Thanks to a combination of Jeff Driskel‘s injury that cost him most of the 2013 season and Will Grier‘s impressive and gaudy prep résumé, it was thought that Florida could have itself a serious quarterback competition on its hands this spring.
At this point a week into the 15 spring practice sessions, that doesn’t appear to be quite the case as the veteran Driskel is increasing the gap between himself and the early enrollee Grier, head coach Will Muschamp acknowledged.
“Those guys will continue to split reps and Jeff has certainly distanced himself at this point,” Muschamp said Tuesday according to the Orlando Sentinel. “But those guys have done some nice things at times. Jeff’s been through change before, so I think the more times you go through that stuff you kind of can handle it and move forward, the maturity takes over.”
In the third game of the season last year, Driskel suffered a broken ankle that knocked him out for the remainder of the season. Not only is Driskel coming back from that health issue, but he’s also getting acclimated to new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper and his up-tempo system. Despite the newness, Muschamp indicated that Roper’s offense appears tailor-made for Driskel.
“I think it fits his skillset better, and I’ve been very pleased with his maturity and handling it,” the coach said, while also indicating that the ankle issue doesn’t appear to be hampering the presumptive front-runner for the job.
It’s unclear whether Muschamp will name a starter exiting spring or allow the battle between Driskel and Grier -- a four-star 2014 recruit rated as the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the country -- to bleed into the early portion of summer camp.