Barring injury or some other catastrophe, Florida will not play a freshman quarterback in its Outback Bowl meeting with Iowa. Jim McElwain said as much on Thursday, and his remarks on the matter are close to crystal clear.
“That was an ‘only if’ situation,’” McElwain said about playing a freshman quarterback. “That’s all it was.”
That’s sure to disappoint some fans who would have very much liked to see Feleipe Franks and/or Kyle Trask in the Gators’ bowl game, either as an alternative to the play of Austin Appleby, which has wearied those fans, or as a glimpse of the tantalizing future in which McElwain’s Florida might finally start a quarterback its coaching staff recruited out of high school.