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Editor’s note: Gators Wire recently interviewed former Florida and NFL great Trace Armstrong to discuss a variety of topics, ranging from his youth to the modern game of football. During our conversations, he provided a plethora of fascinating anecdotes that we will share with you in a multi-part series.
Be sure to check back each Wednesday in the coming months for future installments of “Talking with Trace.” The series is part of a partnership between our colleagues at Campus Lore and the NFLPA.
Previously, we have discussed who was the greatest Gator ever and why the Miami Dolphins was such a great place for Trace, as well as his take on the NCAA and modern college football and his prediction for the Gators in 2021.
In this installment, we talked with Trace about his memories from his NFL career.
Even for the greatest of athletes, there is an inevitable end to their illustrious careers. Whether a player goes out with grace or ignominy is most often in the hands of the individual, Father Time waits for nobody.
This week, Gators Wire’s Adam Dubbin gets retrospective with Trace Armstrong, looking back at what could have been and the lasting legacy of his excellence.
ADAM DUBBIN: “Now you finished your career in the NFL with 106 sacks. That was 16th-most in NFL history when you retired in 2003, which was among a lot of solid, if not upper-level numbers that you did. Are you satisfied with your professional accomplishments? In that, do you feel like there are things you could have done better, or do you maybe feel like you’ve over-achieved on some things? Please fill me in on those.”
TRACE ARMSTRONG: “There are things I could’ve/should’ve done better. I think I had a couple of years — I think four years — where I played a lot of defensive tackle and that really… you know, I got hurt a lot of those years where I played inside. The injuries plus playing inside… I was not a very good inside player. It probably hurt some of my career totals.”
“You know, I had a left ankle injury that I suffered my rookie year with the Bears. Didn’t really get it taken care of properly until after my first year with the Dolphins so there’s a pretty good chunk of my career in there where I was in a lot of pain and I couldn’t run that well.”
“So you look back and you think, ‘Well what if I had done this, what if I’d done that’ but, you know, it is what it is. I look back… I’d write a check for everything I got. I’d go back and do it all over again because I loved every second.”
“I still dream about third down. I do. You know, there’s one or two nights a week at some point in the middle of the night I wake up and I’m dreaming about playing Buffalo or playing the Vikings.”
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