We are 73 days away from Florida's Week 1 matchup against Long Island University set for Saturday, August 30, meaning it's time to count down the days until Gator Football. To help the time pass and pay homage to some of the all-time greats, we're going to highlight the best player to wear the jersey number corresponding to the number of days until kickoff.
The countdown will continue with the best player to wear number 73. Jack Youngblood topped an impressive batch of athletes to wear 74 yesterday, and while there wasn't as much elite talent at number 73, one player rose to the top.
Shariff Floyd: Best Florida player to wear #73
After diving back to the 20th century for the first two players on this countdown, we remain in the current millennium to highlight Floyd. The standout defensive tackle came through Gainesville from 2010 to 2012 with plenty of hype, and departed The Swamp as one of the top players in the country at his position.
Floyd earned a starting role in his freshman season and earned a spot on the 2010 Coaches' Freshman All-SEC Team, and followed up the impressive campaign with a 46-tackle, 1.5-sack sophomore season while also blocking a kick. It wasn't until his junior season that he burst onto the scene nationally.
He earned First-Team All SEC honors and nabbed All-American bids from the American Press and Sporting News, becoming the first Gator defensive lineman to make an All-American team in over a decade. Floyd blocked two more kicks as a junior and registered a forced fumble and 13.0 tackles for loss.
The NFL came calling after the exceptional season, and he was selected in the first round by the Minnesota Vikings, where he'd accumulate 9.5 sacks and 95 tackles over three seasons before disaster struck. The former Gator underwent what was anticipated to be a simple knee procedure in the fall of 2016, but sustained nerve damage during the surgery which forced him into an early retirement.
Despite the harsh ending to his playing career, Floyd's path brought him back to the Gators and the game of football. Floyd went back to school at UF and earned a sociology degree in 2023 while also serving as a student assistant for the Gators. He's currently an assistant defensive line coach for the Washington Commanders and appears to have a bright future on the sidelines.