AAFL Team Florida will have QB tilt

It's been a selling point in Gainesville for the All American Football League thus far — Chris Leak playing at The Swamp again.

In addition to seeing old faces like Travis McGriff, Shane Matthews and Chris Doering, or more recent ones like Steve Rissler and Brian Crum, watching the 2006 national champion quarterback take snaps for Team Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium this spring is expected to be a one of the team's prime draws.

But what if it doesn't happen?

What if Leak, who was cut by the Chicago Bears and then surprised many by joining the expansion AAFL, only holds a clipboard on the sidelines?

In these early stages of Team Florida's creation, that idea seems to be something of a possibility.

“Chris is going to be a project because he's never run the system that I'm going to run,” said Matthews, the former Gator quarterback and head coach of Team Florida. “He's never been in an offense where he has to throw on time.”

That offense is the Fun 'n Gun. A system with which Matthews, McGriff, Doering and, Leak's competition, Eric Kresser, are all familiar.

“For me it's going to be an easy transition,” Kresser said. “Same thing for Chris Doering, Travis McGriff, Willie Jackson. We all played in the same system. So for us it's sort of like an unfair advantage.”

Kresser was mostly a backup to Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel in the mid-90s under Steve Spurrier. Now, at 34 years old and with several years of professional football under his belt, he seems to have the confidence of Matthews early on.

“Kresser has some experience and knows the system,” Matthews said.

On Saturday Dec. 15, Team Florida held an AAFL tryout at Citizens Field with 140 hopefuls showing up for individual drills and most of them sticking around for the afternoon 7-on-7s. Kresser threw first and looked sharp. Then Leak came in about an hour after the drills had begun and, despite one interception, looked on target as well.

Leak said he expects to be the starter and has no doubts he can adjust to the offense, saying, “All I did in high school was throw it.”

“Definitely (I expect to start),” Leak said. “I had four years at Florida, I started 51 games and I'm expecting nothing but great things out of this team and out of myself.”

Kresser shared the same sentiments.

“I expect to be (the starter),” Kresser said. “But obviously there's a lot of things that come into play with age and selling tickets, all those kinds of things.”

Although it seems like a toss-up between two completely opposite candidates at the moment — a 22-year-old who last started in a spread-option offense and a 34-year-old that likes to sit in the pocket — there are still almost four months to decide who will have the first crack at reliving his college quarterbacking days.

Matthews says he just wants to pick the best guy.

“(Leak) is a talented kid and if he's our quarterback then he'll be our guy, but we have some other good ones as well,” he said. “The best player's gonna play, it's that simple.

“We're here to win.”