GAINESVILLE, Fla. — He was Tim Tebow before Tim Tebow.
In 1996, Danny Wuerffel was putting the finishing touches on his University of Florida legacy 10 years prior to Tebow’s start of a quarterbacking journey that would take an almost identical path.
Both would win the Heisman Trophy. Both would be part of a national championship team (two, in Tebow’s case). Both would outwardly display religious faith and draw praise for off-field benevolence. Both, too, were well-respected among teammates and treated like matinee idols among the student body.
"Danny was the ultimate thing," recalled Chris Doering, who became one of Wuerffel’s best friends and his top receiving target while both played together at UF. "He couldn't go anywhere without being swarmed. Young girls saw him like the Beatles.
"Tebow’s popularity was at another level, but a lot of that has to do with the advent of social media and how small the world is now with info-sharing. But literally back then, Danny was Tebow."
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The similarities continued once Wuerffel and Tebow embarked upon pro football careers. Neither was able to enjoy the same sustained success from their college days, whether because of subpar arm strength (Wuerffel) or a combination of accuracy issues and difficulties reading pro defenses (Tebow).
Yet as their NFL days faded, the commitment Wuerffel and Tebow made toward their Christian-inspired projects intensified. Both also found alternative outlets for the athletic fire that continued to burn within.
Tebow turned to baseball. He’s playing in the New York Mets farm system and still has a chance of making it to the big leagues before the 2018 season ends. At age 43, Wuerffel no longer harbors pro dreams. But that doesn't mean Wuerffel is taking lightly his participation in a pastime most commonly associated with kids, college intramurals and the beach.
Not when there’s a $1 million prize awarded to the winning team.
Not when the American Flag Football League provides a platform to draw awareness to his work with Desire Street Ministries.
And definitely not when the ability to compete in any sport, recreationally or otherwise, was temporarily lost in 2011 after Wuerffel became afflicted with a crippling neurological disease.
"This whole (flag-football) thing kind of came out of nowhere for me," Wuerrfel recently said before practicing with his team on the University of Florida campus. "At first, I wasn't even interested. But as it unfolded and I understood the weight of this new league coming together with this tournament and the rules, I got really excited about it.
"The competitor sort of came back alive inside of me."
Just like with Tebow, it never really left.
***
The flag-football gathering took place across the parking lot where the three life-size statues of Florida’s Heisman winners stand side-by-side outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium: Steve Spurrier, Tebow and Wuerffel.
Spurrier, a 1960s star who later returned as Gators head coach, found a perfect muse in Wuerffel to operate his Fun ’N Gun offense. Between 1993 and '96, Wuerffel set multiple school, SEC and national passing records. The Gators won four straight SEC titles.
Wuerffel also did something Spurrier could never accomplish — he brought a national title home to the Swamp.
It was when Wuerffel got to the NFL that things got sticky.
Danny Wuerffel with the Saints in 1997 (Getty Images)
A 1997 fourth-round pick by New Orleans, Wuerffel struggled mightily over the next three seasons. He threw a total of nine touchdown passes with 16 interceptions and a 48.4 completion percentage in 16 Saints games. Wuerffel was 2-4 in the contests he did start.
He then bounced around the league with stops in Green Bay and Chicago before reuniting in 2002 with Spurrier, who had left the Gators to become Washington’s head coach. The magic the two experienced at UF could not be recaptured, and Wuerffel was cut during the 2003 preseason.
Doering, who also was nearing the end of his own journeyman NFL career, remembers speaking to Wuerffel shortly after the release.
"I asked if he was going to play another year," Doering told Sporting News in a telephone interview. "I was doing whatever it took to get signed and continue playing. To me, football was the most important thing.
"He had no feeling like that, no concerns about whether he was going to play or not. He was comfortable with hanging up the cleats forever. That was completely OK because he had found a bigger purpose."
That calling came through Desire Street Ministries, a Christian outreach group that Wuerffel became associated with during his time with the Saints. Formed in 1990, the ministry has expanded beyond New Orleans with Wuerffel now serving as its Atlanta-based executive director.
Desire Street’s goal is helping rejuvenate communities and mentoring the at-risk youth who are living there.
"We work with leaders all over the Southeast," Wuerffel told Sporting News. "We had training the other day for 50 leaders. We’ve had about 10 neighborhoods where we had a deep five-year commitment dive. It’s going really well all the way from Dallas to Orlando."
Competitors at the tryouts held on campus of the University of Florida for Danny Wuerffel's Gators United squad (AFFL)
Coincidentally, the Orlando area is roughly two hours away from where Wuerffel and his recently named Gators United squad will be participating Sunday in an American Flag Football League tournament qualifier in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. The winner clinches a spot in the 32-team finals bracket, with the U.S. Open of Football finals held July 19 in Houston and televised on NFL Network.
Toward that end, Wuerffel has assembled a 12-man roster that includes former UF standouts with NFL backgrounds like Doering, Taylor Jacobs, Brandon James, Frankie Hammond and Travis McGriff. Wuerffel’s club will need all the help it can get considering former NFL stars Michael Vick, Chad Ochocinco and Justin Forsett are fielding teams, as well.
Wuerffel said it was a wake-up call when a flag team fielded by fellow Heisman winner Vince Young was eliminated during a tournament leg in Texas.
"That got us all pretty scared, like, ‘Wait a minute. We’ve gotta figure this thing out because you don’t just show up and think you’re gonna win,'" Wuerffel said. “It’s easy to miss because it’s not high profile, but you go to some of these tournaments and, boy, there are some freaky good athletes."
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Wuerffel has tried recruiting some of his own in Atlanta and Gainesville; players who are more familiar with flag-football concepts.
"It's different grabbing a flag," Wuerffel said. “There are some techniques that you've got to learn."
Not only is Wuerffel himself trying to adapt. He's attempting to re-master the skills that briefly were taken away by an affliction that at one point rendered him unable to throw a football.
***
In June 2011, Wuerffel began losing sensations in his arms and legs following a virus. He was diagnosed with Guillain Barré syndrome, a painful disorder in which the immune system attacks the body’s nerves. Symptoms include weakness, exhaustion and possible paralysis depending on the severity.
Wuerffel initially was house-bound and struggled to maintain his body weight while helping his wife raise their three children and stay active with Desire Street Ministries.
"It took about a year and a half before I felt like I was pretty much over that," Wuerffel said. "There was a lot of lingering fatigue.
"It’s easy to take for granted now that I can stand up and run around and play catch with these guys."
Even after Wuerffel had recovered, the only throwing he did "came in the backyard with the kids." Wuerffel began training in earnest last month to “get a little rust off the arm” in preparation for the AFFL tournament.
Something else returned, as well.
"People don’t understand that beyond his kindness and gentle nature that Danny is one of the most competitive people I’ve ever be around," said Doering, who along with Wuerffel formed one of the most prolific QB-WR combos in Gators history. "It’s incredible the shape he's gotten himself into. He's changed his diet completely and is really conscious about what he’s putting into his body and how he’s treating himself."
Danny Wuerffel instructs players trying out for Gators United. (AFFL)
Just how bad Wuerffel wants to win the U.S. Open of Football became evident after his on-campus news conference was completed. Doering, who admittedly was taking his own involvement much lighter, had agreed to a telephone interview with Sporting News that would coincide with the start of practice. When Wuerffel found out, he asked that the session get moved to a later time so Doering would not miss any snaps.
The way Wuerffel sees it, the more success Gators United enjoys, the greater the exposure for Desire Street Ministries.
"It's part of the way they talked me into playing," Wuerffel said. "Part of my goal in life is to use the platform I have as a football player to affect other people. This is just another way to do it.
"We’ve got a fundraiser going where people can donate an amount of money for every score we have. I think it’ll be a great thing."
And a reminder that Tebow's predecessor isn't done striving for the greater good.
Click here for more information about the American Flag Football League.
