NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three minutes and 41 seconds.
Leon Orr was scheduled to enter Saturday night’s matchup against Vanderbilt during the Commodores’ second offensive series of the game.
That drive started just three minutes and 41 seconds after kickoff.
For Orr, finishing out his fifth year with the Florida Gators football program wasn’t worth waiting on the sideline for three minutes and 41 seconds.
For Orr, enduring a 12-hour bus ride back to Gainesville alone was more appealing than sitting out for the contest’s first three minutes and 41 seconds.
Today, the 6-foot-5, 305-pound defensive lineman doesn’t have to be told to come off the bench. He doesn’t have to watch Jon Bullard take first-team reps over him, put up with the coaching staff’s decisions or be a team player.
In return, Will Muschamp doesn’t have to give Leon Orr a spot on the squad.
"Guys aren’t going to put themselves above the team," Muschamp said.
"Not here."
***
The Gators don’t need Orr to win football games. They proved it last week in a 38-20 rout of Georgia and once again Saturday after a dominant 34-10 victory over Vanderbilt on the road.
Since Orr was hampered with a knee injury earlier this season, Muschamp leaned heavily on backup Jon Bullard and found that the defensive line actually became more versatile without Orr in the lineup.
"We’re more athletic with Jon Bullard inside," Muschamp said.
The numbers back up Muschamp’s statement.
Bullard, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound junior, has been one of Florida’s best pass rushers as of late, recording 11 total tackles and one tackle for loss during these past two weeks.
Although Orr was hailed as a possible NFL talent on the Gators’ defensive line entering this year, the fifth-year senior failed to live up to the hype and then sunk down on the depth chart after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.
Despite the opposing trends of Orr and Bullard at defensive tackle, Orr still pushed to play ahead of Bullard against Vanderbilt on Saturday.
"He hadn’t started all week in practice," Muschamp said. "He came to me and didn’t understand why he wasn’t starting … I thought we’ve been productive with the four guys that have been starting."
Orr "expressed displeasure" toward Muschamp’s decision and gave the fourth-year coach an ultimatum.
"He said he wanted to start and he was leaving if he wasn’t starting," Muschamp said.
"I said, ‘If you go home, you’re done. You’re not a Florida Gator anymore.’"
Orr obliged and took the next bus out of Nashville.
Muschamp broke the news to the team during the pre-game dinner at the hotel but kept the message short and to the point. With a vital Southeastern Conference game looming just ahead, he didn’t want to bog the players down with possibly distracting details.
"Those kids are resilient, they go play," Muschamp said. "They enjoy playing and move on very quickly."
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Leon Orr never asked to play for Will Muschamp.
Urban Meyer recruited Orr out of Gulf High in New Port Richey and signed him to his 2010 recruiting class. One year later, Meyer was out of Gainesville and Orr was left to play for a first-year head coach in Muschamp.
The relationship between the two appeared healthy and productive at first.
In the pairing’s first season together, Orr played in all 13 games and recorded 10 tackles. The next year, he racked up 15 and then 21 the year after that.
As one of Florida’s most veteran players — he was just one of eight Meyer recruits still left over — Orr was expected to lead a defensive line that lost significant talent through the NFL Draft in May.
But in five games, Orr has just 16 tackles including just two assisted tackles in his last game against Georgia. As a result, Muschamp decided to bench Orr in favor of the more productive Bullard on the inside.
Even without Orr in the starting lineup, the Gators are 15th in the nation in run defense, allowing just 116.3 yards per game. The only SEC school to allow fewer rushing yards is Alabama at 89.8 yards per game.
The starting four, which includes Bryan Cox Jr. replacing Bullard at defensive end, all said they felt as if that was the right starting lineup.
"I asked those four guys, ‘Who’s better?’" Muschamp said. "They all thought they were better. That’s the way it goes."
Although Orr was expected to be "heavily involved" according to the school’s release before the game, he did not appreciate a junior starting over him.
Bullard said Orr never approached him with the issue, however, and was surprised that his teammate chose to take a bus home rather than stay with the team.
When asked how he and the rest of the squad would handle being a man down for the rest of the year, Bullard said the Gators had no choice but to persevere.
"You just have to, you just have to go and play, wasn’t gonna slack cause we lost somebody," Bullard said. "We got players who can step up and play."
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn
Will Muschamp celebrates following Florida's 34-10 win against Vanderbilt on Saturday.
