Dandy Dozen: Matt Coffee (with VIDEO)

 By TRAVIS DOWNEY

travisd@nwfdailynews.com

FORT WALTON BEACH - Ask Matt Coffee what football - and more specifically, Friday nights - mean to him and his reply is instant and without hesitation.

"Everything," Coffee said. "It means everything. I don't know what to do with myself when I'm not playing football."

Coffee, a senior at Fort Walton Beach, was selected to the 2008 Daily News Dandy Dozen one year removed from one of the most difficult seasons of his career.

An illness kept Coffee away from the playing field for much of the first half of the 2007 campaign, forcing the Vikings' two-way standout to remain on the sidelines.

"It was hard not playing," Coffee admitted. "I was pretty beat up about it."

Once cleared by doctors and allowed back in the fold, Coffee spent the rest of 2007 beating up on opponents.

While giving the Vikings a powerful presence in the running game, Coffee proved even more effective on the defensive side of the ball.

A ranging linebacker, Coffee was elected to the All-Area team after registering 55 tackles - 46 of which were solo - one interception and one sack.

That was last year.

Excited about entering the season fully healthy for the first time since his sophomore year and physically stronger, Coffee is eager to make his senior season one to remember.

Already verbally committed to play football next fall at the University of South Carolina, Coffee would appear to be primed for a storybook ending at Fort Walton Beach.

But he knows better than to take anything, especially the game he loves, for granted.

"I don't have a lot of numbers or anything," Coffee said when asked about his goals for the upcoming season. "I just want to make it the best and do everything I can to make (this year) the best.

"I just want to stay healthy, that's all I can hope for."