Luke Del Rio was destined to start at quarterback for Jim McElwain.
At least that’s how it looks in hindsight.
McElwain named Del Rio — the son of Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio — the starter for Florida’s Sept. 3 season opener against Massachusetts on Thursday, ending Del Rio’s four-year journey from benchwarmer to starter.
But in a way, Del Rio’s journey to starterdom started long before McElwain tabbed him as the heir to Treon Harris.
Perhaps it was when he was a kid learning the game from his dad, who was an NFL player and future NFL coach. Perhaps it was back when he first strapped on a helmet and had pads smacked on his shoulders. Or perhaps it was when he threw his first pass.
A more definitive moment, though, was when he received his first scholarship offer. And who was responsible for that first offer?
Jim McElwain, then the head coach at Colorado State.
“Wait a minute,” McElwain joked when asked about Del Rio’s lack of offers coming out of high school, “the guy had Colorado State. He had offers.”
Technically, he’s correct. According to 247Sports, Del Rio also wielded offers from Oregon State, Oklahoma State and UCLA. But that’s far fewer offers than most UF starters have coming out of high school. For example, Harris boasted 21 offers when he picked the Gators.
The lack of offers stemmed from several factors including his height (He’s 6-foot-1, which is considered short for a quarterback) and the fact that he came from Colorado, which isn’t known for producing top-end football talent.
However, Del Rio was still rated as the best quarterback in the state by the 247Sports Composite while also being ranked No. 4 overall in Colorado and No. 33 overall as a quarterback.
He also had confidence. He wanted to play at a big school. So with that in mind, he enrolled as a preferred walk-on at Alabama in 2013.
But his time there — during which he registered zero statistics — didn’t last. By the start of the 2014 season, he was at Oregon State.
Once again, it didn’t last.
This time, though, he was headed to two familiar faces. The first was Doug Nussmeier, Florida’s offensive coordinator who served in the same position while Del Rio was at Alabama.
The other was McElwain, the first coach to believe in Del Rio.
But Del Rio still couldn’t contribute. Per NCAA rules, he had to sit out a season.
“Last year, I was running out of the same tunnel kind of looking like this,” Del Rio said after being named the starter, pointing at his Gator polo shirt and shorts.
“So I looked like the equipment staff did. It’ll be nice to be wearing pads this time.”
Luckily for him, the transferring of Harris and fellow quarterback Will Grier left the door open for him to breeze through. It was made a little more challenging with the arrival of Purdue graduate transfer Austin Appleby ahead of the 2016 season, but Del Rio managed to win out.
“I feel like I earned it,” he said. “I thought I had a really good camp. I’m glad the coaches saw it the same way.
“It was definitely rewarding to hear coach Mac give me the keys to the car, as he calls it.”
However, Del Rio still has to deal with the quarterback drought that has plagued UF ever since the departure of Tim Tebow. Since the Heisman Trophy winner left in 2009, Florida has started eight quarterbacks — six of which have transferred — with none of them leading the Gators to anything more than a 2012 Sugar Bowl spanking against Louisville.
Nevertheless, Del Rio is still confident that he’ll be the guy to break the curse with the help of what he sees as a strong supporting cast.
“Just because I got named the starting quarterback that doesn’t mean I’m the guy of the team,” he said. “I’m the quarterback. There’s still 10 other guys on offense, and there’s a lot of guys on defense. But to be able to have it sorted out I think does help.”
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Quarterback Luke Del Rio (left) hugs his parents -- dad Jack Del Rio and mom Linda Del Rio -- during Gator Walk prior to the Orange & Blue Debut on April 8, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
