Dooley’s Dozen: Florida football’s 12 most underrated players
Maybe the dumbest cheer of all time is fans chanting “overrr-rated” at a ranked team as the game is winding down in a huge upset win at home.
What you are basically saying in so many words is that, “You’re not that good because if we can beat you, you shouldn’t be ranked.” So, basically, you are chanting that your team is nothing special.
But we are going in a different direction in this edition of Dooley’s Dozen and talk about Florida football players that were underrated.
Now, you may be surprised by some of these because maybe you feel in your mind you have them rated just right. Of course, I can’t dive into the inner mind of all Gator fans, but I’ve been around long enough to know where these players are in the pantheon of Gator greats.
Sometimes they are underrated because of the championships they didn’t win or because they were on championship teams with so many stars.
Let’s give this a shot.
Robin Fisher
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Most of the players who were on that 0-10-1 team under [autotag]Charley Pell[/autotag] don’t get a lot of credit, but Fisher was also part of the revival the next year. He had 21 sacks as a middle guard in his career and 41 tackles for a loss. Who does that?
Doug Johnson
AP Photo/ChrisO’Meara
I remember when we were putting together the top 100 Gator players in history in 2006 and included the young man from Gainesville. So many people in the newsroom objected that we took him off. That was a mistake. He threw for more than 2,000 yards for three straight years, 60 career touchdowns and one perfect pass to [autotag]Jacquez Green[/autotag].
Larry Rentz
Jack Corn / The Tennessean-Nashville
He was a big-time recruit and the slogan when he played was “There’s no defense for Larry Rentz.” He had the quarterback single-game rushing record until [autotag]Tim Tebow[/autotag] came along, threw the pass to Richard Trapp that became an iconic play and was the holder for the field goal [autotag]Steve Spurrier[/autotag] booted to win the Heisman.
James Richards
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Playing from 1973-75, Richards didn’t put up a ton of yards and score a lot of touchdowns on a star-studded backfield. He just did the dirty work for an amazing offensive team and was a favorite of those of us in school then.
Cooper Carlisle
Andy Lyons /Allsport
There is a reason why Carlisle started 133 games in the NFL. He was really good and he was versatile. I don’t think people appreciated how special he was and it’s cool to see him living back in the area.
Travis McGriff
Andy Lyons /Allsport
I could probably have included his dad in this, but Lee would never want to exclude Trav from any list. [autotag]Travis McGriff[/autotag] had the best single-season receiving in Gator history: 70 catches for 1,357 yards.
Willie McClendon
Mike Powell/Getty Images
When Willie Mac came to Gainesville, he was in the same recruiting class as [autotag]Emmitt Smith[/autotag]. Then, he was behind [autotag]Errict Rhett[/autotag]. All he did was rush for more than 2,000 yards in his career and was a great pass catcher out of the backfield.
Mike Rich
AP Photo/File
When you think about that Super Soph backfield in 1969, you think of John Reaves and [autotag]Carlos Alvarez[/autotag] and Tommy Durrance. Rich was the fourth member and as a fullback was a devastating blocker, He also led Florida in rushing as a senior.
John Brantley Sr.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Brantley had the offense headed in the right direction with Steve Spurrier as his quarterback coach. Then, Charley Pell fired Spurrier and Brantley blew out his knee when he stepped on a Coke lid that had been thrown on the field. He was really a good player.
Solomon Patton
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Sometimes I’m looking up a game from the past and forget that Patton played so well. In 2013, he led the Gators in all-purpose yards, kickoff returns and receiving.
DeShawn Wynn
Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports
He’s not making any Mt. Rushmore’s of Gator great running backs, but he was the leading rusher twice including the 2006 national champs. That’s nice to have on your resume.
Steve Spurrier
Courtesy: University of Florida SID
What? The man has a statue out in front of the stadium that’s named after him. All I am saying is that when you start listing the great quarterbacks in Gator history, it’s a long wait until you get to Spurrier. Mostly, it is because his stats don’t stack up with the beast he created as a coach in Gainesville.
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