Florida’s Spurrier Throws Quarterback Changeup

Instead of playing for the national championship as Florida once hoped, the Gators are playing quarterback shuffle.

Rex Grossman, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, won’t start today’s Orange Bowl against Maryland because of a curfew violation--opening the door for backup Brock Berlin in a move that looks suspiciously like Coach Steve Spurrier’s last-ditch effort to keep Berlin from transferring to Miami.

Grossman was among five players who missed curfew Friday night. Two other regulars, center David Jorgensen and defensive end Bobby McCray, also were among the group and will not start.

“They’re eligible to play in the game, certainly,” Spurrier said. “Their coach will put them in accordingly when he sees fit.”

Berlin, the No. 1 recruit in the nation two years ago, visited the Miami campus recently and was thought to be close to making a decision to transfer and play for the Hurricanes.

Spurrier then announced Berlin would get a chance to play in the Orange Bowl, probably in the second quarter.

After Grossman missed curfew, Spurrier decided Berlin would start but didn’t make it official until Tuesday, the day before the game, though word of his decision leaked out Monday.

The start wouldn’t be purely ceremonial, Spurrier said.

“Whoever starts always gets an opportunity. That doesn’t mean they’re going to finish. It means they’re going to get an opportunity,” he said.

“We never start a guy and say, ‘If you screw up, you’re out.’ It takes a bunch of screw-ups before we take somebody out.”

Grossman, a redshirt sophomore, beat out Berlin for the job last spring and set a school record with 3,896 yards passing, throwing for more than 300 yards in all but one game.

Berlin, a true sophomore, appeared in eight games, completing 60% of his passes for 483 yards and nine touchdowns with one interception.

Players were not available for interviews Tuesday, when both teams changed hotels as part of a plan to avoid distractions the day before the game.

Asked about Spurrier’s plan to play Berlin some, even before the curfew violation, Grossman told the Gainesville Sun: “Maybe it’s a going-away party. I don’t know. Brock is a great player. He may stay here, and we may be in the same position this spring we were in last spring.”

Grossman told the Associated Press on Monday he wasn’t sure if he’d start after missing curfew.

Florida (9-2) blew its chance to reach the Rose Bowl and play for the national title when it lost to Tennessee Dec. 1, failing to reach the Southeastern Conference championship game.

Maryland, in contrast, is trying to cap a storybook season, going 10-1 in Ralph Friedgen’s first season as coach after five consecutive losing seasons.

With an offense led by running back Bruce Perry and a defense led by linebacker E.J. Henderson, Maryland’s game plan is to put pressure on the Florida quarterback--whoever he might be.

“I don’t think [the quarterback situation] affects us at all,” Friedgen said. “The other guy’s pretty good.

“We have to play whoever’s on the field, and I’m sure Steve’s going to do whatever he has to do to win the football game.”

The question about Florida all along has been whether the Gators can recover from their disappointment about not playing for the national championship.

Friedgen thinks that’s a tall order.

“But they’re so talented, they can probably get away with it,” he said.

Whether they can get away with missed curfews and Spurrier’s lobbying effort to get Berlin to stay will be revealed today.

“I don’t think it’s a distraction at all,” Spurrier said. “Like I said, Brock and Rex, sometimes in practice you can’t tell any difference who’s out there. Brock’s a very good player who hasn’t had a chance to play.

“We lose the game, you know what, you can blame it on me. If Rex plays and we lose the game, you’re going to blame it on me too. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to play the guys we think deserve to play and earned the right to play.

“Brock Berlin’s been to every off-season workout he’s supposed to be for two years, been on time for every meeting, been at practice every day.

“If there’s any kid who deserves a chance to see what he can do, it’s Brock Berlin.

“Some things happened. He’s going to get a chance.”