Through the stadium tunnel, past a pair of double doors and nestled in a corner of the weight room, Ahmad Fulwood sat with a confident smile following the best collegiate game of his life.
He knew the questions were coming, the ones about his underwhelming Florida career, about a once four-star recruit reduced to benchwarmer and run-blocker for most of his four years.
So when a slightly different question was asked, Fulwood took a few seconds to respond.
How do you handle the criticism the offense has received over the last two weeks?
“I mean, if we were scoring 80 points a game, people would say: Why aren’t you scoring 90?” Fulwood said.
Really?
“Somebody. I promise you,” he said. “Somebody out there would be upset that we weren’t scoring 90.”
Fulwood can relate to the criticism Florida has faced — not meeting expectations, not making enough highlight plays and not being good enough.
But not on Saturday.
In his final home game in The Swamp, Fulwood looked like the recruit UF coveted four years ago, a 6-foot-4 red-zone threat with soft hands and an impressive vertical.
In the second quarter, he raced to the left corner of the end zone and snagged an 18-yard pass from quarterback Austin Appleby for UF’s second touchdown. He jumped over a South Carolina defender’s head for a 30-yard completion in the third quarter. He managed to lift some pressure off Antonio Callaway, the receiver opposite him.
And he saved his best performance for his last home game, earning his first touchdown since 2014 and first regular-season score since Nov. 9, 2013, all in front of South Carolina coach Will Muschamp, the coach who recruited him.
For about three hours on Saturday, in front of family and a Senior Day crowd, Fulwood’s last three years were forgotten.
“It’s been a rocky road,” Fulwood.
“Obviously it didn’t go how I wanted it to go, how a lot of people wanted it to go.”
Kerry Dixon, UF’s receivers coach, would agree.
Dixon has spoken about the high expectations he has for Fulwood, wishing he would be as aggressive catching passes as he is when he blocks an opposing cornerback on an end-around rush.
“I think it’s more of a mindset,” Dixon said. “Sometimes, guys don’t want to really go in there and punch before they get punched.”
But on Saturday, if only for two receptions, Fulwood looked like a different player. And after UF’s 20-7 win, head coach Jim McElwain gushed about the senior.
“I love him, man,” McElwain said. “We always talk about be aggressive at the point of attack and go up and get the ball, and he did that (Saturday).”
And with two more regular-season games left, Fulwood has a chance to be the player he was on Saturday, the tall receiver leaping over defenders and providing a legitimate threat for a lagging offense that desperately needs one.
“Mac has always challenged me to be the biggest person in the room,” Fulwood said. “When that ball was in the air … I wasn’t gonna wait for my chance for that thing to come down.
“I wanted to go take it.”
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.
Ahmad Fulwood jumps to make a catch during Florida's 20-7 win over South Carolina on Nov. 12, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
