Baker Mayfield? Bucs, like Gators, overlook Kyle Trask as starting QB | Commentary

The 17th-century English politician, Anthony Weldon, once wittily said: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

If you’re looking for a modern-day sports translation, it would go something like this:

Fool me once, shame on the Florida Gators.

Fool me twice, shame on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I am talking about Kyle Trask, the quarterback who was passed over time and again by former Gator coaches Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen until an injury forced Mullen to finally put Trask in the starting lineup. Now, it appears, Tampa Bay Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is making the same mistake.

Bowles named former No. 1 overall draft pick Baker Mayfield as the Bucs’ starting QB on Tuesday, saying: “Baker’s our starting quarterback, Kyle’s our No. 2. We love everything Kyle has done. And he’s gotten leaps and bounds better than he was in the spring and he’s continuing to get better and we’re excited about him. But Baker’s our guy right now — experience-wise and just understanding the playbook just a little bit better.”

Blah, blah, blah.

Yada, yada, yada.

Trask has been hearing the same song and dance since he played high school ball in Texas, where he was the backup quarterback to the flashier, more athletic D’Eriq King, who would go on to start for the University of Houston and then the Miami Hurricanes. Trask sat behind King for three years but played brilliantly whenever he did get into the game, evidenced by his high school stats: 16 touchdown passes, zero interceptions.

But because he was a backup, Trask barely got recruited by any colleges until McElwain took a flier on him and offered him one of UF’s final scholarships in 2016. For the next three seasons, Trask sat behind bigger-name recruits such as Feleipe Franks, Alabama transfer Luke Del Rio, Notre Dame transfer Malik Zaire and Purdue transfer Austin Appleby — all of whom were not nearly as good as Trask.

Legendary former UF receiver Lee McGriff, who was then the color analyst for UF football games, told me early in Trask’s tenure that he was the best quarterback on the roster, but the coaches themselves couldn’t seem to recognize it.

“Every coach along the way, including Dan Mullen, saw Kyle Trask every day in practice and seemed to think he was limited in some way,” says McGriff, who played for the very first Bucs team in 1976. “These coaches seem to think his arm’s not big enough; he’s not fast enough; whatever. And now it’s happening again with the Bucs. It’s the damnedest thing.”

McGriff pointed out that Trask didn’t get a chance in college until his fourth season at UF — and only then because Franks went down with a season-ending injury against Kentucky in 2019.

Trask came into the Kentucky game, rallied the Gators to three fourth-quarter touchdowns and a 29-21 victory. The rest is history. The following week, in his first start since he was a freshman in high school, Trask threw for nearly 300 yards in a 34-3 victory over Tennessee and went on to lead the Gators to a 9-1 record as a starter. The following year, he threw for more yards and more touchdowns than any quarterback in school history, finished fourth in the Heisman balloting and was drafted by the Bucs in the second round.

The thought was that Trask would back up the great Tom Brady for a couple of seasons until Brady retired — except Bowles obviously had other ideas. When Brady retired, the Bucs signed Mayfield during the offseason and are his third team since he was traded by the Browns a year ago. He lost the starting job with the Carolina Panthers in Week 12 and was released. He then signed with the L.A. Rams, went 1-3 as a starter but played well enough for the Bucs to sign him — and now name him their QB1.

And so once again Trask gets passed over for a bigger name. Wasn’t Bowles supposed to use training camp and the preseason to evaluate who would be the starting QB? It sure seems like he made up his mind before the preseason even began. He started Mayfield in the first preseason game, didn’t play him in the second preseason game on Saturday and then named him the starter Tuesday.

But why? Why not give Trask an opportunity and see what he can do in a real NFL game as a starting quarterback? Trask has shown in the past that he is a player who shines when the lights come on. Just as some thoroughbreds don’t look exceptional during training but blow you away when the stakes race actually begins, it seems to me Trask has that same sort of “gamer” mentality.

It’s not like the Bucs are going to the Super Bowl this season, so why not see what you have in Trask?

Besides, don’t we already know what Mayfield is as a starting quarterback? He’s mediocre. He’s been in the league five years and is 31-38 as a starter with a subpar 61 percent completion rate.

“I think the Bucs are making the same mistake everybody else has made,” McGriff says. “Baker Mayfield has more flash and more bling, and so that’s why he’s named the starter.”

McGriff sighs and adds: “I feel bad for Kyle, but he’ll handle it like he always does. He won’t pout and he’ll suck it up and he’ll be ready when his chance comes. The man has a PhD in patience.”

Fool me once, shame on the Gators.

Fool me twice, shame on the Bucs.

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2