GAINESVILLE — With Jim McElwain out at Florida, the next logical question on the football field is what does that mean for struggling starting quarterback Feleipe Franks?

Just last week, McElwain had reiterated that with Luke Del Rio lost for the season, Florida would succeed or fail with Franks under center.

Following Florida’s 42-7 loss to Georgia and McElwain’s ouster, interim head-coach Randy Shannon on Monday backed away from McElwain’s commitment to Franks as the starter, saying he’d open the starting position up ahead of Saturday afternoon’s contest at Missouri.

“When guys have competition, it tends to bring out the best in everybody,” Shannon said Monday. “We’re going to judge those guys in practice.”

In truth, that’s what Shannon and the remaining Gators coaching staff should do in the aftermath of Franks’ woeful performance against Georgia, which saw him  average an unthinkably poor 1.5 yards an attempt.

Even with an improving defense and physical running attack, those numbers from a starting quarterback would be fatal to almost any football team. Franks’ miserable day against UGA capped a winless October where the redshirt freshman performed worse with every start. Over the three-game stretch, Franks averaged a lowly 4.4 yards per attempt on 62 passes, tossing only one touchdown pass and throwing three interceptions. The Gators averaged only 13.3 points a game in that stretch.

Bottom line? Franks is damaging Florida’s ability to win football games.

There’s little question that a large reason McElwain was dismissed was his failure to improve the offense and effectively develop and coax production from the quarterback position following the suspension and transfer of Will Grier. Why should Shannon doom the team — and a staff full of coaches preparing their resumes for new jobs — to the same failures?

Instead, Shannon is right to open up the quarterback competition again and it would be surprising if he didn’t ultimately turn the job over to Malik Zaire, the senior who transferred in with great fanfare late this summer, then struggled to pick up the offense in summer camp and was relegated to headset-wearing, placard-holder after a woeful performance in relief of Franks against Michigan.

Albeit against mostly Georgia backups, Zaire did come into the game and lead Florida on a 71-yard touchdown drive Saturday, extending a handful of plays with his legs and extending the school’s Division I record to 368 games without being shutout in the process.

Two plays in particular demonstrated what Zaire offers that Franks simply doesn’t.

The first, a 3rd-and-7 throw to Dre Massey where Zaire rolled left initially, then scrambled away from Georgia’s pursuit back to his right and firing a strike to Massey for a first down, was all about poise and downfield awareness, two of Franks’ largest issues this season.

The second play, on a 1st-and-20 in the wake of two Florida false starts, was a 27-yard run by Zaire that showed what happens when a defense has to account for a quarterback who keeps his eyes upfield while moving around and buying time with his legs.

Both plays showed Zaire’s ability to make something from nothing, qualities Franks largely lacks at this point, and qualities that Florida, which struggles to protect the quarterback in passing situations, will need as they prepare for a Missouri defense that leads the SEC in sacks.

Plus, as poorly as Missouri defends the run (98th nationally), starting a mobile quarterback who gives you some run-pass option flexibility makes sense, giving Barry Odom and the Tigers defense an extra wrinkle to consider as they install their game plan this week.

Another reason to start Zaire is leadership.

Zaire hasn’t always been a starter, but he’s been around this level of football long enough to provide a calm, poised voice in meeting rooms and in the huddle. With two more road games on the docket before the Gators return home to The Swamp, that’s a trait that the Gators should value. Franks struggled in his only true road game of the year, at Kentucky, only to be bailed out in the fourth quarter by Luke Del Rio and a pair of Kentucky defensive brain freezes. With bowl eligibility on the line over the next month, why not start Zaire, the veteran who has played in hostile environments before?

Finally, it’s easier for an interim staff to value immediacy.

They’ll want the young men they coach to succeed long-term, both in football and in life, of course. But they don’t have to worry about developing Franks for next year by getting him reps, even if the team suffers.

Interim staffs simply live in the moment, and they play to win the game. At this point in the season, it’s clear Zaire gives Florida the best chance to win games. Shannon would do well to give him the nod moving forward.