Florida Gators quarterbacks starting to press

Competition breeds success but it can also have pitfalls. Florida Gators coach Jim McElwain likes to create competition at every position, especially when you’re in spring camp, far out from the actual season. It’s a method Mac uses to get the most out of his players, create stress and opposition.

That competition extends itself to the quarterback position, where Florida has experience with Austin Appleby, knowledge of the system in Luke Del Rio and two freshmen with a ton of arm talent. Despite the competition on the field, the four quarterbacks have really helped each other off the field, especially the older guys taking the freshmen under their wings.

“It’s a really tight room with a lot of really, really good guys in there,” Appleby said. “Very, very supportive from freshmen to me. It’s a very special room. There’s not many rooms like it.”
For most of the spring the quarterbacks were able to handle and stave off the pressure of competing for a job, but as the last week of spring camp approached the pressure cooker finally reached its limit.

“I think we took some steps back,” McElwain said of the quarterback play in last Friday’s scrimmage. “I’m not so sure they weren’t pressing a little bit, trying to maybe create some things that weren’t there. Not horribly by any stretch of the imagination. And yet, my expectation at that position is held to a pretty high standard.”

There’s no need to push the panic button, Florida doesn’t play a real game for another five months, and the play from the quarterbacks this spring hasn’t been poor.

“I think they were ahead of maybe where I thought during the start,” said McElwain.

The best thing the quarterbacks have done this spring is lead; something that McElwain demands and expects his signal caller to do. The first thing he wants is for his quarterbacks to make the 10 players around them better, elevate their play through leadership.

“They’ve done a good job, I think, command-wise – just of the operation piece,” McElwain said. “It’s been smooth. There’s not a lot of panic out there. They’re doing a good job of communicating.”

McElwain isn’t looking for a Heisman contender at quarterback in 2016, he just needs someone to run the offense, be a part of the system rather than trying to be the system. Early on the quarterbacks seemed to understand that, but the longer the position battle has waged on the more the quarterbacks have tried to do something to separate themselves.

“I think sometimes, they try to maybe do a little more – I think trying to maybe impress,” said McElwain. “Understanding that the key to it is let’s take care of the little things and let it come to you a little bit. Sometimes they try to make too much out of nothing, where the best play you can make is let’s just come back and get back in the huddle.”