The number one topic in Gainesville right now centers on which quarterback will lead Dan Mullen’s first offense as Florida’s head coach.

Many are dying to know the answer, but for the man making that decision, it’s not an answer that comes easy. During his Monday morning media availability, the first question posed to Mullen was an update on the Florida quarterback competition.

While not the answer the media likely wanted in return, Mullen laid it out as plain and simple as he could at this time — noting the resolution will come in time, and the victor will be the player that does the most with the time he has away from the coaching staff.

“I’m seeing flashes, here and there but it’s really about consistency and performance. I think one of the ones that’s tough is how much work you have to put in at the QB position to be successful,” Mullen stated. “They are young guys, and they are still learning that it just takes time, you know, because there are so many little intricacies of it.

“You can’t coach everything at one time. They have to put in the extra work to say, ‘Hey, I know this extra read.’ Great, now we can work on technique and fundamentals. ‘Hey, I’ve got my fundamentals clean.’ Here’s a new play, here’s all the new reads, here’s all the different things that can happen. For me, I watch each guy and I’m like, ‘That looks really good,’ and then the next play, ‘That looks really bad.’ They need to understand the why of what we are doing — in the big picture of things, to also be able to manage the offense.

For Mullen, putting together all those little pieces and understanding the offense as a whole still won’t be enough to be a great player under center in his offense. The quarterbacks in his system must then be able to quickly process what the defense is trying to do to him and if they cannot, work a way around that situation to garner a tell by the defense.

“That’s the one thing that I see from them that I’m harping on all the time, not just understanding their position, understanding the offense. So when you know we have a great play called, I don’t know why we are waiting around at the line of scrimmage, trying to check. We have a great play called, get the ball snapped — and if we don’t, use your cadence. If you aren’t sure what the defense is going to do, try to uncover what’s happening out there.

“Their attitude is all good, they just have a lot of work to do.”

Again, not the answer anyone is looking for when the question was asked of Mullen immediately at the beginning of his presser, but it’s the only truthful one the Gator coach has to provide during the first week of fall camp.