Florida Switching Starting QB Placing Grier under Center against East Carolina

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

The thorough beating the Florida gave New Mexico State on Saturday evidently did not prove anything to Gators’ head coach Jim McElwain about the dilemma under center in Gainesville. On Thursday McElwain named Will Grier the starter over Treon Harris for Week 2 in the ongoing quarterback battle.

New Mexico State was the proverbial sacrificial lamb for the Gators on opening day getting bounced 61-13 in The Swamp. Florida racked up over 600 yards of offense that included 224 on the ground and a combined 382 passing between Harris and Grier; three yards by Josh Grady. Harris got the start completing 14-of-19 for 215 yards with two touchdown passes and Grier was 15-of-17 for 164 yards with 164 yards in the air, also with two scores.

Both quarterbacks showed some running abilities seeing Grier pick up 43 yards on four carries with a score and Harris had 23 yards on five totes.

Harris got the first three series and then Grier got the next six before Harris came back into the game. Each directed four scoring drives making all things fairly even on paper.

McElwain has the luxury of tinkering with his rotation one more time before starting conference action in Week 3 on the road against Kentucky.

The Pirates beat Townson in their first game but did not look good doing so. They skated by 28-20 with Chris Hairston rushing for 154 yards.

Florida kicks off against ECU at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Photo credit: gatorcountry.com; No. 7 Will Grier will get the start in Week 2 for the Gators.