Florida football: 15 greatest quarterbacks in Gators history
By John Buhler
Doug Johnson had big shoes to fill during his time at Florida. The Gainesville native backed up Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel during his freshman year in 1996. Florida won the SEC Championship and the national title that season. But when Wuerffel was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1997, it was time for Johnson to take over.
In his sophomore season at Florida in 1997, Johnson completed 55 percent of his passes for 2,023 yards, 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. His performance against the Central Michigan Chippewas was a major standout for him that year. He threw for an SEC record seven touchdown passes in that rout of Central Michigan, totaling 460 yards through the air.
Johnson would continue to build on that strong sophomore campaign with another solid junior season in 1998. He completed 56.2 percent of his passes for 2,346 yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions. This was arguably his best season at Florida, as Johnson set collegiate bests in yards per attempt at 8.6 and passing efficiency rating at 145.2.
His passing numbers would improve slightly in his senior season in 1998. Johnson completed 56.4 percent of his passes for 2,574 yards, 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. However, Johnson’s time as an upperclassmen at Florida happened to coincide with the peak years of Tennessee football under head coach Phillip Fulmer. 1997 was Peyton Manning’s senior season in Knoxville and the Vols won the national title the next year in 1998 with Tee Martin under center.
In four years with the Gators, Johnson completed 55.6 percent of his passes for 7,114 yards, 62 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He posted a career 7.8 yards per attempt and 136.1 passing efficiency rating at Florida.
Johnson went undrafted in 2000, but spent seven years in the NFL, primarily with the Atlanta Falcons. He started 11 career games with the Dirty Birds over four years, mostly coming in 2003 after Michael Vick succumbed to a broken tibia in the preseason. Overall, Johnson’s numbers at Florida don’t really top the all-time leaderboard. That being said, his consistency in three seasons in the late 1990s have him cracking the top 10 in Gators’ signal-callers nonetheless.