By ASHLEY AMASON

Fort Walton Beach native and Crimson Tide MVP Glen Coffee (better known as Mr. Coffee) spoke at the DeFuniak Springs Civic Center Thursday, Feb. 5, directly after attending an NFL training session in Pensacola.
Judge Kelvin Wells introduced Coffee as the keynote speaker for the Boy and Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast’s First Annual Steak and Hamburger Fundraiser.
In a speech that may have surprised the packed auditorium, Coffee shared the story of his journey to the University of Alabama. His dream was to attend Florida State University, but when an offer with FSU fell through, Coffee said he realized college football is a business. Coffee begrudgingly accepted a scholarship to the University of Alabama, saying, as a “Florida boy, we don’t do that.”
After hanging with a crowd he described as “lazy,” letting his GPA fall, and suffering a short suspension over a textbook-sharing scandal, Coffee said he knew had to get right.
With the help of his college roommate, Coffee said he began to form a personal relationship with Christ. In every aspect of his life, he says, he wanted to give glory to God. “Whatever your dream is, if you reach it without Christ, it’ll make that dream very dull.”
Coffee applies his personal relationship with Christ to football, saying with a smile, “anyone who tries to stop me – is trying to stop my ministry and I have to make them pay.”
With 410 career attempts, 2,107 yards rushing, and 14 touchdowns, Coffee’s definitely making his opponents pay.
But his stat sheet is not what holds his focus. “I don’t know what y’all thought I was going to get up here and talk about, but this is it,” he said, holding up the Bible. “Whatever you do, honor your friends, respect everybody and you’ll get that respect in return and you’ve got to have a foundation in Jesus Christ.”