Spurned by hometown Florida, Ralph Webb turning heads at Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt junior running back Ralph Webb doesn’t pull any punches on this subject: He grew up in Gainesville, Fla., wanting to be a Florida Gator.

As a senior at Gainesville High – which is about 2 miles from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium – in 2012, he ran for 2,020 yards and scored 28 touchdowns for a team that reached the state Class 6A final. He thought that would be enough to get a scholarship offer from Will Muschamp’s staff. It wasn’t.

He was beyond disappointed.

“I just thought I was an underrated back coming out of high school, given the numbers I was putting up,” Webb said when we talked by phone after Thursday’s practice in Nashville. “I wanted to go to Florida, but it didn’t go my way.…