Fourteen months ago, Jacoby Brissett stood near midcourt inside the Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer High gymnasium, fighting back the bashful smile he is quickly becoming known for.
The 6-foot-3, 229-pound, two-sport star was no more than two hours removed from the biggest decision of his life, yet he stood confidently as he was surrounded by more than a dozen reporters and cameramen. Like college coaches vying for his national letter of intent, the reporters were competing to get their questions in to Brissett. They wanted to know about his decision to orally commit to Florida, even against the wishes of his mother, Lisa Brown, who wanted him to go to Miami.
Although he was the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback prospect in the nation, according to Rivals.com, and some of his closest friends, like safety Matt Elam, were already playing in Gainesville, Brissett’s commitment to the Gators was a curious one.
The public announcement came two days after National Signing Day, and less than a month after Jeff Driskel, the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the class of 2011 and the top overall quarterback prospect in the nation, enrolled early for classes on Florida’s campus.
“I just wanted competition,” Brissett said last month. “He was the No. 1 quarterback and it so happened that I was — I had got an offer from Florida toward the end of the year and I just took it.”
Brissett’s commitment put Florida in a unique position. The Gators signed two of the top quarterback prospects in the nation, marking the first time one school has landed two of the top five signal-callers in a single class since Rivals began ranking recruits in 2002.
Driskel’s presence at UF didn’t faze Brissett or make him question his decision. It motivated him.
“He’s just got to show me he’s better than me. That’s all it is,” Brissett said that night. “He’ll have to prove to me every day, every year that he’s going to be better than me for him to win that starting job.”
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When Driskel arrived in Gainesville from Oviedo — a suburb of Orlando roughly 20 minutes from downtown — he was accompanied by considerable expectations and unfair comparisons.
His size and mobility invoked visions of former Heisman winner and two-time BCS national champion Tim Tebow, whose college career was still fresh in the minds of Florida fans.
Thanks to a stellar career at Oviedo Hagerty High, coupled with the No. 1 quarterback ranking and John Brantley’s sub-par, nine-touchdown, 10-interception season in 2010, many expected Driskel to compete with Brantley for the starting job immediately.
At the time, Brissett wasn’t even on the Gators’ radar; they seemed perfectly content with Driskel’s commitment.
Former Florida coach Urban Meyer offered Brissett a grayshirt — a chance to enroll later and not lose a year of eligibility while sitting out his first year — but did not recruit him otherwise, according to Brissett’s mother.
Following Driskel’s 507-yard, five-touchdown performance in his final high school game — a 56-35 loss to Lakeland High in Hagerty’s first-ever playoff game — his coach, Nate Gierke, called him the best high school player he has ever seen, a statement he still stands by today.
If anyone could meet the expectations at Florida, Gierke added, it would be Driskel.
But that was much easier said than done.
Driskel was Brantley’s backup during the spring, but the freshman struggled adjusting to the college game, something Gierke said was to be expected for any freshman, even the all-time greats.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Driskel recalled. “(I was) kind of just throwing the ball around.”
While Driskel struggled during his first semester in Gainesville, Brissett, who was recruited hard by former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis during the last month before National Signing Day, drove up to Gainesville during the weekends in the spring.
He would watch practices — the same practices where Driskel struggled — and sit and talk with players and coaches. Knowing that he would be at a disadvantage coming in a semester later than Driskel, Brissett studied the offense and picked up intricacies of it from former Dwyer teammates Gerald Christian and Robert Clark, both of whom have since transferred from Florida.
By the time Brissett enrolled in the summer, he was focused on catching up to Driskel.
“I don’t really do nothing outside of school and football,” Brissett said. “I really just concentrated on that.”
Despite Brissett’s attempt to catch him during the summer and fall camp, Driskel entered the year No. 2 on Florida’s depth chart. Driskel saw time in mop-up duty early in the season, but was thrust into his first real action when Brantley sprained his ankle just before halftime of the Alabama game on Oct. 1, Florida’s fifth game of the year.
The situation was a familiar one for Driskel, who Gierke said was “thrown into the fire” three games into his freshman season at Hagerty — the first season the Huskies fielded a varsity team. Like the scenario in 2007, when the rest of Driskel’s team was adjusting to a new game, the 2011 incarnation of the Gators was adjusting to a new scheme under a first-year coaching staff.
“He was able to draw on that experience some,” Gierke said. “But it’s apples and oranges when you compare the level of competition he was facing.”
Gierke was right: The situations were similar in theory, but exponentially different in reality.
Despite the experience his freshman year at Hagerty, Driskel was admittedly nervous against the Tide and looked shell-shocked. In the second half of the 38-10 loss, the Gators were held to just 61 yards and no points.
“High school and Florida, and playing against the No. 1 team at the time — it doesn’t compare,” Driskel said of his 2-for-6, 14-yard performance. “It’s not even close. There’s guys that are 260 pounds out there running 4.5s, so I mean, that kinda sums it up.”
The following week against LSU, Brissett started with Brantley out and Driskel also reportedly nursing a sprained ankle.
When Brantley finally returned against Georgia, Brissett remained the backup, leaving Driskel waiting in the wings for the remainder of the season.
“He was frustrated,” said Gierke, who still talks to Driskel regularly. “He’s always played and he’s always been the guy that everybody looks to to make the play, no matter what sport he played. … Nobody is ever content being the backup at anything.”
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Brissett chose Florida because he wanted to compete for the job — something neither he nor Driskel really had to deal with in high school.
This spring, the two are doing just that.
Since the start of practice last month, coach Will Muschamp and offensive coordinator Brent Pease have stressed that it’s an open competition for the starting role between the two sophomores, and Muschamp said this week it’s evident the battle will continue into fall camp.
“We all know it’s a competition,” Brissett said. “That’s what we came to Florida for, for a competition.”
By all accounts, the two have evenly split snaps in practice, as Muschamp said they would. But so, too, have the other quarterbacks on the roster.
Florida long has been cautious about what information leaks to the public, and this spring’s quarterback competition has been no different. Neither quarterback would disclose who took the first snap of spring practice, though Quinton Dunbar eventually divulged that it was Driskel.
Ask any teammate a question about the two sophomores — even something as mundane as “what does each do differently?” — and they all are tight-lipped, simply saying both quarterbacks are stepping up as leaders and looking great.
Muschamp said he is looking for “positive production” from both, and as he stands just yards behind each offensive huddle during practice, he has been paying attention to how the rest of the offensive players respond to Driskel and Brissett’s respective demeanors.
So far, Muschamp said, he has been pleased with what he has seen from both. Still, neither has created separation in the coaches’ eyes.
In spite of the intense competition, Driskel and Brissett insist they are close off the field, with Brissett joking that the two “go on walks on the weekends.”
“Right now we’re good friends and I think it’s gonna stay like that,” Driskel said. “Coach Muschamp’s not going to let [the competition] get out of control, and he’s not going to tolerate that.”
Regardless of the friendship, the two are still battling for the coveted starting job under center. Saturday’s Orange & Blue Debut will be just one of the many opportunities the two have to create separation, and when the dust eventually settles, one will have won the job and the other will have lost it.
Muschamp said he wouldn’t rule out using a two-quarterback system, but as the saying goes: When you have two quarterbacks, you really don’t have one.
Brissett was reminded last month of what he said about Driskel the night he orally committed to the Gators. He looked up from a table within the confines of the visiting locker room in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, knowingly nodded and once again flashed that bashful smile.
“I did (say that),” Brissett said. “He still has to prove that he’s better than me, because it won’t stop.”
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett makes a pre-snap adjustment during last year’s game against LSU. Brissett and fellow sophomore Jeff Driskel, both top-five recruits at the position, are battling for the starting job.
Quarterback Jeff Driskel (16) hands off to running back Chris Rainey in the second half of last year’s loss to Alabama. Driskel played sparingly in the first four games of the season before being thrust into the lead role after starter John Brantley went down with an ankle injury.
