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Best Florida football players: Modern-era Mount Rushmore – From Emmitt Smith to Tim Tebow

By Cody Williams

GAINESVILLE, FL - OCTOBER 06: Tim Tebow is inducted into the Ring of Honor during the game between the Florida Gators and the LSU Tigersat Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on October 6, 2018 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - OCTOBER 06: Tim Tebow is inducted into the Ring of Honor during the game between the Florida Gators and the LSU Tigersat Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on October 6, 2018 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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Best Florida football players
Florida Football (Mandatory Credit: Andy Lyons /Allsport) /

If you ask most fans in Gainesville, the Florida Gators are also known as DBU for the litany of top-notch defensive backs that they’ve brought into the program and/or produced for the NFL. But there’s only one defensive player that makes the modern era Mount Rushmore and it’s not a DB. Instead, the honor belongs to Alex Brown and arguing his place in this spot would ultimately be futile.

Throughout his college career, Brown racked up the hardware as an individual performer. He was a two-time All-American, a three-time All-SEC selection and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2001. This all came after he was redshirted in 1997 and then spent the 1998 season as a backup to another Florida great, Jevon Kearse, which makes it all the more impressive.

Brown, however, submitted two of the greatest single seasons from a pass-rusher in Florida football history. In the 1999 season, he set the school record with 13 sacks and came close to matching it as a redshirt senior in 2001 when he was able to notch 10.5 quarterback takedowns on the year.

By the end of his college career, Brown was the career sack leader at Florida with 33.0, a mark he still holds by a wide margin as Alonzo Johnson is in second place on that list with 27. Because his NFL career was not as fruitful as others — even from the start as a fourth-round pick — Brown doesn’t always get the shine he deserves. That, however, is not the case here.

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