GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In Jim McElwain’s two seasons at Florida, four quarterbacks have been a starter, but none was signed by the coach out of high school. This fall, that’s expected to change.

The first quarterback to commit to McElwain at UF didn’t exactly excite Gator Nation. When Kyle Trask announced his pledge on July 26, 2015, many Florida fans were scratching their heads, wondering why UF coaches would bother giving a scholarship to a 2-star prospect (he was later bumped to 3-stars) and backup on his own high school team in Manvel, Texas. If Trask ends up making it big with the Gators, part of the credit goes to a coach on the other side of the ball.

“Well, actually, we had a superstar safety at my school and (defensive coordinator Randy Shannon) came to my school, spotted me and told (offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier) about me,” Trask said. “It all started rolling from there.”

Trask did not have a Power 5 offer, but as Nussmeier evaluated him, he liked what he saw.

“Well, first thing you do, when they walk in the room and you sit down and talk to them and you talk about guys that have the right physical characteristics from a physical standpoint,” Nussmeier said of recruiting quarterbacks. “Then the mental side of things, the way they conduct themselves, the type of people they are. That’s important.

“Look at the guys that played the position. You’ve got to take a lot on your plate, not only just Xs and Os, and understanding reads and regressions. There’s a lot that goes into this thing on a day-to-day basis. Dealing with what you get from the outside world as far as the expectations and those type of things. When we met with these kids and had them on campus and had a chance to really sit down and evaluate them at players, you find out that you really like what we had from a complete package.”

At 6-4, 238 pounds with a strong arm, Trask represented that complete package Nussmeier was seeking. The Gators, however, weren’t done recruiting quarterbacks.

On Nov. 30, 2015, Feleipe Franks committed to Florida, well aware that Trask was part of the class. As the No. 54 recruit overall and No. 5 pro-style quarterback in the class, Franks was the much more heralded signee over Trask (No. 2,147 overall, No. 92 pro-style quarterback). As 2016 early enrollees and redshirt freshmen, their experiences have been nearly identical, helping form a bond on and off the field.

“We haven’t had any tension,” Trask said. “Because we both early-enrolled, we’ve gotten close ever since.”

That closeness includes friendly competitions off the gridiron in ping pong, golf and basketball.

“He can shoot,” Franks said of Trask on the hardwood. “I think me and him both try to stay on the perimeter. We’re not really drive guys. We try to stay out there and shoot the ball.”

One can assume that the Florida coaches appreciate their top signal-callers are avoiding contact on the court. In all likelihood, both quarterbacks will see playing time this fall.

The last time a Florida quarterback started every game in a season was John Brantley in 2010. In the rest of the post-Tim Tebow era, the backup has seen the field due to injury or suspension. With Luke Del Rio, last year’s starter out of camp, sidelined this spring due to shoulder surgery, one of the redshirt freshmen will likely be named the starter for the Sept. 2 showdown with Michigan in Dallas.

Franks says he isn’t nervous about potentially seeing his first college action against the Wolverines on one of football’s biggest stages.

“No, I wouldn’t call it nervous,” he said. “We’re all out here having fun playing football, and we’ve been playing it our whole life. You can’t be nervous about things like that. Just go out and play football.”

The last time Franks played under the bright lights, it didn’t go so well. In the 2016 spring game, he threw three interceptions in a second-half appearance relieving Del Rio and Austin Appleby. Trask, on the other hand, drew rave reviews for looking poised in the pocket and mechanically superior to Franks. On that night, it was clear that despite the 2016 signees being worlds apart in the recruiting rankings, there was going to be a real competition to find the future UF quarterback.

“I don’t think any quarterback you would ask they would want the job handed to them,” Franks said. “It’s only going to make them better with competition. You ask any quarterback that, they’re going to say obviously they want the competition. It’s only going to make you better and not make you lackadaisical. You go out and compete every day.”

The harshest critics wrote Franks off after the spring game. Labels of “bust” and “project” have been thrown around based off the rough outing, but the 6-6, 219-pound Wakulla (Crawfordville, Fla.) product has made strides since the Orange and Blue debut. When Del Rio was sidelined last season, Franks was announced as Appleby’s backup, ahead of Trask. Franks has demonstrated his ability to put the ball where it needs to be, in the spots where only his receiver can make the play.

Franks couldn’t identify any one moment that things “clicked” for him, but points to a gradual process of learning from his coaches and his teammates.

“It’s just mainly just throughout the season just learning, day-by-day learning from Luke and Austin and Coach Nuss, Coach Mac,” he said. “Just learning from them and picking their brains and being like a sponge and absorbing everything that they give me. I think it’s just been like progressively throughout the whole season and going now into spring, I think it’s really helped me.”

Nussmeier credits Del Rio and Appleby for leading by example, showing the younger quarterbacks the right way to go about competing for the starting job.

“I think the No. 1 thing is the example they got from the two guys that we’re ahead of them last year in Austin and Luke,” Nussmeier said. “I can’t say enough about what those guys did as veteran players. It’s one thing to come from a coach, but when you can actually have that leadership in a room to show young players how to prepare and they get to see this guy is in here doing extra, and coach isn’t just lying when he says you need to do extra in order to perform at a high level. …

“That validates what you’re trying to instill in young players, and I think those two older guys, Luke and Austin, did a tremendous job. And it showed Kyle and Feleipe as they watched those two compete that you can compete the right way and help each other get better every day.”

Franks is on the same page, as he sees himself getting better form competing with Trask.

“I think we help each other every day,” Franks said. “Like they say, iron sharpens iron and it’s only going to get each one of us, not just me and Kyle, but everyone on the team, better. So we’re out there competing every day and it’s only going to get each and every one of us better.”