Garnet and Great

Alonzo Jackson on chasing quarterbacks and the coaches who pushed him to excel

One of the fiercest pass rushers to graduate from the Mickey Andrews Academy of Dominating Defense is looking for his next team. Alonzo Jackson (1999 - '02) has been on four pro rosters since being drafted in 2002.

The latest, the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian League. A.J.'s speed and size seemed ideal for the CFL. But this time it was Alonzo who got sacked. Cut before the regular season kicked off, he's currently working the phones, hoping for another shot, another training camp. We spoke to him while he was in Calgary, just before he hit the practice field.

G & G:  You were drafted by the Steelers. How did those two years go in Pittsburgh?
A.J.:  "I learned a lot up there, but the only thing about going to Pittsburgh is that they changed me from defensive end over to outside linebacker. And I had to learn a whole new position and covering receivers downfield. But I learned a lot about how offensive coordinators try to attack the defense, just to further the experience I got at Florida State."

G & G: Then you went to the Eagles?
A.J.:  "I left Pittsburgh and tried to get back to playing defensive end in Philly. And I met another Seminole guy, Tra Thomas, and we battled at defense and offensive tackle going back and forth. And he really helped my technique out some more.  Then I went to the Giants and met up with another FSU grad there, Erie Moore, and tried to get better."

G & G: Have you survived your pro career without serious injuries?
AJ:  "Yes, I was taught well at Florida State by Coach Jost, and in earlier years by Coach Van. And I've been trying to take care of my body, staying in shape and continuing to lift throughout the season. That's the Seminole way, baby."

G & G: What was your biggest thrill wearing a Seminole uniform?
AJ:  "You can never top being number one. It was the only time in my life I walked off the field and knew I was the absolute best, and that was in 1999 when we won the national championship."

G & G: How do you feel about all the coaching changes at FSU?
AJ:  "I know that Coach Bowden is going to do everything he can to get us -- you notice I said us -- back to winning the ACC championship and get into a BCS bowl to win a national championship. And I know if nobody else will get us right, Coach Andrews and Coach Bowden will get us right."

G & G: Coach Amato is coaching linebackers again. How much did he shape the D when you were there?
AJ:  "My first two years there, Coach Amato and Coach Andrews were the heart and soul of the defense. And I can tell you Coach Amato is going to have the most in-shape linebacker corps ever."

ChantRant: So who's the loudest on the practice field, Coach Amato or Coach Andrews?
AJ:  "Oh, they're running neck and neck. But when Coach Andrews gets going, you gotta duck and hide. I've gotta say Coach Andrews is the coach I respect most in my football career, because you can look and see the fire in his eyes. And he translates that and puts that into his players."

G & G: In the locker room he must lighten up and pat you guys on the back, right?
AJ: Naw, I've never seen that side of him (laughs). This is what he told me and this has stuck with me forever. He looked me in my eyes — I think I was a freshman — and said 'I'm striving for perfection. I want you to be perfect. Every time, every snap. From your feet to your hands to your stance. I know you can't be perfect all the time. But if you strive for perfection, you'll be much better.'"

G & G: Speaking of motivation, what's the best halftime speech or motivational moment you remember from Coach Bowden?
AJ:  "We were in the locker room at Doak Campbell against Florida my senior year.
It was halftime, and he said, 'Gentlemen,
we're just not getting to the quarterback.' And he walked over to me and said: 'Alonzo,
we are NOT getting to the quarterback. We NEED to get to the quarterback. Get HIM on the ground!' And it was me, Dockett, Kevin Emanuel, Eric Moore, Womble, and Travis Johnson. And we looked at each other and we said, 'Hey, we're fighting for respect here, this is our stadium.' And we went out there and got the job done."

G & G: Do pro coaches believe guys from FSU are better prepared than players from other schools?
AJ: "Oh, yeah. Because we prepare like pros at Florida State. They get you ready for the next level. So when you go there, you know how to study film. You know that you need to be on time. You know that you need to be prepared when you come to the meetings. You know you need to act like a professional, on and off the field."

G & G: You sound like you might have coaching in your future after your playing days.
AJ:  "I really do, and it's a tribute to all the coaches I've had there at Florida State — Jim Gladden and Jody Allen, Coach Andrews and Coach Amato. They really shaped my life. If it wasn't for those guys, and my high school coaches, I wouldn't be where I am today.  So when I'm done with my career I want to be a coach. I want to help a guy go from nothing to being somebody — including being somebody's husband."

G & G: Any message for the FSU fans who enjoyed watching you play?
AJ:  "Only message I have is, Go Noles, baby! We may have been down for a couple of years. But we're gonna believe in Coach Bowden and he's gonna get us there."

Main photo Copyright Stampeders/Cory Shannon/2007

Ron Dugans Part 2: "These past few years it wasn't the same confidence"

What would you have given to have been a fly on the wall last season in the FSU football complex? To get a better idea of what went wrong, not to mention why and because of whom?

The closest we've been able to come is listening Ron Dugans talk about "being on the inside looking out" during his two years (2005 - 06) as a graduate assistant coaching receivers. Because he's a gentleman, Ron doesn't throw anybody under the bus. But in Part Two of our interview, he answers questions we all had about what the %&*! was happening.

MP3 File

"Let's Make it Special For the Fans" Ron Dugans on what it takes to win it all

What's it like going wire-to-wire undefeated? Celebrating a national championship? And playing second fiddle to Peter Warrick?

Ron Dugans knows. You remember Ron, right? He was the quiet counterpart to the headline-making Warrick. Quiet and dependable, he just made big catches when it counted.

After two years coaching wide receivers as an FSU grad assistant, Ron joined the new staff at Georgia Southern under pass-happy Chris Hatcher. That's where we caught up with Coach Dugans to get the inside skinny on the winningest team ever to wear Garnet & Gold.

MP3 File

After 17 years and 30+ miles of passing yardage, Danny McManus calls it quits

The Dan Marino of Canadian Football is retiring. After 17 years north of the  border, Former FSU QB Danny McManus ('85-'87) is quitting while he's ahead — way ahead.

McManus has piled up passing stats that may never be equalled in the history of the CFL, or any league for that matter. If he were in the NFL, his 53,255 career yards would be surpassed by only Marino and Farve.

Different leagues, greater degree of difficulty, you say? Maybe. But any QB who throws for 30-plus miles with three downs instead of four, and in below freezing weather on icy fields, deserves more than just having his jersey retired.

Though Danny won't be suiting up this season, he'll still be making the rounds of CFL stadiums as an analyst on league telecasts.

"I've been playing football for more than 25 years," said McManus.  "I've loved every minute of my time in the CFL. Football is in my blood and I look forward to the next phase of my career as an analyst on TSN."

Read more about Danny's career, along with his comments, in this story from the Calgary Herald.

Steve Tensi talks about Biletnikoff, beating the Gators for the first time, and the Noles breakout season of '64

Tensi to Biletnikoff was the Seminoles first great passing combination. There would be many more to come —  like Hammond to Sellers, Ward to McCorvey, and Weinke to Warrick. But Steve Tensi and Fred Biletnikoff were a tough act to follow.

On this edition of Garnet & Great, Tensi (pictured above with Coach Peterson) tells how he and Biletnikoff and the '64 team took FSU from being barely known outside the South to a number 11 national ranking. If FSU had run a pro-style offense in '62 and '63, who knows how many thousands of yards the duo might have produced.

Out of football for several years, Tensi is now in construction in North Carolina. He hasn't been to an FSU game in decades, but often watches the Noles on TV — when not entertaining his grandchildren. By the way, Steve is still married to the girl he met at freshman orientation, his second day on the FSU campus.

As Biletnikoff Exits the Game, a Moving Tribute Echoes From the Hall of Fame

He was an unhearlded kid out of Erie, PA — skinny, slow and quiet. He was also an All-American, All-Pro and maybe the best receiver in Seminole history.

Now, for the first time in nearly 50 years, he's out of football. Fred Biletnikoff has retired as receivers coach of the Oakland Raiders.

What did Freddie B. mean to football? More than just a dependable, possession receiver. He symbolized a fearless disregard for life and limb — sacrificing those bony joints to make the catch, no matter what the price to be paid.

Fred's career, from high school to Tallahassee to Oakland, is summarized beautifully (hear it below) by Raiders owner Al Davis during Biletnikoff's Hall of Fame induction. We've never heard the mysterious Davis pay such an emotional tribute to any of his players. But then, there was nobody quite like the elusive, determind Freddie B.

Movin' On Up: Dedrick Dodge jumps from 1-B high school coach to college coordinator

Add another former FSU player to the growing list
of coaches making a name for themselves.
Dedrick Dodge ('86 - '89) recently resigned as head coach of Victory Christian, a 1-B high school in Lakeland, to become defensive coordinator at Fort Valley State, a Division II school in Georgia.

In 2005, Dodge led Lakeland's Evangel Christian to an 11-3 record and the 1-B state championship. When Evangel ended its program, Dodge and most of his players moved to Victory Christian where they hardly skipped a beat. This year Dodge guided The Storm to a 10-4 mark and the 1-B title game, where they lost to FAMU High.
He also had four players earn spots on the 1-B All-State first team.

Before he moved into coaching, the 39-year old Dodge played eight years in the NFL (for Seattle, San Francisco, Denver and San Diego), with two Super Bowl rings to show for it.

Dodge's new boss at Ft. Valley is another former Nole, Deondri Clark ('89-'92 ). Clark (pictured right) came to Fort Valley State last year after a successful stint at Shaw University in North Carolina. During three years at Shaw, Clark was 22-10, won a CIAA Championship and beat Tuskegee in the Pioneer Bowl.

Dodge is already recruiting for Ft. Valley, while packing for the move to middle Georgia. He took time out to talk about his playing days and coaching career.

G&G: That's quite a leap, going from Florida's lowest high school classification to a college program.
Dodge: "I was coaching at 1-B because I wanted to coach at 1-B, not because I had to. I'd turned down graduate assistant jobs and different things. I just like coaching kids. Just because a player plays in 1-B or a coach coaches in 1-B, doesn't mean they can't excel at a higher level. And when this opportunity came along, I thought it was a good chance for me to get some college experience and hopefully one day move up to the college D1 level, which is a goal of mine."

G&G: Talk about what you learned from Coach Andrews.
Dodge: "Coach Andrews has given me a lot. I've just taken what he's given me and a few other things I've picked up along the way, and try to mold a player to be the best they can be. So they have a chance to go the next level, whether that's from high school to college, or from college having the chance to play in the NFL.

"In my time, Coach Andrews was younger — but he might have been a little more feisty. We had so many great coaches that we all just fed off each other. We all also lived together (in the same complex). Now with kids spread out all over Tallahassee, you don't have that continuity you used to have."

G&G: Do you stay in contact with Coach Andrews?
Dodge:  "I go up there periodically, especially during the summer, and talk with them and stuff. You know, with great coaches, I like to sit down with them and pick their brains. Find out what they do."

G&G: How much is your coaching based on what you learned at FSU?
Dodge:  "I tell kids, 'This is how we did it at Florida State.' I still refer back to Coach Andrews, always. He taught me everything. Every drill, every instinctive thing that we needed to know, I learned from Coach Andrews. Only thing I learned when I went to the NFL was different defenses. And the game was faster. But all the fundamentals and techniques? Coach Andrews had us ready."

G&G: Obviously, the FSU connection was key in being offered the job at Ft. Valley State.
Dodge: "Deondri Clark offered me the defensive back coaching job a few years ago, but I wasn't able to take it at the time. I'm in a little better shape now to make the move. I used to help him when he was at FSU. I was kind of a mentor to him then, and I think he never forgot that. I'm a protege of Coach Andrews and so is he. Everything he wants to do is predicated on what Bobby Bowden and Coach Andrews have taught us. And he wants more guys like that around him, because we're cut from the same cloth."

G&G: Is your NFL experience a big plus in coaching and recruiting kids?
Dodge: "How impressive is it for a kid to have somebody who's played against Jerry Rice and other great receivers? That's played with Deion Sanders? I just came back from a big recruiting day at Ft. Valley, and I wore both of my Super Bowl rings. I told them, 'You want to get this jewelry? You want to know what it takes and how to prepare?' So they look at us a little differently because we've been there."

G&G: Will the new FSU coaching staff return the program to its glory days?
Dodge: "I think they're gonna turn it around. The offense has struggled some, and sometimes the defense just gets worn down. And I think that's what happened to them a little bit."

G&G: Is it a goal of yours to someday return to
FSU as a coach, like former teammates Lawrence Dawsey and Dexter Carter?
Dodge: "That's always the goal. You just try to get yourself prepared and put yourself in the position that if the opportunity ever arose like that, of course you'll take it. Everybody always wants to go home. Florida State will always be my home, and I'll always bleed Garnet and Gold."

The man who made "The Catch" has spent the rest of his life running away from it

Lane Fenner was last heard from in November 1986, on the 20th Anniversary of "The Catch," when Gerald Ensley of The Tallahassee Democrat tracked him down somewhere in the Southwest.
A reluctant Lane talked to Ensley, but made him promise to never tell where he lived. The story Ensley wrote is believed to be the last time Fenner spoke to the media about his moment in FSU history. (Garnet & Great had no luck in locating him 40 years after.)

Our thanks to The Democrat, and Gerald Ensley in particular, for greenlighting this slightly condensded version of that story.

COMPLETING THE LEGEND OF LANE FENNER
by Gerald Ensley
Democrat Staff Writer

Ron Sellers tells the perfect Lane Fenner story.  The year was 1966, the same season Fenner became famous.  The Florida State football team was amid the mountains in El Paso, Texas, preparing for the Sun Bowl.

After one practice, the team was loading up the buses.  Coaches did a head count.  One player was missing...

"It was Lane," recalled Sellers.  "We searched for 20 or 30 minutes before we found him, halfway down the mountain, in a cave, looking for rocks."

Bingo, the quintessential Fenner story, perfect not just because Fenner was a geology major but because Fenner was a maverick.

Fenner was a player who once stood up in a team meeting and criticized head coach Bill Peterson.  A player who refused to join the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, to which almost all his FSU teammates belonged.  A player who chewed sunflower seeds while most other Seminoles chewed tobacco.

There's only one thing wrong with Sellers' story.  It's not true.

The Great Game Robbery

No single play
in FSU football history has ever eclipsed "The Catch."

If you're an older Nole, this image is forever etched in your brain. If you're younger than 30, take a good look at it and the other photos in this piece (including the SEC referee signaling incomplete). You'll soon feel the outrage which they never fail to ignite among Seminole faithful.

The best account of that dark day appeared in The Tallahassee Democrat on the 20th anniversary of "The Catch." We re-print that story here, with permission from The Democrat. Special thanks to author Gerald Ensley for making it possible.

WHO SAW WHAT?
Witnesses, photos and films all have their stories
by Gerald Ensley
Democrat Staff Writer

The amazing thing is that it was Lane Fenner's only play of the game.

Or maybe it's amazing that Ron Sellers was on the bench. Or that it was the same play Florida State had just run.

No, the amazing thing is that 20 years after it happened, the truth is still elusive.

"I was in bounds. It's that simple. It was a touchdown," said Fenner.

"I made the right call. He did not have possession of the ball before he went out of bounds. The films prove it," said Doug Moseley.

Of course, the truth is immaterial now. What is important is the legend.

The Day FSU Kicked a Field Goal to Beat Miami in the Orange Bowl

Okay, it was September 18, 1971. But you can still amaze your friends with the fact that FSU did beat Miami in the Orange Bowl on a 25-yd. field goal by a little barefoot kicker named Frank Fontes. And with just four minutes and 38 ticks left, the Noles held off two late Miami drives to walk off the winners.

Don Sparkman (1970 — '73) was a sophomore OL that day. Now a Ford executive in Detroit, Sparkman remembers it this way:

"It was a nationally televised game at 1 O'Clock. It was so hot that when we put our hands down on the AstroTurf — the Orange Bowl had one of the first versions of the stuff — it was like putting your hands on blazing asphalt. 

"I recall the game coming right down toward the end. It was pretty close the whole way. Even back then, just like today, Miami sent tons of players to the Pros. They were bigger than Florida State. They were faster than Florida State. But Frank was just an unflappable individual. So when we lined up to kick the field goal, there wasn't much doubt that Frank was going to make it."