Rutherford enters year two under coach Floyd
The Rutherford football team is entering its second year under head coach Albert Floyd.
Last fall, the Rutherford football team finished with a 2-8 record, one more win than the previous season. The biggest difference between the losing seasons is that three of last year’s losses were decided by four points or less, including a narrow 16-14 Tiger Shark win in Panama City Sept. 22.
“On that given Friday those other teams were the best teams at the end of the day because those were the ones that ended up winning on the scoreboard,” Floyd said. “We feel like we’ve corrected the ball security. We feel like some of those games could go our way this year.”
Floyd graduated from Apalachicola High School in 2005, where he played middle linebacker. After high school, he attended Urbana University in Ohio and then transferred to Chowan University in North Carolina, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social science. He played tight end throughout his college career.
Albert Floyd scores a touchdown during his college playing days in Ohio for the Urbana University Blue Knights. [ Albert Floyd | Contributed ]
Albert Floyd during his college playing days for the Chowan University Hawks in North Carolina. [ Albert Floyd | Contributed ]
The Rams will still be a young squad this fall, but they return a core veteran group. Floyd said the older group stepped up to leadership roles in the spring.
“We have about six or seven seniors out here that are playing key spots on both sides of the ball,” Floyd said. “I feel like those guys are actually trying to teach these young guys and they’re following in their ways and they’re taking coaching.”
One of the returning players is quarterback Jason Havens Jr., a rising senior with a full year of reps under his belt. Last year he completed 104 of 199 passes, for 1,308 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
“Having a year two quarterback at Rutherford that hasn’t happened in a long time has given us an advantage,” Floyd said.
This spring also marked Floyd’s second season in charge of the program. He said over the last year, he’s grown as a head coach.
“Me knowing my players, knowing what they can take, what they can’t take,” Floyd said. “That’s been great for me for a year or two because I think I became a better coach.”
Ball security is the biggest focus for the Rams right now, but another spring goal is to strengthen the air game.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.