The Florida Gators have had many players play extremely well that went on to have success at the NFL. Players like Emmitt Smith, Jack Youngblood, Percy Harvin, Andre Caldwell, Matt Jones, Vernon Hargreaves, Reggie Nelson, Mike Pouncey, Dante Fowler, Carlos Dunlap are just a few of the plethora of former Gators that have had tremendous success in the NFL.
However, there hasn’t been a great number of Florida quarterbacks that have found continuous success in the NFL. Former Florida Gator quarterbacks like Steve Spurrier, Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Rex Grossman, Chris Leak, and Tim Tebow were incredibly successful in college football. However, in the NFL, this success did not translate directly into continual success for any of these players.
Though, there is one player on this list that nearly won a Super Bowl in 2006.
Introducing Rex Grossman, who was one of the most gifted quarterbacks to ever be a Florida Gator. Rex Grossman's 2001 college season was sensational. He was a consensus All-American at Florida, and the Heisman Trophy Runner-up in one of the closest votes in Heisman Trophy history, losing by only 62 votes. He won the Associated Press Player of the Year, the SEC Player of the Year, and a SEC Championship for his team. He is now in the University of Florida’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
In his collegiate career at Florida, Grossman had ridiculous statistics, including throwing for 9,164 yards and accounting for 77 touchdowns. He is currently number 11 in SEC history for passing efficiency. Considering the coaching change he endured at Florida and his short but great success in the NFL, was Rex Grossman the most talented quarterback to play at the University of Florida?
In my perspective, Grossman was, indeed, the most talented quarterback to play for the Florida Gators. The main basis for this is the totality of both his college and professional football career. Grossman was an absolute gunslinger. He took the nation by storm in his college years. In his freshman year, he threw for over 500 yards, 8 touchdowns, and no interceptions in two games against LSU and Auburn. In his sophomore year, Grossman had nine consecutive games in which he passed for over 300 yards. Considering that this was during a time in which offenses gave precedence to running the football and playing physical, rather than finesse, football, these type of numbers being produced was incredible. Grossman defied the norms of his time to achieve great success.
In the NFL, during his only healthy season with a NFL team in 2006, Grossman led the team to the Super Bowl. While passing for over 3,000 yards, he completed about 54.6% of his passes and accounted for 23 passing touchdowns with the Chicago Bears. His performances in 2006 were a bit erratic, playing either spectacularly or horrifically. Nevertheless, he was a star for the Chicago Bears and had a major role in the team reaching the Super Bowl. He may not have won it and he may not have played as greatly as he did in college, but he achieved many accolades throughout his entire football career.
Of course, most people would wonder why Danny Wuerffel or Tim Tebow wouldn’t be considered the most talented quarterback to play at Florida. Wuerffel was just as much of a gunslinger as Grossman, and, furthermore, he was able to actually win a Heisman Trophy and a National Championship. Tim Tebow achieved these same accolades. Moreover, Tebow currently holds the best pass efficiency rating in SEC history for his performances as a Florida Gator. Unfortunately, Wuerffel had much more interceptions than touchdowns in his short NFL career. Meanwhile, Tebow’s completion percentage, passing skill set, and throwing motion has been critiqued heavily by NFL teams as being poor and thus his success in the NFL was limited to one playoff victory for the Denver Broncos and just one stint in the NFL. Tebow has been trying endlessly to gain a spot as a quarterback in the NFL, though no teams have been interested since September of 2015.
Rex Grossman may not be anywhere close to being the greatest quarterback to play for the Florida Gators. However, he is probably the most talented quarterback to ever play at the University of Florida.
