By Bob Redman
In a long line of talented running backs that played at the University of Florida, there were few that could break away from the pack like Chris Rainey used to do when he signed with the Gators back in 2007 and helped lead the team to a national title in 2008. Rainey was in town for the spring game last month and in attendance at Johnny Townsend’s get-together to bring awareness to the Children’s Oncology Unit at Shands Hospital and was excited to be back at a place that brought him so many fond memories.
Rainey’s numbers in college were quite good as well. While sharing the backfield with names like Jeff Demps, Percy Harvin, and Tim Tebow, Rainey still managed to rush for 2,443 yards and 16 touchdowns while adding 795 yards and 13 touchdowns catching the ball. In an underutilized role, he finished with 454 kickoff return yards.
Rainey was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2012 and then spent a year with the Indianapolis Colts before bouncing around to Arizona for his last preseason in the NFL in 2014. But while his career beyond that was a little more quiet around these parts, he spent the 2014 through the 2021 seasons on three different teams in the Canadian Football League including a couple of stints with the BC Lions. He was an All-Star in the CFL in both the 2016 and 2018 seasons as a kick returner and a running back. He was a prolific returner in the league and maybe the best during his stint finishing with 10,413 total return yards in his eight seasons.
After hanging up the cleats following last year because of soreness from playing the game, Rainey moved pretty close to Gainesville and to Ocala, a place where he is starting to build a business.
“There’s a lot of land, it’s in Central Florida, plus when I started my speed training (business) I thought it would be close by for everyone,” he said at Townsend’s event. “I started my speed training last week. I’m definitely done with football. I’m training other people.”
“It’s the ‘Chris Rainey Speed Factory’, I just started and I am still trying to get my building and parcel of land. I can’t wait to get it going. Because of the rain, when you’re in a building you don’t have to worry about it.”
Rainey was famous for his competitive nature at Florida and in high school in Lakeland. There were legends back in the day about the other fast guys he would run into and race them in parking lots in his bare feet because he everything was a competition to him. He was always challenging teammates like Harvin to foot races before and after practice. That’s why hearing about him calling it quits in football was a real surprise to this man.
“My kids Makynli (pictured above), Makailynn and Makari need me,” he said without a bit of regret in his face. “They’re doing sports. I need to be home because the wife needs me. It’s about that time and plus the knees are starting to hurt (he chuckled and grabbed his legs bowing them back and forth).”
He wasn’t quite satisfied with his career overall. As mentioned, he wants to win at everything.
“It was alright,” he said reluctantly. “I wanted all my levels (high school where he won a national title, college, and pro) to be a championship ending, so I didn’t get a chance to get that pro level championship. When I set goals for me I want to achieve all of them.”
He did win a national championship at Florida, and although he wanted a little more personal success, he can’t complain about his time in Gainesville.
“There are a probably a couple of things I didn’t achieve like winning the Heisman or getting a thousand yards (in a season),” he said. “You can’t get everything, but you try your best to do it.”
Make no mistake, he looks back on those days of winning and knows he was a part of something special, especially on that 2008 team that beat Oklahoma for the National Championship.
“It was amazing,” he said. “I don’t think you can make a team like that ever again in the history of football period. There’s just a few of them… USC, Miami back in the day, us. What other teams? Alabama doesn’t even have teams like that. They had good teams, but not teams like that. It just was amazing and it aint ever going to happen again. I’m glad I had that experience.”
He ran into teammates at the Townsend awareness function and was all smiles thinking about his guys. He listed off a few like Major Wright, Moses Jenkins, and Mike Gillislee and was likely going to run into more before the day was up.
“It’s amazing because some of them I keep in touch with 24/7 and we send funny videos to each other and all that kind of stuff,” he said.
“Major Wright is goofy, funny, loved dancing. He has all the recordings of his dancing in the locker room, he and Moses dancing.”
Ah yes, good times. College times are the best, but when asked what his most fun memory while at the University of Florida was, Rainey gave a one-word answer.
“Graduating.”
He didn’t win at everything he did as a football player, but Chris Rainey won a lot. And he’s still winning at life.