GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida's quarterback race could have a new contender after the spring, with the Gators looking to add another arm to the mix via transfer.

Malik Zaire, a Notre Dame graduate transfer, has become a major target for the Gators, sources informed 247Sports.com. Zaire announced his plan to transfer in November but has yet to settle on a destination. Florida feels confident it can land him.

One of the hangups for Zaire is an SEC rule on graduate transfers that Florida needs overturned by the league to be able to take him.

The conference requires graduate transfers to hit certain academic benchmarks once they arrive at their new school in the SEC. If they don't, the school that took those graduate transfers becomes restricted from taking graduate transfers for the next three years.

Florida falls in that boat, with neither offensive tackle Mason Halter nor linebacker Anthony Harrell completing their academic requirements during the 2015 season. Both were academically ineligible for the Citrus Bowl that year, making Florida one of a handful of SEC schools currently restricted from taking new graduate transfers.

However, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey intimated in December that the league may review that rule in its spring meetings, and coach Jim McElwain also made it sound like he thinks there's a good chance the rule is overturned, or at least altered.

"Well it’s one that hurt us actually," McElwain said. "With the two guys that we took that first year — or I guess second year or whatever it was, first year, second year — and yet it’s something that they’re going to look at, because we’re unique to any other conference in the NCAA as far as those requirements."

The SEC rule was created with the intent of making sure that graduate transfers were actually completing course work toward their degrees, rather than simply becoming an easy way for coaches to shore up their rosters with no thought given to academics.

However, the rule has put the league at a competitive disadvantage.

"We put originally a five-year prohibition on taking more grad transfers because we wanted that accountability to be meaningful," Sankey said. "We’ve moved that to three, and actually in our office, we had a number of conversations observing, first of all, no one else has that kind of accountability in their own system.

"We don’t want to be overly punitive in how we create that kind of accountability."

Zaire has played in 17 games in his career, going 58-98 (59.2%) passing for 816 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions. He has also rushed for 324 yards and two touchdowns on 72 carries.

Zaire was named the MVP of the Music City Bowl in 2014 in a win over LSU, his first career start. He opened the 2015 season as the starter but suffered a broken ankle in the second game and eventually lost his starting job to DeShone Kizer before opting to transfer last fall.

Florida has struggled to get production at the quarterback position in each of McElwain's first two seasons at the helm.

Redshirt freshmen Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask are battling for the starting job for the Gators this spring, but neither has played a down in college yet. Florida opens its 2017 season with a tough non-conference showdown with Michigan in Arlington, Texas.

The Gators have shown a willingness to take transfers under McElwain, particularly at the quarterback position. In McElwain's first year, he took Alabama and Oregon State transfer Luke Del Rio. Del Rio started six games for the Gators in 2016, battling injuries that ultimately ended his season.

His replacement was a graduate transfer, with McElwain landing Purdue's Austin Appleby ahead of the 2016 season to shore up the depth chart.

The third-year Florida coach certainly seems to be looking to do the same ahead of the 2017 campaign.

"Yeah, you know, if it happens and we have the spot, we have the number, that’s something definitely that we would do," McElwain said.

Sources have also informed GatorBait.net that Zaire will attempt to get a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA, though it's unclear the basis for that waiver request or the likelihood of its success.

Zaire also must pass the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) to enroll at Florida, but sources tell Irish247 that isn't expected to be a problem.