Mike Blakely Will Transfer to Auburn

There was talk of a restricted transfer with the rest of the SEC, FSU, and Miami being ruled out. That did not happen. There was talk of a move closer to home to USF. That did not happen. There was even talk of a transfer to a junior college then back to the SEC after a season. That also did not happen. Mike Blakely was granted the ability to transfer from Florida and land wherever he wished. That wish was Auburn and that is where Blakely will head to continue his college football career not longer after it sort of, kind of started.

The Gators know this story all too well. I am not sure how many of you are familiar with the story of Cameron Newton. It is one of legend that happened many moons ago. Newton came to Florida with the potential to be great. He was learning the system behind a star named Tim Tebow and many anticipated a transition to be near seamless. Instead, Newton found himself in trouble with the local authorities and when Sir Timothy decided to return to Florida for his senior year, Newton transferred. The rest is, as we say, history. Newton won a junior college National Championship. Then surfaced at Auburn. A BCS National Championship would come, but not before he also claimed a Heisman Trophy.

I hope you can recognize the sarcastic tone scattered throughout that last paragraph. When Newton left Florida, few were displeased. The Gators were never entirely sure what they had in the quarterback and were mostly behind Newton’s classmate John Brantley. Regardless of what you now think of Newton, he had one of the truly great college football seasons in 2010 and capped it off by becoming the top pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.

The odds of that happening with Blakely are slim. That is not to discount his ability, but he is a running back and will have less of an impact than Newton did. He may be a star for the Tigers though and that is the fear of a Gators fan. It is the unknown. What happens if Florida faces Auburn in the future and Blakely is the star performer in the game? What if he is the one that knocks the Gators out of SEC Championship, or worse National Championship, contention? Unlikely? Of course. But it could happen. Had Florida actually won the SEC East in 2010, it would have been Newton in the way of a conference trophy. It could be Blakely in the future.

While we would like to wish those who transfer out well (in most cases), it is hard when they end up playing for a team your team faces or could face. Go to USF. Head out to Oregon. Go the FCS route. Do not go somewhere we are very familiar with. Do not go somewhere that could come back to haunt us.

The flip side of that is the “we will show him what he is going to miss” argument. A good one and definitely a good feeling for the rivalry revenge angle. Let us just hope that side pans out. This is not necessarily animosity toward the player leaving; it is just support of your program. It is how we should feel to be honest. Process the transfer and simply say “good luck with that, but enjoy losing to use in a few seasons.” However, we can push our feelings this way as much as we want, but we still will not forget about that Cameron Newton guy.

(Brock Berlin not mentioned in depth on purpose. Try your best to forget about that game.)