Florida Gators could benefit from SEC rule change

The head coach of the Florida Gators football team is under a microscope. Jim McElwain knew that to be the case when he accepted the head-coaching job, he probably didn’t know, however, how deficient his roster of players would be in terms of depth.

In their first spring camp McElwain and his staff had to piece together an offensive line with barely enough scholarship offensive linemen to even have one full unit. McElwain turned then to the NCAA’s graduate transfer rule to help fill a need. The Gators also brought in Austin Appleby during McElwain’s second season, another graduate transfer that would go on to earn starting time. In his first two seasons, McElwain has taken advantage of being able to take graduate transfer to fill immediate needs, unfortunately for him, the Gators, currently, can’t accept another.

That’s due to a Southeastern Conference rule that is restricting Florida from taking a graduate transfer for three years because two graduate transfers — LB Anthony Harrell and OL Mason Halter — became academically ineligible (both missed the 2016 Citrus Bowl). The SEC will vote on the rule, and it’s expected to amend or drop it entirely, when the league meets this summer in Destin for the SEC meetings. According to McElwain, Florida fields calls and gets interest from potential graduate transfers throughout the year.

“When you’re in a place like the University of Florida, with that national brand, the inquiries start even now for next year,” McElwain said Tuesday before speaking to the Orlando Gator Club. “Guys that are looking that when they graduate, ‘would you have a need?’”

If the SEC does drop the rule and Florida is able to take a graduate transfer this cycle former Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire reportedly has interest in joining the Orange and Blue. Zaire played three years in South Bend, playing in 17 games, including three starts. He completed 59% (58-98) of his pass attempts for 816 yards and six touchdowns. The mobile quarterback also added 324 yards and two scores on the ground.

Zaire has already reportedly pushed back his decision date several times. On Tuesday it was reported that Zaire has indicated he would like to make a final decision sometime in the near future, perhaps a timeline that wouldn’t wait for the SEC to ultimately come down with its final decision.

The question that begs asking though, is Florida taking another graduate transfer doing more harm than good?

The Gators will return Luke Del Rio, who started six games last year but is coming off of two shoulder surgeries this offseason and two redshirt freshmen — Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask.

By McElwain’s own admittance after the spring game, Franks has taken a step ahead in the quarterback battle and looks poised to earn the starting job. Trask was not ready to back down from the fight and will continue to push for a starting job. McElwain has not shown that he’s a coach who will promise a starting job to a player, in fact he’s shown exactly the opposite in two and a half years in Gainesville, but could bringing in a graduate transfer quarterback hurt the development of the younger quarterbacks? Even if Zaire were granted a sixth-year of eligibility (he missed most of his redshirt sophomore season after breaking his ankle) he would only be available for two years. Franks and Trask have four more years of eligibility left.

“I think the big thing is that whatever position it is, you’re always trying to get better. If there is an opportunity to get better, you know, that’s it. You’ve heard me talk about it. Great teams have competition at every position,” said McElwain. “You can never be comfortable. We’ve got to get to that point, we’re not there yet, and yet we’ve got to get to that point at every position.”

McElwain says the graduate transfer process is different than recruiting high school prospects but the Gators will still go through their due diligence before bringing in a new player. You have to think about what the goals are of the incoming player, how will he fit into the locker room or position room, what kind of energy do they bring, can they help us win, is it a good fit?

“The background checks that you do are extensive,” he said. “Sometimes you miss, you know there are certain things that you don’t find out about. If it does come to that point, obviously we exhaust every avenue as far as that piece goes.”

McElwain can’t mention Zaire by name or speak directly about him but it was clear on Tuesday that the Gators’ head coach wasn’t worried about potentially stunting the growth of younger players by bringing in graduate transfers. He wants his players, regardless of position, to compete and earn the reps and roles they get. At the end of the day he needs to win football games now and if bringing in a new player, say a former Fighting Irish lefty, he’s all for it.

“Obviously in our case, we’re constantly trying to get the roster better,” McElwain said. “So, if it’s a position of need or if we have the spot, we’ll obviously add one.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC