There is a saying that is often heard around football that goes: “back in the day.”
Mostly it is heard from people of a certain advanced age, those to who football can man anything from the leather helmets to the single-wing offense. It’s hardly ever heard from football fans that grew up in the “modern” era, those whose idea of football runs from West Coast offenses to crystal footballs.
There was a time, believe it or not, that football players played both offense and defense. That was before two-platoon football became the rage. A star quarterback could find himself playing defensive back. An All-America center might be a linebacker when the opponent has the football.
Players would go from kickoff to closing whistle at full speed.
Over the years, as the two-platoon system took hold, players concentrated on their own specialty. In today’s college game, it is so unusual to see a player play on both sides of the football that it paid off in a Heisman Trophy for Michigan star Desmond Howard in 1997, when he augmented his defensive skills as a wide receiver/kick/punt returner.
Could that happen again in 2013? If he were to play a little offense, South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney has enough Heisman hype for his defensive play that it wouldn’t take a whole lot of offensive production to perhaps put him over the top. But it is not going to happen, even if it would give him a leg up in the Heisman race.
“No. I have no interest at all in playing offense,” Clowney told the Greenville News. “Forget it. It’s strange, but that’s what the people like, touchdowns and more touchdowns. They don’t worry about the sacks and stuff.”
So is there another current player in the SEC who could parlay his offensive and defensive skills into a unique place in today’s football?
Well, there’s Florida’s junior cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy.
The talented 6-foot-1, 185-pound native of Pensacola just might be the next big thing when it comes to a two-way player. Will Muschamp, who coaches the safeties in addition to his head coaching duties, is willing to give up one of his best defensive backs to give the Gators a boost at wide receiver. What would make Muschamp even consider moving Purifoy, who has made 78 tackles, broke up five passes, forced four fumbles and blocked two kicks in his career. Muschamp experimented with Purifoy on offense briefly last year when he rushed once for eight yards and had one catch for five yards.
“We need to get better at receiver,” Muschamp told Michael DiRocco of GatorNation.
“At first, I didn’t want to,” said Purifoy said after pulling double duty in the spring. “I really didn’t want to play it. I’m kind of getting back into the groove of it now and it’s kind of fun.”
Purifoy has shown he has the speed and athleticism to pull off the double-duty or even make the move to a full-time offensive player, although he did struggle noticeably at times as a receiver in the spring drills. That’s when Muschamp had to take the junior-to-be under his wing for a little extra coaching.
“He’s still in a learning process,” Muschamp said. “He got a little frustrated. I said, ‘Listen, remember your first day at corner? I mean, it just doesn’t happen overnight. That’s why we’re doing this, so you can learn the concepts of the offense when you step in.’ It’s very difficult for a guy that’s had tremendous success at a position when you’re trying to learn another position.”
Purifoy has impressed Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel with his progress at becoming a dependable receiver.
“He’s an athletic freak and he’s a guy we want to get the ball and he’s done a good job so far,” Driskel said. “He’s really embraced the challenged and done a good job. He wants to learn. He’s a student of the game. Just the other day I was watching film and he poked his head in and we talked for 20 minutes about what he can do differently and what I’m looking at. He’s definitely trying to get as much knowledge as he can.”
“He’s going to be special,” said senior cornerback Jeremy Brown. “He’s going to make a lot of plays on offense this year.”
But that’s not all. Purifoy will also play his natural cornerback position, line up on special teams, where he made a name for himself with 22 special teams tackles two years ago as a freshman, and return kickoffs.
The possibility of playing both ways could make for a heavy workload this fall.
“I guess I’m going to be getting in shape this summer,” said Purifoy. “It’s a mindset. You just have to put in that work.
“That’s a lot, but I can handle it.”