Matt Stamey/Staff photographer/File
Awed by his situation and surroundings, John Redmond trotted onto the field at the Houston Astrodome for a walk-through practice the day before his first college football game and promptly fell flat on his face. Literally.
“Looking up at the Dome, I tripped face-first onto the turf and got a big rug burn on my chin,” Redmond said. “That's how naive I was.
“You can't get anymore rookie than that.”
Redmond's embarrassing stumble and fall before Florida's 1979 season opener against Houston illustrates how tricky and treacherous that giant step can be going from high school to playing on the offensive line as a true freshman at an SEC school.