Former players open SEC Beach Fest interview series

Eric Mann, emann@gulfcoastnewspapers.com
Posted 8/16/13

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Former SEC football players Ben Leard, Roger Schultz, Inky Johnson and Matt Jones took the beach stage on Friday for the first CSS Legends Interview of the SEC Beach Fest weekend.

The interview was the first of 10 scheduled …

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Former players open SEC Beach Fest interview series

Posted

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Former SEC football players Ben Leard, Roger Schultz, Inky Johnson and Matt Jones took the beach stage on Friday for the first CSS Legends Interview of the SEC Beach Fest weekend.

The interview was the first of 10 scheduled for the weekend festival that features legendary SEC football coaches, players and Heisman Trophy winners on the Gulf Shores beach near The Hangout.

“If you look at the coaching staffs in the SEC this year and there are some really great coaches,” Jones, the former University of Arkansas quarterback and basketball player said about the tough competition in SEC play. “I think it starts with them. I was lucky enough to be with coach Houston Nutt, a great coach and great motivator. I had a lot of fun playing for him.”

Schultz started at center for Alabama head coaches Ray Perkins, Bill Curry, and Gene Stallings. He was named All-SEC twice, was a freshman All-American, and was an honorable mention All-American his junior and senior year.

“I think the greatest part of playing in the SEC is the tradition and the shoulders of the guys who have come before you,” Schultz said. “There is such great history and great coaches and great players. To know that you are just a little part of that, it is unbelievable. Playing at a place like the University of Alabama is special. It is something I never thought I would be able to do, being a Georgia boy.”

Leard, the former Auburn quarterback, talked about how his family’s work ethic helped him on the college football field.

“The adversity that I learned from it pales in comparison to the adversity of others, but I had some mountains to climb that molded me into the man that I am today,” Leard said. “I was raised by a man who punched the clock every day and a mother who packed his lunch pail every day. They were blue collar people. I had three brothers and a pair of jeans at my house was not thrown away until it absolutely could not be worn by my baby brother. Hard work was the only way you were ever going to get something.”

SATURDAY CSS LEGENDS INTERVIEW SCHEDULE: Saturday's CSS Legends Interview Series includes Heisman winners, legendary coaches and players and begins at 11 a.m. on the beach.

  • 11 a.m. - noon: Houston Nutt, Inky Johnson
  • 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.: Vince Dooley, Herschel Walker
  • 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.: Gene Stallings, Pat Dye, Vince Dooley, Bill Curry
  • 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.: Billy Brewer, Jerry Stovall, Jake Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger
  • 5 p.m. - 6 p.m.: Chris Doering, David Greene, Ben Leard
  • 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.: Bucky Richardson, R.C. Slocum