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The story of Kyle Trask stays in Florida.
Trask sat with his family watching the second round of the NFL Draft when he received a phone call. Sixty-three picks have gone by, and the phone call he receives had an 813 area code. For those who don’t know, 813 is Tampa’s area code, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the next pick.
As the Heisman finalist is on the phone, he gets a booming smile across his face. His mother to his right grows emotional. As the call is wrapping up, you can hear the following line on the television.
“With the 64th pick in the 2021 NFL draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select: Kyle Trask.”
That moment you find out you are a Tampa Bay Buccaneer! #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/gfaUynFFR9
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) May 1, 2021
Trask proudly puts down the phone as his family erupts in applause. He embraces his mother as his life-changing journey enters a new chapter. The fans who heard it live at the NFL Draft were equally excited.
“I am just super excited for this opportunity,” Trask said during a Zoom call following his selection. “I had some great conversations with a lot of the offensive coaches … they believed in me enough to give me this opportunity and they’re going to get everything I’ve got.”
Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians had nothing but praise for Trask following his pick.
“He’s smart, he’s tough, he knows how to move inside the pocket. We don’t draft guys to run. We draft them to throw, and he’s accurate as hell.”
When asked to make a comparison, Arians said Trask is a lot like former Bucs quarterback Brad Johnson–who won a Super Bowl.
Gators History in the Making
Trask is the first Gators quarterback since Tim Tebow, in 2010, to be drafted and the first to be drafted in the second round.
At Florida, Trask wore the same number as Gators legend Steve Spurrier, who also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976.
Trask leaves Florida with the school’s record for most touchdown passes (43) and passing yards in a season (4,283). Trask is one of six quarterbacks to throw for 4,000 yards in SEC history. His season is second all-time in the conference. The Florida quarterback also finished fourth in Heisman voting this season.
Let’s not forget, this was all in a COVID-shortened season.
The man who didn’t start a game between his ninth-grade season and his junior season at Florida is now under the wing of Tom Brady and Bruce Arians. Brady is under contract with Tampa Bay for the next two seasons, giving Trask the time to learn from one of the best before his time comes to line up under center as an NFL starter.
