Nick Florence, owner of Baylor’s most prolific single-season passing performance, began his college career washing windows.

A record-setting South Garland High School quarterback, Florence was the second signal-caller in then-Baylor head coach Art Briles’ 2008 recruiting class. The other was Robert Griffin III. Briles made Florence a greyshirt, delaying his enrollment with the team until the following January. That way, he’d always have one more year of eligibility than Griffin III. 

Florence signed up for one three-hour course that fall and was barred from the team facilities or even from interacting with the team. He filled his free time with a part-time job at Belle Window Cleaning in Waco. Life as a Division I quarterback was off to a glamorous start.

“I think in life, we all tend to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to,” Florence says with a laugh.

This was only 16 years ago, but it harkens back to stories from another century. Quarterback recruits don’t commit to washing windows when the Transfer Portal and NIL payments provide a quicker path to playing time than ever. But this was how Briles built back Baylor. His run of quarterbacks, from Heisman winner Griffin III to Florence to Bryce Petty to Seth Russell, helped transform Baylor from a program that didn’t make a bowl game from 1995-2005 to the nation’s most dynamic offense. All except Griffin III sat for multiple years.

Three of those quarterbacks went on to NFL careers, but the one who set the record with 4,309 passing yards in a single season never left Waco. Instead, Florence has spent the past decade-plus in Baylor’s athletic department, assuming the role of Associate AD for Major Gifts in June 2019. 

Sometimes, Florence watches the current generation of Baylor football players practicing, but he doesn’t see himself in them. His football career feels like a different life. 

“Watching these guys play football now, it’s kind of weird to think I ever did it or could have done it,” Florence said.

Maybe it’s because every space the current players operate in differs from the one Florence attended. Florence set records at Floyd Casey Stadium, not the McLane Stadium that looms over I-35. The current players work out at a renovated Simpson Weight Room. Soon, they’ll practice at the state-of-the-art Fudge Football Development Center. 

Florence has led the fundraising effort for these projects.His service to Baylor wasn’t exhausted with his eligibility. It was only getting started. Because Nick Florence never defined himself as a quarterback; he defined himself as a man searching for something bigger than himself.

“I don’t think anyone in the fundraising world woke up dreaming about becoming a fundraiser,” Florence said. “It’s kind of through whatever route, however windy it is, that you wind up in this place.”

Nick Florence sat in his hotel room the day of the Texas Tech game his junior season and breathed a sigh of relief - he’d made it through the year while preserving his redshirt status. 

Baylor was 11 games into Robert Griffin III’s Heisman season, and Florence hadn’t taken a snap, which meant he could preserve a year of eligibility. Once Griffin III declared for the NFL Draft, he would have two years as the starting quarterback. Florence had vaulted from third-string to starter as a freshman due to injuries and had spent the next two seasons backing up Griffin III.

But Griffin suffered a concussion just before halftime that night at AT&T Stadium, with Baylor clinging to a 31-28 lead. He tried convincing the coaches he could play in the locker room but struggled to remember critical details. That’s when Briles turned to the backup quarterback he’d nicknamed ‘Trick.’ They needed Florence to win this game, but playing meant he’d lose the extra year of eligibility, giving him one season to start.

The game was too important to Baylor’s program for Florence to put his eligibility over the team. This was an opportunity to beat Texas Tech for the first time since 1995 and Griffin III’s Heisman chances would dwindle with a fourth loss. 

Florence jogged out to the huddle for the second half and looked at his teammates, telling them they’d be fine if they believed in him.

“It was one really fun half of football, I can tell you that,” Florence said.

Florence completed 9-of-12 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 66-42 win, the most points Baylor has scored in a conference game to date. The Bears went on to win 10 games for the first time since 1980, and Griffin III won the Heisman.

But before Baylor could declare its arrival as a program, it had to prove it wasn’t a flash in the pan. These were the stakes Florence assumed in his lone season starting in 2012. All offseason he fielded questions about the pressure of replacing Griffin III. 

“As a team, we wanted to prove ourselves - that we were more than just one player,” Florence said. “It was bigger than me. Everyone on that team played a part in going to the bowl game the year before and Griff winning the Heisman, and he would tell you that.”

Not only did Florence replace the generational Griffin III, he passed for more yards than him. Baylor rebounded from an 0-4 start in conference play, which included a 70-63 loss to West Virginia in which Florence set the single-game Baylor passing yards record with 581, to finish 8-5 with a win over No. 1-ranked Kansas State and a Holiday Bowl victory. In a year that was up and down, Florence walked away with his name in the record books.

“Most people forget the downs, which is really convenient,” Florence said.

But Florence didn’t forget them. He’d gone from washing windows to starting seven games for Baylor in one year, then burning his redshirt as a junior for the good of the team. All that work had given him a shot at the NFL. 

Florence didn’t want it, and he couldn’t stop wondering if he was crazy for it. He grappled with the decision to walk away from a dream he didn’t have until his offensive coordinator, Phil Montgomery, gave his input.

“Nick, it really just sounds like you’re trying to find an excuse not to do it,” Montgomery said. “If you don’t want to do it and your heart’s not in it, don’t do it. Don’t do it for anyone.”

His journey at Baylor made Florence realize how fleeting football is, and how dangerous it is to define yourself by it. 

“So many that play this sport… we get our identity caught up in what we do,” Florence said.

Even in high school, whether he’d had a highlight reel game or underperformed, his father, Joe, would always tell him he was more proud of who Florence was than what he did on the field. It gave Florence the confidence he needed to succeed Griffin III. It also gave him the confidence to hang up the cleats before the game hung them up for him.

Nick Florence hated his first internship with Baylor’s University Development in the summer of 2013. All anyone wanted to talk to him about was Nick Florence the football player; and he was done being a football player.

If this story was pitched to him then, he would’ve recoiled. He’s aggressively present in his current season of life, which is why he never second-guessed his decision to pass on the NFL. He misses being an athlete the older he gets, but not necessarily football. 

For all the good he’s done at Baylor in the last decade, his work with Baylor has done a lot of good for him.

Florence is a devout Christian who believes we are all fearfully and wonderfully made by God. He defines himself in Christ, which is part of the reason he was so uncomfortable talking about his football career. But as the months passed, he learned he had to talk about it if he was going to build trust with the fundraisers. His work was a two-way street.

Football didn’t define him, but his journey playing football defines part of his story. It’s also helped him directly impact so many who’ve come after him.