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The Gators' dream team

Alex Brown wants to be an NFL star. Ricky Hunley wants to be a head coach. Together, they might do both.

[Times photo: Kevin White]

Defensive end Alex Brown led the Gators in sacks and quarterback hurries, but was labeled a disappointment in his junior season.

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 23, 2001

GAINESVILLE -- They need each other.

Ricky Hunley is a 39-year-old black man. He has played in two Super Bowls and he's in the college football Hall of Fame. But he wants to be a college head coach. There are only five black men with head-coaching jobs in Division I-A.

Alex Brown is a college senior. This time last year, a lot of people thought that right about now he would be completing the NFL preseason somewhere. Instead, his attitude has been questioned and he's still looking for recognition as one of the greatest to play in Gainesville.

Brown is convinced Hunley will make a great head coach. Hunley is convinced Brown will make a great NFL player. Each can help give the other what he wants.

"His potential is probably unlimited," Hunley, Florida's first-year defensive line coach, says of Brown, a defensive end. "He has a tremendous amount of ability and he's very, very athletic. He's really just an oversized linebacker who has a great ability to rush the passer."

Nine years after leaving the NFL, Hunley has worked from graduate assistant at USC to associate head coach at Missouri before arriving in Gainesville. He has made Brown a believer in his philosophy.

"Coach is a great person," Brown said. "He expects the best out of everyone and that's all he is going to take. If you're not doing it right, he's going to get you out of there. Plain and simple, straightforward kind of guy."

Hunley knows Alex Brown's world. Growing up in the projects in Petersburg, Va., this monster of a man used to collect bottles, then cash them in for crackers, bologna and cookies so he and his nine sisters and brothers could have snacks.

Brown knows Hunley's world. In many ways, he still lives in it. His mother is unemployed and his father works at a phosphate company in tiny Hamilton County. The pressure he felt most in deciding whether to turn pro early came from his family, he said.

"My mom will call me and I'll ask is everything okay," Brown said. "And she'll say, "Well we're still struggling with bills and the phone might get cut off this week,' or something like that. When she starts talking about bills and stuff, and how this might get cut off and that might get cut off, then that's when I think about it. That's the only time. When I'm here, I love it."

Those who know Hunley and Brown think they are headed for greatness. Those who don't level criticism. As a member of the board of directors of the Black Colleges Association and the minority issues committee of the American Football Coaches Association, Hunley's outspokenness often puts him at odds with the majority.

"I think it's wrong when you see things that need to be changed and you don't speak up about it," Hunley said. "It's wrong to be silent about it. You need to speak up about it. And if you don't? Then you're just as wrong."

Two years ago, Brown displayed the skills against Tennessee (school-record five sacks) and Georgia (two sacks and an interception) that had NFL scouts drooling. He was a first team All-American, blessed with size (6 feet 3, 264 pounds), speed and agility.

But the high expectations last fall were virtually impossible to match. Brown led the Gators with 71/2 sacks and 21 quarterback hurries but was labeled as having a bad year. After coming into the season projected as a possible top 10 NFL pick, he wasn't even promised first-round money.

So Brown stayed in school. He insists this will be a special season.

Hunley likes the changes Brown has exhibited. "He has really dedicated himself to doing the right things in the offseason," Hunley said. "When you get him out onto the football field, he's smart enough that he always finds something that gives him an edge so that he can get up on the ball. I run the tape back all the time. When the ball moves, Alex is up the field where a lot of guys are still in their stance. That's an advantage that he has; he's got a great first step."

Teammates and coaches realize just how huge a motivated Brown could be.

"We need him to be the best player he can be on a down-to-down basis," defensive coordinator Jon Hoke said. "He has to be a consistent guy and play as hard as he can. Alex gets himself in trouble sometimes because he takes a play off now and then. He was much better during the spring and we'll see how far he's come this season."

Florida ranked eighth in the SEC and 42nd nationally in total defense last year. The Gators were below average against the run and the pass. This season, with a flood of offensive players back, an above average defense could send the Gators to the national championship game at Pasadena. Brown's performance will be vital.

"I haven't won a national championship," Brown said. "We will have chances if we play hard and do what the coaches ask us to do. We will have chances to win some more and I don't want to miss out on that."

If Brown can get back to the player he was two years ago, Hunley's reputation as one of the hottest black assistant coaches in the country will continue to rise. Hunley, in turn, might just be the man to make Brown a hotter NFL prospect.

They need each other.

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