Gator Country

Florida sophomore Jabari Gorman wrestles down Chris Johnson during the Gators' Orange & Blue Debut on April 7, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. / Gator Country photo by Saj Guevara

Ahmad Black had an incredible career for the Florida Gators football team. The current Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety amassed 244 total tackles, with 13 interceptions and 15 passes broken up in 48 career games. He was a 2010 AP Second-Team All-American, 2010 Consensus First-Team All-SEC and 2010 Rivals.com First-Team All-American.

However, Black isn’t a prototypical safety. The 5-foot-9, 184-pound safety has always been a bit smaller than his counterparts. Most safeties are between 5-11 and 6-2, and weigh between 200 and 210 pounds.

What made Black successful was his great vision, his wrap-up, solid tackling skills, and play-making ability as a blitzer and as a drop-back safety. He would never physically “wow” you; he would just make position plays, which compensated for his lack of prototypical size.

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