COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Florida could be down to one scholarship quarterback available against UAB next week after starter Malik Zaire went down with an apparent knee injury in the second quarter against South Carolina.

The injury-decimated Gators entered Saturday's game with just 56 healthy and available players who were recruited to Florida on scholarship. They finished at 53.

And Zaire was one of the casualties.

"I cannot tell you what’s going on until we get back to Gainesville," interim coach Randy Shannon said, unclear at the time on the severity of the injury.

Zaire suffered the injury following a 23-yard run that got Florida into the red zone. After he left and was checked out by trainers, Zaire jogged around on the sideline, testing the injury.

After on play, Zaire re-entered the game. Florida called a designed run for him to the left, and Zaire collapsed before anyone could touch him, taking a 6-yard loss.

He left and did not re-enter the game.

"After he collapsed, we took him out because we didn’t know the seriousness of his injury," Shannon said. "So we took him out."

Zaire reportedly wanted to play, but Shannon decided against allowing that after speaking to team doctors.

"He came out at halftime and I walked up to him and said, ‘I can’t do it to you,'" Shannon said. "'We’re OK here, we’ll be alright with Feleipe (Franks). Even though you’re the starter, we can’t do this do you.' He just started crying. I cannot put anybody in that situation."

Franks came in and went 10-25 passing for 174 yards with one interception.

He'll likely be Florida's starter going forward if Zaire's injury prevents him from playing. Walk-on quarter Nick Sproles was the emergency backup on Saturday, as freshman Jake Allen has not traveled with the team (likely redshirt) and redshirt freshman Kyle Trask continues to recover from a foot injury.

Shannon broke down the dicey depth chart at quarterback.

"Like anything else, somebody will step up. You know, Feleipe will have to be the guy until the evaluation of what happened with Malik (comes back), and we'll have to move some other guys around," Shannon said. "We've got some walk-ons on the deal and Dre Massey, believe it or not, played some quarterback in high school and he's done some wildcat. We worked him at quarterback last week. It's going to be (asking him) to drop back and throw the ball 34 times. We've got to use what he can do, if that happens to come to that situation."

Franks, for his part, remains confident despite a shaky season that has seen him lifted for a backup in three of six starts.

"My focus is just to continue to work, continue to get these guys going and make sure they keep a positive attitude," Franks said. "I mean, the biggest thing for me is as long as the players and coaches have trust in me, it doesn't really matter what the whole outside world has for me. As long as the players trust in me and they think that I can get the job done and the coaches think that I can get the job done, then, you know, what else do I have to worry about?

"We got some good players, like Nick Sproles, walk-on guy but good quarterback. And he'll be there to back me up. He's a good player."

In addition to Zaire, starting center T.J. McCoy left the game with a lower left leg injury. He returned to the bench in street clothes and with sizeable boot on his foot, using crutches as well.

Defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe also suffered an injury and did not return to the game.

Shannon did not have immediate updates on the status of those players, but he is expected to address the media again Monday and will likely discuss their availability going forward.

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