Redshirt junior Tyler Murphy will leave the Florida football program, the school announced Sunday. Murphy, who graduated Saturday but still has a year of eligibility, will seek to play at another program in 2014.
Murphy is the seventh player to leave the program in the past four days and the second quarterback to transfer. Freshman Max Staver announced he would transfer on Thursday.
With Murphy and Staver gone, Florida has only two scholarship quarterbacks on its roster: Jeff Driskel and Skyler Mornhinweg. The Gators also expect to bring in Davidson, N.C., recruit Will Grier on National Signing Day in February.
After Driskel suffered a broken fibula against Tennessee on Sept. 21, Murphy took over the starting quarterback role. After leading the Gators to a win against the Volunteers off the bench, he started the next six games. UF went 2-4 in games he started.
Murphy suffered what proved to be a season-ending shoulder injury against LSU on Oct. 12 and tried to play through it, starting Florida’s next three contests.
However, the redshirt junior sat out the Gators’ last three games, and Mornhinweg — the third-string quarterback at the season’s start — played in UF’s final three losses to close out Florida’s worst season since 1979.
Murphy, who did not play until this season, finished the year with 1,216 passing yard, six touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 60.5 percent of his passes. He also gained 270 yards on the ground and added three rushing scores.
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Quarterback Tyler Murphy attempts a pass during Florida’s 23-20 loss to Georgia on Nov. 2 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville. UF announced Sunday that Murphy will transfer from Florida and play his final season of eligibility elsewhere.
