Florida Gators sophomore spotlight: Treon Harris

The Florida Gators are rebuilding and that means position battles and question marks across the bard on both offense and defense. No position is being as closely watched as the quarterback battle and that brings our sophomore spotlight to Treon Harris.

2014 Season Stats: Passing – 55-111 (49%), 1,019 yards, 9 TD, 4 INT, 146.2 QB rating
Rushing – 75 attempts, 338 yards, 4.5 per carry, 3 TD

 

Harris saw limited action in Florida’s opening blowout of the Eastern Michigan Eagles but he shined. The freshman completed his first two career passing attempts for 148 yards and two scores, not a bad start, freshman.

Harris wouldn’t play in the next two games but would make his presence felt again against Tennessee. Entering the game in the second half, Harris led the Gators to a scoring drive to go ahead of the Tennessee Volunteers on the road in Knoxville. Harris only attempted four passes (two completions) and rushed for 24 yards but he did enough to get the Gators a win on Rocky Top.

Harris was accused of sexual battery after the Gators returned home from Knoxville and was suspended until the legal process played out. Harris’ accuser withdrew her allegations, freeing Harris of the charges and he was reinstated to the team. Harris started the final six games of the season and finished with a 4-2 record as the starting quarterback. Harris was instrumental in a win at Vanderbilt, passing for 215 yards and rushing for 49 more and two scores.

Overall, Harris showed a lot of promise with both his feet and his arm in 2014 and he will be the only quarterback with playing experience in Orange and Blue.

Harris entered the spring in a battle for the starting quarterback job with redshirt freshman Will Grier. The two split first team carries until Harris had to leave the team when a family member was tragically murdered in Miami.

Harris missed several practices and Grier took off. Head Coach Jim McElwain has not named a starting quarterback and he certainly won’t name one before he feels he absolutely has to.

Based on spring practice, Will Grier would be the starting quarterback if the season were to start tomorrow. Coach McElwain is implementing a pro-style system and working under center is something that Harris will need to adjust to, after playing in the shotgun his whole life.

No matter who wins the starting job, both Grier and Harris could see playing time for Florida this season. McElwain has shown creativity at stops in Alabama and Colorado State and using a two quarterback system or having designed plays and packages for the second string quarterback is not out of the question.

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

1 COMMENT

  1. Two QB’s? Well, I hope one wins and the other is used regularly as well. It has always been a fantasy here at Florida. Besides a brief stint with Spurrier we always heard the coaches were scheming up plays with Tebow and ‘laptop’, but it never materialized. If Grier wins out, Treon is too talented to sit around, he needs to be used in special packages and dump-offs and other things. The kids a baller and can only help us. Kids have rotted on the bench here in years passed. Here’s to this staff having a huge paradigm shift around that type of behavior. Go Gators.