MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Ruffin McNeill dispenses his wisdom in run-on sentences, stories and theories gathered over 38 years as a football coach at 11 different schools, from Lumberton High in North Carolina all the way to Oklahoma, where he’s about to coach in his second College Football Playoff in as many seasons. The defensive coordinator’s voice is a deep rasp, ground away by so many seasons on the sideline, and as his stream-of-consciousness musings wind, he catches his breath with every “a-a-a-and.” The word churns around in McNeill’s vocal cords for seconds, like a car engine turning over and straining to start each time the coach moves from thought to thought, name to name, memory to memory.
Ruffin McNeill's Bond With Lincoln Riley Comes Full Circle in the Fight to Salvage Oklahoma's Defense
