When spring practice opens the Florida Gators will be in a familiar predicament — looking for a starting quarterback.
Since former Heisman winning quarterback Tim Tebow took his last snap in the 2010 Sugar Bowl, the Gators have been looking for a quarterback to lead them back to a national championship but have gone through seven different starters in the last five years. Florida has recruited and signed seven quarterbacks since 2010 and only Treon Harris remains on the roster. Six of those, Tyler Murphy, Jacoby Brissett, Jeff Driskel, Skyler Mornhinweg, Max Staver and Will Grier all sought new homes.
Even with a statue outside and his name above the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, enough time has passed that Tebow’s shadow isn’t being cast on the new crop of quarterbacks and it shouldn’t be. Head coach Jim McElwain isn’t looking for the next Tebow.
Florida, in fact, isn’t even looking for someone to fill the role that Deshaun Watson is filling for Clemson. So much of Clemson’s success is tied into Watson’s performance. The Tigers ask Watson to go out and win them games, much like Florida asked Tebow to do for them. Sure, a game plan one week may call for this, but Florida is looking to build a program that is sustainable and a quarterback who can run that ship smoothly.
A Saban disciple, and former quarterback himself, McElwain knows the importance of the position but he’s more concerned with building a program. One much like he helped build at Alabama.
McElwain’s first recruiting class brought in a transfer in Luke Del Rio, someone who spent a year in an Alabama offense run by Doug Nussmeier and had a scholarship offer to Colorado State from McElwain. Del Rio, who has to be considered the front-runner to start for Florida in 2016, is smart, the son of a coach and he was familiar with the offense even before he stepped foot in Gainesville. He’s a quarterback you can trust won’t lose a game for you.
“Luke has been having some really good practices out there,” McElwain said earlier this month. “I think you guys were probably updated even through the summer of when he came here, he was a little bit of a spark plug out there. A guy who kind of knows how to go about it. He’ll be a guy obviously heavily in the mix moving forward. We’re sure excited he’s here.”
Looking at McElwain’s second recruiting class, his first full year of recruiting, you can see that quarterback is a need — the Gators have two quarterbacks set to early enroll, a graduate transfer on campus, and are still pursuing Maryland commit Dwayne Haskins. The recruitment of quarterbacks in the 2016 recruiting cycle comes out of necessity, already detailed previously by startling transfer numbers, but the rest of the massive class is addressing what McElwain really wants to do. Build a program that isn’t dependent solely on the play of the quarterback.
Looking at McElwain’s tenure at Alabama he had success with this formula. The Crimson Tide won two National Championships with McElwain as offensive coordinator and Greg McElroy. For all the success that McElroy had, many knocked him as only a “game manager.”
“What’s a game manager,” McElroy responded when asked by ESPN in 2010. “I want to be a field general. A field general sounds more explosive.”
McElroy managed to win enough games to earn two BCS National Championships and McElwain knows that a formula that spreads the pressure of winning football games among the entire team, rather than squarely on the shoulders of one player is the key to success. When too much pressure is placed on one player they tend to press and mistakes follow.
That’s why McElwain added two receivers (Josh Hammond, Freddie Swain), an athlete (Dre Massey) and running back (Mark Thompson), among others, as early enrollees this spring. The recruiting class is balanced with 12 offensive players and 13 defensive players. Florida’s defense has been light-years ahead of the offense, but McElwain has the forethought to know that he cannot rest on the laurels of yesteryear.
The Gators may have hit on a quarterback of the future in Feleipe Franks or Kyle Trask. Both of the 6-5 signal callers have a lot of potential but need time to develop. Putting a freshman quarterback into the mix with an offense that still doesn’t have an identity is a recipe for disaster. That’s’ where Del Rio and transfer quarterback Austin Appleby come in. They’ll be asked to be the field generals when Florida opens up in 2016. Florida won’t ask either to go out and win the ball game, but they will be asked to manage the offense, play smart football and, of course, throw it to the guy in the right color jersey.