Florida’s three-quarterback system may look fun, but it’s tough to manage during practice.
Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio said the minutes are precious each day to get John Brantley, Trey Burton and Jordan Reed involved in the quarterback rotation. As the starter, Brantley takes the majority of the snaps, but things are tricky for Burton and Reed.
Burton spends time at quarterback, tight end, fullback and wide receiver. Reed lines up at quarterback and tight end.
“You’re moving a lot of checkers around,” Addazio said. “That takes a lot of time. You have to be exact in your practice time.”
To make sure neither Reed nor Burton gets cold throwing the ball, Addazio said each will work on throwing and running some option before practice. All three will spend time throwing during special teams drills as well.
“You want to maximize every second because they’re precious,” Addazio said. “There are only so many reps in the course of a practice.”
While the three-quarterback rotation appears as something new for UF, Addazio said the team has had it in place since the spring. There were flashes of it during the spring game, but after Reed missed 24 of 26 practices during training camp, the coaches scrapped it until he was healthy.
Now, Florida is challenged with trying to split up each quarterback’s plays during games and making sure defenses don’t predict what Florida will do.
