So, being a Gator QB bites?
Florida quarterbacks everywhere are hoping Grossman can rewrite the story about their struggles in the NFL
Rex Grossman, the eyes of Gator Nation are upon you. The trained eyes of the quarterbacks who came before you at the University of Florida, anyway. Resting on Grossman's shoulders -- specifically, his right one -- are the hopes and dreams of the Bears organization and the fans behind it heading into Super Bowl XLI.
Then there are the ex-Gators who Grossman is playing for in a way. The popular notion is that Florida quarterbacks don't make the jump to the NFL successfully. Never have. Never will. It's a challenge facing Chris Leak less than a month after leading the Gators to the national championship. Standing only 6 feet and coming out of Urban Meyer's spread offense, can Leak do it on Sundays? He'll have a ways to go to prove himself because no one is projecting him as a top draft pick in April.
History is dotted with others who came before Leak and failed. Danny Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy winner, never found success in an NFL career that included a stop with the Bears. Shane Matthews recently finished a 14-year career but made only 22 starts, 15 of them with the Bears. Doug Johnson's resume includes four stops in seven seasons, almost all as a backup. Jesse Palmer got more action on ''The Bachelor'' than he did in the league.
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But the struggles predate the ''Ol' Ball Coach,'' himself a not-so-successful NFL quarterback in 10 seasons, mostly with the San Francisco 49ers, after winning the 1966 Heisman. Spurrier threw 40 career touchdown passes and 60 interceptions. His successor at Florida, John Reaves, was the 14th pick of the 1972 draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, and his career led him to the USFL and eventually to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for whom he was a replacement player during the 1987 strike.
Wayne Peace and Kerwin Bell were record-setters in the Southeastern Conference in the 1980s. Peace was a supplemental draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1984 but never played a down in the NFL after dabbling in the USFL. Bell, the SEC player of the year as a freshman in 1984, made a mark in the CFL but threw all of five passes in the NFL.
''They haven't been successful,'' said Bears defensive end Alex Brown, a Florida alum. ''Even going back to coach Spurrier. Wuerffel? Didn't do well. Shane Matthews? Played a couple years but didn't do anything. Was average at best. I love all those guys, but I'm just being honest. Kerwin Bell? Did he even play?
''You've got to look at the history, but you can't put that label on all of them because they're different players. All those quarterbacks came from different times. Rex came in, and you knew he could throw the ball. He's got a strong enough arm for this wind up here -- he throws a dart. He's a good quarterback.''
Good enough to guide the Bears this far, one victory away from beating a rap that has existed for decades -- outside of Gainesville, at least.
''If the Bears can win, we as Florida quarterbacks are going to claim every inch of it,'' Reaves said. ''And we're going to say, 'I told you so.' You don't have to remind me what they say about us. I have nightmares about it. I have dreams so vivid, like some nights I'm out there on the practice field. They say you can't dream in colors, but by God, I can.
''You're like that guy that comes up to me and reminds me of my worst game in college football. Thanks a lot.''
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Matthews had heard the hype when he arrived to watch the Orange and Blue spring game in 2000. It centered on Brock Berlin, the national player of the year from Louisiana and Spurrier's next great field general. Berlin was going to push Palmer right away.
''I just remember watching Rex, and I didn't even know what his name was,'' Matthews said. ''I told coach Spurrier after that game, 'I don't know who that No. 8 is, but if I was coaching, that would be the guy.' You could just tell with his presence in the pocket and the little things he did that he knew what he was doing.''
Grossman wound up unseating Palmer that fall, and word quickly spread that he wasn't like those who had preceded him.
''I played 14 years, so I'm not going to apologize to anyone,'' said Matthews, who is signing on to be a part-time quarterbacks coach for Bell at Jacksonville University. ''I did something right to play for so long. But Rex is by far the most talented guy that we've had come through here physically. He has an unbelievable arm, he understands the game, he was taught very well under Spurrier.
''Let's be honest, Rex is in a great situation. The Bears have got good playmakers around him, they have a solid running game with a solid offensive line and a tremendous defense. He doesn't have to go out and win the game, whereas if you look at the Colts, if Peyton Manning doesn't play well, that team has no chance.''
Spurrier, now coaching at South Carolina, declined an interview request but recently talked about Grossman to The State in Columbia, S.C.
''He's probably the best pure passer I've ever coached,'' he said. ''Danny Wuerffel made more plays than anybody I ever coached, but Rex was probably the best passer.''
Wuerffel, who runs Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans, is pulling for Grossman.
''We've always known Rex is a big-play gunslinger,'' he said. ''Now Rex has demonstrated the ability to make great decisions and play consistently in big games.''
Bell spent two seasons in the mid-'90s as a backup to Jim Harbaugh in Indianapolis. He got into one game but has stayed true to the Colts since Manning's arrival.
''I love to watch how he controls the game and just the way he plays the game,'' said Bell, who holds the CFL record for highest career completion percentage. ''It shows if you really are focused and committed to the game, you can become a great player. He's a talented player, don't get me wrong, but I think he takes his commitment level a little bit farther than most players.
''But I love Rex Grossman. He's always been a good kid. This really is a tough one for me because I've been waiting for the Colts to get here. But I want Rex to win.''
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It was easy to lump Spurrier's quarterbacks together and criticize them. They had noodle arms and all held the ball high, near the ear hole, making their deliveries long. All of them were rigid. Spurrier had a way of coaching everything -- from the way the ball was held to where it was supposed to be thrown -- and you followed his system.
Bell said it was easy to see from the get-go what set Grossman apart from the others: He could make all of the throws on the field.
Just being able to fire a deep out route, though, wouldn't get him on the field. Spurrier wanted a trigger man who thought like he did, who read defenses like he did and who saw plays develop as he did.
''There's one thing about it,'' Matthews said. ''If you were a Spurrier quarterback, you're going to understand X's and O's and how to attack defenses and how to throw the football. That's what allowed me to last as long as I have, the understanding of the game.
''Be realistic, Rex is probably Spurrier's first quarterback who actually fit the prototypical quarterback. He's 6-1, not as tall as your prototypical quarterback, but he's thick. He's got a tremendous arm. Whereas most of us other guys, we weren't very big and we didn't have great arms.''
Grossman had a tendency, too, to challenge Spurrier's thinking.
''At times, Rex did things he felt were necessary to win, and maybe that included throwing some balls Spurrier didn't want him to throw,'' said David Jorgensen, the Gators' center when Grossman was at Florida and one of his roommates. ''He showed sometimes talent can overcome doing things your coach doesn't want you to do. But Rex isn't an arrogant guy, and Spurrier would not tolerate mental mistakes. Hence, the visor flying around.
''The types of quarterbacks that traditionally played for Spurrier were ahead of their time in the college game, mentally picking apart defenses, and Rex might just be the first one from the era that had the physical talent to be better. He has a cannon, he's a tough kid and even though he doesn't show it all the time, he's more of an athlete than the other quarterbacks who came out of Florida.''
Peace runs a State Farm Insurance office in Lakeland, Fla., these days. He chases four kids on weekends and doesn't get to Gainesville as often as he would like. He never has met Grossman but has a lot of respect for him.
''As a quarterback in the NFL, whether you like it or not, you're defined by winning the big game,'' Peace said. ''He's got the swagger to do it. I was talking to some guys here the other day about the game, and they said absolutely Peyton is going to kill Rex Grossman.
''I said, 'Let me tell you something. I've watched that guy play enough. He struggled some this year, but he has got a swagger people will rally around, and he's not scared to play the game. Don't think the Bears don't have a shot to win this game.'''
As every one of them will tell you, Manning is 0-for-his-life against a Gator.