On Tuesday, as Florida football players stretched and jogged on the practice field, an unusual noise came blasting from the loudspeakers: a Tom Petty song.
On Monday, UF held a rare practice at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
And during a team meeting earlier in the week, players were informed that their roles were no longer guaranteed.
Including at quarterback.
“You never know what coach (Randy) Shannon’s thinking or what he’s gonna do,” cornerback Duke Dawson said. “He keeps us on our toes.”
Just as Shannon had promised on Monday, during his first official day as Florida’s interim coach, changes have been made to the UF football team, including at its most notable position.
The coach re-opened Florida’s quarterback competition and gave both redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks and graduate transfer Malik Zaire first-team reps during practice on Tuesday. Shannon and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier will meet and likely name a starter by Thursday, Shannon said.
“When you compete every day, it brings the best out of you,” Shannon said Tuesday.
Franks and Zaire are both listed as the starter on Florida’s latest unofficial depth chart released Tuesday. According to Shannon, no quarterback has created separation from the other. Yet.
“Both of them do some good things. Both of them have won games in the past,” Shannon said. “So we just have to go and keep competing in practice. Once that happens, then we can figure out what we’re going to do.”
Franks is coming off arguably the worst game of his career, a 42-7 loss to Georgia in which the redshirt freshman completed seven of his 19 passes for 30 yards with one interception and no touchdowns. He was also sacked five times.
Zaire replaced Franks in the fourth quarter, leading the Gators on their lone touchdown drive and saving Florida from being shutout for the first time since 1988, the longest such streak in Division I history.
Zaire also went 3-for-6 for 36 yards — six more yards than Franks on 13 fewer pass attempts — and ran for 30 yards.
“He’s good with his feet. Y’all saw that Saturday,” receiver Brandon Powell said. “He’ll extend plays. That’ll help us out a little bit.”
While Franks’ biggest advantage is his arm strength, Zaire’s specialty is his mobility in the pocket, an aspect of his game that was evident Saturday. The graduate transfer often escaped pressure to extend plays and pick up yards with his feet.
“I’m excited to see what he can do for the rest of the season,” running back Mark Thompson said. "I’ve always been excited about what he can do. And it will be a positive outcome no matter who’s lined up at quarterback.”
Shannon said Florida hasn’t come to a decision, but vowed to play to the strengths of whoever is lined up under center against Missouri on Saturday.
“We’ve got to put the quarterback in a situation where they’ll feel comfortable,” Shannon said. “So we’ve got to make sure we do the things that he can do, whichever quarterback it is, that make us successful.”
You can follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb, and contact him at icohen@alligator.org.
UF interim coach Randy Shannon has already started making some changes, including re-opening Florida’s quarterback competition. He gave both redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks and graduate transfer Malik Zaire first-team reps during practice on Tuesday. Shannon and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier will meet and likely name a starter by Thursday, Shannon said.
