In four tries during his time at Tennessee, Peyton Manning never beat Florida.

That’s one of the unfortunate facts of the future Hall of Fame quarterback’s career that kept him from achieving his goal of a national championship with the Vols.

But did you know that Manning was actually almost a Gator himself?

As football fans celebrate the likely end to Manning’s 18-year NFL career, some interesting things have been showing up on the internet.

Our friends over at Reddit College Football have unearthed a 1994 article that produces a pretty interesting quote from Manning.

It has been assumed by many that Manning chose Tennessee instead of Ole Miss, where his father Archie played and reached icon status.

And while Ole Miss was likely a serious consideration, it appears as though Florida was actually the team that Manning was considering most when he decided to play on Rocky Top.

An except from that article revealed how close Manning was to playing for Steve Spurrier:

Both quarterbacks were recruited by Florida, Stewart spurning the Gators from the outset and Manning picking the Vols over the Gators after eliminating Ole Miss and Michigan.

“How close was it?” Manning was asked.

“Close,” he said. “Coach (Steve) Spurrier was good to me and I liked the coaching staff when I visited there. I had to pick between ’em and I picked Tennessee”

H/T to Reddit user “RobertNeyland” for the post with the article and quotes:

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Can you imagine how things would have been different had Manning chose to attend Florida instead?

Spurrier’s offense was all the rage at the time, putting up video game numbers with the Fun ‘n Gun passing attack.

Former Gators QB Danny Wuerffel won a Heisman Trophy, was a two-time SEC player of the year, first-team All-American and led the Gators to a national championship during the Manning era.

How would Manning have fared in that QB competition?

It likely would have been a history altering decision had Manning chose to go the other direction.

But, alas, we know how this story plays out, and it ends with Manning being one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of football.

It’s one of those “what if” scenarios that is fun to think about, but even with the losses to the Gators, there’s no doubt Tennessee fans are glad Manning made the choice to play in Knoxville.