Former Atlanta Falcon, Bobby Butler spoke on both perseverance and excellence at one of our recent camps He told the story of his college and NFL coach Jack Stanton's insistance on striving for excellence on every single play.
In one game when Florida State was playing Mississipppi State and Mississippi State's running back took off down the left side of the field for a 60 yard plus run. Though it was not his area to cover, FSU's defensive end, Edinborough Richardson chased after the running back from the line of scrimmage, (from the opposite side of the play) and trailed him the entire 60 plus yards. As the runner approached the end zone for what looked like a probable touchdown, he was hit by FSU's safety, Keith Jones. The ball unexpectedly popped loose and rolled into the end zone. To the amazement of nearly everyone, Edinborough fell on the ball in the end zone for a touch back.
The excellence which Edinborough Richardson displayed on that play helped FSU preserve a win in what would become on of FSU's best seasons in history. The team went on to an 11 - 0 record , played Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and Florida State's first undefeated regular season.
