It’s no secret that the quarterback position in Gainesville has been a revolving door since the departure of Tim Tebow in 2009. The Gators have had nine different starters line up under center in the six years since the Heisman Trophy winner played his final snap.

Could the remedy to this problem be found in graduate transfer and former Notre Dame QB Malik Zaire? Obviously, freshmen Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask are battling it out under center this spring, but Florida turning down a veteran quarterback likely won’t happen.

SEC fans should be familiar with Zaire, as he led the Irish to a win over LSU in the 2014 Music City Bowl. While at Notre Dame, Zaire played in 15 games, being named the starter for 2015 before breaking his ankle in Week 2.

It’s no secret that Zaire has considered Florida as an option since early in the process, and sources confirmed to 247Sports on Monday that there is in fact interest on both sides. The issue for the Gators appears to be an SEC regulation.

The SEC requires certain goals to be met by graduate transfers once they enter their new school, and the Gators are in hot water in that department. Both of their last two grad transfers, OT Mason Halter and LB Anthony Harrell failed to meet those requirements and were ruled ineligible for the Citrus Bowl that season. Since the two former Gators missed the mark, Florida is now restricted from taking grad transfers until 2019.

Though that sounds like the end of the story, this rule is highly debated within the conference and it could be amended soon. In fact, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has been on record saying that the conference could potentially review the rule during the spring meetings.

Florida head coach Jim McElwain is predictably against the rule and thinks that the league will, in fact, review it at those meetings.

“Well it’s one that hurt us actually,” McElwain said. “With the two guys that we took that first year — or I guess second year or whatever it was, first year, second year — and yet it’s something that they’re going to look at because we’re unique to any other conference in the NCAA as far as those requirements.”

Until this issue gets resolved, the Gators’ quarterback battle will remain between underclassmen Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask. Luke Del Rio is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, but he should be good to go this fall.