12 most underrated Gators players over the years

Maybe the dumbest cheer of all time is fans chanting “overrr-rated” at a ranked team as the game is winding down in a huge upset win at home.

What you are basically saying in so many words is that, “You’re not that good because if we can beat you, you shouldn’t be ranked.” So, basically, you are chanting that your team is nothing special.

But we are going in a different direction in this edition of Dooley’s Dozen and talk about Florida football players that were underrated.

Now, you may be surprised by some of these because maybe you feel in your mind you have them rated just right. Of course, I can’t dive into the inner mind of all Gator fans, but I’ve been around long enough to know where these players are in the pantheon of Gator greats.

Sometimes they are underrated because of the championships they didn’t win or because they were on championship teams with so many stars.

Let’s give this a shot.

1
Robin Fisher

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Most of the players who were on that 0-10-1 team under Charley Pell don’t get a lot of credit, but Fisher was also part of the revival the next year. He had 21 sacks as a middle guard in his career and 41 tackles for a loss. Who does that?

2
Doug Johnson

AP Photo/ChrisO’Meara

I remember when we were putting together the top 100 Gator players in history in 2006 and included the young man from Gainesville. So many people in the newsroom objected that we took him off. That was a mistake. He threw for more than 2,000 yards for three straight years, 60 career touchdowns and one perfect pass to Jacquez Green.

3
Larry Rentz

Jack Corn / The Tennessean-Nashville

He was a big-time recruit and the slogan when he played was “There’s no defense for Larry Rentz.” He had the quarterback single-game rushing record until Tim Tebow came…