Florida Gators Land another Transfer, Purdue QB Austin Appleby Heading to Gainesville

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

In recent years, the exodus of talented quarterbacks leaving Gainesville has been the norm but on Monday night Florida flipped the switch accepting graduate transfer Austin Appleby from Purdue.

Appleby had an outstanding high school career with North Canton working his way to being named one of the top quarterbacks in the state of Ohio as part of the 2012 recruiting class. The 6’5”, 239 pound, gunslinger redshirted during the 2012 season and then played in just one game in 2013 hitting 5 of 6 passes for 68 yards with a touchdown against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

In 2014, Appleby stepped out of the shadows of the Boilermakers bench playing in 10 games while making seven starts. Appleby finished his redshirt sophomore year completing 53 percent of his passes tallying 1,449 yards with 10 touchdowns and rushed for 198 yards with five more scores.

The 2015 season was expected to be a big year for Appleby but not all went as planned. Appleby played in five games completing 119 of 207 passes for 1,260 yards with eight touchdowns against eight picks. Redshirt freshman David Blough (Creekview HS, Carrollton, TX) took over the starting quarterback position with similar results also hitting 57 percent of his pass attempts throwing for 1,574 yards with 10 scores against eight interceptions in 86 more pass attempts than Appleby.

The spot under center for the Gators, in the games and on the field, has been a fluid position with guys like Tyler Murphy, Jacoby Brissett, Jeff Driskel, Skyler Mornhinweg, and Max Staver transferring in recent years. First-year Gators head coach Jim McElwain did not have much better luck with quarterbacks than his predecessor Will Muschamp having to split time between 2014 end of the season starter Treon Harris and redshirt freshman Will Grier. Grier ended up winning the job but six games in was suspended for a calendar year after testing positive for a NCAA banned substance. Harris resumed the starting role but was not able to move the offense in the passing game as well as Grier. Grier completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,204 yards with 10 touchdowns against just three picks. Harris, playing in parts of 12 games, completed just 51 percent of his passes coming up with 1,676 passing yards, nine touchdowns, and six interceptions.

At the end of the season, Grier announced he was leaving the Florida program for another opportunity. Florida’s offseason battle at the quarterback position is expected to come down to Luke Del Rio, Harris, and now Appleby. Del Rio, a transfer from Oregon State, walked onto the Alabama program in 2013 after an outstanding senior season with Valor Christian (Colorado). In 2014, Del Rio transferred to Oregon State and was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA becoming the Beavers backup quarterback. After the 2014 season, he transferred to Florida sitting out the 2015 season.

Another Purdue quarterback, Danny Etling, transferred to LSU sitting out the 2015 season. In theory, two former Purdue quarterbacks could end up starting for SEC teams in 2016.

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