It was a moment that was a long time coming. In fact, it was six years in the making.
Late in the first quarter against Florida Atlantic with a 7-0 lead, Florida quarterback Emory Jones took the shotgun snap from the nine-yard line, and he turned and fired a bubble screen to graduate student Rick Wells. The blocking set up for Wells, and he burst through the hole to score a touchdown.
It may have looked like a routine pitch and catch to anyone watching, but for Wells, it was anything but. It marked the first career touchdown catch for the sixth-year player.
“Just giving him his first touchdown when I threw it, and when he scored he came back and told me, ‘Thank you.’ I told him, ‘You know I got you,’” Jones said. “I already knew what he had been through with his time here. Off the field, he’s been through a lot and not a lot of people know about it. I was just excited for him to get the opportunity to go make a play and go score. He’s definitely going to be in the rotation a lot, and he’s been making plays. He’s ready.”
It’s rare to see a player in the transfer portal era stick around this long to wait for a shot, but for Wells, this season in many ways represents a shot at redemption. The beginning of his career was marred by off-the-field incidents.
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Before he arrived on campus, he was arrested after an incident with an airsoft gun, and he spent the entire 2017 season away from the team as part of the credit card fraud scandal. He had a second airsoft gun incident in 2018 and missed the season opener in 2019 for unknown reasons.
As a result, he entered the 2021 season with just 15 career catches for 153 yards.
But Wells is eager to leave those mistakes in the past and move forward. And right now, it seems he’ll be doing so as a featured player in the Gators’ offense.
Wells, who attended Raines High School in Jacksonville, was the first commit in Florida’s 2016 class. Alongside linebacker Jeremiah Moon, who also joined UF in 2016, Wells is the longest-tenured player on the roster. He’s been through two coaching staffs, witnessed a 4-7 season and several New Year’s Six Bowl wins. Now, he figures to be a major contributor in his final campaign.
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