Award)
21. Scot Brantley (Gator Great, All SEC, All American, Florida-Georgia HOF)
22. Kevin Carter (Gator Great, Consensus All American, All SEC, Florida-Georgia HOF, Florida Gator All-Century Team [Gainesville Sun])
23. Alex Brown (Gator Great, All American, All SEC, SEC Def. POY '01)
24. Brad Culpepper (Gator Great, Consensus All American, All SEC, Draddy Trophy)
25. Trace Armstrong (Gator Great, All American, All SEC, Gator record 19 TFL/season, Florida Gators All-Century Team [Gainesville Sun])