Ahmad Black (born December 12, 1988) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

, and was a member of a

BCS National Championship The BCS National Championship Game was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four desi ...

team. Black was selected by the Buccaneers in the fifth round of the

2011 NFL draft The 2011 NFL draft was the 76th installment of the annual National Football League draft, NFL draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Rad ...

. Black officially retired from the NFL on April 9, 2017.

Early life

Black was born in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Located along Interstate 4, I-4 east of Tampa and southwest of Orlando, Florida, Orlando, it is the List of municipalities in Florida, most populous city in Polk County. As of the 2020 ...

, and he attended Lawton Chiles Middle Academy and later Lakeland High School. As a sophomore playing for the Florida Class 5A

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

powerhouse Lakeland Dreadnaughts, he recorded 71

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

and 10

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

s, and 71 tackles with six interceptions as a junior. As a Dreadnaught senior, Black recorded 82 tackles and four interceptions.

College career

Black accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and former college football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green F ...

's Florida Gators football team from

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. As a freshman, Black played in seven games as a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

for the Gators and recorded seven tackles. As a sophomore in 2008, Black started all 14 games at

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

and made 59 tackles and seven interceptions for 191 return yards and two

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

, and was recognized as a second-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection. Black caught his seventh interception in the Gators' 24–14 win over the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game. Following his senior season in 2010, he was a first-team All-SEC selection and received first-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors from Rivals.com and second-team honors from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. To end his college career, he had two interceptions, returning one 80 yards for a touchdown against Penn State in the Outback Bowl, earning Player of the Game honors.

Professional career

Black was selected in the fifth round of the

with the 151st overall pick by the

. He was cut on September 3, 2011, re-signed to the Buccaneers' practice squad two days later, and later activated to the active roster. As a rookie, he appeared in four games during the 2011 regular season, with five tackles and a recovered fumble. On October 1, 2013, he was released again by the Buccaneers, and was eligible for free agency after clearing waivers.

NFL statistics

Post-NFL career

On May 23, 2021, Black was named the defensive backs coach at Mulberry High School in Mulberry, Florida. On March 2, 2022, Black was named the defensive backs/safeties coach at Lakeland High School in

. Black currently is employed by Lakeland Regional Health and advocates for healthcare in the Polk County community.

Personal life

On November 6, 2012, the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'' reported that Black was cited by police for possession of less than 20 grams of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

References

External links

*
Florida Gators bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Ahmad 1988 births Living people American football safeties Florida Gators football players Lakeland High School (Lakeland, Florida) alumni Players of American football from Lakeland, Florida Tampa Bay Buccaneers players