Grad-transfer rule a hot topic for Gators at SEC meetings

Gators football coach Jim McElwain and men's basketball coach Mike White are in Destin for the SEC spring meetings. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Photographer)

Grad-transfer rule a hot topic for Gators at SEC meetings

Tuesday, May 30, 2017 | Football, Scott Carter

The league convened in Destin on Tuesday for its annual spring meetings.

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – To say the Gators have entered fall camp in recent years with uncertainty at quarterback ranks among the most obvious understatements in program history.

The familiar trend held true in head coach Jim McElwain's first two seasons.

Two years ago, the battle was between Treon Harris and Will Grier. A season ago, it was Luke Del Rio and Austin Appleby. Even so, the Gators ended up as Southeastern Conference East champions both seasons.

What about in McElwain's third year?

"There isn't a school in the country that is not looking for that piece,'' McElwain said of the game's most important position.

41336 — Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks had a solid performance in spring camp to elevate his status. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA staff photographer)

At the end of spring camp in April, McElwain said redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks had distanced himself atop the depth chart in the competition with fellow redshirt freshman Kyle Trask. Meanwhile, former starter Del Rio was unavailable (shoulder surgery) in the spring and true freshman Kadarius Toney, who flashed skills as a playmaker, had been on campus just a couple of months and needs more experience.

The Gators added a fifth quarterback to the roster this month when freshman Jake Allen enrolled in Summer A classes and joined the team for offseason conditioning.

Could a sixth quarterback soon join the mix?

You folks have been down this road before with me on this issue. Due to NCAA compliance, I am not supposed to mention specific names of prospective UF student-athletes on FloridaGators.com until they have officially signed with the program.

This one has been rumored for months, so much so that you and probably your grandmother know exactly whom I am talking about. He's a quarterback. He earned his undergraduate degree recently from a famous school up north. And if he joins the Gators, he'll be their first left-handed quarterback since Tim Tebow.

He'll also only have one season of eligibility, the same status as a year ago for Appleby, who transferred to UF from Purdue for his final college season.

"We did it a year ago with Austin and he came in and ended up helping our program," McElwain said Tuesday. "What you are constantly trying to do is enhance each position group no matter what that is. Competition breeds quality."

On the first day of the SEC spring meetings in Destin on Tuesday, the league's grad-transfer rule was a hot topic. The SEC is the only conference with the rule, which prohibits schools from signing a grad transfer for three years if the previous one failed to remain academically eligible.

"If we have rules in the SEC that are different than the rules that we are playing against, I don't know what we're trying to prove,'' McElwain said.

Former Gators coach Will Muschamp, now at South Carolina, offered a strong opinion on the rule when asked.

"I think we need to have the same rule as everybody else in college football," Muschamp said.

Sankey says SEC rule proposal would be one-year ban on programs taking grad xfers if they don't make adequate academic progress.
— Matt Baker (@MBakerTBTimes) May 30, 2017

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is expected to make an announcement on the rule during this week's meetings or soon afterward. Sankey discussed the topic with the Associated Press last week.

If the rule is overturned, the Gators could be one of the early beneficiaries.

"This will be the first meaningful conversation that we've had since the proliferation of graduate transfers has happened nationally," Sankey said. "I expect our membership to have a pretty meaningful conversation about the right perspective on graduate transfers entering the SEC from outside and then the topic of inter-conference transfers. A football player that enrolls as a graduate student and never goes to class, that's not healthy."

*****

CALLAWAY UPDATE

McElwain told The Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday that prior to Antonio Callaway's recent citation for marijuana possession, he had previously discussed Callaway's personal decision-making away from the team with the junior receiver from Miami.

Callaway has a court appearance on June 6 and his status for the season opener against Michigan remains uncertain.

"It is concerning? Well, obviously it's something we've had a lot of discussions about, prior to it even happening,'' McElwain said. "This isn't reactive. We're constantly proactive."

To read Sentinel beat writer Edgar Thompson's complete story, click here.

*****

For more from the SEC spring meetings, here are some fresh links from around the internet:

What everyone will be talking about during SEC spring meetings via Edward Aschoff of ESPN.com.
Jim McElwain calls fervor over mistaken identity photo 'an indictment upon society' writes Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com.
SportsIllustrated.com and veteran SEC scribe Andy Staples on what the conference should do with its divisions.
Will Muschamp weighs in on talk of Auburn moving to SEC East via Nick Cole of SECCountry.com.
Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema estimates '75 to 90 percent' of recruits will sign early via Jason Kersey of SECCountry.com.
USA Today college sports columnist Dan Wolken on SEC coaches and their complaints at spring meetings.