What the Gators are potentially getting in former Notre Dame QB Malik Zaire
By Andrew Olson
Published:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On Friday afternoon, the SEC announced changes to its graduate transfer rule and the penalties associated with transfers failing to meet academic requirements. For Florida, that clears the way to add former Notre Dame QB Malik Zaire.
Let's go!!!!!!!!!!
— Malik Zaire (@MalikZaire8) June 2, 2017
The mutual interest between UF and Zaire has been a story all offseason, and now it looks like it will become more than just a rumor. Here’s what it means for Florida.
What the Gators are getting
Zaire has had an interesting college football career, albeit with only limited experience. For his career, he is 58-of-88 passing for 816 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions along with 72 carries for 324 yards and two touchdowns.
During his three years at Notre Dame, Zaire was best known for two games, the 2014 Music City Bowl against LSU and the 2015 season opener against Texas. Against LSU, Zaire was 12-of-15 passing for 96 yards and a touchdown, but was a bigger factor carrying the ball (22 carries, 96 yards, TD).
Zaire’s impressive performance against LSU prompted Everett Golson to take his talents as a graduate transfer to Florida State for the 2015 season (interestingly enough, Golson also strongly considered Florida). To open the 2015 season, Zaire had a career game against Texas (19-of-22, 313 yards, 3 TDs).
In Week 2, however, Zaire broke his ankle and would be forced to miss the rest of the season. Zaire will reportedly petition for an extra year of eligibility due to his ankle injury, which came in his redshirt sophomore season at Notre Dame. His backup, DeShone Kizer, took over the starting job and held on to it for 2016 as well. Kizer was recently taken in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.
Looking at recent grad transfer QBs in the SEC …
The Gators are plenty familiar with graduate transfer quarterbacks, having added Josh Grady and Austin Appleby the last two seasons. While neither won the starting job out of fall camp, the SEC has seen two recent graduate transfers come in and win the job, Greyson Lambert and Trevor Knight.
Much like Zaire, Lambert was a June transfer when he left Virginia for Georgia. Despite having only summer workouts and fall camp to learn the playbook and develop chemistry with his receivers, Lambert won the starting job over Brice Ramsey and Faton Bauta. Lambert was 10-2 as Georgia’s starter, primarily from handing the ball to Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. He was 162-of-256 for 1,959 yards, 12 touchdowns and two interceptions in 12 starts. (Mark Richt benched Lambert in favor of Faton Bauta against Florida, a game UGA lost.)
Lambert graduated Virginia with two years of eligibility left and actually made the start in Georgia’s season opener against North Carolina in 2016. It would be his last start at Georgia as Jacob Eason took over in Week 2.
While Lambert had the better record, Knight had the better stats. Texas A&M went 8-5 last season, but Knight, who missed two games due to injury, isn’t to blame. In 11 games last season, Knight (2,432 passing yards, 19 TDs, 7 INTs) was fifth in the SEC in passing yards per game (221.1). Knight also impressed on the ground, rushing 102 times for 614 yards and 10 touchdowns.
When it comes to the stats, the Gators hope they’re getting a Knight-like quarterback in Zaire.
What it means for Florida in 2017
Regardless of any sugarcoating, Jim McElwain’s interest in Zaire means that the coach was not completely sold on Luke Del Rio, Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask as his only options at quarterback for this season. It doesn’t mean that Franks can’t win the job this fall, or that he considers Franks or Trask a bust, but for this season, McElwain wanted another option.
It also indicates that McElwain is adapting to changes in the SEC. While Zaire can certainly throw the football (as shown by his stat line against Texas), he’s a dual-threat quarterback (No. 4 of the class of 2013) and makes plays with his legs. Prior to Zaire, McElwain had signed five pro-style quarterbacks (Jake Allen, Appleby, Del Rio, Franks and Trask) to only two dual-threat quarterbacks, Grady and Kadarius Toney, who was considered an athlete as a recruit. Perhaps watching Joshua Dobbs and Jalen Hurts up close last fall warmed McElwain to dual-threat quarterbacks.
It will be interesting to watch what the addition of Zaire means for Toney, who was expected to be the Wildcat quarterback. If Zaire wins the starting job, the Gators won’t need Toney for a change of pace. If Zaire is the backup, one wonders if he might be asked to run Wildcat packages. Either way, the coaches will almost certainly find a way to get the ball in Toney’s hands this fall.
Allen, a post-spring practice enrollee, is unlikely to be affected by Zaire. With Del Rio, Franks and Trask all available this fall, Allen was already projected to redshirt.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
