All of Florida’s plans for the 2013 offense came crashing down on Saturday against Tennessee when starting quarterback Jeff Driskel fell to the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium turf and did not get up. A broken leg ended his season and to the rescue came Tyler Murphy, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound redshirt junior from Wethersfield, Conn.
Before taking over against Tennessee, the last time Murphy had thrown a live game pass came when he was a senior at Wethersfield High School.
He was ranked a two-star prospect by Rivals.com He accounted for more than 30 touchdowns with 1,100 passing and 1,100 rushing during his career as a dual-threat quarterback at Wethersfield. He was also a versatile athlete, winning the triple jump at the State Open Track Meet with a jump of 46’7”.
Until Driskel’s injury, Murphy had appeared in three games since arriving in Gainesville in 2010 but none at quarterback. But when he trotted onto the field against the Vols as the man he was cool, calm and collected. He overcame a 7-0 Tennessee lead and led the Gators back to a 31-17 victory. He is did it by throwing for 134 yards, which included a 52-yard touchdown to Solomon Patton, on 8-of-14 passing and scoring on a seven-yard run himself.
“He takes every rep at practice like he’s the starter,’’ Florida receiver Quinton Dunbar said. “I knew Murph would be prepared. He wasn’t nervous at all. He came in and already knew what to do.”
It was the culmination of a dream for Murphy, who was not considered a top recruit coming out of high school. He sent a tape to Florida during his senior season. When Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio called to offer a scholarship he thought it was a joke.
“I wasn’t sure if someone was playing a prank on me or something like that,’’ Murphy told Scott Carter of GatorZone.com. “It’s an opportunity that many people don’t get.”
He made the most of his opportunity on Saturday.
“My hat’s off to him,’’ Florida coach Will Muschamp said. “He took the circumstances and defied what you would think a lot of backup guys would do in that situation. He hung in there and didn’t just manage our team, he produced.
“He had great production in critical situations in the game. Again, a guy comes out in the third quarter — it’s one thing when you get thrust in there; another when you get a chance to think about it — and two drives right down the field and made some really good decisions in the throwing game.”
Murphy led Florida to scores four times in five trips into the red zone and he converted 10 of 18 on third-down conversions.
“I’m not 100 percent happy with the way I played,’’ Murphy said. “I had a few messed up plays. I’ve just got to know that I’m the starter now and have to put my foot on the pedal and go. I enjoy this school. I have a lot of good friends here that I’ve become close with. I’m not really afraid of competition.
“I take a lot of pride in playing quarterback,’’ he said. “I’ve played it all my life. I just didn’t want to give up on it. It was always in the back of my mind that I might never play. I just kept working hard and kept faith in myself and praying for an opportunity. It wasn’t the way I wanted it, but an opportunity is an opportunity. You have to make the best of it.”
He did that against Tennessee and now will get the chance against the rest of the Florida schedule, which includes seven SEC opponents plus two non-conference games, one of which is Florida State in Gainesville.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” Murphy said. “It’s going to have to hit me soon.”