Ouch, Florida, Florida State and Miami. For those three in particular, that headline’s got to leave a mark.
As you may have heard, the NFL held its 2020 draft last week and on into this past weekend. As has been the case for the last decade and a half, the draft was dominated by the SEC. And LSU, for that matter.
There was also one very interesting tidbit unrelated to that dominance that surfaced as well.
James Morgan of Florida International was selected with the 19th pick of the fourth round by the New York Jets. He is the second Panthers quarterback to be drafted the past three years, joining Alex Mcgough (Seattle Seahawks) in 2018.
According to FIU’s recruiting coordinator, Nick Stuhlmuller, the Panthers have “had more QB’s drafted the past three drafts than the rest of the Florida schools COMBINED the past five drafts.”
Me calculating that FIU’s had more QB’s drafted the past three drafts than the rest of the Florida schools COMBINED the past five drafts:#PawsUp #NFLDraft2020 @FIU pic.twitter.com/q1kHAapm48
— Nick Stuhlmuller (@NickStuhlmuller) April 27, 2020
(To paraphrase the legendary Joe Tait, “WHAM, with the right tweet!”)
For those keeping score at home, those Sunshine State FBS schools include Florida, Florida State, Miami, FAU and UCF. And that means that, over the past five seasons, those five schools have accounted for just one quarterback drafted. The lone individual stranded on this Quarterback Island? Miami’s Brad Kaaya, a seventh-round pick of the Detroit Lions back in 2017.
When it comes to the Hurricanes, the tweet was yet another dropkick to the tentacles courtesy of the Conference USA school. This past season, FIU stunned Miami in late November 30-24, the Panthers’ first-ever win over the Hurricanes.
And the Panthers’ head coach? Former Hurricanes’ coach Butch Davis.