Florida football: 5 most underrated players in Florida Gators history

Mike Peterson was an underrated stud on defense for the Florida Gators.

Mike Peterson had a successful 14-year NFL career from 1999 to 2012 with the Indianapolis Colts, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons. He had his best NFL seasons playing under Mike Smith as his defensive coordinator and later followed him to Atlanta when he became an NFL head coach. It’s weird how people forget just how great of a player Peterson was at Florida.

Peterson played four years at Florida under Spurrier. As a sophomore in 1996, Peterson was part of Spurrier’s only national championship of his coaching career. That was the second year in a row Peterson was part of an SEC Championship team. While the Gators didn’t win in Atlanta the following two years, Peterson shined individually for Florida.

Peterson was named team captain as a senior in 1998 and would have the best season of his college career. He was named First-Team All-SEC, earned First-Team All-American honors and was named team MVP by his Florida teammates. Peterson left Gainesville with 249 total tackles, 13 for a loss of yardage, 8.5 for sacks and forced three fumbles.

In 2011, Peterson was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame. He returned to Gainesville in 2013 to be the football team’s strength and conditioning coach. Since 2016, he has worked for former Florida head coach Will Muschamp as his outside linebackers coach on the South Carolina Gamecocks coaching staff.