Quarterback a familiar problem for the Gators
HOOVER, Ala.— QBor notQB— that is the question. Again. For the Florida Gators, it’s GroundhogDay every year at SEC Media Days when reporters flock into Central Alabama and ask who the starting quarterback is going to be and whether said quarterback is good enough to make UF’s perennially pitiful offense at least presentable.
Florida coach JimMcElwain is once again facing a quarterback quandary— just as everyUF coach has since TimTebowgraduated seven years ago. In fact, the quarterback situation is so confusing thatMcElwain himself seemed to be sending out conflicting messagesTuesday.
Oddly, some reporters in a small, private gathering withMcElwainTuesday said the coach indicated that perhaps he already knows who his starting quarterback is going to be. Is it more than just coincidence thatMcElwainwould drop that nebulous nugget just a few days afterNotreDame transferMalik Zaire joined the Gators?
WhenMcElwainwas questioned again later in front of larger group of reporters in the main media session, he backtracked and said he is unsure about his starting quarterback situation. Will it be Zaire or will it be redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks whowon the job during spring drills?
“I knowwe will start a quarterback,” said a smilingMcElwain, who just returned fromhis vacation home. “I figured out a lot of stuff at the lake place in Montana. Starting quarterbackwasn’t one of them.”
The natural assumption isMcElwain will start Zaire, who obviously didn’t transfer to UF to ride the pine in his final year of college eligibility. “I would hope no one comes here to hold a clipboard,” McElwain said. “You know, there’s a certain expectation you’ve got to have and a drive to be successful. He definitely has that.”
“I don’t see any of our guys being afraid of competition, turning and running the otherway. And if they do, that’sOK, too. That probably tells us something.”
Obviously, McElwain has to start the quarterback who he believes gives him the optimal chance to win in the monumental season opener against Michigan, butwouldn’t it be better for the long-term stability of the program if McElwain starts Franks— a quarterback he actually recruited and developed?
Starting Zairewould continue the nearly decadelong trend of instability and transience surrounding UF’s quarterback position. Hard to believe that the Gators haven’t recruited and developed a decent SEC quarterback sinceTebow left in 2009.
In every season since Tebowgraduated, there have been only two SEC programs that have not averaged at least 400 yards of offense even one time during that seven-year span— Vanderbilt and Florida. Frankly, unless you’re talking graduation rates, it’s never good for an SEC football program to be mentioned in the same sentence asVanderbilt.
The common denominator for Florida’s abysmal offense is UF’s poor track record of developing quarterbacks. SinceTebow left, the Gators have had nine starting quarterbacks — John Brantley, Jacoby Brissett, Jeff Driskel, Tyler Murphy, SkylerMornhinweg, TreonHarris, Will Grier, Luke Del Rio and AustinAppleby— and none have been successful.
Here’s all you need to knowabout the volatility of UF’s quarterback position: Of the last eight starting quarterbacks, all of them have either transferred out or transferred in.