McElwain not ready to settle on Gators starting QB

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During his first year in Gainesville, Jim McElwain exceeded expectations by leading the Gators to the SEC East title. He did so with an offense that never found any consistency, especially at the quarterback position. The Florida Gators are five Saturday’s away from their 2016 opener against UMass and they’ve yet to settle on will get the start under center.

On the same day that he was named as an ambassador and consultant for the Florida Gators football program, Steve Spurrier said that Luke Del Rio will be the starting quarterback. McElwain however isn’t ready to settle on Del Rio or Austin Appleby just yet. Fall camp opens on Thursday for the Gators and those practices will help McElwain make his decision.

“I'll see how the guys respond to them when they are in the huddle, when they are into the situations that we, you know, set up during practice,” said McElwain. “That really is kind of, to me, the key to success at the position.”

With at least three potential 1st round NFL picks on the Gators defense, that side of the ball isn’t a concern. The offense however remains a question mark and Del Rio embraces the challenge.

“I can’t really control how people think we’re going to do,” said Del Rio, who has 18 career passing attempts. “Obviously they don’t think we’re going to do that well, so we’re excited to prove all the naysayers wrong.”

After transferring from Purdue, Appleby is above and beyond the most experienced signal caller on the Gators and he feels whoever gets the starting job will help the Gators reach their goals.

“We have a special room where the entire group is very committed to being the best that they can be, and also committed to being the very best they can to effect and help our team reach our ultimate goal which is to win a National Championship,” said Appleby. “We want to be a championship team and our team will go as our quarterback room does.”

No matter who gets the starting nod under center, they would love to be able to throw the ball to Antonio Callaway. The sophomore wide receiver has been suspended from the team since late January and McElwain addressed his status during media day.

McElwain also said that he has challenged the offense to be “dramatically better” than a year ago. Although the Gators have a lot of experience on the offensive line and according to McElwain running back is the deepest position on the team, none of that matters if they don’t figure out the quarterback position.

“Yeah, I think right now the biggest thing is -- and you've heard me talk about this,” said McElwain. “I really believe: To play successful football at the quarterback position, the people around you, A, have to believe; and B, they have got to trust in everything you're doing; and C, their play is elevated based on how you go about playing the position.”