We are 75 days away from Florida's Week 1 matchup against Long Island University set for Saturday, August 30, meaning it's time to start the countdown to Gator Football. To help the days pass and pay some homage to some of the all-time greats, we're going to be highlighting the best player to wear the jersey number connected to the number of days until kickoff.
Today, it will be showcasing the greatest Florida football player to wear the number 75. It came down to two players: Derrick Harvey and Lomas Brown. Before I dig into either player, I'd like to give a reminder of another Florida legend who wore number 75.
Jim Yarbrough played three seasons with the Gators, spanning 1966 to 1968, then spent nine more years in the NFL for the Detroit Lions. That's a great career, but nothing extraordinary, right? Well, Yarbrough played a different position in The Swamp than he did in the pros. Yarbrough accumulated 51 receptions for 685 yards and five touchdowns as a tight end for Florida before spending nearly a decade playing left tackle for Detroit. That's an extremely rare career arc.
Back to the regularly scheduled content, Derrick Harvey came up just short of earning the honor of best Gator to wear number 75. The defensive end accumulated 20.5 sacks in three seasons before departing for the NFL in 2008 and won Defensive MVP in the 2007 National Championship game.
Lomas Brown: Best Florida player to wear #75
Brown is one of 32 Gators to earn All-American honors, starring in Gainesville from 1981 to 1984 before declaring for the 1985 NFL Draft, where he'd be selected sixth overall by the Lions. He anchored an offensive line unit that earned the title "The Great Wall of Florida."
In 2020, Brown was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, becoming the ninth Gator to join the illustrious group. His dominance carried into the pros, where he played for 18 seasons and five different NFL franchises.
Brown made the Pro Bowl seven times, made one appearance on the All-Pro list and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2002-03 season.
He stands as one of the greatest offensive lineman in the history of Florida football, and perhaps in the history of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).