by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Trivia time:
Who’s the only person who has been on an National Collegiate Athletic Association championship team in two sports, one at one school and one at another?
“That’s me,” said Nate Hybl. “A trivia question. I’d rather be an NFL quarterback.”
He admits that it’s different, of course.
“I’m a pretty good story,” he said this week, walking off the practice field outside Alltel Stadium. “I guess it’s neat to be something that no one else is.”
Here’s how he did it:
He went from high school to play football and golf at the University of Georgia. He was part of the golf team that won the 1999 NCAA Championship.
Golf was good, but football wasn’t.
“I got beat out for the starting quarterback position (by Quincy Carter) and I decided to transfer,” said Hybl. “I picked Oklahoma.”
That brought him championship ring No. 2 as he was part of the Sooner team that won the national title in 2001 by beating Florida State 13-2. He’s third on the Oklahoma career passing list.
“I played some golf but the team wasn’t as strong as Georgia’s,” he said. “(Present PGA Tour player) Hunter Haas was leaving when I came and you wouldn’t know any of the other players.”
He was a reserve in both places in the championship seasons but he ascended to the starting job at Oklahoma after the title year and graduated as the school’s third career passing leader.
So, he has something the NCAA believes no other person has — championship rings from two sports at two schools.
“I don’t know where the rings are, but I have them,” he said. “I’ve moved so much lately that I have boxes everywhere.”
His moves have taken him from Georgia to Norman, Okla., to Cleveland, where he signed with the Browns, to Jacksonville, which picked him up after he was cut in Cleveland.
The Jags’ new offensive coordinator, Carl Smith, liked what he saw when he coached Hybl at Cleveland. At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, Hybl is an imposing presence with a strong arm.
While he’s certainly not the Jaguars’ No. 1 quarterback, and he has to jump over No. 3 Quinn Gray and No. 2 David Garrard to even reach Byron Leftwich, Hybl (pronounced ‘Hibble’) is certainly the team’s best golfer.
“There’s no question,” he said. “I don’t have to brag about that. Ask anyone.”
He recently shot 75 at the TPC Stadium with a double bogie on No. 15. He slipped out to the Ponte Vedra Ocean course after a recent scrimmage and made six birdies.
“People tell me, ‘Why don’t you try for the PGA Tour?’,” said Hybl. “They don’t understand what that means. I’ve played with those guys. They are so good and there are so many of them.
“I tell them, ‘I’m an NFL quarterback. That’s plenty good, isn’t it?’ But they don’t understand.”
He almost could be the answer to another trivia question:
Who is the only Florida Gator fan to play at Georgia?
“I grew up a Gator,” he said. “I was born in Leesburg and lived in Crystal River. My dad coaches high school football so we moved to (Hazelhurst) Georgia.”
He was All-State in both football and golf and decided his future lay in being a quarterback.
“The hardest thing I ever had to do was decide between Georgia and Florida,” he said. “I felt I could play at Georgia so I turned down Florida. I had to tell (Florida Coach) Steve Spurrier ‘no.’ That wasn’t easy for a quarterback to do, believe me.”