When Sports Illustrated ran the cover which accompanies this piece in September of 1982, we knew things had changed.

The Florida Gators had gone big time. And we were right there.

Quarterback Wayne Peace was my Phil Simms, before Simms was Simms.

I can remember singing the praises of the then much-maligned New York Giants' quarterback during the 1986 season. Giant fans never thought that Simms could deliver in a big spot. I always liked him.

"But he's not an NFL quarterback," one of my friends argued.

And then after the Giants defeated the Broncos in the 1986 Super Bowl, and Simms had his record setting performance, I got this the next day from the same dude: "Phil Simms is God!"

Such is the mindset of the sports fan.

With Peace, it was much of the same.

Back in those early days, Peace ran the Gator offense in a way which frustrated many Gator fans. Amongst my college friends, I was a minority owner in the Wayne Peace fan club.

They couldn't understand why we never threw the ball down field.

"What's with all this sprint out, quick slant stuff?" they'd complain.

Ironically, it wasn't like Florida had had any sort of sustained greatness up to that point. We were greedy even then.

Things started to change for Florida during the early 1980's.

With Head Football Coach Charley Pell and offensive coordinator, Mike Shanahan (yes, that Mike Shanahan), Florida began its slow SEC ascendancy.

Shanahan believed in an offensive philosophy, which he called "stretching the field horizontally."

He devised a passing game which relied heavily on quarterback Wayne Peace throwing the ball wide instead of deep. Not that he never threw down field, but rather, the emphasis was on the quick hitting slants and sideline to sideline throws, which were designed to get the ball in the hands of receivers who he believed could beat defenders one-on-one with their running ability.

It was sort of like "throwing" a sweep play to a back (who acted like a back).

And it worked.

Over the years, the Florida Gators and their success on the football field have, to a certain extent, been tied to the many great quarterbacks who've donned the orange and blue.

Since 1960, the following players have gained some degree of fame and fortune at the quarterback position for the Florida Gators:

Larry Libertore, Bobby Dodd jr., Kay Stephenson, Tom Shannon, Steve Spurrier, Harmon Wages, Larry Rentz, Jackie Eckdahl, John Reaves, Chan Gailey, David Bowden, Don Gaffney, Jimmy Fisher, Terry Lecount, Larry Ochab, Bob Hewko, Kerwin Bell, Rodney Brewer, Lex Smith, Donald Douglas, Kyle Morris, Shane Matthews, Terry Dean, Danny Weurffel, Brian Schottenheimer, Doug Johnson, Jesse Palmer, Noah Brindise, Rex Grossman, Brock Berlin, Ingle Martin, Chris Leak, Tim Tebow.

But to me, it will always be Wayne Peace who really started things rolling in Gainesville.

Mike Casella is a Contributor to the Bleacher Report. Visit http://bleacherreport.com/articles/353571-wayne-peace-florida-gator-qb-was-gator-nations-founding-father to read the original article.