Will Grier’s career as quarterback at Florida is comparable to a shooting star exploding in the night sky. It comes quickly, crashes and burns, then fades off into the dark forever.

That’s Will Grier’s legacy at Florida. His quick, short legacy.

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He started five games this year – and played in six – and had proven to be the next great thing in Gainesville. The Gators were 6-0 and talking national championship when Grier was suspended for a calendar year by the NCAA for using performance-enhancing drugs.

The Gators struggled without him, losing three of seven games and looking awful even in the wins. Still, everyone in Gator Nation seemed to have his back and longed for the day when he would return to The Swamp and lead the Gators to another national title.

And what did Grier do with all that love? He basically told the Gators to stick it. Last week, it was announced Grier would be transferring from Florida, ending one of the craziest, quickest sagas in years.

Grier let down the Gators not once, but twice, in the span of two months.

Here’s the Grier 2015 story, in three parts:

1.The brilliant play on the field

Grier, a redshirt freshman from Davidson, N.C., came off the bench in the season opener and played well and then started the next five games. During that time he took a team that was projected to finish fifth in the weak SEC East and suddenly had them talking about national titles.

He was that good.

He had modest numbers in wins over East Carolina and Kentucky, but then made his bones by leading a furious fourth-quarter comeback against arch-rival Tennessee. He threw for 283 yards and hit freshman Antonio Callaway on a 63-yard score in the final minute and change for a 28-27 win. It was a game that eventually settled the SEC East race.

The following week, Grier was nearly flawless in Florida’s 38-10 dismantling of then-No. 3 Ole Miss in The Swamp. He was 24-for-29 passing with four touchdowns and 271 yards. Then he beat Missouri 21-3 and the talk was all about Grier and the Gators contending for a national title.

The Gators were 6-0 and ranked 42nd nationally in passing offense. The 6-foot-2 Grier led the SEC with a completion percentage of 65.8 and was the first Florida quarterback to pass for at 200 yards in three consecutive games since Tim Tebow in 2009.

And then …

2. The NCAA lowers the boom on Grier

On Oct. 12, Grier was suspended for violating the NCAA’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs and what was supposed to be a special season was suddenly thrust into doubt. The NCAA banned him for a calendar year after a failed drug test.

Grier fought back tears when talking about the suspension. admitting he made a mistake and saying, “I’m really, really sorry to everyone.”

Despite the suspension and what it was going to do to this current season, everyone in and around Gainesville still seemed to have Grier’s back. First-year Florida coach Jim McElwain stood by his side during the press conference and he vowed to go forward with Grier.

Everyone noticed the outpouring of support, even Grier’s family.

Gator fans directed all their anger at the NCAA, not Grier.

The Gators Plus store in Gainesville starting selling T-shirts that said  “Free Willy” on the front and “NCAA” on the back, with the “C” is the hammer and sickle — a Communist symbol conceived during the Russian Revolution.

Grier’s father even posted a photo on his Instagram account of himself, his wife and several friends wearing “Free Willy” T-shirts.

Specific reports vary over Grier’s actual weights, but the consensus seems to be that he gained about 25 pounds during his year-plus in Gainesville, and it’s hard not to conclude that the performance-enhancing drugs he was caught using played a role in that.

McElwain called Grier’s use of a performance-enhancing drug “an honest mistake,” but one that could have been prevented.

“He knew he had, as all our players do, before you even take cough medicine, you’ve gotta check with the medical staff to allow you to be even able to do it,” McElwain said at the time of the suspension.

Grier appealed his year-long suspension, hoping to get it reversed so that he’d be able to play at the beginning of the 2016 season but it was denied by the NCAA in early December.

Grier, who could have practiced but didn’t during his suspension, was set to rejoin his teammates in January after the bowl game, which had Gator fans in a tither.

https://twitter.com/ChadajiaWood/status/676947024596570112

They were so excited. And then Grier let them down.

Again.

3. Grier decided to transfer from Florida

Instead of preparing to return to the practice field, Grier packed his bags and went home to North Carolina.

In a statement released by the school, McElwain said Grier had a change of heart.

“Will came to me about exploring his options to transfer,” McElwain said in a school-released statement. “We will support him and help him in any way we can. This has been very difficult on him and obviously he is looking for a fresh start.

“We will always be there for him as will all Gators.”

Still, his departure leaves the Gators with a huge hole at quarterback going forward. Treon Harris hans’t been good as his replacement.  With Harris at quarterback, the Gators (10-3) are 4-3 and are now ranked 78th of 128 in passing offense, down from the No. 42 they were with Grier at the helm.

Grier is the sixth quarterback to transfer from UF in the past three years, joining Jacoby Brissett (N.C. State), Jeff Driskel (Louisiana Tech), Skyler Mornhinweg (Columbia), Max Staver (Houston Baptist) and Tyler Murphy (Boston College).

He’s also a part of a mass exodus of SEC quarterbacks in the past month. The list is long.

There are plenty of reasons for Florida fans to be upset about Grier leaving, but other fan bases have weighed in too. As far as fans of Tennessee and Ole Miss are concerned, Florida using a player on drugs cost them their shots at winning SEC division crowns.

Grier’s time in Florida was brief, but it was sure entertaining. What happens next away from Gainesville will be interesting as well. He would have been eligible to play at Florida in October. But now that he is transferring, he’ll have to sit out a full year at an FBS school and then serve the remainder of his suspension after that.

He has other options, of course. He could go to junior college and play right away for a year and then turn pro. Or he could go to an FCS school and serve out his suspension and then play the last half of next year.

Either way, none of those options are what Gator fans want. Will Grier let them down.

Not once, but twice.