The University of Florida released quarterback Jeff Driskel from his scholarship on Saturday, which will allow the junior quarterback to freely transfer to another school, per Greg Ostendorf of ESPN.com.
"That's up to him," said the Gators' new head coach, Jim McElwain, regarding whether Driskel will leave Gainesville, Florida, per Ostendorf. "We all have choices, and I'm not going to hold him hostage."
Although the news broke early in the day, Driskel still played in what was a 28-20 win for the Gators over East Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl. He threw for 48 yards on 8-of-17 passing.
Since he's already graduated from Florida, Driskel can swap schools without restriction with one more year of eligibility.
Bob Redman of FightinGators.com reported that Louisiana Tech might be in the mix:
Laura Keeley of The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote last week that Duke could be a potential suitor for Driskel:
With [senior QB Anthony Boone] graduating, Duke’s current quarterback roster is short on experience. Backups Thomas Sirk and Parker Boehme have attempted a combined 16 passes in their college careers (14 for redshirt sophomore Sirk and two for redshirt freshman Boehme). Even when Boone was struggling with his accuracy this year, coach David Cutcliffe never turned to Sirk.
So it makes sense that Duke would be interested in Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel, who has graduated and has one year of eligibility remaining. According to two people familiar with the situation, Driskel has sent a release to Duke, allowing the Blue Devils to contact him. Duke is one of several schools he is considering.
According to 247Sports' composite rankings, Driskel was the top dual-threat quarterback in the 2011 recruiting class. He looked like a great fit for then-head coach Urban Meyer's offense. But after the 2010 season, Meyer abruptly left, while Driskel stayed committed to Florida.
In retrospect, Driskel might have liked a do-over there, as he never excelled under Will Muschamp and lost his starting job to freshman Treon Harris this past year.
Russell Wilson is one of the more noteworthy examples of a quarterback transferring schools for his final season. The Seattle Seahawks star moved from North Carolina State to Wisconsin in 2011, and the rest is history.
Admittedly, Wilson was much more successful at his first stop than Driskel was at Florida, but in the right situation, Driskel might be able to prove some of the skeptics wrong and close out his college career in style.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1vZTnLI
via IFTTT January 03, 2015 at 03:43PM
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