Two Florida Legends Bound for Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame
Across 120 seasons of Florida football, thousands of players have worn the orange and blue, but only 65 Gators have been inducted into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame.
To honor Gators who have contributed to shaping the historical rivalry, the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame was established in 1955. With what now will be 130 individuals, Florida legends Emmitt Smith and Maurkice Pouncey are to be inducted on Oct. 30 ahead of this year’s rivalry game.
Emmit Smith finished his career as the NFL’s all-time lead rusher, but that promise came early when he contributed 36 rushing touchdowns and 3,298 rushing yards by his junior year, the second most in Florida history.
That year, Smith broke Jimmy DuBose’s historical single-season rushing yard mark, totaling 1,599. Smith spent three years at Florida and earned consecutive First-Team All-SEC selections before being drafted in the first round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys.
A rival that he couldn’t beat, Smith was brought down by the Georgia Bulldogs each year. He entered the 1987 game as the nation’s No. 2 rusher, but the Bulldogs’ defense bottled up the Florida ground attack.
In 1988, it was a similar game. Georgia’s defense had completely shut down the Gators offense, while Smith had minimal impact due to a knee injury.
But on the defensive end, center Maurkice Pouncey thrived in Florida’s Urban Meyer era, becoming a keystone for the Gators’ success, protecting Heisman quarterback Tim Tebow.
In his first year, he was already making history. Pouncey was the first player in Florida history to win the Rimington Trophy, an annual award presented to the nation’s top center. He was also named a Consensus First-Team All-American and earned First-Team All-SEC honors.
During his three seasons, Florida held a 36-5 record, winning the 2008 SEC Championship and BCS National Championship and topped the 2009 SEC East Division. After his junior year, Pouncey entered the 2010 NFL Draft and was selected 18th overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
One of Pouncey’s most historic individual matchups during the 2008 and 2009 Georgia rivalry games was his fierce, physical battle against Georgia’s star defensive tackle, Geno Atkins. Their intense rivalry in the trenches started back in Florida high school football and peaked during the 2008 match-up.
Florida faces Georgia once again in Atlanta in October and Tampa in 2027. The game then returns to Jacksonville in 2028 in the new Jags stadium.
The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place at 12 p.m. at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Category: Former Gators, Gator Sports, Gators Football
