There has been a big deal made out of the recent transfer of John Brown from Florida and then signing to play with Tennessee in 2010. Some say this is a big PR move by Lane Kiffin, but what is that message?
Ingle Martin was one of the few that had success away from Gainesville
Is it Tennessee is desperate for talent and will take in anyone they get a shot at, or that Tennessee is willing to go the extra mile and work with projects that didn’t work out at other schools?
How either one of these affects players that you will be recruiting is beyond me. First, no player that gets a four or five star rating from any recruiting service is going to think they are a project that needs tweaking.
All it does to Tennessee is take away a scholarship in 2010 to a player that might be able to get on the field in 2010. John Brown was given every chance at UF, and either due to injury or his on lack of performance in the classroom was forced to transfer if he ever wanted to play college football.
This prompted me to think about some of the players who have transferred from Florida in the last few years and the level of success they experienced after leaving Gainesville. The players are in no particular order, but some came from the help of our GatorsNow Twitter followers.
Ingle Martin left and took the starting Quarterback at Furman University, leading them to a 21-6 record. In just two years there, he set school records in passing yards (5,761), passing touchdowns (42), and total offense (6,277).
Eric Kresser was at Florida for four years backing up Danny Wuerffel, and after getting a ring with the 1996 Gators team, he headed off to lead Marshall to a NCAA Division I-AA National Championship.
After one year at Cal, Nyan Boateng put up 439 yards with five touchdowns and is expected to carry a much heavier load in the 2009 season. Nyan was a Four Star recruit by Rivals and a Three Star from Scout, but his biggest impact in Gainesville was getting stabbed by his girlfriend.
Another player that injuries sidelined, Mon Williams, left for Eastern Illinois University to join former Gator Chevon Walker. Chevon saw the endzone four times for E Illinois in 2008 and played in eight games for them.
Mon never lived up to his Four Star ranking with the Gators. Another Four Star running back will take his game to the Iowa State Cyclones is Bo Williams, who sat out all of last season
Skyler Thornton was harder to find for me. Reports when he left Florida indicated that he was off to Valdosta State, but I could not find any information on him there. Turns out he played the 2008 season with Fort Valley State and averaged 45 yards with three touchdowns at this NCAA Division II school.
Bryan Waggener started all 11 games for the 1-10 Northern Colorado Bears last year. He passed for 14 Touchdowns and 15 Interceptions. Josh Portis also saw the writing on the wall with Tim Tebow leading the Gators at QB.
Portis left to play for Maryland but never saw the field with them either, so he will be playing next year with the California Vulcans.
Jarred Fayson followed Ron Zook out of town to the Illinois Fighting Illini. He had a 143 yards with them and three touchdowns. He, like Nyan Boateng, is expected to have a much bigger role with the team this season.
Tight end transfer Trent Pupello is now on the roster with the USF Bulls where his bio reads “Mostly used in blocking schemes and to support the run game.”
And who could forget the much-hyped Brock Berlin, who never earned the starting job over Rex Grossman. Brock started the 2003 and 2004 season with Miami and led them to a 19-5 record over those two years, including two wins over the Gators.
After the 2008 season the Gators have seen four players transfer out: Cameron Newton, John Brown, John Jones, and Torrey Davis. How many of these are Kiffin and the Big Ten coaches going to come running for? If you can’t pull in the talent maybe you can live off the Gators left overs.
