While he may not hold the all-time FSU interception record, James Colzie does hold a special place in the hearts of Nole fans -- all because of one special INT. In 1994, down 31 - 24 to the Hogtown rivals, Colzie's diving grab of a Danny Wuerffel pass set up the tying TD in the legendary Choke at Doak.

Colzie played three more years at FSU, graduating in '96. But his days with the Noles were far from over. After coaching high school in Miami, and a year on the FIU staff, he returned to Tallahassee as a grad assistant, working from '04 thru '06 under his former coach, Mickey Andrews.

Following a season at Valdosta State, Colzie became D-Coordinator at Div. II West Georgia. Will his hard work and fast climb up the coaching ladder bring him back to Florida State for a third time? Who knows? But after listening to this edition of Garnet & Great, as Colzie looks back on two very different eras in FSU football, it's hard to imagine a better addition to Jimbo's staff.

This profile is based on highlights from  an interview Tommy Polley did with Access Athletes. Our thanks to AA's founder, Matthew Allinson. You can read the entire interview here.
While a Senior at Dunbar High in Baltimore, Tommy Polley had a dilemma:  Football or basketball? In shoulder pads Tommy was named USA Today Player-of-the-Year in Maryland and helped Dunbar to back-to-back state titles. 

On the court, Polley was a top 60 prospect and led Dunbar, a school famous for its basketball, to four straight state titles with his 20.4 point average.

All of that created a second dilemma: Polley had to choose from a long list of colleges. His final list included FSU, Southern Cal, Syracuse, Maryland, and Florida, chosen because they had outstanding programs in both sports.

What made Polley select FSU?

“I just always liked Florida State.  It was one of my favorite schools growing up.  Derrick Brooks, Bobby Bowden…the whole Seminole chop.  I just wanted to be a part of it.  When I went down there, I just fell in love with the players and the atmosphere.”

That was one dilemma solved. The other worked itself out during Polley's freshman year (1996). Redshirting in football allowed him to walk-on in basketball. He practiced with the team, but soon decided to focus on football, the sport in which he felt he had the best chance to go pro. 

The time commitment of playing both sports wasn't the issue for Polley. The basketball team’s mediocre record was. 

“At Dunbar we won all the time...And then going to Florida State, in football they were used to winning all the time. So when you are used to winning all the time, your mentality is a little different. The basketball mentality was just used to mediocrity. It just wasn’t my type of vibe...[It] worked out better for me in the long run.”

He obviously made the right choice. Polley became an All-American linebacker at FSU and led the defense in back-to-back BCS championship games—the 2000 Sugar Bowl and 2001 Orange Bowl. 

Polley played a pivotal role in the Sugar Bowl win over the Hokies and Michael Vick, blocking a punt in the first quarter that led to a touchdown. “I had the play of the game as far as defense, but then the injury came out of nowhere,” said Polley.

Tearing his left ACL while trying to tackle Vick in the second quarter, he was forced to postpone his dream of entering the NFL draft. Polley underwent reconstructive knee surgery and seven and a half months of rehab before his senior season. And that was just the physical part.

“The mental adjustment is coming off a major knee surgery. Just coming back. Wondering if you can get back. Wondering if you are going to be as fast as you were. My motivation always was I got a family to feed. That was my main thing.”

Polley returned for an All-American season that included 100 tackles with 53 solo, 7 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, and recovered a team-high 3 fumbles. He ended his FSU career with 289 tackles (170 solo) and was a semi-finalist for the Butkus Award, third team Football News All-American, first team All-ACC selection, and a finalist for the ACC’s Brian Piccolo Award, thanks to his courageous comeback from the Sugar Bowl injury.

His best memory about Bobby Bowden? Tommy says it wasn't just one thing, but the entire package.

“It is his whole every day approach. His vibe. How he talks to a player. How he talks to the media. He’s not too arrogant, but he is a good stern coach. He’s funny. Janikowski stayed out late [before the national championship]. People asked him ‘how come you didn’t suspend Janikowski?’ He said, because you got international rules. He couldn’t suspend Janikowski, but he made him do some extra running in practice. He had his own way of dealing with things.” 

Polley believes the driving force behind Bowden's decision to continue coaching is not the competition with Penn State’s Joe Paterno, but the comfort in routine and fear of letting go. 

“I think with the old coaches, they don’t want to die. I think Bear Bryant might have died 6 months after he retired.  (Editors note: Bryant died only 28 days after his last game as a coach.) So most of these guys think if they retire, they got nothing to do and what else is left? They are looking at their predecessors and how they died. I think that is why he is trying to hang around…to hang [on] to his life a little longer.”

In 2001, Polley parlayed his performance at FSU into an NFL career, starting with being picked 42nd overall in the draft.

“I was excited! I paid my dues. Now it’s time to cash in...as a competitor, you always want to play against the top players in the world. As much trash as I talk, I wanted to get a chance to prove that I can play at that level.

Some colleges have a few preferred agents that the coaching staff recommends to players when they become eligible for the NFL Draft. Polley described the open system that FSU has with respect to the agent process.

“See, when you go to FSU, it’s not like USF, where you might have one player come out every 10 years. Every year, you got about 10 players who might get drafted [out of FSU]. So for a coach to point you in a direction, would be wrong. There are some schools out there that have their agents, but Florida State is more open. Anybody can come in and get a player.”

Polley was the NFL Defensive Rookie of 2001 and played four years for St. Louis, including the 2002 SuperBowl. He moved on to Baltimore in '05 and New Orleans in '06.

After Polley went unsigned as a free agent in 2007, he retired from the NFL and quickly transformed himself into a businessman. Polley’s first venture involved launching an independent film production company called Big Vision Films, along with two other Dunbar High School alumni, Rob Foster and David Manigault. 

Big Vision Films was formed to bring socially conscious ideas to independent films. The company's first project is a documentary titled Poet Pride, which sets out to capture the legacy of Dunbar High School’s storied basketball program.

From football to film production, and from backstreet playgrounds to the SuperBowl, Tommy Polley has nailed every new challenge in life much the same way he mowed down ball carriers -- with impact and total commitment.

As the recruiting season cranks up, Barry Smith talks about his personal countdown to signing day. In this the third in our series with the FSU Hall of Fame receiver, Barry tells what led to signing with the Noles over the Gators and Canes, as well as an out-of-state contender. He also reveals how he was the only player of his era to escape the dreaded off-season conditioning hell known only as...The Room.

One of the most unforgettable games in Florida State football history inspired one of the most heart pounding radio dramas ever heard. Sure, the video highlights are available on-line. But nothing beats Gene D. and Vic Prinzi's description of the Noles' wild fourth quarter comeback. Here it is, those incredible final 15 minutes from start to finish, complete with a Doak crowd so insanely loud, it practically drowns the guys out.

Simply because blood is thicker than alma mater ties. You see, Barry's son Andrew (left) is a Senior wide receiver for Tech. Which explains why Barry is wearing a cap with a Yellow Jackets logo and why he'll be cheering for that other team in Gold this Saturday.

In this brief clip, Barry talks about his temporary lapse of FSU loyalty, and reveals a surprising Smith family tradition of playing at Bobby Dodd Stadium that spans 70 years.

During a 20 year period from the early 70s to early 90s, one Seminole receiver stands out in the record book. And today, Barry Smith's amazing stats for catches, yards and TDs still rank near the top.

What was it like to play in the era when long hair was in and football was considered "establishment?" How did players handle the transition from the intense Bill Peterson to the laid back Larry Jones? And what's the story behind FSU's "chicken wire scandal," as the press dubbed it, that sent the program into a tailspin? We asked the man who went through it all, and is still proud to be a Nole and of his place in the FSU Hall of Fame.

Wrapping up our series on Dan Whitehurst, we spotlight his partner in mayhem at linebacker: the equally hard-hitting Larry Strickland. This personal account of the colorful Strickland -- including his infamous bite -- is courtesy of Garnet & Great reader Al Washington, who played with Larry at Rickards and knew him well at Florida State. Al graduated from FSU in 1972, then served 30 years in the Marines, retiring as a Colonel. Thanks for the memories, Al.

In the fall of 1967, Larry Strickland was being recruited by several Southern football powers. Larry's reputation as a relentless, hard-nosed linebacker---(his football motor NEVER stopped during games or at practice)---quickly spread throughout the North Florida area.  I was his teammate at Rickards High School in Tallahassee. Before the start of a scheduled scrimmage in early September 1967, our head coach approached me and asked me to play running back in a special drill (3-on-1) in which Larry as the defender would face two offensive lineman with the back running for the open hole. After the first whistle blew, I realized that Larry wasn't going to allow for an open hole, in fact, he plowed through lineman after lineman to tackle me in the backfield. After 5 straight losses carrying the ball and eating a lot of dirt, I staggered away and saw for the first time that college scouts from Georgia Tech, Auburn, Florida, Miami and FSU were on hand to watch the drill. Larry completed the season in a starring role (All Big Bend, 1st Team All State AAA) and led Rickards to our first state playoff berth. Coach Bob Harbison handled Larry's FSU recruitment.

In a 1972 away game at Kansas, as Bill McGrotha noted in the Tallahassee Democrat that "Suddenly a Kansas player came shooting out of a pile-up as though rocket-propelled---he had, it turned out, been bitten---in the REAR. The protagonist was Larry Strickland, the exceptionally aggressive and talented FSU linebacker." Again, Larry Strickland's "motor" never stopped, whether on special teams or in the starting line-up, he was FSU's answer to "JAWS". During 1971- '72 seasons, I also witnessed Larry breaking down two-to-three men backfield alignments on kickoffs and punt blocking schemes with his kamikaze style of "throwing" his body against FSU opponents---he instilled fear throughout the ballgame.

While at FSU, Larry was also a social animal known to actively practice an "open door policy" at several Fraternity Houses, especially on Friday/Saturday nights. I happened to occupy the role of official host in my Fraternity when Larry appeared at a Rush event one Friday night in 1971. He was uninvited but I welcomed him in the door, when three of my less than intelligent Brothers wanted to show "this football player" the street---BIG MISTAKE, as Larry sorted out all three in about 10 nanoseconds (planting one on his head behind our kitchen milk dispensing machine). Larry, always the jovial soul, later apologized during the evening, explaining to the three that he was just out for some good clean fun and meant no harm.

"Yeah, he was also the roughest and meanest. I told him he could yell at me all he wanted to, but to never put his hands on me. So one time we were doing a field drill and he grabbed me by the hips and slung me down. Well, I just came back wide open. I had on full pads and he had on nothing. So I knocked him out. Actually, I thought I was going to be kicked off the team. And I was called in the next morning to a coaches' meeting. I walked in the room and Coach Peterson was sitting at the head of the table -- it was like a board meeting -- and Parcells got up on the other side of the room, walked over to me, stuck his hand out and said, "Whitehurst, I've got a lot of respect for you, son." That was my sophomore year, and I started for him 33 more games.

"We never had any cross words since then, and we're real close now. We talk fairly often and we're good friends. In fact, we did a little brokerage deal together a few years ago. And I went up to New York to see him and we just have a personal relationship now. He'd always tell me when I was a player that we were building relationships like soldiers in a fox hole. Back then it didn't mean anything to me, but now I realize what he was talking about."

Dan Whitehurst was a big ol' linebacker from a little South Georgia town. During the 1970 - 72 seasons, Dan brought down many opposing ball carriers with teeth-rattling tackles. But the one that older Noles remember best goes back to Thanksgiving night in 1970. FSU was playing Houston, the final game on the turkey day TV menu. The Noles had a fairly stout defense that year, but Houston took advantage of a key second half injury and...But let's allow Whitehurst himself to tell the story.

"We were ahead 26 - 12 at the half. And then Tommy Warren (QB) dislocated his shoulder and didn't tell Coach Henning (offensive coordinator Dan Henning). So he was throwing wounded ducks out in the flats, and they kept intercepting for touchdowns. And on the third one that was going for a touchdown, the guy (Nick Holm) came down our sideline and (Bill) Parcells said 'somebody oughta get him.' And I go, 'I got him, coach.' So I held onto Parcell's arm and reached out just as far as I could -- I had to lean way out there to get him with my foot to trip him. So I didn't even think, I just did it on impulse." 

Were the coaches upset?
"Well, we wound up losing the game 53 - 21, one of the worst defeats we had in ten years or so. But Coach Peterson said he felt like doing it himself. And Parcells's reaction was 'at least I know he's paying attention.' So they didn't give me a real hard time about it."

What was your most memorable game at FSU?
"I guess it would be the inaugural Fiesta Bowl. We couldn't stop Danny White and Arizona State. And Parcells was openly weeping after the game. He just couldn't get the defenses right and Danny White just picked us apart. It wasn't lack of effort, he knew it was coaching, so that's why he was so upset after the game (Note: FSU's Gary Huff threw for 347 yards and two TDs in a seesaw battle won by ASU 45 - 38)."

You played under both Bill Peterson and his successor Larry Jones. Was that a tough transition for the players?
"Jones kept the assistant coaches, so it didn't change too much except that Parcells kind of ran the show. He was a dominating kind of guy. Larry was a good coach, too, a good organizer. But he didn't have an aggressive personality like Parcells did."

What was the discipline like under Coach Peterson?
"He could make it difficult for you back then, making the practices long and hard. Probably more so than now. But he was just a prince of a guy. I mean, a great coach and a great friend. I actually handled his Gadsden County farm for him, when he came back to Tallahassee and I'd gotten into the real estate business. You know, all that stuff where people made fun of Coach Pete. He was so smart, but he had a hard time with cliches and got crossed up once in awhile. But he was a gentleman and quite a man."

Who were some of the other coaches that stick in your memory?
"Wayne McDuffie and Gene McDowell were about as hard-nosed as they come. Gene was my freshman coach. And we had like 110 players come out, and we ran 43 forty-yard sprints that first practice and seven guys quit that first day."

Talk about the intensity today compared to back then.
"Today, I think they've gotta pick the intensity level back up. I heard the off-season program got the intensity back. Kids now, they're just more talented than we were. But I don't think they'd put up with the verbal abuse we had back in those days."

Who was the player you remember best from your time?
"Rhett Dawson was the best leader we had. He was a receiver and led by performance. I don't think he really got credit for his leadership and what he did, like leading us to the Fiesta Bowl in '71. But he was my best friend then and still is."

You had offers from other schools. Why did you choose FSU?
"I'd watched the team all through the 60s. I knew Florida State was on the way up and I wanted to be part of that program. I think people have kinda forgotten about the glory days of the 60s and up through '71 when we went to that first Fiesta Bowl. But that's what put Florida State on the map. I was recruited real hard by a lot of big universities, including Alabama and Notre Dame. But I just never considered anything but Florida State."

Did you play any pro ball?
"I had a short stay with the New England Patriots in (Chuck) Fairbanks first year there -- he came from Oklahoma in '73. I was on the payroll for about a year and a half. But then I got into real estate and was making more money than I was playing football, which would hardly be the case these days. The average salary back then was a lot lower than it is now."

Any final words on your days at FSU?
"I was glad to be a part of it and still love all those guys that I played with, and am real proud to be a letterman there." (Note: Dan was instrumental in founding the Florida State Varsity Club, which has grown to be one of the largest among major universities. He's currently a member of the club's Board of Directors.)

A trip to the College World Series by the '08 Noles merits a rare baseball tribute here on G&G. We rewind to 38 years ago, back when Florida State's 1970 team came the closest ever to bringing home a national title. FSU played Southern Cal in the championship game, taking the Trojans 15 innings before Frank Alfano's bases loaded infield single broke the 1 - 1 deadlock.

Johnny Grubb was the Centerfielder on that '70 team. Grubb, who went on to play 16 years in the majors, told us it's a game he'll never forget. 

"It was a heartbreaker, because we were leading 1 - 0 and had Pat Osburn pitching for us, a real good lefthanded pitcher. We just battled all the way through, and they happened to tie the game up and brought in Jim Barr, and we had our relief pitcher, Mac Scarce -- both of whom went on to pitch in the majors. And we hooked up 1 - 1 until the 15th inning*. They made a lot of good plays and we made a lot of good plays, but they ended up beating us 2 - 1. I remember standing on the first base line receiving the awards for second place and none of us were very happy about it. I think we should have won it, but we gave it a good battle.

"We got a fantastic reception when we came back, with a police escort and everything. As a young kid it was quite impressive."

Tell us about your Coach, Jack Stallings.
"We had a real good coach in Jack. I think he had played pro baseball so he knew the game and pretty much treated us like pro ball players. He just put us out there and let us play. He was an aggressive coach and we learned a lot from him."

How about some of the key players on that 1970 team?
"We had Mac Scarce out of the bullpen. When we brought him in he was automatic. He'd just shut guys down, and he later pitched in the majors. We had an All-American second baseman, Dick Nichols. There was Ronnie Cash, Harry Saferight, and Doug Kasimier. I'm leaving out guys, but the whole team was excellent and I was real proud to be part of it." 

Several of them went on to play in the majors, but so did some of Southern Cal's players.
"Oh, yeah. They had Dave Kingman, Jim Barr and Steve Busby. I'd love to see it on tape because I thought it was one of the best (CWS) games every played."

Have you been following FSU's road to Omaha this year?
"I've been watching them on TV and pulling for them. I was real happy they advanced on to Omaha and it looks like they have a real good offensive team, and I'm impressed with some of the pitchers. Mike Martin's done a real good job with them. They look like a real good ball club. I wish them well. Hopefully they can take it all the way and win one for Florida State."

*Carl Gromek had to relieve Mac Scarce in the 15th inning because Scarce had a blister on his index finger. Had the Noles ace reliever been able to stay in the game, who knows how it might have turned out.