Florida Gators quarterback battle takes another turn

The Florida Gators have an open competition at quarterback as they prepare to take on the LSU Tigers.

The game is the same. Florida had a backup quarterback battle this offseason and they were set to have another battle this week of practice to determine whom would start against LSU.

That all changed when Treon Harris was accused of sexual assault and promptly suspended from all team activities.

The game is the same but the players have changed.

“Well, Jeff [Driskel] will start the game, no question,” head coach Will Muschamp said. “We had not made a decision off the last game, who would start the game. Jeff was going to play in the game, I do know that.”

Driskel has been struggling to say the least. He has the lowest yards-per-attempt (5.0) in the SEC, is tied for the league lead in interceptions (6) and the least touchdowns thrown (3) of any of the league’s starting quarterbacks. Driskel’s last two games saw the redshirt junior complete just 20-of-51 pass attempts for 152 yards (2.98 yards-per-attempt).

Florida felt confident enough in Harris to insert him into the lineup when Jeff Driskel began to struggle but do they feel the same way about the other players on the roster behind Driskel now?

Last season Mornhinweg started the final three games of the season for Florida, completing 44-of-63 pass attempts for three touchdowns and two interceptions. Mornhinweg was underwhelming as a starter but at that point of the season the Gators had checked out mentally, especially after a 19-14 loss to South Carolina.

The other option is true freshman Will Grier. Grier was the highly touted quarterback recruit that committed to Florida early and was a cornerstone of the 2014 recruiting class. Grier enrolled early at Florida and participated in the spring before being beaten out for the backup job. The plan for Grier always seemed that he would redshirt, creating separation between him and Harris, while giving Grier — the presumed future at quarterback — a year to develop and adjust.

“Given the situation of having two guys that had played to that point in the season, that’s probably where we were headed,” Muschamp said when asked if the plan was to redshirt Grier. “Certainly given the situation right now, obviously not.”

Muschamp insisted that both Mornhinweg and Grier were splitting backup reps this week in practice but, ready or not, Grier is the better option to back up Driskel.

Grier has missed about three weeks of practice and hasn’t traveled with the team during the past two road games due to back spasms but he was cleared for practice this week and has been a full participant.

The offense may have to be scaled back a little if Grier does indeed get playing time but with the Gators facing a LSU defense that is giving up 300 yards on the ground against conference opponents, expect Florida to have a scaled back offense with a run-heavy flavor to it already.

This is still — for now and until the Harris situation sorts itself out — Driskel’s team. Last week the leash was shorter than it ever had been. The Florida coaching staff may give Driskel more rope this week but if Driskel has a repeat of the past two weeks than the Will Grier era may get started a year earlier than any inside the football building expected it to.