It’s one thing to say AR wasn’t great. He wasn’t, he was just good Its one thing to say he was inconsistent and had bad games, he did (Kentucky) It’s one thing to say he got drafted due to potential and not college production. That’s true as well, although all teams are drafting based on projected NFL performance But it is an entirely different thing to say he was a quitter or didn’t try. That’s character assassination with no evidence. We’ve had hundreds of players underperform their potential….it is rarely due to “not trying”. Yet so many here point to that for AR. And the guys with such character flaws do not get drafted top 5.
He was very inexperienced (blame Mullen for that) and in an offensive scheme that didn’t totally suit him. And the team was awful. It’s not surprising at all he would be inconsistent. I get the being upset we didn’t get ceiling AR at Florida. But players being better NFL players than college happens ALL THE TIME. When we were a good team it was often the other way around (better college than NFL) but in the last decade we’ve had very good NFL guys that didn’t do much in college. If you look at NFL rosters it’s almost impossible that UFs offense was so garbage pre Mullen. Jeff Driskel is an 8 year NFL QB as an example. It’s on Napier to flip that script.
"So many" huh? Show me all these comments of Florida fans assassinating his character. So because a few fans say he didn't try as hard as he could, they are racist? Get outta here with that. It has been explained time and time again. Hell, it was just explained a few posts back (see nawlins' quote below). Some fans think he was more focused on his NFL future than giving his all for Florida and didn't want to risk injury. Fair or not, that's their opinions. You don't have to agree with it (personally I don't either), but stop blowing things out of proportion and acting like the whole fanbase was against him.
Perhaps not you, some others have alluded to it and flat out said it. Which makes me scratch my head because the NFL is notoriously meticulous about doing their homework on these players especially the first rounders. While combing through every second of game film, analyzing their body language on the sidelines and speaking to their high school and college coaches, if they got even the slightest inkling that a player was not giving his all, no way would they draft them in the first round.
It happens all the time. Jeff George, Jamarcus Russell, Johnny Manziel just to name a few QBs. There are players who get drafted early all the time despite questions and concerns about their effort, desire, work ethic, toughness, etc. I don't think AR is in that boat, and other than a few clowns who probably say a ton of dumb stuff about everything, nobody else thinks so either. A very small minority of the fanbase saying AR "gave up" on the Gators isn't anything to get worked up about.
He had a bad game by his own admission. However, the point that was being made is that so have many of the other QBs that were drafted in the first round. They just happened to have better defenses, better kickers, and better front lines to overcome a lackluster passing game on any given day. WE DIDN'T!!!!
I find it interesting that those guys played in markedly different offenses with major Players to throw to. AR plays in a non qb friendly offense with one guy to throw to. Stroud and young could basically take their pick as to who To which 4-5 star to throw to.
It’s amazing the Gators ripping this Gator don’t acknowledge the offense he played in as a major disadvantage and don’t openly acknowledge AR had no weapons to throw to beyond Pearsall.
Some of us here are saying that AR didn’t give it his best effort in games we all watched. You come back claiming we’re calling him a “quitter “. We’re not, and you know it. Stop your silly game
I’m betting on some transgender chick from the women’s wrestling team EDIT: drinking Bud Light (runs and hides…)
Really, there’s a lot of arguments on both sides. Trask had better receivers, without a doubt. AR had a legitimate run game that required the defense’s attention, Trask did not. I also think I’d give AR’s OL the advantage. Either way, winning solves everything. And there certainly hasn’t been enough of that.
If Trask were such a wunderkind, there would be no doubt about who would be starting in Tampa right now. He benefitted from the best tight end in college football, and a slot receiver that is a threat to take it to the house with every possession even in the NFL. Richardson did not have anyone of that caliber on his team.
Yes, Trask had much better weapons at receiver than AR, but Trask's NFL career has nothing to do with what he did at Florida. I think it's silly to compare college to the pros, as success here doesn't always translate to success there. Look at Danny and Tim, for example. And the opposite can be true as well. Some guys have the tools, but it takes them a while to put it all together. How did Josh Allen look at Wyoming? Hopefully Richardson is the next Allen. The difference between Franks and Trask was night and day. Clearly it wasn't all Pitts and Toney carrying that offense, and it really doesn't matter who you have at WR if you can't get them the ball.
I agree with @LS1 and wonder how you would you explain Trask so often throwing his TE and WRs open . . . well before they applied their superior physical abilities to only make him appear the better QB? Is he maybe unfairly psychic? Also, we're comparing completion percentages not "taking it to the house." We watched Trask throw FORTY-THREE (43) TDs against only 8 INTs with a 68.9% completion rate and an overall efficiency rating of an amazing 180 on the season. That's the Trask you're diminishing?
Make no mistake, I am a Trask fan....but it helped having a TE that could catch anything he could get one finger on. Our best receiving TE last year, Zipperer, missed pretty much of the last half of the season and now he is injured again.
Don't worry about the critiques here. On3.com did a real hatchet job on Napier, denigrating all of the QB for next year because that kid left greener pastures at Arizona State.
