CARLTON REESE: A Long Drink Of Water Between Tebow And Trask. What Might Have Been at UF?
Updated: Sep 2, 2022
What if Cam Newton had kept clean and stayed at UF instead of leaving in 2008 with legal and academic troubles? What if Will Grier had not bought and taken Ligandrol during the 2015 season?
What if the guy on the right had hung around? Cam Newton with the Pounceys, Joe Haden, Ahmad Black, Percy Harvin, etc. and teammates at the White House visit. (UAA photo)
By CARLTON REESE
GatorBaitMedia.com Columnist
Save for Kyle Trask’s prolific 2020 season, the quarterback situation at the University of Florida has been not only a head-scratcher for Gator fans, but one that has been quite maddening ever since Tim Tebow left campus 13 years ago. This does not mean there has been a shortage of quarterback talent in Gainesville all this time, only that circumstances have dictated that talent would make its mark elsewhere.
What if Cam Newton had kept clean and stayed at UF instead of leaving in 2008 with legal and academic troubles? What if Will Grier had not bought and taken Ligandrol during the 2015 season? Newton and Grier represent the two biggest names to be Gator quarterbacks but ended up having great careers elsewhere while the UF quarterback position floundered.
Since Tebow, the line of UF quarterbacks could have easily read: 2010-Cam Newton, 2011- John Brantley, 2012-2014: Jeff Driskel, 2015-2018: Will Grier, 2019-2020: Kyle Trask, 2021: Emory Jones/Anthony Richardson, 2022: Anthony Richardson.
On the surface, it would appear UF had a pretty solid lineage of starting quarterbacks. But not so. And they aren’t the only ones to be Gators then move on to other programs, be they greener pastures or not.
Remember Antwan Chiles? The Fort Lauderdale native was one of the top linebackers in the country while in high school, but he wanted to play quarterback in college, and only Steve Spurrier’s promises to give him that opportunity was genuine. He went to Florida, was redshirted one year and in 1992 held the third spot on the depth chart behind Shane Matthews and Terry Dean. Seeing that he would never replace Dean in Spurrier’s system, Chiles left UF and wound up at Liberty, where he would see limited action in 1995.
Then there was Eric Kresser, the talented backup to Dean and Danny Wuerffel from 1993-1995. Kresser always dazzled when he managed to get in and in 1995 even threw for nearly
1,000 yards. But he was too good of a talent to ride the bench and transferred to Marshall and won the Division I-AA national title while the Gators were winning one of their own. His Thundering Herd team went undefeated and won every game by at least 14 points. Kresser played three years with the Cincinnati Bengals and was a part of the 2002 Grey Cup champions Montreal Alouettes that also boasted running back Lawrence Phillips.
Brock Berlin (left) was probably the biggest quarterback recruit Spurrier ever brought to Gainesville. The nation’s top prep quarterback, Berlin played the 2000 and 2001 seasons as a backup to Rex Grossman, but never seemed on the verge of being the player Spurrier had hoped, so it was off to the University of Miami. With the ‘Canes, Berlin was the starter in 2003 and 2004 and put up some decent numbers and even engineered that big comeback against UF in 2003.
Ingle Martin backed up Grossman in 2002 and was neck-and-neck with Chris Leak to earn the starting job in 2003, but eventually watched as Leak took over.
Martin would transfer to Furman and start for two years, guiding the Paladins to a 21-6 record. He now resides in the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame.
In 2005, Josh Portis backed up Leak then transferred to Division-II California, Pa., where he set school passing records. After college, Portis made rosters in both the NFL and CFL.
Cam Newton (right) came along in 2007 and 2008 as a backup to Tebow and seemed the heir apparent in Urban Meyer’s spread offense. Then he bought a stolen laptop computer and threw it out a window when the police came asking questions. That would lead to his demise at UF along with some academic fraud allegations that later surfaced, claiming he would have been kicked out of school anyway. Then, of course, he goes on to junior college, transfers to Auburn, wins the national championship and the Heisman Trophy.
In 2011, Jacoby Brissett backed up John Brantley then remained on the bench in 2012 as Jeff Driskel’s backup. He transferred to N.C. State and started the 2014 and 2015 seasons, passing for over 5,200 yards with 43 touchdowns. Those numbers made him valuable enough to earn a spot in the pros and in 2022 he begins his seventh season in the NFL, this time with the Cleveland Browns.
Jeff Driskel played four seasons at UF, passing for 3,411 yards and rushing for 649 yards. A broken leg in 2013 cut that season short and he was pulled during the win at Tennessee when the offense struggled. For his senior year, Driskel moved on to Louisiana Tech where he threw for over 4,000 yards in 2015 before playing four years in the NFL. (Driskel was cut by Houston this week.)
When Driskel broke his leg in the Tennessee game of 2013, Tyler Murphy came in and started the rest of the season. Never deemed to be an impact player at UF, Murphy transferred to Boston College and started for the Eagles, who went 7-6 under former UF assistant Steve Addazio.
When Driskel was ineffective in 2014, freshman Treon Harris took over and engineered a comeback win against Tennessee. In 2015, Harris backed up Grier and when Grier was suspended after six games for taking an illegal substance, Harris was back in the starting role as Florida finished 10-4. Harris was in trouble much of his career and in 2016 was suspended from the team. Harris transferred to Tennessee State and played one year at quarterback before switching to wide receiver his senior season.
Next up was Will Grier himself, who beat Tennessee on a fourth down “Heave to Cleve” pass to Antonio Callaway then crushed third-ranked Ole Miss, then saw it all come crashing down with his taking of Ligandrol. It was 2015, Jim McElwain was in his first year at UF and the Gators were 6-0 and facing a huge tilt against LSU. Then came the suspension and the season went up in smoke and likely any chance of a successful tenure at UF for McElwain. Grier would not return to Florida – rumors stated McElwain would not lock the starting spot up for him upon his coming back, but Grier has always denied that to be the case. Anyway, he packed his bags and went to West Virginia where he would flourish in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, passing for 7,354 yards and 71 touchdowns.
Feleipe Franks was an enigma at Florida. A big man with a big arm, the potential around Franks seemed unlimited, but his greatness came only in flashes. Still, he looked good enough to keep Kyle Trask on the bench and this only endeared himself even less to the fans. Franks was the starter in 2017 and 2018, but when he went down with an injury to Kentucky in the fourth game of 2019, Trask would take over and never look back. So it was on to Arkansas for Franks, who was much appreciated in Fayetteville.
Franks added a spark to the Razorbacks’ woeful offense and threw 17 touchdowns against only four interceptions in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He is now on the roster of the Atlanta Falcons as a tight end.
Ironically, Brantley’s dad John III (left) came off the bench when Terry LeCount was injured against Utah in 1977 and led the Gators to victory, then went on to become the first starter the next season for Doug Dickey’s new quarterback coach Steve Spurrier.
Finally, there’s Emory Jones, the last of the Gator quarterbacks to take his trade elsewhere. Jones was to be the prototype quarterback for Dan Mullen’s offense and, like Franks, showed flashes of brilliance that were overshadowed by some ugly decisions in big moments.
Jones backed up Franks and Trask for three seasons before getting the starting job in 2021 and passing for 2,734 yards. All the while, though, Jones was looking over his shoulder at the phenom Richardson who was clearly a fan favorite. Jones was unable to stymie the demise of the 2021 season and it was clear by the end that Richardson was the future of Florida football. Now, Jones plays for Arizona State, which saw its starting quarterback Jayden Daniels transfer to LSU.
The transfer portal is making the departures of quarterbacks a normal thing these days, but as one can clearly see, Florida has been dealing with it for 30 years. Today, panning down the roster of UF quarterbacks, one can only ponder who among them will be the transfers that make their marks elsewhere: Jack Miller?
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