Nature Coast Times

University of Florida Athletics issued the following announcement on Nov. 11.

Former Gators All-American defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd's long-and-winding road brought him back to UF.

If Sharrif Floyd could backtrack a few years and write the story of where he would be and what he would be doing in 2021, it's easy to imagine some prominent details.

The 30-year-old Floyd would still be in the NFL, an All-Pro defensive tackle in the prime of his career the way so many envisioned when the Minnesota Vikings selected him in the first round of the 2013 draft. Floyd would be one of the faces of a proud franchise and the kind of player his peers considered worthy of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

The thing is, if all those lofty achievements were true today, few would blink an eye.

An All-American for the Gators in 2012, Floyd had it all: size, quickness, toughness and determination.

"We watched his film,'' said UF fifth-year senior Antonio Valentino. "I'm like, 'OK, that's what a first-round D-tackle looks like.' "

However, like much of Floyd's past, the script to his NFL career was not a fairy tale.

Floyd grew up underprivileged in Philadelphia, often wondering where his next meal would come from. He overcame the odds with the help of a village to develop into the country's top-rated prep defensive tackle coming out of Georgia Washington High. Floyd signed with the Gators in 2010. As a sophomore, more challenges surfaced when he was briefly ruled ineligible by the NCAA, prompting then-athletic director Jeremy Foley and head coach Will Muschamp to come to his defense aggressively. Floyd was considered a first-round pick and declared early for the draft by the time his junior season ended.

Floyd played in 44 games over the next four seasons with the Vikings, registering 9.5 sacks while dealing with a string of various injuries. And then in September 2016, Floyd underwent what he thought was routine arthroscopic surgery to remove damaged cartilage from his right knee.

He didn't know it at the time, but his career was over. Following the surgery, Floyd experienced nerve damage that prevented his quadriceps from firing the way a 6-foot-3, 295-pound defensive lineman needs.

Five years and ample soul searching later, Floyd is back at UF. It's not the story he expected to be telling these days, but it's a chapter he appreciates more than you know. It started with a surprise request last summer from Gators head coach Dan Mullen.

"He called to ask if I would come down and work Friday Night Lights,'' Floyd said this week. "I jumped in the car and drove down a few days early. I can't be more appreciative of Dan Mullen at this point because he filled a void for me by allowing me to come back down here and help out and be part of a team.

"I can't even explain how much I miss this sport."

Once the realization crystallized that he would not play another snap in the NFL, Floyd returned home to Philadelphia and endured difficult times. They were a different difficult than those he experienced growing up.

He was a young man in the real world but stuck on the sideline in the game he loved.

"I was kind of struggling in terms of just figuring out what I wanted to do in life because of the way I lost my career,'' Floyd said. "I just knew that whatever I did, it was going to be around football because that's what makes me happy."

Floyd first returned to his happy place in the fall of 2019 when Lorrell McCook, the head coach at Ben Franklin High, asked if Floyd would be the team's defensive coordinator. Floyd had no plans to coach, but once he got back on the field and shared what he had learned from playing over the years, a light went off.

He returned the following season and began to contemplate his future.

And then he got that call from Mullen. When he got back on campus, the next step became apparent.

"I've been dealing with my own struggles in life,'' Floyd said. "Once he called me down, there was not a question. He offered me my scholarship back and a chance to assist the defensive line and be around the guys and just share with them my NFL experience.

"I couldn't wait to be here. I loved being a Gator, and I love giving back to the Gators. And I genuinely love football."

Floyd enrolled in school at the start of the fall semester to work toward finishing his undergraduate degree. He takes classes in the morning and then arrives at the football offices to work as a student-assistant coach.

Floyd's workload varies. He scouts the opposing offensive line to help the Gators defensive linemen to prepare. He reviews film of the Gators defensive linemen to help them study their technique. And at practice, Floyd helps out where needed in assisting defensive line coach David Turner.

Floyd has wrapped his arms around the opportunity like he once did running backs.

"Excited to be back around big-time ball," he said. "Before I started coaching in Philly, I just didn't think I would be around the University of Florida this soon within my coaching career. Whatever Coach needs of me, I'll do. I'm not just glad to be around; I'm glad to give and be able to offer help."

Floyd has Valentino's attention.

"Coach Floyd came back, and he's been a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge resource to all of us guys that play inside and play outside,'' Valentino said. "It's just nice to have a first-rounder, All-American, first-team All-SEC. It's great to learn from somebody who actually came here and did it himself. We're all extremely impressed with him. He's helped my game in I don't even know how many types of ways."

Floyd's return to his college roots has stirred plenty of memories.

At the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, he caught up with Muschamp, in his first season as a Georgia assistant. They talked about the latest turn in Floyd's life and old times. Floyd's goal is to help others the way so many helped him on his journey from a long-shot kid in the big city to first-round pick.

In his world, that is part of the package.

"Beyond football, it's more of taking care of your stuff off the field and doing everything you have to do to become a pro,'' he said. "You don't just become a pro on the grass. A lot of players are stereotyped as being rude or ignorant and things like that, but we can only change one person's opinion at a time, so just being a better person and a stand-up guy." 

Original source can be found here.