The biggest difference was the weather.
Back at Purdue, a college located in West Lafayette, Indiana, Austin Appleby would walk outside and see snow.
Snow covered the buildings, the ground and the footballs, especially in March and especially during the spring, a time when roster spots are unsolidified and hope runs rampant.
But this March, Appleby was standing inside Florida’s indoor practice facility on a sweltering day. The differences, he said, were palpable.
And it wasn't just the weather.
“There’s an unbelievable opportunity here,” Appleby says.
Opportunity?
“Well, the obvious,” Appleby continued. “There’s obviously a lot of quarterback issues.”
For Appleby, the biggest issue is Luke Del Rio — the son of Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio — who finds himself competing for the starting job at Florida after spending one season each at Alabama and Oregon State.
For Del Rio, the biggest obstacle is Appleby, a graduate transfer who has 11 college starts playing in the Big 10.
And for Florida, the issue is uncertainty after six seasons of instability. Since 2010, the Gators have started seven different quarterbacks and have also seen seven quarterbacks transfer from the school: Treon Harris, Will Grier, Jeff Driskel, Skyler Mornhinweg, Max Staver, Tyler Murphy and Jacoby Brissett.
Now, heading into its second season under coach Jim McElwain, Florida’s quarterback position is still in question.
For a program with a recent history of high quarterback turnover, stability behind center is far from a sure thing.
So why did Appleby and Del Rio — both transfers — come to a school with such uncertainty at their position?
“(The weather) is one thing, but it’s just the expectation that this team is expecting to win a championship,” Appleby said.
And then he paused, as if to correct himself.
“Championships,” Appleby finished.
• • •
After the football had been tossed around, banged up, rolled in sweat and flung into the dirt during a 1994 Vikings game, it was given to a baby in a hospital bed, somewhere in Minnesota.
It still makes Del Rio smile.
“(My dad) made the Pro Bowl that year,” he said.
Del Rio’s father was an NFL linebacker for 11 years, four of which were spent with the Vikings. After a win during the 1994 season, Jack Del Rio gave the game ball to his newly born son after the final seconds ticked off the game clock.
Now Jack is the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, 2,773 miles from where his son is competing to be the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators.
“I grew up around the game,” Luke said. “So I’ve been around the game a lot. I’ve just kind of observed it growing up, doing the best I can to pick people’s brains.”
Luke was surrounded by football during his youth, eventually being ranked ESPN’s No. 1-rated passer in Colorado coming out of high school.
His first offer?
That was from Jim McElwain, then the head coach at Colorado State.
Luke turned him down.
“He understood it. I’m a competitor. I wanted to play with the best of the best,” Luke said. “I played my senior year in Colorado and I enjoyed it, but I was ready for something new.”
So he enrolled at Alabama and joined the football team as a walk-on, serving as the third-string quarterback behind AJ McCarron and Blake Sims for the 2013 season.
Searching for more playing time, he transferred to Oregon State in 2014 and became the backup, playing in just three games.
But still, Luke wasn’t satisfied.
He made some phone calls, eventually talking with Doug Nussmeier, who was just named the offensive coordinator at Florida by McElwain. Luke transferred to UF soon after.
And now, after sitting out a year, learning McElwain’s offense and watching the Treon Harris and Will Grier sagas unfold, Luke believes he finally has a chance to be a starting quarterback.
And his tenure as a Gator couldn’t have begun much better.
His first pass in a Florida uniform fell into the hands of CJ Worton for a 46-yard completion in Florida's annual Spring game on April 8.
His second pass was a completion to tight end DeAndre Goolsby for 14 yards. Touchdown.
And while McElwain didn’t officially announce a starter after the Orange and Blue debut, he strongly hinted that Luke was ahead, saying he had a leg up on the quarterback competition because of his familiarity with the system.
“Luke, I felt, did a good job of letting the game come to him,” McElwain said after the Spring scrimmage. “It’s amazing what happens when you throw it to the open guy.”
Del Rio's statline: 10-for-11, 176 yards, two touchdowns.
And yet, three months later, locked in a tight competition with Appleby for the starting position, there has been no more evidence that Del Rio has separated himself in the battle under center.
McElwain has mostly refused to give a timetable on announcing a starter, consistently stating that Appleby and Del Rio have been about equal.
And even for a player who performed so well in the Spring game, Del Rio hears the chatter. Why should a player who couldn’t even earn the starting job at Oregon State win the job at Florida?
“It always kind of lights a fire under you when people don’t believe in you. And I think as a competitor, you get excited when somebody has doubts about your abilities,” Del Rio said. “I didn’t come here to sit on the bench.”
• • •
Through four years at Purdue, Austin Appleby was largely an afterthought.
He appeared in no games his freshman year, played in two games his sophomore year, started seven games his junior year and four his senior year. He threw 19 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.
And then he graduated. But he still wanted to play, and Florida needed a quarterback.
Appleby reached out to former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer — a friend and a mentor — for advice.
Dilfer urged him toward Florida, which had a vacancy under center.
“Go be a dreamer,” Appleby recalled Dilfer telling him. “Go all in.”
So he did.
“There’s an opportunity to come in here and compete to be the guy,” Appleby said. “That’s an opportunity that’s hard to pass up.”
Appleby’s situation is unique. He’s clearly the most battle-tested quarterback on Florida’s roster from playing in the Big 10 for each of the past three seasons, which has talent that compares to the SEC.
“I think what I bring to the team is a level of experience,” Appleby said. “Once you’re out there and it’s live and you’re in front of 100,000, there’s no pretending.
“I understand what it takes to prepare, I understand what it is to be under the lights, I understand what it is to stand in there.”
And yet, Appleby understands, there is no guaranteed spot for him on Florida’s first-string offense.
McElwain and UF’s coaching staff pitted him against Del Rio in the Orange and Blue Debut, and Appleby played well. He completed 8-of-11 passes for 80 yards without a touchdown.
“I didn’t want to come out here and throw the bombs or try to make plays that weren’t there,” Appleby said after the game. “But there’s definitely a lot of work to get done, to get corrected and I’m excited about this summer.”
Appleby has taken both first- and second-team reps under center since the start of preseason practice on August 4.
And while he and Del Rio have been largely equal so far, one noticeable difference between the quarterbacks stands out.
“Probably just their height,” running back Jordan Cronkrite said.
Del Rio is 6-foot-1. Appleby is 6-foot-4. Three inches makes a difference when standing behind Florida’s offensive line, especially among the running backs, who all figure to be a larger part of UF’s passing game under offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.
“Austin has a great arm. He can read the field very well,” running back Mark Thompson said. “It’s going to be interesting to see who comes out the starter.”
• • •
When the question is asked, their faces are usually unsure, not with dishonesty or deceit but with genuine curiosity.
While the consensus among UF players is that Del Rio and Appleby are the two most likely candidates for the job, most can’t distinguish which has a leg up on the other.
But if you had to guess, it would be Del Rio, right?
“Not really,” cornerback Jalen Tabor said. “All of them are really talented guys, and all of them have something different.”
So, they’re even?
“Honestly, looking at all of them, they all come with something different,” defensive back Marcell Harris said. “At the end of the day, they’re all doing a pretty good job.”
Then what’s the difference between the two?
“Both are looking good right now,” Duke Dawson said. “You can't just point out one guy.”
The common theme surrounding Florida’s quarterback position: uncertainty.
The players don’t know, and the coaches seem to still be gauging each player's strengths as well.
McElwain has yet to name a signal caller who has one-upped the other, especially through just over two weeks of preseason practice, and especially after such a limited time in full pads.
But the coach said a decision may be made after Florida’s second Fall scrimmage on Friday.
“Let’s face it,” McElwain said after UF’s first two days of Fall practice on Aug. 5, “you’re in underwear and helmets. It’s different.”
With Florida's season-opening game on Sept. 3 approaching, the coaches have less than a month to make a decision on whether to name a starter or split time between the two quarterbacks.
And, two weeks into preseason camp, that decision is just as unclear as it was after UF’s Spring game in April.
But that isn’t deterring Del Rio and Appleby.
“We have a chance to be part of something extremely special, and we have an opportunity to compete to be the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators and go win a championship,” Appleby said.
“That’s always been my dream, and I’m going after it.”
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb
Luke Del Rio fields questions during Florida's Media Day on August 3. The spotlight is on Del Rio, the son of Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio, to win the starting quarterback job at Florida.
