It’s those brief moments of peace that Sharrif Floyd relishes. They come wrapped in chaos and contact, crunching shoulder pads and flying bodies, and to him, it’s a slice of happiness and a way to escape. Because you see, Sharrif Floyd has no dreams. Not yet anyway. He lives a day-to-day existence through a narrow corridor and a vision of what’s right ahead, but not too far beyond that.
He survives, while strangers walk by him on the cold streets of North Philadelphia aren’t too afraid to tell him he’s going to be in the NFL one day. He nods and acknowledges them. Though all the while, the 6-foot-3, 308-pound George Washington High (Philadelphia, Pa.) stellar lineman is just hoping to make it to tomorrow.
Every college football coach in the country, meanwhile, hopes the powerful Floyd will come their way. He’s really everything a college football coach could want. He’s big, powerful, quick, has a tremendous work ethic, is a solid student and above all else, Floyd is just a very good young man imbedded in a very difficult situation.
He’s the best football player in Southeastern Pennsylvania, probably the best player in the state and arguably the best player in the country, projected by many highly respected recruiting outlets already as the No. 1 junior defensive tackle in the nation. He’s been the No. 1 player in every combine he’s attended.
But aside from the accolades and the hype, stripping away the numbers and stats you find out who Floyd really is—and you can’t help but come away that much more impressed. He doesn’t let his surroundings dictate how he behaves or his course in life. He could be angry. He could be resentful. He isn’t. Things don’t easily impress him. He’s actually very grounded for someone 17 years old.
“That’s because I’ve pretty much raised myself,” said the affable Floyd, who carries a 3.0 GPA and will take the SAT in June. “Most people think I have it easy. I don’t. They see the attention and all the colleges that are interested, but my life has been a struggle. I’ve been struggling since I was six. I used to wear the same pair of clothes every day to school, and you can say I’ve been the man of the house since I was 10.
“But I’ve also been very fortunate to have the support from family, school counselors, my grandmother (Lucille Ryan) and my mother (Tonya Scott), the whole Washington coaching staff, especially coaches (Greg) Garrett and (Quazy) Soloman. Guys like (NFL players) Jemeel McClain and Jahri Evans have an impact on me and have helped me. I’ve been in three houses in the last three or four months. I never got a break in my life; I made my own breaks. I’ve been told on more than a few occasions that I would never make it in life. I had an elementary school teacher even call my mother and tell her that one day.”
Now every major college football coach tells Floyd how great he is and how they’d love to have him in their program. Floyd takes it all in, as he does everything, a little morsel at a time. You’re not going to wow him.
He grew up in a drug-infested environment. His biological father died two days before he was born. There isn’t much his young eyes haven’t seen already.
“I was always frustrated at a young age, but growing up in a bad situation, there are only two ways you can go, run the streets and sell drugs, or go another way and do something with your life,” Floyd said. “I grew up in a drug environment. I grew up around all of that stuff. I’ve had people I grew up who were locked up, some of them were shot and killed. After one of my friends died, I stayed away from a lot of things after that.”
And strayed more and more towards football. He began playing football, because he jokes, he couldn’t beat a friend at basketball. Floyd is very competitive, and if there one area he’s shut down, he’ll find another area to breach and win.
“It’s just the way I am,” Floyd said. “Beat me and I’ll come over after and I’ll shake your hand. But that doesn’t mean I’m finished. I’ll keep coming. That’s what happened with football. A friend of mine kept beating me in basketball, and I had to find another sport. So in middle school, I picked football.”
Then Floyd laughs …
“I didn’t know anything. When I first got there, I didn’t know how to get into a three-point stance, or a four-point stance. I knew what football was. I played it on the street. But that was about it.”
In Floyd’s first four games playing tackle football, he rolled up 20 tackles—playing with a simple mindset, pursue the ball. It’s his mantra even today.
“Basically what keeps me pushing, I guess, is that I’m hungry,” Floyd said. “I don’t know what I’m hungry for, but when I’m out there playing football, it’s just me and the other guy. I don’t know him; he doesn’t know me. It’s where I put all of the troubles out of my mind and I think about what I can do to get to that ball. I don’t know what pushes me, besides my coaches, and I have tremendous players around me. I have great teammates on this team, guys that are just monsters.”
With Floyd as the hub of Washington’s suffocating defense.
Floyd won’t commit until the 2010 Army All-American Bowl on January 9 in San Antonio, Texas. Penn State, North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, Rutgers and Boston College are among the schools currently on his lengthy list. He has visits to Florida set up this summer, and he’s been to Penn State a number of times on unofficial visits.
He’ll play either right guard or right tackle on offense, and defensive tackle, where he’s projected to play in college, for the Eagles this coming season. He’ll work out this summer (he benches over 400 pounds and squats over 600), but at least now there is an aim and a vision where once there was none.
“A year from now, I see myself in college or on my way to starting in college two years from now,” Floyd said. “But I never had dreams and I never wanted to do anything with my life until after I started playing football. Football was something to do, something that was just fun for me. But once I saw what I could do on a football field, and what I could do with the sport, I started looking at other things.”
So while Floyd doesn’t dream about the future, college defensive coordinators across the country dream about one day having him on their team.
And a smile beams across Floyd’s face … one day … one day he thinks maybe it is all right to dream.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a frequent contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
