Florida Gators in the NFL – Week 1 Recap

The first week of the NFL season is in the books, and a handful of Florida Gators made a big splash on their respective teams on opening week.

Wide receiver Percy Harvin opened his season with a bang, running back a kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown for the Minnesota Vikings’ first score of the season.

His old teammate, tight end Aaron Hernandez, also had a huge outing, catching seven passes for 103 yards and a touchdown in a big win against the Miami Dolphins for his team, the New England Patriots.

While fans were calling for backup quarterback Tim Tebow to play in Kyle Orton’s stead in Denver, another former Florida quarterback made an even bigger impact for his team.

Rex Grossman, who finished the 2010 season as the starter for the Washington Redskins picked up right where he left off in his season opener against the New York Giants.

He helped guide the Redskins to a big divisional win with a 21-34 passing outing for 305 yards and two touchdowns. One of his touchdowns was to former Florida receiver Jabar Gaffney, who finished with three catches for 54 yards and a touchdown for Washington.

Joe Haden had a big game for the Cleveland Browns and was matched up for a good portion of the game on former Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green. While Haden gave up a touchdown pass to Green, he finished with three tackles, one sack and five pass deflections in a dominant outing.

On the other side of that game, Reggie Nelson had a big game for the Bengals. The former Florida safety finished with nine tackles, one sack and two pass deflections.

Defensive lineman Ray McDonald had a nice outing for the San Fransisco 49ers, racking up six tackles and a sack in his season opener.

A handful of other Gators also contributed to their teams’ efforts in Week 1 of the NFL season, and you can find their stats below.

Gator Country thanks Mike Gibbs (u8evol19i) for his contributions compiling the stats of former Gators in the NFL.