Jacoby Brissett is still UF’s starter at quarterback, but Jeff Driskel will have an opportunity to capture the job this week.
Driskel, a freshman, sat out Saturday’s game against LSU because of an ankle sprain he suffered the previous week against Alabama.
That opened the door for Brissett, another freshman, to take the reins of the offense.
But coach Will Muschamp said Driskel is expected to practice this week barring an injury setback, and performance will determine who plays Saturday against Auburn.
“We’ll work with Jacoby as being the starter at this point,” Muschamp said. “We’ll work through the week and progress to see who practices the best.”
Muschamp added a caveat: If Driskel’s injury limits the number of reps he can take in practice, Brissett will have a leg up in the competition.
With John Brantley out again this week, the two normally would split the practice snaps evenly, but Driskel’s injury could change that.
The majority of Florida’s game plan is set after Tuesday’s practice, allowing the team to focus on third down and the red zone on Wednesday. Thus, Driskel will need to practice from the get-go to have a shot at the opening.
“As we move further in the week I’ll know more, obviously, of how much he’ll be able to go and compete for the job,” Muschamp said. “That will determine the reps and obviously determine the starter.”
Last week, redshirt senior running back Chris Rainey said he knew by Wednesday or Thursday that Brissett would start based on the number of snaps each quarterback took in practice.
“It looked like he was more ready,” Rainey said. “He was ready to step up.”
Brissett completed 8 of 14 passes for 94 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions against LSU. His offensive repertoire consisted mostly of checkdowns and deep bombs in between being subbed out to let Rainey or Trey Burton take snaps in the Wildcat formation.
Still, Rainey said Brissett looked calm throughout the game, keeping his poise and looking for receivers downfield in the face of pressure from the nation’s No. 5 defense.
If Brissett starts again this weekend, Muschamp said the Gators would likely expand the offensive playbook to include more than it did against No. 1 LSU.
“Certainly we’ve got to do some more, something else, offensively,” Muschamp said. “When you continue to do the same things you get the same results, so we need to change it.”
The majority of Brissett’s production came from his 65-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Andre Debose; a play where the defender stumbled and Debose came from out of bounds to make the catch.
Still, Muschamp gave Brissett’s performance a strong review.
“I thought he managed our offense really well, and what we asked him to do he did very well,” Muschamp said. “He’s a very composed young man. He’s very intelligent, athletic, he’s smart, he wants to — he works extremely hard since he’s been here as far as learning the offense and learning what to do and how we want to do it and manage our football team. We’re pleased with his progress.”
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
Florida freshman quarterback Jacoby Brissett started against LSU last week, completing 8 of 14 passes for a touchdown and two interceptions. Brissett will compete with fellow freshman Jeff Driskel this week in practice.
