Florida football legend Keiwan Ratliff taking weekly trip down memory lane

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

The last Thanksgiving weekend Keiwan Ratliff spent in Gainesville as a player or coach came 22 years ago.

The then 22-year-old lost to Florida State, but the Florida football senior finished off a phenomenal season by being named a consensus All-American and the Sporting News SEC Defensive Player of the Year.

Nearly a quarter of a century later, some has changed. The Gators aren’t the powerhouse in football they once were. Yet, Ratliff is back in Gainesville. He’ll attend the lackluster matchup in the Swamp Saturday between the under .500 Seminoles and Gators.

But that won’t be the primary assignment for Ratliff this weekend. That’ll be Friday night at Citizens Field, where he’s the defensive backs coach for Buchholz.

Pure luck

The Ohio native received the job offer by pure coincidence. His pro football career ended in 2011, and he returned to Alachua County to serve as the football program’s Assistant Director of Player Personnel in 2018. When Dan Mullen left in 2021, so did Ratliff. He gained a promotion in Tallahassee as FSU’s Director of Player Relations.

That stint ended after last season’s 2-10 disaster. He planned to move to Apopka. Then Reid Fleming – Buchholz’s defensive line coach – called. The two were teammates at UF.

Eventually, Ratliff attended a few Buchholz spring practices. He was hooked.

“I saw Whitt’s (Coach Mark Whittemore) intensity. I got around the boys, and that football buzz got back into my blood, and I was hooked,” Ratliff said. “That came after my first practice.”

Senior DB Caleb Young called Ratliff a big brother.

“He knows everything. He’s giving it his all because he wants us to be better than him,” Young said.

It’s not just the Buchholz players who hold Ratliff in high regard. His children used to view him as their dad. Now, they understand that he’s one of the greatest Gator defensive players of all-time.

“To be able to take them and say ‘hey there’s my brick there’ or ‘that’s where I got my first interception!’” Ratliff said. “Going down memory lane just boosts my spirit.”

Inspiration to colleagues

Even at Buchholz, this season has been a trip down memory lane. In September, the Bobcats traveled to Bradenton and Manatee – coached by Jacquez Green. Green, a former Gator legend in his own right, is a mentor to Ratliff. He played at UF from 1995-1997, and Ratliff broke many of his records.

Ratliff learned many of his tricks from Green – a true student of the game. That made it quite challenging to scheme against him. The Bobcats won 30-13 anyway.

When the Ole Ball Coach visited Ratliff in Ohio in high school, the DB already heard Big Ten schools like Ohio State and Purdue tell him he was too small to play the position. Then Spurrier came and showed film of Green and a “little white wide receiver who scored three touchdowns.” That was Travis McGriff, Buchholz’s offensive coordinator.

“Trav was always a student of the game,” Ratliff said. “He’s more than a receiver. He knows gaps. He knows offense, defense.”

Ratliff, Green, McGriff, Ian Scott at Gainesville High, Earnest Graham at Santa Fe. All are Spurrier disciples and coaching. To Ratliff, it’s because Spurrier didn’t make coaching seem like a deep profession. It was simple, backyard and fun. His plays weren’t set in stone. He constantly innovated.

“Coach Spurrier would see something in the game and call a freestyle play,” Ratliff said. “You see him, in critical moments, pull something out of his hat and it works. It makes you want to do it too. The way he carried himself. He made coaching cool.”

Ratliff fully on board the Lane train

A clear option in the Florida football coaching search fits the bill of Spurrier. And yes, it’s the one you thought of.

Ratliff is a big Lane Kiffin fan.

“This is the time to get the big coach. No matter the wait,” Ratliff said. “He’s coaching them to the playoffs in the same conference as Florida. He’s an offensive guru, a recruiting guru and he wants to be here.”

Then there’s the trolling. A specialty of Spurrier. A specialty of Kiffin.

“Can you imagine if Spurrier was around in the age of Twitter? He’d be 10 times funnier.”

Kiffin’s coaching decision is expected Saturday – the day after the Egg Bowl vs. Mississippi State. The same day the Gators will look to prevent their rival from going to a bowl game.

All of Ratliff’s focus is on the day before – at Citizens Field – when the Bobcats look to win their fifth straight region championship vs. powerhouse Mandarin at 7 p.m.

Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football’s Keiwan Ratliff coaches defensive backs at Buchholz

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos