There is nothing like a starchy quarterback battle to pique the interest of football fans, both casual and strident. Obviously no position warrants more attention, and these scenarios often tread the fine line between outright competition and perceived controversy – sometimes it’s just a matter who directs the lens.

New offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier is excited about working with UF's young quarterbacks

Well, buckle up because Florida football is in the embryonic stages of a full-blown quarterback competition between sophomore Treon Harris and redshirt freshman Will Grier (2015 eligibility status) that could very well carry over into fall practice and who knows, even the upcoming season. And as we’ve seen at various locales, if it’s not handled right, a quarterback derby can dissolve into a divisive force in the locker room and among the fan base.

Adding intrigue to Florida’s quarterback situation is the fact that the eyeballs of the folks making the decision are wide open as well. With a brand new coaching staff, there will be few, if any, preconceived notions concerning either Harris or Grier once spring ball starts in mid-March. Coaches are fond of telling everyone who’ll listen that all the personnel slates are wiped clean following a coaching change, all evaluations begin from the ground floor.

“What you’ve done before doesn’t matter,” said new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, which on one hand makes perfect sense (and all coaches offer this same notion straight from the manual) and on the other hand, makes little sense. It’s the essence of coach-speak, allowing the players to buy into the notion that all positions are open, that unfettered competition – beginning right now – will determine the pecking order and depth chart in the coming months.

Which is fine, but why would you completely erase what has taken place, in terms of individual production, the past few seasons? Yes in theory, even All-American cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III has to perform to hold his starting spot, but we know that’s not completely the case. What Hargreaves or Jon Bullard or Antonio Morrison or Kelvin Taylor or Demarcus Robinson, etc., have accomplished the last couple of years absolutely means something. Nothing is guaranteed of course, but these players, and others, have already displayed their wares on Saturdays in the cauldron of SEC play. Dismissing one, two or three years of work simply because it was under the direction of a different coaching staff is both silly and disingenuous to a point.

Anyway, that issue is not a concern surrounding the upcoming quarterback duel since Grier redshirted last fall and Harris only has around a half-season of snaps under his belt. Surely that gives the Miami native a little initial edge, having played In Tallahassee, Jacksonville and of course, The Swamp. Harris performed well at times (think Vanderbilt) and also struggled (think Florida State), basically showing some promise but hardly convincing the masses that he is the unquestioned top dog heading forward.

“I think it will be a great competition and I don’t think there’s any reason to say there will only be two (involved),” said Nussmeier, who will double as the quarterbacks coach. “Obviously any time you have young quarterbacks it’s difficult because it takes time, and everybody wants instant results. The good thing is, you get to build ‘em from Phase One. I’m really looking forward to coaching these guys.”

In reality, there haven’t been many true quarterback battles in recent Florida history. In 1984, the open challenge between a number of contenders fell into the lap of walk on redshirt freshman Kerwin Bell after Dale Dorminey, who won the protracted battle for the top spot, tore his knee in practice four days before the season opener. One of the juicier matches came in 1993 between Danny Wuerffel and Terry Dean, angling to take over for the departed Shane Matthews. Dean actually won the job, and shared it with Wuerffel, before eventually imploding midway through the ’94 season as the rest, for Wuerffel and the Gators, slid into Heisman and national championship history.

There were some unsatisfying tussles following Wuerffel’s departure – Doug Johnson vs. Jesse Palmer, Brock Berlin vs. Rex Grossman – but it’s not entirely fair to lump those into the conversation simply because few ever handled quarterbacks with such frenetic, kinetic aplomb as Steve Spurrier back in the day. And in recent times, there was the Jeff Driskel-Jacoby Brissett tug of war, in which ultimately no one connected with Florida football won.

Treon Harris certainly holds a slight initial edge based on starting a half-dozen games last fall

So that’s not many QB showdowns during the past 30-35 or so years, but there will certainly be a spirited upcoming clash to see who takes the first snap of the McElwain Era. Nussmeier laid out some of the characteristics he seeks from the leader of the offense.

“The first thing is you’ve got to have a fast thinker,” said Nussmeier, who has tutored the likes of AJ McCarron, Jake Locker, Drew Stanton and Marc Bulger among others. “The quarterback has to make a lot of decisions and be a great decision-maker. We’ll talk a lot about turnover margin, which is crucial, and if your quarterback is not a good decision-maker, you get in trouble right away. If you look at football over time, it’s the number one telling statistic. You don’t win the turnover margin, you have a tough time winning football games.

“(Then) eyes and feet. Can you get your eyes and your feet in the right place at the right time, and can you anticipate and get the ball out? And then there’s the overall management. There’s a lot more to playing quarterback than just the physical side, as we all know. You hear everybody talk about the ‘It Factor.’ It’s also the hardest position in maybe all of sports to evaluate.”

Of course, there’s the other stuff, what takes place away from the field, or for lack of a better term, the Jameis Winston Paradigm.

“We talk in our (quarterback meeting) room all the time that ‘everything matters,’” Nussmeier said. “Everything that you do matters. There is no perfect player, so to speak, at any position, so when you define the characteristics you’re looking for and you evaluate the player, there’s many categories you look at.”

Judging from the snippets of information received, and it’s a bit unfair because the coaching staff and UF officials haven’t really discussed media and fan access (there’s a little deal called recruiting that has consumed the coaches’ focus), it appears we won’t get to see much ourselves in spring or fall practice. Most likely it will be a tight ship in terms of practice observation, so we may just have to take the coaches’ words, or spin, when it comes to the fight to be Florida’s starting quarterback in 2015.

With an offensive-minded head coach, it appears we will be spared the indignation of some coaches who get miffed that the competition at quarterback merits more of the spotlight than, say, the battle at left guard or SAM linebacker. Both McElwain and Nussmeier won’t insult us with that malarkey, because it’s readily apparent how important the position is to the team’s bottom line.

“At every level of football, you look at teams that have good quarterbacks, they’re successful teams,” Nussmeier said. “It’s hard to find teams that are successful without a good quarterback.”

Sure spring practice won’t begin for another two months or so, but that doesn’t mean all who’ve endured the past four (actually five) seasons of cringe-inducing offensive football can’t get immediately excited over the prospect of a complete reversal.

“I’ve gotta see how these guys handle the team a little bit when we get going with the offseason things that we do from a leadership standpoint,” McElwain said of Harris and Grier. “There’s no preconceived (Ideas), my eyes are wide open with every position on the team. I don’t care about history right now. You’ve got an opportunity – blank slate, man.

“As I explained to them, your actions speak so loudly that I can’t hear what you say. There are a lot of guys that got a lot of this, and then you just sit back and say, ‘OK, let’s talk about your actions.’ Those are the things that tell me who you are . . . How we compete and choose to affect the people around us in a positive way, that’s what it’s all about.

“I think (the quarterback battle) is going to be great.”