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Jeff Driskel believes he could’ve thrown for 4,000 yards at Florida last season
By Nick Cole
Published:
Jeff Driskel was given many opportunities to succeed as the starting quarterback at Florida, but the former Gator thinks he was one shot short of reaching rarefied air for SEC quarterbacks.
Driskel transferred out of the Florida program following the 2014 season, and finished his career with an impressive 4,026-yard performance as the starting QB at Louisiana Tech last season.
According to a report from SEC Country, the former Gators QB told the media at the NFL Combine on Thursday that he believes he could have replicated that 2015 production with the SEC East champions if given the opportunity.
“I believe that I could’ve,” he said. “I don’t think it was a matter of competition. I think it was a matter of me playing well and throwing it to the right guy with certain looks.”
That’s a pretty bold claim for a guy that threw for just 3,411 yards in 29 career games at Florida.
There are only three quarterbacks that have crossed the 4,000 yard threshold in SEC history. Kentucky’s Tim Couch holds the conference record with 4,275 yards passing in 1998, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel threw for 4,114 in 2013 and most recently Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly threw for 4,042 in 2015.
For a point of reference, the Gators’ school record for passing yards in a season is 3,896 from Rex Grossman in 2001.
We’ll give Driskel the premise that he matured as a player, and even that he likely would’ve benefited from the change from Will Muschamp to Jim McElwain in the Florida head coaching role.
But 4,000 yards passing in the SEC?
That seems very unlikely.
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
