75 Days to Gator Football: Johnny Rutledge

With Jevon Kearse's Dragon Wing-Span clogging EVERYTHING, run OR pass, in the middle of the field, it was "pick your poison" against that Gator-D the Championship Year, and Rutledge was one of those "deadly choices" that cost opposing offenses every time they challenged him, it seemed--but what could they do? Wuerfel would drop a couple of bombs on 'em in Spurrier's "quick-surprise" offense, then it was time for them to try to play "catch-up" against a dominating, high risk/high gain defense that could really take over once it had a lead. I see signs of Muschamp currently building that kind of a defense , one that really knows how to "step on your neck" and finish, for the first time since that squad's great year...Even Meyer's best defenses were more star-oriented: it was these individuals' dazzling play, more than a shared effort relying at least as much on team depth, that produced dominating results--and this had its drawbacks and consequences at key moments later on (it's a whole other discussion, and no use belaboring it now, but the still quietly painful truth is that we had every opportunity to win a SECOND National Championship in a row in '09 if that had NOT been so much the case--but "woulda, shoulda, coulda...", ya know? So like everyone else, including me, has done ever since that painful week in Atlanta and especially that 2nd half, I'll just shut up here and let it go...).