The Football Insider: August 21st, 2008

It started with a nice hole and Emmanuel Moody was through it like he had been shot out of a gun. Seeing linebackers and safeties up ahead, he cut back and headed for the sideline, showing excellent acceleration and understanding of how to find open space. By the time he got to the sideline, he was 25 yards upfield but pursuit was coming from a couple of different angles. Time for another cutback and Moody made it look both precise and easy as he went the final 25 yards for a touchdown.

That’s what it was like at Tuesday’s scrimmage. Moody took over, just as he’s been doing since the pads went on. He broke another long run later in the morning and while Chris Rainey and Jeffrey Demps also had their moments (Kestahn Moore sat out with some soreness in his knee), this was all about Moody.

For the last couple of weeks, he’s been playing like a tailback on a mission. According to a couple of reports, there’s a good reason — he’s completely healthy for the first time since he’s been at the University of Florida. Apparently, he was never at 100 percent all through the fall and there were only a few days in the spring when he felt well.

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Franz Beard
Back in January of 1969, the late, great Jack Hairston, then the sports editor of the Jacksonville Journal, called me on the phone one night and asked me if I wanted to work for him. I said yes. The entire interview took 30 seconds. It's my experience that whenever the interview lasts 30 seconds or less, I get the job. In the 48 years that I've been writing and getting paid for it, I've covered Super Bowls, World Series, NCAA basketball championships, BCS championship games, heavyweight title fights and what seems like thousands of college football, baseball and basketball games. I'm a columnist and special assignments editor for Gator Country once again, writing about the only team that ever mattered to me, the Florida Gators.