Which Florida QBs are among the best of the 2000s?
College football fans are always going to debate which quarterback was the best in each era, and ESPN is taking a crack at listing the top 75 signal-callers of the 2000s.
As one might expect, Tim Tebow is the highest Gator on the list, but is he No. 1 like most Florida fans believe he should be?
Nope. That honor goes to Oklahoma‘s Baker Mayfield.
Surely, Tebow is No. 2 then?
No. It’s Auburn‘s Cam Newton, who was kind of a Gator for a bit, but an unfortunate incident with a laptop put the kibosh on that. Texas‘ Vince Young is third, which is somewhat fair, and then comes Tebow at fourth on the list.
“In 2006, Tebow served as short-yardage back and scary red zone passing option as Florida won the national title. In 2007, he posted 4,181 combined rushing and passing yards and won the Heisman. In 2008, he gave an immortal speech and led the Gators to a 13-1 record and second title.
In 2009, he led the Gators to another 13-1 record, posted 3,805 rushing and passing yards and finished in the Heisman top five for a third straight year.
It’s almost impossible to put together a career more complete than that.”
The next Gator to make the list is Rex Grossman, who was with the team from 2000 to 2002. He was the last great quarterback under Steve Spurrier and nearly accomplished everything that made Tebow the legend he is.
His résumé was almost a lot better: He lost the 2001 Heisman vote to Crouch by just 62 points, and his Gators came up two points short of a BCS title game bid the same year.
The third and final Florida quarterback to make the list is a name from the not-so-distant past. Kyle Trask led the Gators to a Cotton Bowl appearance after taking over as a junior for Felipe Franks.
He ended up throwing for more than 7,000 yards over the next two dozen games, which begs the question of how high he’d be on this list if he got a chance before Franks.
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