His failure to successfully convince the NCAA that he warranted a reprieve from a year-long suspension could jeopardize the career of quarterback Will Grier at Florida while posing a major headache to Gators coach Jim McElwain.

Grier was suspended on Oct. 12 for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug that is banned by the NCAA, but he and his representatives had hoped to convince the college sports governing body to limit his punishment to just the remainder of this season.

Grier claimed that he had simply taken an over-the-counter supplement and mistakenly did not confer with the Florida medical staff about its contents.

“I’m really, really sorry to everyone. Just really sorry,” he said at the time of the press conference announcing his suspension.

But the NCAA wasn’t swayed by his remorse and declined his request this week for a reduced penalty, meaning Grier won’t be eligible to take the field again until the Gators host Missouri on Oct. 15, 2016.

That means that the redshirt freshman will be eligible to practice but will miss half of Florida’s SEC slate next fall, including a Sept. 24 trip to Tennessee and an Oct. 8 visit to The Swamp by LSU.

The strong-armed Grier, who had beaten out sophomore Treon Harris for the starting job by the time of Florida’s SEC opener at Kentucky on Sept. 19, was leading the SEC with a 65.8 completion percentage at the time of his suspension. He became the first Gators quarterback to throw for at least 200 yards in three consecutive games since Tim Tebow did so in 2009 and appeared on his way to stardom.

Harris is 5-1 as Florida’s starter this season as this weekend’s regular-season finale against rival Florida State approaches, but his deficiencies in the vertical passing game are painfully obvious and have helped stymie the Gators offense.

Either Harris or Luke Del Rio, a transfer from Alabama and Oregon State, will likely start the season as Florida’s quarterback next season, meaning the two will understandably dominate the reps in practice with Grier still ineligible.

Whoever emerges would likely have to fail miserably for coach Jim McElwain to make an immediate mid-season quarterback change in favor of a player who hasn’t stepped onto the field in a year and has seen just limited practice reps.

Grier had completed 106 of 161 pass attempts for 1,204 yards and 10 touchdowns with just 3 interceptions at the time of his suspension. He had also rushed 36 times for 116 yards and two more scores.