After transferring from Purdue to Florida this offseason with as many interceptions as touchdowns on his résumé, Austin Appleby was seen as a veteran stop-gap, a “Plan B,” a safety-net in case of emergency.
Instead, he will be starting his seventh game for the Gators against Iowa in the January 2 Outback Bowl.
Coming out of high school as a 3-star recruit, he experienced varying levels of success at Purdue, but not enough to keep him in West Lafayette, Ind. At Florida, he entered a quarterback battle that most expected to be won by Luke Del Rio, who had already been in Gainesville for a year.