With an aggressive push to get a top-tier quarterback commit, Gators coach Jim McElwain is pressing the case that the days of the Florida Gators being a powerful offensive team are set to return.

With the dark period ending tomorrow, Florida Gators football recruiting will resume with plenty of needs for head coach Jim McElwain to address. One of those positions will be quarterback, where the Gators will look not only to build depth for the future, but to also bring in the talent that fits McElwain’s system and can be developed for the future.

The Gators have a thin recruiting class, with among the fewest amount of commitments among any Power 5 school. And with the Florida Gators’ only quarterback recruit decommitting in December, there’s both space and need for McElwain to lure a top-flight signal caller to the team.

New offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier is a former quarterback who was brought in to help McElwain develop the quarterback position and he will be responsible for helping the Gators bring in a quarterback recruit. Nussmeier says he think the team needs to recruit a quarterback each year and that there needs to be depth and competition at that position.

Right now, the Gators don’t have enough of either. Freshman quarterback Treon Harris will be back for the Gators and blue-chip recruit Will Grier will also be ready to compete to be the starter for the 2015 team. After that, there’s room young quarterbacking talent to compete.

“When you look at creating opportunity, when you look at our depth chart, it’s not a deep depth chart at quarterback. We don’t have a lot of numbers there. So the opportunity to come in and compete is the thing that you can sell to anyone, ” Nussmeier said.

As far as what kind of quarterback the Gators need to recruit — a pro-style passer or dual-threat runner — Nussmeier said that Florida Gators football under McElwain would develop their offense around our talent.

“We’re going to do what our personnel allows us to do and fit our system to what our people can do. We’re not going to get stuck in a box,” he said.

A look at the top recruiting websites show that nearly all of the five- and four-star talent has shown they’ve committed. However, there’s opportunity for McElwain to flip a top recruit, and two four-star recruits are schedules to visit UF.

Bradenton IMG quarterback Deondre Francois, an FSU commit, has good reason to decommit from the Seminoles, who also have another four-star quarterback commitment. Louisville commit Lamar Jackson is also schedule to visit UF this month. McElwain has reportedly already met with Francois.

Florida State QB commit Deondre Francois (@Deondre_3) in All-America Game… 4-of-4 passing for 103 yards and a TD. pic.twitter.com/saEv2Nv9CU — Tyler Donohue (@TDsTake) January 3, 2015



With an aggressive push to get a top-tier quarterback commit, McElwain is pressing the case that the days of the Florida Gators being a powerful offensive team are set to return.