No player who has run through the south end zone tunnel in the last four years has generated as much love, hate, hope and dread as No. 8.
Trey Burton has delivered cheers and moans alike, but his career ended about two hours before he expected.
The senior wide receiver suffered a left shoulder injury in the first quarter of Florida’s season-finale loss to Florida State on Saturday, ending a career that has been nothing if not eventful.
“Obviously you don’t want to go out like that,” he said. “I felt like I let my team down a little bit. But it’s obviously not something I can control.”
When he suffered the injury, Burton was on the verge of perhaps his finest hour.
With quarterback Tyler Murphy out for the third straight game due to a sprained shoulder and third-stringer Skyler Mornhinweg struggling to fill the void, Burton was going to see as much action as he had in any other game in his career.
Coach Will Muschamp and former offensive coordinator Brent Pease planned to hand the keys of the offense over to Burton, lining him up at quarterback for more than 30 snaps.
“We had a counter coming back, we had a trap, we had a couple of passes off of [the package],” Muschamp said. “There were just some things we felt good about that Trey had repped all week. We had a lot of confidence in him. Every time he’s been in those situations he’s performed very well.”
Added Burton: “We had a bunch of [plays] … I was excited for the opportunity and I was going to try to make the most of it. It got cut a little short.”
For a moment, it looked like the strategy might work.
Burton rushed for 50 yards on the first play out of the much-maligned Wildcat package, and the Gators were threatening to take a quick lead against the heavily favored Seminoles.
But after one more Wildcat snap, Burton left the game due to the injury, and his season ended in as much disappointment as Florida’s did.
“It was definitely a blow, but we had to regroup there and be able to execute without him,” Mornhinweg said. “He was a key component to our offense.”
Burton made a name for himself almost immediately after arriving at Florida. He completed 12 of 18 passes for a touchdown and ran for 128 yards and two more scores in the 2010 spring game. He made an immediate impact that season.
As a freshman, Burton scored 12 touchdowns — six of which came in a record outburst at home against Kentucky — and took part in the Gators’ rotating quarterback system.
However, he was a runner first, throwing only six passes all season while rushing 75 times.
The next two seasons, Burton moved around the field, even contemplating a move to defense, as he struggled to move the ball. Although he had bright moments, including a two-touchdown performance against a Tennessee in 2012, he often strained to make even modest gains.
However, Burton quietly succeeded in his final college season, providing a security blanket to Florida’s again-rotating door of quarterbacks. The senior found his home in the lineup as the Gators’ slot receiver, notching 445 yards on 38 receptions — third on the team in both categories.
Burton will look to stick at receiver in the future. He said he plans to enter May’s NFL Draft as a wideout. He said after the loss to FSU that he had not thought much about his future after college, but he was happy with the way his career unfolded.
“I obviously wanted it to go a different way,” he said, “but I’m extremely thankful for the four years I had here.”
Follow Adam Lichtenstein on Twitter @alichtenstein24.
Trey Burton reaches to catch a punt during Florida’s 30-10 victory against Arkansas on Oct. 5 in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Burton finished the season with one touchdown.
