Anthony Richardson declared for the NFL Draft on Monday, leaving Florida after just one year as a starting quarterback. The decision, which Richardson posted in a tweet, isn’t surprising, given Richardson is likely to be a first-round NFL Draft pick based on talent alone.

The decision does, however, raise one of college football’s classic questions: “What if?”

College football is a game defined almost as much by what didn’t happen as it is by what actually happens.

In the SEC alone, contemplating the “what ifs” is a journey through the looking glass and down a deep black hole of possibility.

What if Rich Rodriguez hadn’t called Mal Moore early on December 8, 2006, and turned down an offer to become Alabama’s football coach, opening the door for Moore to hire Nick Saban?

What if Greg McGarity hadn’t decided that another 9-win regular season under Mark Richt wasn’t quite good enough after 15 years, opening the door for Kirby Smart to return to his alma mater?

What if Joe Burrow, QB 2 for Urban Meyer at Ohio State in 2017, hadn’t broken his hand late in the season, opening the door for Dwayne Haskins to take over and ultimately, win the Ohio State job and set the stage for Burrow’s transfer to LSU?

What if Jameis Winston and Florida State didn’t drive 77 yards in 77 seconds to defeat Gus Malzahn and Auburn in the 2013 BCS National Championship game?

What if.

At Florida, it’s felt like a decade-plus of football dominated by more “what ifs” than wins. At least that’s the dig down and look in the mirror truth about this program since Tim Tebow exited stage left after breaking every Sugar Bowl passing record in 2009.

Since that bittersweet night on Bourbon Street?

Thirteen seasons of mostly mediocre football, highlighted by 2 New Year’s Six bowl wins,, 2 11-win seasons, a trio of lonely, losing SEC Championship game appearances, 5 (excluding interims) head coaches, and enough “what ifs” to fill a “choose your own adventure” novel.

Most of Florida’s 13 years of “what ifs” revolve around the program’s unenviable, unsuccessful attempt to replace Tebow, one of the greatest college football players in history. Aside from 2 years of Kyle Trask, the 2020 Heisman finalist and Third-Team All-American who, lest Gators fans let you forget, became a Florida legend almost by accident, the Gators have been a mess at quarterback, and it’s almost always boiled down to “what if.”

What if Cameron Newton, Tebow’s backup at Florida and the eventual 2010 Heisman Trophy winner and national champ at Auburn, hadn’t been involved in a laptop theft allegation that resulted in his dismissal from the University of Florida?

What if Will Muschamp had listened to Charlie Weis and started Jacoby Brissett instead of Jeff Driskel? Brissett went on to be an All-ACC quarterback at NC State and play a decade in the NFL. Driskel was a 5-star prospect from a tiny, mediocre high school program who had NFL talent but nowhere close to the football brain Brissett brought to Florida from his days at south Florida prep powerhouse William T. Dwyer.

Derrick Henry obviously wasn’t a quarterback, but he wasn’t a linebacker, either. What if Muschamp hadn’t looked at Henry, who grew up going to Florida games and dreaming of being a Gator, and decided Henry was a linebacker, and not a running back?

What if Jim McElwain had hired competent, successful people to run his strength and conditioning program and Will Grier, in an effort to get stronger to hold up to the physical challenge of a season of SEC football, didn’t feel like he needed to go to an off-campus nutrition store for supplements in 2015?

What if Feleipe Franks never got hurt against Kentucky early in the 2019 season? OK, that one worked out in Florida’s favor, but you get the idea.

Those were all big, but outside of Newton and Henry, no “what if” will bother Gators fans more than the story of Richardson.

A hometown product out of Gainesville’s Eastside High, Richardson started just 13 games at Florida over 3 seasons. He threw for just over 3,000 yards as a Gator, with 24 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Those numbers don’t wow you. In fact, they are downright ordinary compared to say, Trask, who threw for 4,283 yards and 43 touchdowns in a single, COVID-shortened season in 2020.

But with Richardson, it’s the talent that drives the “What ifs.”

What if Dan Mullen hadn’t been so loyal to Emory Jones, a clearly less talented player who started all but 1 of Florida’s games in the 2021 season?

What if Richardson hadn’t been so injury-prone in his first 2 years on campus? Would Mullen have trusted him more?

What if Richardson hadn’t seemed, fairly or unfairly, to be more concerned about protecting his body and draft status down the stretch in 2022, as the Gators lost their final 2 games with Richardson often looking completely unwilling to do what he does so well and, well, run.

Richardson’s numbers are hardly the stuff of legend, but again, it’s the talent that has multiple NFL analysts speculating that Richardson may just be a good combine away from being the first quarterback taken in the NFL Draft.

As a NFC Playoff front office executive told me before the Florida State game, Richardson’s “talent, from a ceiling perspective, is as tantalizing as we’ve seen in 10 years.”

Does that mean he’ll capitalize on it in the NFL and pan out? It’s difficult to say.

“We don’t know if he’s Josh Allen, Cam Newton, or JaMarcus Russell right now,” the executive told me. “The ceiling is incredible, but do you risk what happens to your job if he craters? We won’t. We don’t operate like that. But I bet someone will.”

What if Richardson had returned?

Would he have maxed out in Year 2 as a starter?

That’s certainly what Joe Burrow did, and Tua Tagovailoa, too, if we’re sticking with SEC quarterbacks who have recently delivered on their immense talent on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays.

Florida fans will never know. They’ll just get to ask, “what if?” That question is a double-edged sword, too.

If Richardson succeeds in the NFL, the chorus of Gators fans wondering what might have been will only grow louder. If Richardson fails, the chorus of naysayers who think a talented young man left before he was ready will undoubtedly stand up and demand to be recognized.

What if?

It’s a question that’s plagued Florida football for 13 years and counting. With Richardson, who had the talent to transcend Florida’s inadequacies but couldn’t consistently deliver, Gators fans are left with only fleeting, fantastical moments. The run vs. LSU. The hurdled defender against FAU. The 2-point conversion against Utah.

The record, 6-7 as a starting quarterback, suggests something different: unfulfilled promise and potential. Little more.

There is more of Richardson’s football story left to be written. It just won’t happen at Florida.

Instead, Gators fans are left to wonder: What if?