His path to playing for the Florida Gators has been anything but conventional. Luke Del Rio spent much of his younger years in Jacksonville, where his father Jack Del Rio was head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2003-11, but he didn’t spend much time watching or cheering for Florida.
“Didn’t ever think I’d go to Florida when I lived in Jacksonville,” Del Rio said. “We were so close. My dad went to USC, my sisters went to LSU. We were never really Florida fans. We were just different teams. So it was kind of a journey to get here.”
That journey began at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville. As a junior Del Rio threw for 2,580 yards with 20 touchdowns. The family moved to Colorado when Jack was hired as the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator and Del Rio finished his high school career at Valor Christian, passing for 2,275 yards with 28 touchdowns to just four interceptions. Despite being ranked the No. 2 player in the state of Colorado, college scholarships proved hard to come by, but there was one coach about an hour and 45 minute drive north that did believe in Del Rio enough to offer him.
“It was May 1, my first offer,” Del Rio said of Jim McElwain offering him a scholarship at Colorado State. “I went up to Fort Collins and, yeah, he offered me.”
McElwain first recruited Del Rio while he was the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Luke went to a camp in Tuscaloosa as a sophomore in high school and spent time with McElwain, building a relationship. The decision was tough, but Del Rio chose to walk on at Alabama, rather than accept a scholarship from McElwain at Colorado State. Part of the reason was Del Rio’s familiarity with Alabama’s new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.
“I think he was knee high to a grasshopper,” Nussmeier said when asked about when he first met Luke. “You know, because when his father first got into coaching actually started working in the strength program when I was playing for the Saints. So in New Orleans. Luke was real, real young.”
After a year at Alabama, Del Rio decided to transfer to Oregon State. The move lasted only a year. Del Rio is a prototypical pocket passer, his skill set was just what head coach Mike Riley was looking for in a signal caller but Riley left to take over at Nebraska, Oregon State brought in a spread offensive system with new head coach Gary Andersen.
“When I decided it was for my best interest to leave Oregon State, I made a couple calls and coach Nuss said he was going to be here,” said Del Rio. “I knew coach Mac. He recruited me at Colorado State and Alabama. I knew they were going to run this offense, so I felt really comfortable coming here.”
The move was Del Rio’s fifth school in five years dating back to high school. Due to NCAA transfer rules Del Rio was forced to sit out a season. His weekdays were spent running the scout team, mimicking Florida’s opponent and going up against the first team defense. “It’s a pretty good defense to go against,” he said. “You’re gonna see a lot of those guys in the NFL.”
Friday would come and his teammates would leave to the team hotel. Luke was left at home during road trips and relegated to being a fan on Saturdays. He never let his awkward situation affect how he went about his business, a fact not lost among his teammates and former teammates.
“I think it’s something that really shows how much it matters to someone because it’s easy when you’re out to sort of disappear, take the easy way, the lazy way. But he didn’t do any of that,” former tight end Jake McGee, who spent a year on the sidelines due to injury, said of Del Rio. “He really tried to get as good as he could get every time last season. I think it will really prove what he did and show the work he has put in this spring and summer and fall.”
When spring camp finally started Del Rio was thrust into the starting role. Del Rio has been running the first team offense along with graduate transfer Austin Appleby. Appleby may have more game experience, but it’s Del Rio’s familiarity with the playbook and exactly what McElwain and Nussmeier want from the quarterback position that set him apart initially.
“You saw Greg McElroy running it, AJ McCarron run it. When we got here, you have so many offensive weapons here. So, we try to utilize them as best we can. It’s a little bit different than the one at Alabama. They have their install and we have ours. You’re definitely asked to take care of the ball, get first downs and put points on the board.”
That’s all that the coaching staff is asking, nothing more, nothing less. It’s what was asked last season, and left wholly undelivered starting in week seven, but a task that Del Rio is more than ready to fulfill.
“He’s just real cool. He’s not a guy that’s really going to panic. He’s real laid back and he’s dropping back in the pocket real smooth with everything that he does,” linebacker Jarrad Davis said. “His reads are perfect. He does a lot of things to separate himself from other guys on the team.”
It’s been a long road for Del Rio. 2016 is the first time he went into an offseason with the same playbook that he had the year before since his junior year of high school. The vagabond quarterback finally has some harmony and uniformity in his schedule. It’s paying off this spring and unless something unforeseen happens it will lead to him finally getting a chance to run an offense of his own.
Looking forward to seeing Luke behind center on April 8.
Hopefully he can manage the game well this season and their RBs can play great.
I’m more excited by the fact that Del Rio had 3 years with the Gators, then they probably have Franks and Trask for the next 5 years,and Jake Allen after them.