Florida football: 15 greatest quarterbacks in Gators history
By John Buhler
Chris Leak first came to Gainesville via Charlotte in 2003. He played at powerhouse Independence High School in his native North Carolina. After winning three consecutive state championships in high school, Leak had big shoes to fill after Florida quarterback Rex Grossman went pro.
Leak got playing time right away in 2003. He completed 59.4 percent of his passes for 2,435 yards, 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His play would improve during his sophomore year at Florida, as Leak completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 3,197 yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Despite his excellence playing quarterback for Florida, Gators head coach Ron Zook was fired after the 2004 NCAA season.
Leak considered transferring, but instead opted to play his final two years of college ball under incoming head coach Urban Meyer. Though his accuracy improved, Leak wasn’t an ideal fit in Meyer’s offense. Leak was more of your prototypical pocket passer, while Meyer preferred dual-threat playmakers like Alex Smith and Josh Harris in his two previous coaching stops at Utah and Bowling Green, respectively. That being said, Leak and Meyer found ways to make it work.
2006 was a very interesting year for the Gators. Leak was entering his senior season, but Meyer had been able to land his ideal player at quarterback in-state in the form of Jacksonville’s Tim Tebow. Some thought that Leak would be usurped by Tebow, but Leak would be the starter for the 2006 Florida team.
That 2006 Gators team would go on to win the national title by throttling the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2007 BCS National Championship. This was the first SEC crown for the Gators since Steve Spurrier’s 2000 team and Florida’s first national championship team since Spurrier’s 1996 group. Leak would go on to be undrafted in 2007 before playing a few years in the CFL.
Overall, Leak completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 11,213 yards, 88 touchdowns and 42 interceptions. He averaged 7.7 yards per attempt while at Florida and boasted a passing efficiency rating of 140.1 while in school. Leak certainly has the numbers and the national title to merit a higher spot on these rankings, as he is the school leader in passing yards. However, the five guys ahead of him were All-Americans and three of them ended up winning Heisman Trophies during their playing careers in Gainesville.