The Florida Gators have had a stranglehold in the SEC East recently, but what will their depth chart look like as they aim to hold their position in 2017?
In the two years that Jim McElwain has been head coach of the Florida Gators, they’ve won the SEC East. Sure, they then went on to get blown out by Alabama in the SEC Championship Game on both occasions. But they were decidedly good enough to get through a still talented division in the conference. After posting an overall 19-8 record over those two seasons, however, McElwain and the Gators face big questions.
Perhaps the biggest question of all remains at quarterback. Austin Appleby and Luke Del Rio manned the position a year ago, and neither shined at all. The former is now gone, but Del Rio now has high-quality challengers pushing up behind him. Chief among them — and the one with the most headlines — is Notre Dame transfer Malik Zaire. If he’s able to stay healthy and pick up the offense, he could be their best quarterback in some time.
Meanwhile, McElwain and the Gators find themselves in unfamiliar territory on the opposite side of the ball. After seeing the core of an elite defense bolt for the NFL Draft, they now have to pick up the pieces. That leaves them with a young group, albeit one with plenty of talent and filled with touted recruits.
All the same, the Gators will look to continue their reign atop the SEC East in the 2017 season. It just might not be in the same manner that they’ve done it before, perhaps relying more heavily on the offense than they have in recent memory.
With that in mind, however, let’s take a look at the Florida Gators projected 2017 depth chart, starting with the offense.