Florida Football: 2017 season preview, predictions

Florida football enters the 2017 with plenty of uncertainty, but how will the Gators fare in their quest for another division title?

Jim McElwain’s first two years as Florida’s head football coach have gone just as planned — well, almost. The Gators have won back-to-back SEC East crowns, but lost in the conference title game to, you guessed it, Alabama.

The Crimson Tide have had the Gators’ number over the past couple of years. Well, it’s safe to say Alabama has dominated the rest of the SEC for as long as Nick Saban has been in charge. Fortunately, McElwain knows what it takes to get to the conference title game, but is this the year he finally wins it?

There’s no doubting it, he’s a great coach. Not many coaches can take over a program in one of the nation’s premier conferences and lead it to back-to-back division titles. However, McElwain won’t be satisfied until he wins.

With a 19-8 mark through his first two years in Gainesville, McElwain has high hopes for his third season now that he has a number of his former recruits in place as starters. Heck, he’s even added a major transfer in former Notre Dame dual-threat quarterback Malik Zaire — although he’s not yet guaranteed the starting job.

Florida is facing some off-field issues, though. Seven players, including starting receiver Antonio Callaway, have been suspended for the season opener against Michigan. Will that spell doom against the Wolverines?

Let’s take a look at the 2017 season preview and predictions for Florida football.

Offense

Although the Gators are looking at a new starting quarterback in 2016, there are question marks surrounding the entire offense.

First off, the wide receiver position is in limbo thanks to Antonio Callaway’s recent suspension. He was the lead-returning receiver with starting experience, but senior Brandon Powell will have to step in. He was second on the team in receiving last season with 45 catches for 387 yards and two scores. He will be joined by talented sophomore Tyrie Cleveland.

Don’t sleep on Freddie Swain, Josh Hammond and Dre Massey who will all likely be in the rotation.

Moreover, the running back position returns junior Jordan Scarlett. He racked up 889 yards and six touchdowns in 2016 and could break the 1,000-yard mark in 2017. Lamical Perine is a more than capable sophomore backup.

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Tight ends DeAndre Goolsby and C’yontai Lewis finished third and fifth on the team in receiving, respectively, last season.

Luckily, most of the offensive line returns to block for whoever starts at quarterback for the first time. Martez Ivey and Jawaan Taylor return at the tackle spots, Tyler Jordan and Fred Johnson are back at both guard positions and sophomore T.J. McCoy is a first-year starting center.

This line will be a bright spot on offense.

Can Malik Zaire hold the starting job?

It’s tough to tell if Malik Zaire is going to remain healthy for an entire season for the first time in a few years. The grad transfer from Notre Dame chose the Gators over the likes of Texas and Wisconsin this offseason, but he knew he’s have to battle it out for that No. 1 job.

Since he’s come to campus late and has had to cram the playbook into his brain over the past couple of months just to catch up, there’s a good chance he may struggle with confidence early on. In fact, he hasn’t played a meaningful snap as a starting quarterback since last September, and that time was short-lived.

Redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks is one of the better talents on the team and he could rise up and take back the job he once thought was his before Zaire’s transfer. He was a blur-chip recruit in the 2016 class and sat back last season while the quarterbacks struggled.

How long can Zaire hold on to a starting job with Franks surging? Heck, he may not have the job at all.

Defense

Florida had one of the best defenses in the country last season, but will have to move forward by replacing nine starters. In fact, the entire secondary has departed, along with one senior being lost for the season with injury, and the front-seven has a whole new look.

Starting with the line, Jordan Sherit is the only returning starter in the front-seven, but the defensive end is projected as a backup. He had 38 tackles, five for loss and 3.5 sacks last season and looks to have a big role regardless. Cece Jefferson, Taven Bryan, Khairi Clark and Jabari Zuniga are presumed starters, but can they replace an entire starting unit?

As for the linebackers, sophomore David Reese has breakout star potential in the middle, finishing with 49 tackles last season, but replacing Jarrad Davis will be tough. Fellow sophomores Kylan Johnson and Vosean Joseph will be joining him as the outside backers.

Replacing a talented secondary

Losing most of the 2016 secondary that ranked No. 2 in the country against the pass won’t be an easy task. Gone are Teez Tabor and Quincy Wilson at the two cornerback spots, but they will be replaced by a senior with starting experience, Duke Dawson, as well as a rising sophomore in Chauncey Gardner.

Here comes the hard part, though. The safety spots looked to be anchored by a pair of senior leaders in Nick Washington and Marcell Harris, but the latter tore his Achilles this offseason and has been ruled out for the year.

Basically, that means Florida has to replace an entire elite secondary before the first week and it’s unclear whether the first-year starters can duplicate what their predecessors did. There will be some major growing pains in the secondary this season — at least early on.

2017 schedule

The season won’t get off to the easiest note for the Gators as they will be forced to play Michigan, a presumed top-10 team, in Arlington. For that game, though, seven Florida players have been suspended, which makes it that much more difficult for the Gators.

Florida will then host Northern Colorado, which should be an easy win, before starting off SEC play with a home game against Tennessee. The Gators will travel to Lexington to face off against Kentucky before hosting three straight SEC contests prior to their bye week. Through the first seven games of the season, the Gators will have one true road game.

After the bye week, the Gators will face off against Georgia in another neutral site contest in Jacksonville. They then end the SEC regular season on Nov. 11 in the second straight road game, both are winnable. Florida caps off the season with two consecutive non-conference games.

The Gators host UAB on Nov. 18 which should be a sure win, but then they also host Florida State the following week which could have major postseason implications.

Next: College Football: Top 50 breakout candidates for 2017

Prediction: 8-4, 6-2 SEC

It’s tough to really predict the Gators’ 2017 record given the uncertainty with depth following a half-dozen suspended players, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway. I say the Gators lose two non-conference games against Michigan to start the year and Florida State to end in. In the middle of all that, Georgia and LSU will be the two SEC contests in which the Gators will falter in. Although I do believe South Carolina will give the Gators fits, but they will find a way to win a close one. Overall, an 8-4 season isn’t too shabby for an unproven team.